The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-27 00:00:00

Choosing the Capital of New Zealand.

The Commission for selecting the site of a new
capital for the colony, in accordance with the resos
lotions carried in the General Assembly, is now an
accomplished fact. The Commission have come
menced their inquiries, and we must accept the
proposed removal of the capital as an event toler•
ably certain to occur. The selection being confined
to " some place in Cook's Straits," the Commission
have to choose between the three ports already
established—Wellington, Picton, and Nelson, or to
select a site for an entirely new city. The latter
alternative is an exceedingly improbaLle one,
and could only be resorted to in case each
of the three places mentioned should prove utterly
unsuitable. Therefore, it may be regarded as cer-
tain, that either Nelson, Picton, or Wellington
will be fixed upon. We think it well to notice here
a paragraph in the Sydney Morning Herald, a
journal which has always given much attention to
the affairs of New Z ;.aland, and shown an intimate
knowledge of its affairs. Teat journal says—" In
New Zlaland the volcanic action still continues, and
the earthquake has often warned the people that
there are portions of the country where a city of
great dimensions and erected with durable mate-
rial would be liable to some great catastrophe and
sudden ruin. It is not because., no such violent
shock has been perceived in the first stages of
colonisation that the apprehension can be discussed.
History does not give any record of the dangerous
action of Vesuvius until it surprised the Plieys by
its sudden outburst, and continued its violence
until it covered Herculaneum and Pompeii with
lava and ashes." We will now briefly inquire how
far the respective places between which the Com.
missioners will have to choose fulfil the conditions
of a suitable site. Wellington cannot for a moment
be compared for salubrity to either of its competift
tors. Its harbour is tolerably safe
,and capacious,
but the approach to it is none of the safest. A geol
deal ofjoking has been indulged in at the :expense
of Wellington, on account of its earthquakes, but
it must be seen that a locality liable to such con-
vulsions is not at all desirable as the seat of the ca-
pital of a large and important colony. No one could
guarantee the safety of the public buildings or re-
cords in a city which may at some time share the
fate of Lisbon. Also, it is impossible to feel sure
that the present is the last Maori war, and the ob-
jections to a capital in the vicinity of a numerous
native population will be at once apparent. With
regard to Nelson and Picton, their qualifications are
pretty evenly balanced. Nelson may be said to
carry the palm in regard to convenience and gene-
ral adaptability. Nelson is a second Naples in
point of climate, but its harbour is neither suffi-
ciently capacious for any extensive commerce, nor
is the city easily defensible. Picton is nearly
equal in point of climate to Nelson, while in other
conditions it is superior. Situated at the head of
a deep arm of the sea, accessible to shipping of the
largest tonnage, and entirely protected from storms,
its position as a port leaves little to be desired. The
site is sufficiently extensive for a large city, while
being as yet only partially occupied it could be laid
out as became the capital of a flourishing colony.
But the greatest advantage in favour of Picton is
the readiness with which it could be connected by
railway and telegraph with the rest of the Middle
Island. Telegraphic communication throughout
the length of the Middle island is on the point of
fulfilment, and railway communication would un.
doubtedly rapidly follow the erection of Picton into
the seat of Government. As between Nelson,
Wallington, and Picton, the interests of the Middle
Island will certainly be best served by the election
of the last, while those of the North Island would
be quite as well suited as if 'Wellington were chosen.
We suppose it will be part of the duty of the Com-
missioners to receive evidence on the subject of their
inquiries.—Otago Times.

National Reform Union,

A public meeting in connection with this union was held
in the Assembly Rbom at the Free Trade Hall last evening
—Mr G. WILSON in the chair. There was a numerous
attendance.

The CHAIRMAN in opening the proceedings, said they
charged the House of Commons with not having fulfilled
the pledge which had been given to the country on the
question of parliamentary reform. lie was not aware when
Parliament would dissolve—seine people said a dissolution
was expected to take place, very shortly—but he could not
!Link that the House of Commons would dissolve without
making an effort to givo effect to the engagements it had
entered into. Me trusted that it would show it had not out•

lived its honour, and that it would take some step to pre-
vent the historian having to record of it that it was born
at a period of great promise, that during the first two years
of its existence it exhibited great strength and vitality, and
that towards the end of its days it showed physical weak-
ness, and died when the Bands of life had run out, leaving
the object of its life unaccomplished,and bequeathing to us,
instead of a noble inheritance of regained rights, a legacy
of disappointed hopes. (Applause.)

