The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-10 00:00:00

NEW ZEALAI72. • -
! The following is a copy of the memorial the Francis
Healy to Lord Stnnley, dated July, 1844 :
That memorialist purchased from the New Zealand
Company, in August, 1839, a section of land comprised
within what is termed the " second series" of their settle-
. ment in New Zealand. That by the " terms of purchase"
he was entitled to choose the aforesaid section, not only
in any of the settlements or territories alleged to be then
in possession of or claimed by the said Company, but also
in any others they may at any time afterwards acquire
in New Zealand. That memorialist was induced to make
said purchase from the apparent respectability of said
Company, particularly the Directors thereof, and from
their published statements and advertisements, in which
they stated themselves to be already in possession of
large tracts of land in that country, and to have dis-
patched expeditions" to purchase other lands also
there ; and that they had sent out a large " staff" of
surveyors with the "expedition," in order to have the
land ready for selection and delivery on the arrival of the
purchasers and intended settlers under said Company ;
all which lands under those and mealy other seductive
circumstances they publicly offered for sale. That memo-
rialist emigrated with his family and a servant (in all
eight souls), in Sept., 1839, with the fullest confidence
in those statements, and also with the repeated assurances
• of Mr. Ward (the then secretary of said Company), that
memorialist would he put into possession of his land
within a few weeks after his arrival in New Zealand; but
that, notwithstanding, he has never, since obtained it.
That memorialist arrived in Port Nicholson, New Zea-
land, on the Bth of February, 1840, and found to his
utter astonishment, that the "staff" of surveyors sent
out by the Company to survey and lay out 150,000 acres
of land (in which was included the ,intended township
or city of Wellington), in one of the most difficult coun-
tries in the world to effect surveys, comprised only three
individuals, via., Captain Smith, R.A., Mr. Stokes, and
Mr. Parks ; and that, although after their arrival two
assistants had been added to their force, still that little,
if anything, had been done by them. That memorialist
has never heard and does not believe that any other ad-
ditions were made to the aforesaid "staff" for a period
of at least two years, although one of them (Mr. Parks)
had resigned shortly after his arrival in the colony; but,
on the contrary, that one of the above assistants was dis-
missed after a short time for some alleged offence, which
was generally considered frivolous, and one certainly
not at all connected with the discharge of his duty. That
memorialist was deprived, shortly after his arrival in
New Zealand, of the numerical position he was entitled
to hold under land orders iu the Company's books of
registration there, through the arbitrary and improper
interference of the Company's agent, by which memo.
rialist sustained considerable injury, and which the
Company have refused to rectify or give compensation
for. That in February, 1841, a notice was served
on memorialist, to attend at a place called Wanganui
(distant about 150 miles from Port Nicholson, and at-
tainable then only by means of a voyage over one
of the most dangerous coasts in the known world),
to select land there. That he did attend there, at the
imminent risk of his life and at considerable loss and
expense, but found upon his arrival that there was no
land surveyed or ready for selection; and, still more,
was informed by the surveyor that he never gave the
slightest intimation or hope to the Company's agent, or
any other person, that land was then or would be ready
for selection at any definite period. That memorialist
has heard, and is now fully convinced, that the whole
proceeding was got up by the Company's agent for a
purpose. That memorialist applied to the agent for the
cash expense (only) he had been put to in making that
voyage, and was refused ; but in consequence of an ap-
plication to the Directors, he received (in about a year
after) half of what he claimed. That about the end of
August, 1841, Captain Hopson having arrived in Port
Nicholson, memorialist communicattd with him per-
sonally and by letter, and stated the cruel and heartless
manner in which the Company and their agent had been
acting towards him, and its consequences upon his fa-
mily and his resources. That Captain Hopson remon-
strated with the agent, who promised him (in conse-
quence) he would offer land fur selection in a few weeks
and satisfy the claims of memorialist. Thet immediately
after a placard was posted in several parts of the town,
calling a meeting of parties interested in Wanganui
land, but specifying no object, and having no signature.
That a meeting, however, was got up, the result of which
was, that the agent issued a notice that he would cause
land to be offered for selection at Wanganui. That me-
morialist, with several others, had engaged their pas-
sage to the above place in a schooner named the Gem,
being the only vessel in Port Nicholson then available
for that purpose ; that, however, Captain Wakefield
(brother of the agent) having arrived in Port Nicholson
just then, the friends of the agent invited him to a pub-
lic dinner, and, therefore, in order that some of his
friends who were about going to Wanganui might be
present at the said dinner, the said schooner was char-
tered nominally by his nephew and two others, his per-
sonal friends, but in reality by the agent himself, and
thus deprived memorialist and the others of the only

