The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-11 00:00:00

"ES, ISLE OF WIGHT.
k10(/5014 OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
61,4 —Arrived, the Danish galliot Flora, Captain
11.0111 Newport (Wales), for Hamburgh ; also,
z; i()rtrian,
galliot Rena, Captain Holland, from
14ttepc" 'laying received considerable damage, and
tki • lost one man, from coming in contact, at five
ill!, the morning of the 9th inst : and the Dutch
Nt:'gt Susanna Hendrika, of and from Amsterdam,
otli,:iia,`„ to repair damag
es, having been foul of a
"le North Sea, name unknown, which, it is
gioTindered with all he hands. The ship has a
:itshoP and several other gentlemen on board.
41 be
John Moore, Esq., has left his beautiful
Reindeer, to Spencer de Horsey, Esq.

,‘/!'„.II,TE RAILWAY ACCIDENT
pc:OTTINGHAM—ANOTHER DEATH.
' 'HAI% TUESDAY, DEC. 10.—Another of the
reithvi the recent awful collision on the Midland
aY,expired this morning. His name is Boles-
°lir he was landlord of the Three Horseshoes
ed e Derby-road, in this town. The injuries he
t,t, the moment of the accident N.ere compara-
. e44l' and up to Sunday last every hope was
e ;of his complete restoration. On that day,
tfcr4l:l'Y unfavourable symptoms became apparent,
[
"ngering in great agony about thirty hours,

ots:)ligh Coroner, M. Browne, E,q., has issued
'
4 evenn inquisition on the body, to sit at six
itnitig.
I,nent danger of another sufferer by the col-
lie i aki.oberts, of Leicester, a commercial traveller,
14,44'd of by the fo.ct, that a quart of brandy has
eat to to him e very day since the accident,
thdeath from sheer exhaustion. It will be re-
that this sufferer und,orweut an amputation of
otilia other severe operaticos.
etriar sufferers are progressinz favourably.
to °F Mr. Lightfoot, for ma, slaughter, is ex-
set.
e°ratuence on Saturday next, before Mr. Jus-

pursued, it was considered, in the year 1839, when
Captain Hobson Was sent otit, that the difliCulties which
had thits been created, could only be got rid of by ob-
taining from the natives their assent to the extension of
the authority of the British Crown over New Zealand.
Acting under the instructions he had received, Captain
Hobson, therefore, immediately on his arrival in New
Zealand, at the beginning of the year 1840, con-
cluded with a large number of the chiefs of the northern
island a treaty, known by tht name of the treaty of
Waitangi, by which, in return for their acknowledgment
of British sovereignty, they were promised protection,
and guaranteed in the possession of all lands held by
them individually or collectively. The evidence laid
before your Committee has led them to the conclusion
that the step thus taken, though a natural consequence
of previous errors of' policy, was a wrong one. It would
have been much better if no formal treaty whatever had
been made, since it is clear that the natives were inca-
pable of comprehending the real force and meaning of
such a transaction ; and it therefore amounted to little
more than a legal fiction, though it has already in
practice proved to be a very inconvenient one, and is
likely to be still more so hereafter. The sovereignty
over the northern island might have been at once as-
sumed, without this mere nominal treaty, on the ground
of prior discovery, and on that of the absolute necessity
of establishing the authority of the British Crown for
the protection of the natives themselves, when so large
a number of British subjects had irregularly settled
themselves in these islands as to make it indispensable
to provide some means of maintaining good order
amongst them. This was the course actually pursued
with respect to the middle and southern islands, to
which the treaty of Waitangi does not even nominally
ext( nd ; and there is every reason to presume that,
ing to the strong desire the natives are admitted
to have entertained for the security to be
derived from the protection of the British Government,
and for the advantages of a safe and well-
regulated intercourse with a civilized people, there
would have been no greater difficulty in obtaining their
acquiescence in the assumption of sovereignty than in
gaining their consent to the conclusion of the treaty;
while the treaty has been attended with the double dis-
advantage, first, that its terms are ambiguous, and, in
the sense in which they have been understood, highly
inconvenient ; and next, that it has created a doubt
which could not otherwise have existed, and which,
though not, in the opinion of your Committee, well-
founded, has been felt, and has practically been attended
with very injurious results, whether those tribes which
were not parties to it are even now subject to the autho-
rity of the Crown.
