THE Wellington Intelligence. Thursday, September 18, 1862. CUI BOND.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVII, Issue 1768, 18 September 1862, Page 2

TH E Wellington Inte lligence. Thursday, September 18, 1862. CUI BOND.

The long looked for of years has come and passed. The " Meeting .of the Assembly at Wellington "which has so often been promised, and so often delayed, is now a matter of the past jand if it has not afforded us in possession all the interest we looked for in anticip "tion, the want must be laid to other d joi\& than that of the Assembly itself. No session could crowd into it scenes of greater interest than this one has done. It has not come as others have come, continued as others have continued, and gone as others have gone. A startling accident ushered its arrival ; defeat and resignation of one ministry, with all the hopes and fears and suspense of the formation of another, marked its continuance ; and at the very moment of its departure cabinet changes took placo, totally unforeseen and much to be regretted. Two or three clerks and a few b.txes of papers, arc all that now remain of the past ; even the materiel of Bellamy's being to-day distributed to the four winds by the hammer of the auctioneer.

Have we gained from the Assembly's meeting in Wellington the advantages expected ; or, like the child who crushes the butterfly at the moment his exciting chase has enabled him to bonnet it, has the advantage proved un'.y an illusory oue ? To our thinking we have the greatest cause for satisfaction, — none the less so because it it is not immediately tangible; any more than the settler who had felled his bush, ploughed his land and sown his seed, would have cause to be dissatisfied because he had to wait awhile for the result.

Two results have flowed from the late Assembly meeting here. Two others may How consequent thereupon. The right which Auck-

land laid claim to, has been ignored, and the necessity for the presence of the Government being in close proximity to the Native districts, has been proved to he uo necessity at all. If our readers will but bear in mind the obstacles which were thrown in the way of the Assembly coming to Wellington, they will be able to understand how important it was considered by a party in Auckland to prevent the right she laid! claim to, beiujj set aside. And if our readers will consent to believe all the alarming irtcinents at Waikato and elsewhere, daily hatched three or four months since by the Southern Cross, they will see how critical the Native question was, and how nearly it was about being established that at Auckland, and at Auckland alone, must the Government ever exist. We never believed the reports of the Southern Cross, knowing for what purpose they were specially prepared ; but our contemporary, the Advertiser, of course did, and biamed Mr. Fox for calling t : ie Asse nbly here while insurrectionary fires were smouldering at Waikato, and a great deal more in the same strain. There can be no question now, that Auckland's claim to the sitting- of the Assembly taking place there is one of sufferance and not of right ; nor can there be any question that Auckland is out of leading strings, and like all the other provinces is not absolutely dependent on the presence! of the Colonial Executive for her peace and security, as has always been supposed.

The two results which may follow, are the removal of the Seat of Government or Separation. Either one or tbe other must take place at no distant date.* The late Assembly has skown how possible it is for the first result to be attained. It was only theory before, now it is demonstrated. Fifty things stood in the way —the greatest perhaps, was ths necessity for being close to the Native districts ; and none perhaps, was more utterly demolished than it was. The whole colony (Auckland included) now belieres hi the practicability o[ tbe removal of the Seat of GoTernmentj permanently to Wellington, and nearly the whole of it looks forward to its as the means by which the rending asunder of the (Jolony is alone to be prevented. Whenever the second step towards bringing the Seat of Government to Wellington may be taken, of this there can be no doubt that the fust has been just accomplished, and as reasonably might we expect a child to walk who had never tuken his first step, as to expect Wellington to become the capital without doing what has been done. For our own part |we are perfectly satisfie], and beliere that the change in "the place of , the Assembly's meeting has taken place at the precise moment —its being deferred until next session, would probably have proved fatal to all ourhopes.

Fatal lo all our hopes, because no ministry but a ministry with a Wellington premier could have effected the late change. Had not Mr. Fox been premier, no oue supposes for a mo ment but that the last Assembly would havp been held in Auckland ; and ihe thanks of e^ery man in tins Province would be due to Mr. Fox, if only for what he has done for us in this respect.