opportunity then open to them of being present it
the intended selection. That the sailing of said schooner
was not permitted, and did not take place until the day
after the said dinner, which critically happened to be the
day before that on which the land was advertised for

selection at Wanganui, and where it was impossible she
could arrive in sufficient time. That, however, the agent
guaranteed the land should not be so offered for selection
until said schooner arrived at Wanganui, and that he did,
in accordance with that guarantee, send a messenger

overland with written instructions to the Surveyor-Gene-
ral to that effect. That under those circumstances, and
relying upon the integrity of the Company's agent (as
such), and there being no other mode of conveyance,
memorialist waited for and sailed in said schooner. That,
however, upon his arrival (in about a fortnight after) at
Wanganui, memorialist found that the land had been
offered for selection and chosen * on the day originally
advertised; whereby memorialist was deprived of all the
advantages he was entitled to in the priority of his choice
(being one of the very first) and in the selection of the
land. That memorialist claimed from the agent compen-
sation for all the losses and expenses thus sustained
through him, which he refused to give, alleging as his
reason that " he only promised to send a messenger, as
aforesaid, to Wanganui to the Surveyor-general, but that
he did not promise his messenger should perform the
journey or deliver his instructions." That memorialist
forwarded to the Directors of the New Zealand Company,
in January, 1843, a full statement of the above facts, ac-
companied with certificates from certain gentlemen in the
colony,(bearing upon the last-mentioned subject), and also
with his affidavit corroborative of his statements ; and
that he solicited from the said Directors conpensation for
all the losses sustained by him through the non-fulfilment
of their contract with him, as well as those sustained
by him in the colony through the improper conduct of
their agent; and that, although memorialist stated in the
aforesaid documents to the Directors that his capital,
consisting of 400 sovereigns, and property amounting to
501. or 60/. more, had been expended at that time in the
maintenance of his family, yet that he received no
answer to his application up to and including January
last. That memorialist, therefore, as the only resource
open to him of obtaining redress, was driven to the cruel
necessity of taking leave of his family, and of with-
drawing at once his support and protection from them
under circumstances of a heartrending nature, and to re-
pair to London with a view of obtaining from the New
Zealand Company compensation for all his losses, and,
in the event of their refusing to do so, to throw himself
at the foot of the Throne, and solicit from her Majesty,
and her Government, and especially from your Lord-
ship, protection and justice. That said Directors having
now declined to give memorialist compensation or re-
dress of any kind for all the injuries and injustice they
have inflicted on him and his family, memorialist most
humbly and earnestly solicits your Lordship will take
his melancholy case into your kind consideration, and
grant him, at your earliest convenience, such assistance
and protection as may be within your Lordship's power.
That memorialist most respectfully begs to draw your
Lordship's attention to the accompanying papers, and
in an especial manner to the copy of an official letter
received by him from the secretary of Captain Hopson,
wherein your Lordship will find unequivocal evidence
to disprove the statements put forward by the New Zea-
land Company that the Government (at all events, up to
that period) had obstructed or prevented them from fulfill-
ing theircontractswith the unfortunate settlers under them.
That memorialist most respectfully submits that he
is now fully convinced the New Zealand Company eould not
have been sincere or honest in their transactions with
him from the beginning, and that he grounds this convic-
tion on the facts—first, of their professing to have and to
sell land in New Zealand which, in point of fact, they
had not at the time, and to specify (as in the instance of
memorialist) various and distinct portions of the islands
in which purchasers under them might choose their sec-
tions, but which they (the Company) not only had not
then, have not since had, nor are ever likely to acquire;
and secondly, from their professing to have sent out a
large " staff" of surveyors, in order to have the land
ready for delivery to the intending purchasers on their
arrival in the colony ; whereas, in reality, they only sent
three individuals for that purpose (as already stated),
and that they did not increase, but diminished, that
number for a period of at least two years; which cir-
cumstance in itself, memorialist most respectfully sub-
mits, bears strong evidence of their not having intended
to fulfil their contracts or engagements. That, in con-
clusion, memorialist most respectfully begs to remind
your Lordship of the length of time which has elapsed
since ho purchased from the Company—the many and
valuable years of his life and those of his family thus
wasted during his long and wretched residence in New
Zealand—the unjust and heartless treatment he expe-
rienced there from the Company's agent—but, above all,
to the melancholy and precarious position in which his
family are now placed, without that support arid protec-
tion so peculiarly essential in New Zealand ; and he
again implores your Lordship most respectfully and
earnestly, in the earn° of justice and humanity, to grant
him such redress and assistance as shall seem most fitting
to your Lordship, and your memorialist, as in duty
bound, will ever pray.