Your Committee have observed that the terms of the
treaty are ambiguous, and in the sense in which they
have been understood, have been highly inconvenient ;
in this we refer principally to the stipulations it contains
with respect to the right of property in land. The in-
formation which has been laid before us shows that these
stipulations, and the subsequent proceedings of the Go-
vernor founded upon them, have firmly established in the
minds of the natives notions, which they had then but
very recently been taught to entertain, of their having a
proprietary title of great value to land not actually oc-
cupied ; and there is every reason to believe that, if a
decided course had at that time been adopted, it would
not have been difficult to have made the natives under-
stand that, while they were to be secured in the undis-
turbed enjoyment of the land they actually occupied,
and of whatever further quantity they might really want
for their own use, all the unoccupied territory of the is-
lands was to vest in the Crown by virtue of the sove-
reignty that had been assumed.
Your Committee have already mentioned, that it is
one of the fundamental principles of colonial law and
policy, which they believe to have been correctly laid
down by Sir G. Gipps, that " the uncivilised inhabitants
of any country have but a qualified dominion over it or
a right of occupancy only ; and that until they esta-
blish aamongst themselves a settled form of government,
and subjugate the ground to their own uses by the
cultivation of it, they cannot grant to individuals not of
their own tribe any portion of it, for the simple reason
that they have not themselves any individual property
in it." Unfortunately, the original instructions given to
Captain Hobson, when he was sent out for the purpose
of establishing British dominion in New Zealand, were
not sufficiently precise upon this most important point.
They contained directions as to the manner in which he
was to proceed in purchasing land from the natives, and
they did not (as your Committee think that they ought
to have done) clearly lay down the rule that, sovereignty
being established, all unoccupied lands would forth-
with vest in the Crown, and that, except in virtue
of grants from the Crown, no valid title to land could
be established by Europeans. This mode of framing
the instructions seems to have led the first Governor
into the error of acting throughout upon the assumption
that no part of the extensive and unoccupied territory of
New Zealand was to be considered as belonging to the
Crown, or available under its authority for the purposes
of settlement, until first regularly sold by the natives.
This is not indeed distinctly stated in the treaty of Wai-
tangi ; had it been so, this treaty would probably have
been attended with less injurious consequences than it
actually has been ; since in that case there can be little
doubt that it would have been at once disallowed by her
Majesty's Government ; at least it is clear that the treaty
could not have been understood either by the Governor
of New South Wales or by the Secretary of State, in the
sense put upon it by Captain Hobson, since both ex-
pressed their approbation of it, though the former had
previously laid down the very different principle upon
this subject already quoted ; and the then Secretary of
State, Lord John Russell, after he had received and ap-
proved of the treaty, adopted in the most formal and
authentic manner the views of Sir George Gipps. By
the advice of Lord John Russell, in the month of De-
cember, 1840, a charter passed the great seal, by which
New Zealand was erected into a separate and inde-
pendent colony ; and this charter was transmitted,
together with instructions under the royal sign manual,
to the Governor, Captain Hobson. In this charter
and instructions, " actual occupation and enjoyment"
are clearly pointed out as alone establishing a right
of property in land to the natives ; and the rule is laid
down that all other lands must be considered as vested
in the Crown, in virtue of the sovereignty that had
been assumed, and that they must be dealt with accord-
ingly. The treaty of Waitangi (which had previously
reached England and had been approved), it may there-
fore fairly be assumed, must, when this charter and the
instructions which accompanied it were forwarded to the
colony, have been understood as bearing a meaning not
inconsistent with the terms in which they are couched.