Mr Alderman HEYWOOD moved a resolution urging
upon all reformers the importance of combined action in
demanding an extensive measure of reform, and of esta-
blishing branches in connection with the association. He
implored those persons who had the opportunity and
possessed the desire to aid the movement to use their best
endeavours in order to provide such machinery that at the
next election they might bo prepared to make a better se-
lectic n of men than those who now occupied the benches in
the House of Commons.

Mr J. W. MELLOR, of Oldham, in seconding the resolu-
tion, said that Whigs and Tories alike had promised reform,
but they bad dcne little or nothing towards that object.
. . . _

Messrs R. Cooper and J. B. Torr having been heard in
support of the resolution,

Mr S, POPE said that meeting was held for the purpose
of banding themselves together, not only for mutual enthu-
siasm and action, but also to purge their own ranks from
the rottenness that had crept into them. (Applause.)
They owed the defeat of the Reform Bill of 1660 not to their
opponents only, but to the treachery and supineness of those
who pretended to be their friends. The effect of Mr Glad-
stone's speech had not entirely subsided, and it was now
acknowledged by the administration of the country that
the true principle on which the extension of political
power must rest was that the exercise of that power was
the right of every man. (Applause.) Reformers de-
manded that right. It would be a mistake to propose a
compromise. There was an election coming, and the
question then for reformers to answer would be—Were they
to be deluded by fair promises, or were they to secure,
at all events, some representation of their principles in Par-
liament. He was not sure that it was necessary that the
real radical reform party in the House of Commons should
be in the majority ; a minority under the present aspect of
the question could make it imperative upon the Govern-
ment to listen to the demands of the people. It would be far
more important if they were to band themselves together
for the sake of securing adequate support to the indepen-
dent men, such as the member for Birmingham, who sit
below the gangway. What was the meaning of the ap-
proaching dissolution ? It was that the Government and
the house had no principle, had nothing upon which to ap-
peal to the country but the personal popularity of the most
unprincipled statesman that ever ruled, (Applause.) Had
Lord Palmerston done anything for the Liberal party ? He
had demoralised it. (Hear, hear.) He (Mr Pope) hoped
that the Radicals would have no terms with the Whigs
whatever. There were no politicians so absolutely danger-
ous and fatal to political reform as the Whigs. (Applause.)
Alderman GOADSBY said that what the people bad gained
they had gained by their own efforts. The Whigs only
helped them through if they could thereby serve their own
selfish interests.

A vote of thanks having been accorded to the chairman,
.he proceedings terminated.

FRIGHTFUL COLLIERY ACCIDENT.—On Monday,
about 36 men went down the Eppleton Jane Pitt,
at Iletton-le Hole, near Newcastle-on-Tyne, for the pur-
pose of going to work. That portion of the work to which
they were proceeding is at a distance of three miles from
the shaft. They are usually conveyed to work by a train of
empty waggons which runs du% n an incline to the "face."
On this occasion the men got into the waggons which were
then set in motion, and had proccedad some little distance
when, owing to the two guides of the brake having sustained
an injury, the waggons ran amain. The men were of course
exceedingly alarmed at the occurrence, some of them leaped
out and were seriously injured, as were n hers who were
pitched out by the waggons jumping (If the ways, and a
man, named 'llloEllas Lewings, was so seriously injured that
he died shortly after being brought to bank. Thirteen men
were also seriously injured, some having had their legs
broken, others their collar banes fractured, while the re-
mainder were more or less severely bruised and wounds'.
•ITc ca 4:e Chronicle.

Messrs. Coutts aid Co. have received L3OO for
the National Life-boat Institution, from a iricnd, by the
hands of L. H. 11.

Max v. il.oßsz.—On Monday a one mile race
took place on Wimbledon Common between two groolio,
for .E. 5 aside, the one to run on foot and the other to ride
a horse. '1 he course was a quarter of a mile of road, loud
although the horse was the swifter of the two, it was unable
to tutu so rapidly as its opp Lent; who won by fourteen
yards.