* On map.

The plans of railway lodged for the county of Kent
seem to be the North Kent (Vignoles's line), and the
Central Kent (Rennie's line). The latter was brought
forward some years since, and the notices have been
every year renewed. It is now understood that the 'ori-
ginal opponents of the line, the landed proprietors, have
become favourable to its adoption, and that the old
committee of m :nagement will be strengthened, and the
undertaking immediately brought forward, with a view
to an application to Parliament this next session. The
part of the capital subscribed, and the scrip held, will
continue in the company to the extent of its proportion
or value.
The Antwerp letters received on Monday morning
state that the frost had set in with great intensity in
Flanders, and was rapidly upon the increase. The
Scheldt was free from ice, but the interior navigation
was, for the moment, suspended.

WOODEN RAILWAYS.
(From the Waterford Mail of December 7.)
On Thursday last Mr. Bridges, the secretary to the
Waterford and Kilkenny Railway Company, de-
live'red an address on this subject to a numerous and
respectable audience in the Town Hall. ..gr. Bridges
urged the great importance of railway communication
in Ireland, and especially insisted on the necessity of
economy in construction of Irish railways. With
respect to the system of wooden rail ways, which he
had been deputed by English capitalists to advocate
and introduce as far as possible, a very few words
would suffice to explain the rationale and advantages.
Wooden railways had formerly been extensively used
in England in the colliery districts. These had been
gradually superseded by rails of cast iron, and after-
wards of malleable iron ; but an impression was now
becoming very general that the use of wood under
certain conditions would be infinitely preferable, both 1
on the score of economy and efficiency, to the present
system of iron railways. To preserve the elasticity
of the wood, and at the same time to indurate it
and arrest the liability to decay, had been the
first desideratum. These difficulties had been
completely met by a process invented by Mr.
Charles Payne, which might be very shortly
explained. The timber was placed in a vacuum,
and after exhaustion was impregnated under
a high pressure, first, with a cheap metallic solution,
such as sulphate of iron, and thereafter with the mu-
riate of lime. There was thus produced within the
wood, by decomposition, a perfectly insoluble matter,
and the wood was, as it were, virtually transmuted
into another substance almost incapable of decay. It
was, however, still liable and exposed to abrasion
from what Mr.f Robert Stephenson had called the
"horrible collision" of the flange and the conical tire
as now made use of. To obviate this evil, Mr. Pros-
ser's patent was devised—that is to say, the flange
was entirely removed from the tire or rim of the
bearing wheels, and a mere guide wheel, fixed on an
oblique axis, and not bearing perpendicularly on the
rails, was substituted. This guide wheel, without
any perceptible friction merely retained the carriages
and engines on their route, and admitted of the use
of bearing wheels perfectly smooth and cylindrical.
Mr. Bridges then briefly, but pointedly, touched
upon the various advantages as respected economy,
efficiency, safety, and comfort, likely to arise from
the adoption of the new system. He announced
that public confidence was now so far with those
he represented that more than double the capi-
tal requisite for the Waterford and Kilkenny
line had been subscribed, anti that on a visit to
Cork, in reference to a line projected from that
city on the same principle, he had been received