The lands held " collectively," of which the possession
was guaranteed to the aboriginal inhabitants of New
Zealand, must therefore, have been regarded as the lands
actually occupied by them, and cultivated in common by
a tribe, in the manner frequently practised, and the
forests as those actually used for cutting timber. •
This is the interpretation which, consistently with the
ancient and acknowledged principles of colonial law as
laid down by Sir George Gipps, and consistently also
with the terms of the charter of the colony, and of the
royal instructions to the Governor, ought to have been
put upon the treaty ; had it been so, the most serious
of the evils which have since arisen would have been
avoided. If native rights to the ownership of land had
only been admitted when arising from occupation, there
would have been no difficulty in giving at once to the
settlers secure and quiet possession of the land they re-
quired, an i they would thus have been able to begin
without delay and in earnest the work of reclaiming
and cultivating the unoccupied soil. The proceedings of
the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the claims
to land would also then have been short and simple; they
would have had to inquire merely whether lands actually
occupied by natives had been fairly sold to settlers by
the occupants, and with respect to wild lands, whether
Europeans claiming to have purchased them had done so
at such a price, or had incurred such an expense in re-
spect of them, as to give to the supposed purchasers not
a right to the lands (for they could not derive a title
from parties who did not themselves possess one), but a
claim on the consideration of the Crown to have granted
to them as an indulgence more or less, according to
circumstances, of the lands they had nominally pur-
chased. With respect to the New Zealand Company,
as the extent of land to which they were entitled had
been already settled by a special agreement with the
Government and the award of Mr. Pennington, they
would at once have been put in possession of all that very
large proportion of the land on which they proposed
establishing settlements which was previously wild and
unoccupied ; and the question to be determined by the
Commissioners would have reduced itself to that of
whether those inconsiderable portions of land "actually
occupied and enjoyed" by natives had been fairly sold
by the occupants—a question the decision of which one
way or the other would have been comparatively unim-
portant.
To have proceeded in this manner, and to have as-
sumed at once all unoccupied land to belong to the Crown
as a right inherent in the sovereignty, would have been
attended with no sort of injustice to the natives, and
would have been conducive to their real interests. The
unoccupied land, previously to European settlement, was
of no value to them; they were neither a pastoral people,
nor one living, like the North American Indians, by the
chase, and therefore requiring a great extent of country
for their support ; they derived their chief subsistence
from the produce of the soil and agriculture, rude as it
was ; and, according to the witnesses who have been
examined by your Committee, hardly a thousandth part
of the available land was thus made use of by them.
A very different policy, with respect to ownership of
land, has been pursued, and has been attended with very
unfortunate results. Mr. Spain, who was sent out from
this country by Lord J. Russell to investigate the claims
to land of settlers in New Zealand, appears to have
been furnished with no precise instructions as to the
object of the intended inquiry, and the mode of con-
ducting it ; and as he, in common with the Governor
and the other colonial authorities, adopted the conclu-
sion that no land could be considered as vested in the
Crown, or in the New Zealand Company by virtue of
an agreement with the Crown, which could not be shown
to have been fairly purchased from the natives, there
was begun a protracted and most unsatisfactory in-
quiry as to the nature of these purchases. It was im •
post Able that the inquiry, having this object in view, could
be of a different character, since, if the point to be de-
termined was the validity of purchases from the natives,
it follows that it was necessary to ascertain not only the
bona fide nature of the supposed sale, but also the title
of the vendors to the property of which they claimed to
dispose. The difficulty of arriving at any satisfactory
conclusion upon either point was insuperable. The evi-
dence as to the reality of alleged sales was almost inva-
riably contradictory and confused, as might reasonably
have been anticipated, considering what imperfect means
of communication there were between the parties, and
how little one of them understood the nature of such
transactions. As to the title of the vendors, the case
was still more hopeless. The evidence before your Com-
mittee, both oral and documentary, leads to the conclu-
sion that the natives of New Zealand, till they learned
to do so from Europeans, attached no idea of value to
unoccupied land, and that though they had some vague

notions of certain circumstances (frequently connected
their peculiar superstitions) giving preferable claims
to particular tribes ever particular districts, yet, practi-
cally, the right by which territory was held was that of
tho strongest. Yor Committee need hardly point out
the manifest absurdity of atteu;ging to apply the no-
tices of English law, with respect lo laneis:;.! ...Propertyc
to such a state of society, tied the utter fruitlessness
an endeavour to disentangle the complicated Red con
flitting claims set up by different tribes to wild land ;
this inquiry having to be conducted by Europeans, igno-
rant both of the language of the natives, and of their
barbarous and superstitious customs, on which the claims
to lsnd very frequently depended.
