The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-16 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAND.

A letter from Melbourne, dated October 25,
says :—Sir George Grey arrived at Auckland in the
corvette Cossack, on Thursday the 26th of Septem-
ber, after a passage of 41 days from the Cape of
Good Hope. He was received most cordially by
both Europeans and natives, and the highest ex-
pectations are entertained of the most favourable
results of his mission. Indeed, no reasonable doubt
can be entertained that the appointment of Sir
George Grey is most judicious. At no other time
would his prospects of success have been so nearly
certain. The defeat of the War Ministry of Mr.
Stafford, the accession to office of a set of men in
whom the natives have great confidence, and the
removal of a Governor who has shown himself in-
different to the rights of the natives and insensible
to the sufferings of the Europeans—sufferings which
his own policy has produced—have combined to
smooth Sir George Grey's path. For some time
past, as I mentioned in my last letter, the natives
have held the opinion that there would be no more
war, because Sir George Grey was coming ; while
the Europeans felt great confidence that, while the
principle of Sir George's policy would be wise
conciliation and concession, firmness would not be
wanting should the conduct of the Waikatos re-
(Dire it, I have already pointed out the mass
of evidence which has been collected during the
last four years as to the true nature of the King
movement, which I have always considered as,
in the main, an agitation for local self•govern-
ment. No doubt that, as events have rolled on,
many of the more ambitious spirits among
the natives have desired to carry it further. In so
far as it is of the former character, Sir G. Grey's
present advisers are quite prepared to aid him in
conciliation and concession, nor will they shrink
from giving him an equally cordial support should
it unhappily be necessary to enter upon a new war.
This the Government is now in a better condition to
do than when Gen. Pratt had the conduct of the
war war at Taranaki. He was compelled to shape
his operations according to his moderate force,which
never permitted him to take more than about 1,400
into the field. The force now at Gen. Cameron's
disposal must exceed 7,000 men, and discouraged as
the natives have been by the result of the Taranaki
war, sensible as they now are of our superiority, I
do not think they will attempt to brave collision
with our troops, now that they are convinced they ,
may rely on the justice of the Governer and his ad-
visers. As yet the newspapers say but little of Sir
G. Grey's intentions. In detail they are probably
not formed, but from private sources of information
I am enabled to say somethin g of his plan generally.
The opinion of the best informed settlers is that,
whatever may be Sir G. Grey's success, whether
complete or only partial, the recall of Governor
Browne has saved the colony. Had he remained
the constitution would in all probability have been
suspended in less than six months, and martial law
(Browne's grand expedient) proclaimed in every
part of the colony. That is believed to have been
Governor Browne's object, while Grey has no such
views. It is believed that he has large plans in his
mind, very similar in principle to those developed
by Mr. Fenton before the Waikato Committee, but
more extensive and complete. His idea is (as lam
informed) to break down the distinction of race, to
create an administration of native affairs, worked
by the natives themselves with European help, and
under the direct control of the responsible Mini-
sters, He has already placed Mr. M‘Lean and Mr.
Smith (native land purchasers and native Secretary)
under the absolute control of the Ministry. Though
quietly done and without any allusion to Browne,
it is a complete bouleverBement of the late Gover-
nor's policy, for he would not give the present
Ministry a particle of control over native affairs.
It was rather a question with some how Grey would
get on with the present men. Fox, the present
Chief Secretary, was principal agent of the New
Zealand Company when Sir George Grey was for-
merly Governor, and they came into collision on
many questions, especially of native policy. But
now their respective views will much more nearly
coincide, and, as one of my informants expresses it,
" they are both too old to ride dead horses." lam
assured that Governor Grey met his old opponent,
and present chief adviser, in a very cordial spirit,
and their relations, both personal and political, are
entirely satisfactory.

It is very confidently expected that Sir George
will get over the crisis without fighting, and that,
too, without any compromise of the Queen's autho-
rity, and such is my own opinion. If, unhappily,
hostilities have to be resorted to, they will be con-
ducted on quite a different principle from those
which Sir Thomas Pratt was compelled to resort to
in consequence of his scanty force. Sir G. Grey will
occupy military posts, cut off river communication,
and do what he did in the Wellington district for-
merly with such effect—push into the Waikato
country. This, I have no doubt, will soon bring
the natives to reason, and, accompanied as it will
be with valuable measures of native Government,
embodying what is good of the King movement (for
I have always considered that there was a good
element therein), I am very confident that it will be
done without force.

You will find from the Auckland newspapers
that Sir George Grey on landing had a very en-
thusiastic reception. These newspaper accounts are
not always to be relied on. It is easy for a few
people to get up a cordial reception. If half-a-
dozen people of the servile class so common in our
colonies chose to erect a cheap triumphal arch of
green boughs with a few pink ribbons and cluster
of roses about it, who would be so ill-manner-
ed to pull it down ? Got up demonstrations
and addresses are but too common in these
colonies. But in Sir George Grey's case, I
am assured that except among a few of the old
land jobbing party, which he thwarted by over-
turning Fitzroy's policy in 1845, the feeling on
Grey's reappearance has beem one of unmixed satis-
faction, and his reception was most enthusiastic.
Some years ago we used to hear a good deal of
" the right man in the right place," but there is
another element of success that is often overlooked
—namely, "at the right time." I believe that in
the New Zealand case-all the 3 elements coincide.
I hope and believe that Sir George Grey, aided
by his advisers, will within a reasonable time
place the relations between the Europeans and
natives on a very satisfactory footing, and
that, too, without injustice to either,
and:without in any degree cornpromis'ng the Queen's
authority.

The news from Otago continues to show that they
have a permanent goldfield of a very remunerative
character, but certainly not large enough to bear
the sudden rush from this place which commenced
towards the end of last month. A great number of
diggers rushed blind and headlong to New Zealand,
as they did three years ago to Port Curtis, and 18
months since to the Snowy River, without the
means of living until they could obtain gold ; so that
there has been a good deal of distress, and many
have returned, and somrrehiafs
hasthese without even look-
ing at the diggings,
created a complete
reaction. About three weeks
ago I counted 27 ves-
sels advertised for Otago, seven of them being large
and powerful steamers; in this day's Arius the
number of vessels advertised is just six, of which
one only is a steamer. Still, I think, if the accounts
continue to be favourable, as I think they will, we
shall have a sort of reaction upon the reaction, go as
to supply a steady stream but not a flood of
emi-
gration to the new goldfields. From all I can
learn, gold in some degree is pretty widely diffused
in Now Zealand. Net only is it produced in con-
siderable amount at Otago, but also in what is
called paying quantities at the Buller River (west
coast of Middle Island) and Massacre Bay. It has
also been found at Canterbury, Karori, near Wel-
lington, and Coromandel Harbour in the north—
in these last places a trace, as chemists say. Now,
many of our fellows are the very men they want to
develope these new resources of wealth. Many of
our men who have gone to New Zealand are not
the mere loafing "surfacers" who were driven back
before they faced the difficulties of " the situation"
by rumours of bad made., flour at £lOO a ton, and
" snow a foot deep," but men who carry money in
their pockets and courage in their hearts to "give
its few months' trial," as one said to me. Some of
these m--On represent a body, and if there is any-

thing to develope they will develope it. There
certainly never was anything to justify the incon-
siderate rush of last month; there is plenty to jus-
tify a steady stream. To check the mado(ss of the
many without damping the enterprise of the few,
the Local Government of Otago has , ut forward
the following very sensible notice :