with extreme cordiality and kindness by some of the
principal merchants interested, who agreed to take
shares, while the noblemen and gentlemen holding
the land were, it was understood through their agents,
equally disposed to favour the undertaking. We
think it unnecessary to repeat at full length all Mr.
Bridges' arguments, especially as regards the great
facility of traversing sharp curves and overcoming
gradients, which the comparative deficiency of bite
on the iron rail is held to preclude upon the latter
system, as we have already quoted several articles upon
the subject embracing the details, and which are
already familiar to our readers. Several questions
scientific gentlemen pre-
nibsying process could be made
available for house-building, and also the price per
pre-
sent. werent . 1,114' ht ee t h thee
r ltehcet urraeyr
load, and its applicability to other general purposes
besides railroads; and what experience there had been
of the system, whether the friction of eight wheels
would not be greater than that of four wheels
even with flanges as in the old system • and
whether the effect of the process reached to the very
heart of the wood or was merely superficial. Mr.
Bridges stated that the Paynising process was a prin-
ciple of nature universally applicable. Wherever
timber in contact with iron had been subjected to the
action of salt water, as in the case of a vessel sub-
merged, the wood could not decay. General Pasley
on blowing up the Edgar, a vessel which had been
sunk three hundred years ago, found this to be the
case in the baulks of that vessel. The common
English woods subjected to the process received the
finest polish, and were more beautiful than any
foreign woods • and on explaining the principle to a
very influential and intelligent shipowner and mer-
chant of Cork, he had been assured by that gentle-
man that . the process, if practice accorded with
theory, would be invaluable in ship-building as well
as in cabinet-making. The price per load of fifty
cubic feet was fourteen shillings, and the experience
of the system extended to several very satisfactory
experiments, amongst which might be mentioned,
that the experiment line at Vauxhall had been

traversed 28,000 times by a heavy engine, with-
out in the least affecting the saw-marks on the
wood, and that a tramway of Paynised wood
laid down at a coal wharf in London had borne
the gradual weight of 27,000 tons without any
effect being produced. As to the question of the
comparative friction of eight wheels or four, the
action of the guide wheels and the bearing wheels
which made up that number, was perfectly distinct
and independent; and the number of wheels induced
no addition whatever to the friction. In truth, 20
cylindrical wheels with guile wheels would have less
friction than four of the flanged wheels at present in
vogue. The effect of the process was to permeate
the whole timber subjected to it, so that a chemical
test applied to the heart of the wood would affect it
equally with the surface.
Mr. MOSES ROBINSON, after some very pertinent
questions, which were replied to by Mr. Bridges, ex-
pressed himself perfectly satisfied as to the import-
ance of both the inventions, and that it was advisable
they should have a fair and an extensive trial. If
sound, the system would eventually supersede all
others.

Mr. BRIDGES observed that nothing was more pro-
bable, inasmuch as it had just been determined by
the Directors of the West London Railway, which
connects the Great Western and the London and
Birmingham, to take up the iron rails, and lay down
the line with Paynised wood, in combination with
the Prosser guide w heels.—The meeting then separated.

ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENs.—Another
of those rare birds, the 1 oucan,.from the Brazils, with a
Rhea, or South American Ostrich, was added to the col-
lection last week. The gardens have been since much
frequented to inspect the new arrivalF, and the beautiful
lake was crowded with skaters on Sunday and yester-
day, the ice being in first rate order.
CHINESE EXHIBITION.—The opening of this exhi-
bition for what may be called the winter season, took
place last night, with what is called the Dragon Fête.
The formidable dragon is very beautifully formed of silk,
and brilliantly illuminated. We are told that this is one
of the favourite exhibitions of the Chinese, and con-
sidering the necessary inferiority of the copy, it must be
an attractive one. The dragon is suspended from the
ceiling at the middle of the room, and has a very grand
effect from the light thrown on it from the various lan-
terns extended on either side. There is no change in
the various representations illustrating Chinese life and
manners ; but the manner in which the room is illu-
minated renders them more vivid. A popular lecture,
giving a sketch of the principal objects described in the
rather formidable book catalogue, would be a desideratum,
and it is, we understand, in contemplithan by the enter-
prising proprietor. There was a large number of vit•iters
last night, and we have no doubt that at each representa-
tion it will increase.

The Dusseldorf Gazette notifies that a party of the
Jewish residents of that place had resolved, at a recent
meeting, to address a circular to the Christiana bankers
and merchants of Frankfort, praying of them, on con-
ditions of reciprocity, not to cause tub presented to them
any bill of exchange, whether for acceptance or payment,
on a Sabbath or fast day, since they are required by a
recent modification of the laws relating to the matter
both to accept and pay. The house of Rothschild had
been invited to join in the movement, but which it had
declined to do on the plea that this new legislation would
not prevent them from refusing to pay and accept on the
days in question. It would appear from this that Messrs.
Rothschild, conscious of their own power, proceed upon
the old plan, but that the minor establishments cannot,
without compromising their credit, venture to act in the
same spirit of independence, by making, like them, other
houses conform to their convenience.

THE WEATHER.—The moderns, in imitation of
the wise men of ancient days, have a propensity for
drawing auguries from the movements of birds, and
many prophesies, founded on ornithological observations,
have, recently, been put forth touching the quality of
the present winter. Some difference of opinion amongst
the feathered tribes, however, caused the prophets no
little perplexity, for while the geese, who have no
great reputation for sagacity, appeared, by their south-
ward flight, to insist that old winter was hastening
speedily hither, certain crows were reported to be con •
strutting nests, as if in anticipation of mild airs and
cloudless skies. The crows, though deemed clever birds
in their way, have been proved to be less weatherwise
than the geese, for we hear from all quarters of low
thermometers and biting frosts. In this vicinity the frost
set in, last week, with great severity, and the increasing
ice on the ponds was regarded by skaters of all classes
and ages with extreme satisfaction. Nor were they dis-
appointed in their anticipations, for though the frost
only set in fairly on Wednesday, yet such was its
severity, that even as early as Friday, the ice
had attained considerable thickness, and on Sa-
turday it was se solid that the skaters were
enabled to pursue their invigorating recreation without
the slightest apprehension. The waters of Sefton
meadows, which offer a beautiful extent of skating sur-
face, are completely frozen over, and numbers who de-
light to enjoy the exercise in perfection have resorted
thither. The cold, during the last few days, has been
intense. The extreme depression of the thermometer,
on Tuesday night, was 29, on Wednesday night 27, on
Thursday 23, on Friday 21, and yesterday morning the
mercury sunk as low as 20. At nine o'clock yesterday
morning it was 26, and, at three in the afternoon, 30.
Liverpool Albion of Monday.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert has become
the purchaser of one of the finest blood-hounds in Lord
Bagot's celebrated pack, and the Queen has likewise had
one bought by agency. It is not generally known that
Lord Bagot's family -have for centuries retained the pure
breed of the English blood-hound. Last week the en-
tire collection of 21 were sold, the Duke of Leed3 being
mons the prelim.%