The policy adopted of entering into such an inquiry,
and of acknowledging the claim of the natives to pay-
ment for the unoccupied lands, has had effects very in-
jurious to the interests both of the settlers and of the
natives themselves. With respect to the settlers, by
preventing them for so long a period from obtaining pos-
session by a secure title of the land they required for
cultivation, it has given a most serious check to the pro
gress of improvement, and very greatly retarded the
arrival of the time when the colony would have been
able to produce food enough for its own consumption,
and also something to export in payment for the various
supplies it requires from the mother country and from
other quarters. To the natives this policy has been still
more injurious ; it has created a strong feeling of irrita-
tion between them and the settlers, from the existence of
which they cannot fail ultimately to be the chief suf-
ferers ; the large amount of property they have received
in payment for land which was of no real use to them
before, instead of being of permanent advantage to
them, has been speedily and improvidently consumed,
and has only served to excite in them the passion of
cupidity, and to produce quarrels amongst themselves,
which in one case at ast have broken out into open war.
Even Mr. Clarke, the chief protector, who has insisted so
much upon their obtaining a very high price for their
land, has admitted that the " sudden affluence" to which ,
th >3,- have been raised has had " an unfriendly in-
fluence on their moral improvement." The worst con-
sequence of all, as it appears to your Committee, of the
CO ITSC which has been pursued, is, that it has lowered
the authority of the Government over the natives, and
given rise, on their part, to claims which it is greatly
to be feared they will not peaceably be brought to forego;
and which yet cannot be allowed without the sacrifice of
the principal means of promoting the advancement of
the colony. We beg particularly to refer, in support of
what we have now stated, to the long report of Mr.
Spain, the Commissioner of Land Claims, dated the 12th
of September, 1643, and to the dispatch of the acting
Governor of the 30th of October, 1843, and its enclo-
sures. On reference to these documents it will be
found that the effects attributed by your Committee to
the policy which has been pursued are distinctly recog-
nised by those of the public servants in the colony by
whom that policy has been chiefly maintained. It is also
peculiarly deserving of remark, that precisely the same
difficulties in establishing to the satisfaction of the na-
tives the validity of sales of land alleged to have been
made by them, which, in the case of the settlements in
Cook's Straits, have been attributed to the careless mode
of proceeding adopted by the Company's agents have
since been experienced to fully as great an extent with
respect to purchases made on behalf of the Government
in the northern part of the island by the Protector of
Aborigines himself. In the letter of Colonel God-
frey (one of the Commissioners of Land Claims) of the
10th of February, 1843, will be found an account of
the embarrassment created by the positive denial b
the natives of the validity of a sale of land which
Mr. Clark reported had been made to him, as agent to
the Government, with every possible precaution, in the
year 1840. If these and similar claims are rejected, we
cannot but apprehend that, after the concessions already
made, much dissatisfaction, if not resistance, is to be an-
ticipated from the natives ; on the other hand, if the
claims are admitted, we see no security whatever that
additional payments now made for land formerly sup..
posed to have been sold will give any permanent satis-
faction, and will not, on the contrary, serve as a stimulus
to still more unreasonable demands hereafter, while, even
if such payments should be final, we cannot but regard
it as a great misfortune that large sums of money should
be so applied. In Mr. Spain's report, already quoted,
he estimates that from 5,0001. to 6,0001. will be required
to compensate the natives for the blocks of land al-
ready surveyed by the servants of the New Zealand Com-
pany in the southern part of the northern island ; and,
in making this estimate, it appenrs (though this is not,
very clear), that he contemplates leaving them in pos-
session of the grounds they actually occupy. If this
land is to be paid for at so high a rate, it is obvious that
it will create in the minds of the natives an expectation
that similar prices will be given for the land that will
hereafter be required, and thus an enormous charge will
be entailed upon the progress of future settlements.
Whi.e we were considering our report, additional evi-
dence of the magnitude of this evil has been laid be-

fore us.
The land, it must be remembered, derives its only
value from the application of European labour and capi-
tal ; whatever is paid for it to the natives must even-
tually be taken from the price paid for it by settlers,
either to the Company or to the Government, and will
be so much deducted from the fund, which ought to be
most carefully husbanded and applied to the great pur-
poses of promoting emigration, and of meeting the first
and pressing wants of a young settlement ; as, for in-
stance, the construction of roads and bridges, and the
building and endowing of churches, schools, and hospi-
tals. For these purposes, in which the British settlers
and the original inhabitants are equally interested, every
shilling is wanted which the emigrant can afford to pay
for land, without trenching too deeply on his available
capital ; and it appears to your Committee to be equally
contrary, both to real justice and to sound policy, that
large sums of money should be taken from a fund de•
voted to objects of such high importance, in order to be
given to barbarous tribes, who at best will unprofitably
squander what is so improvidently placed at their dis-
posal.
Your Committee have found it necessary to enter more
at length than we could have wished into the question,
whether the ownership of unoccupied land ought to
have been considered as vested in the Crown or in the
native tribes, because, in our opinion, all the difficulties
which have been experienced in the colonization of New
Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the erroneous
view of this question which has been taken by those to
whose hands the powers of government have in these
islands been committed. But, erroneous as they believe
the policy hitherto pursued to have been, they are sen-
sible of the great difficulty which may now be expe-
rienced in changing it ; and, bearing in mind the great
distance of these islands, and the consequent impossi-
bility of knowing what may be the state of affairs there,
when any instructions that may be sent out shall reach
the Governor, they are not prepared to recommend that
he should be peremptorily ordered to assert the rights of
the Crown as they believe them to exist ; all they advise
is, that he should have clearly. explained to him what
those rights are and the principles on which they rest,
and should be directed to adopt such measures as he may
consider best calculated to meet the difficulties of the
case, and to establish the title of the Crown to all un-
occupied land as soon as this can be safely accomplished.
He ought also, we conceive, to be directed to grant legal
titles to the actual occupants of land, unless under special
circumstances of abuse, requiring in those cases in which
it may seem to be proper reasonable payment from the
settlers for land so granted to them.
(To be continued.)

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL
SOCIETY.

This Society met on Monday last, Mr. Murchison
President, in the chair. The paper of the evening
was the Chevalier Schomburgk's account of his last
expedition in British Guayana, viz., his route from
Pirara to the Upper Cerentyu, and from thence to
Demerara. This was rather a large volume than a
paper, so that portions only could be read ; and as
these will be continued at the next meeting, we re-
serve our report of Mr. Schomburgk's interesting
explorations till then. We must, however, add, that
the walls of the large room of the Society were lite-
rally covered with the beautiful drawings of Mr.
Goodall, the artist of the expedition, and the splendid
maps constructed by Mr. Schomburgk ; while on the
tables were displayed about 150 more drawings, and
a vast number of specimens of minerals and beauti-
ful woods, which latter might with much advantage
be introduced into this country. Mr. Schomburgk
was present, and, after answering many questions put
to him by the President and members, said that, be-
fore leaving this country to return to his family after
so long an absence (four years), he begged to express
his warm gratitude to the Society, who had been the
first to take him by the hand, and his assurance that
he had done all in his power to render himself worthy
of the encouragement he had received from it. It
will be remembered that Mr. Schomburgk received
the gold medal of the Society in 1840.

TUE FRosT.—We gave warning, last Monday, to
all wise and prudent housekeepers to lay in a stock of
coals, as, frequently, dense fogs were the heralds of sharp
and continued frosts ; unfortunately for the poor the
snow of last Sunday and Monday still lies upon our
fields and houses, and winter in his most grisly shape
has laid his icy hand upon us ; this night week our frost
commenced, and we see no likelihood of when we shall
have a thaw. Our gutters are six inches thick with ice,
the glass has been twelve below freezing point, the
skaiters are looking everywhere for ponds, and furs and
muffled forms are the order of the day. With all this
the weather has been most cheering ; our days, with the
blue skies above us, have wore more the appearance of a
clear and exhilirating Canadian winter than anything
we remember in Europe. And this, the first week in
December ! Which of the young men of the day remem-
bers a similar early continuous frost ? During the
eighteenth century it was common ; with the nineteenth
winter delayed his visits generally to the new year, and
often, as last season, forgot his urbanity all together. To
what then are we indebted for this change ? Is it to the
comets or the eclipses ? Whatever the cause, we hope
the poor will not be forgotten.—Boulogne Gazette of
Monday.
TUE WEATHER.—The' change to frost, which we
noticed on Thursday last, has continued since then with-
out intermission, and with increasing intensity. The
thermometer on Thursday night indicated, in a northern
exposure, 23 degrees—nine degrees below freezing—and
has generally ranged from 25 to 30 degrees throughout
the day. On Friday the ice on lluddingston Loch was
so strong as to tempt some keen skaters to enjoy their
favourite sport on the margins of the loch. Should the
frost continue, as it appeared to do last night, the whol
of this beautiful sheet of water will be safe for all skaters
to-day. The change of weather, we perceive, i
thes general
—winter, though somewhat early, prevails over whole
island. In this neighbourhood every description of out-
door-labour has been suspended for the last five or six
days.—Ca/ecknian Mercury of Monday.

THE ntOST AND THE PARKS.
The frost during yesterday was considerably dimi-
eished in severity, but there Was by no means any ap-
pearance of a thaw. The thertreseneter at the Royal • -
Humane Society's Receiving-house hi Byde-park, and at
the Society's marquees in Regent's-park an
mo d St. James's-
gto 30 ts 34
park, exhibited 30 degrees early in the rning, but
te.
ascended between twelve and two o'clock s hi h
delefeee .eet last. evening the mercury reebeled
degree., with the wind still N.E., but more calm. The
degree.,
nd the barometer 30.4, indicitellng
itmosphere wits hazy, p,
slight change.
Woo round pond in Ken
in good condition,
The ice on the Long -
k of the Long-
singtonegardens was very strong em.
and on them during the day the n'enibt...: of skaters was,
had their
upwards of 2,000. On the north ban
water the Skating Club yesterday morni.l7s
marquee erected, and several of the members s..
'eated on
the ice during the afternoon. No accidents, we are I.IrPT
to ray, occurred.
The ice in the centre of the Serpentine is not above
two inches in thickness, and at the aides it is not near
so thick. It is, therefore, still considered most danger-
ous. Notwithstanding, however, the numerous cautions
given by the Royal Humane Bocie's icimen,
ky
2,500 skaters ventured thereon, and the banks were
thronged by respectably and fashionablysdreseed pe f
rsons. ee
The drive on the north side exhibited also a very aires,
display of fashionable equipages, considering the state of .
the weather and the advanced period of the year. One
accident only occurred during the day, and that I,ook,
place about ten minutes to three o'clock, when a mail
named William Somers, who was engaged on the north
bank of the Serpentine at the east end in cutting the ice
fur removal to the ice-wells of Buckingham Palace for
the use of her Majesty, became immersed in ten feet
water, hut was speedily extricated by a fellow labourer
by means of a boat-hook before the Humane Society's
men could reach him. Ile was immediately conveyed
by iceman Robinson on an ice-sledge to the receiving-
house, where he was attended by Dr. Woolley, and
placed in a hot bath, and afterwards in a warm bed. The
unfortunate man appeared in a wretched state of poverty
end disease, tied Mr. Alderman Wilson and Mr. Oldham,
who witnessed the accident, left at the receiving-house a
sovereign towards buying him clothes better adapted for
the season.
The ice in the Regent's-park is in quite a sound con-
dition, and is from two inches to two inches and three
quarters in thickness. The number of skaters was be-
tween 4,000 and 5,000, and the banks of the ornamen-
tal water were lined by persons letting skates for hire.
No accidents occurred.
The ice on the lake in St. James's-park was yesterday
about two inches in thickness, and rather less dangerous
than on the preceding day, but by eo means safe.
During the day there were several thousand skaters, but,
no accidents whatever. At an early hour yesterday
morning Superintendent Williams attended, and directed
the men in the operation of cutting away the ice in the
vicinity of the recent accident, in order to ascertain if
there 11 ere (as reported) any bodies beneath the ice.
Four men were engaged during the greater part of the
day constantly using ti.e cbe'gs,
and dredging. Mr. Wil-
liams's newly-invented floating drag for creeping under
been already stated, were found ; but a _hat'
the surface of the ice was also trice'. No bodies, as has
crape band, which were two handkerchsl'is'
with a black
ene blue
and white. and the other a lady's white hant:kerchQ„ienh'
marked "W. E 11., 5." The two icemen, 0...\-r-e
Knight and Charles Clapstone, for their great country:-
and praiseworthy exertions on Sunday, have been libe•
rally rewarded by the Royal Humane Society.
Arrangements are now in progress for building new
it
fornh tareit,tnhhtdelelcesrdrye,
hksbaiesymea
penteshriebs:Commissionersattend
cdeno
asif
night
lodges in the inclosure for the parkekeepers, and it is
h:Vttdooacosfoaownsrsemael 1:11q rdua ese dotyleryend sctatei
rse:
navigation is uninterrupted. The docks, though par-
tially frozen, do not offer any obstruction to the move-
ments of the shipping, barges, &c. Last evening the
thermometer at six o'clock, at the Dockmaster's•office,
St. Katharine's, stood at 32 degrees, freezing point,
being four degrees higher than on the preceding evening
at the same hour. There was a fresh breeze during the. ,
day about NiE. The atmosphere had a gloomy ap- ;I.'t
pearance. •

I%IONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.
FROMhadexceeded
Tilt
MORNING t
reTmilalsiniDng Ais on
.um
i t 0 PAPERStake th OF
F
CITY, TUESDAY EVENING.
TIMES.—The delay in making known from the
Treasury, in an official shape, the result of the biddings
for the portion now offered of the Canada loan, has
arisen, it appears, under circumstances rather peculiar to
the present transaction. When the tenders first pre-
sented were opened it was found that all except. one
were below the limit previously fixed by the Treasury,
and that the one above the limit was only for a portion
of the sum to be bid fur. On the occasion of the bid-
ding for the first allotment of the loan, as will be re-
collected, all the biddings were below the Chancellor of
the Exchequer's minimum; but on his declaring what it
was, and opening the sealed papers produced at the -
meeting, the terius were acceded to by all the bidders
for the respective amounts fur which they bad ten-
dered. On the present occasion these two modes
of proceeding were at the option of the Treasury—
to declare then the limit, and afford a chance to
those below it, or propose to the parties whose
offer
the terms of that offer, which latter vi as the course
adopted. Ai a reference was probably necessary to •
the principals from whom that offer had pro-
ceeded, the delay of a short time in any de-
elaration of the r final result became unavoidatole,'..
unless Mr. Goulburu had chosen to name his limit then,
and to take the chances either of those below it agreeing
to accept it, or of those above it (one party only) con-
,enting at once to those terms for the remainder. Thus
the case has become a very nice one ; and a keen con-
troversy has arisen in the money market whether the
Chancellor of the Exchequer has pursued a strictly fair
course in the matter. In the Stock Exchange we suspect
the votes will be against him ; but, acting for the public,
who have to take the consequence of his bargain, we
think that he has done just what he ought to do. hile
a chance remained of obtaining the terms of the accepted.
portion for the whole of the sum under negotiation, he
could not consistently give those who were below his
limit the power of advancing up to it, since to that ex-
tent he would have damaged the public, or the colony
for which the loan, under the security of the home Go-
vernment, is entered into. The only question that can arise
is, whether a longer delay than was necessary for such a
purpose has not been consented to. To avoid any charge
of juggling with the moneyed interest, the minimum of the
Chancellor has, it is understood, been placed, sealed, in
the hands of the Governor of the Bank, only to be
opened in the event of any dispute hereafter as to what
that limit really was.
There has been much expectation in the City during
the day as to the final result of this matter ; but all that
has transpired in the affair is, that one house, Messrs.
Hammond, Scott, and Co., has taken rather more than to
half the loan at the price of 112 ; but in what manner„6
the remainder is placed is not yet known. Neither is it"
known at present what the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
minimum was.
The premium on gold at Paris is 12 per mills,
which, at the English Mint price of 31. 17s. 141. per
ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 25
45 ; and the exchange at Paris on London at shoit
being 25 57*, it follows that gold is 0.49 per cent.
dearer in London than in Paris.
By advices from Hamburgh the price of gold is 434
per mark, which, at the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. 100.
per ounce for standard gold, gives an exchange of 13 9i ;
and the exchange at Hamburgh on London at short
being 13 94, it follows that gold is the same price in both
places.
SUN.—A further advance occurred in Consols this
afternoon, after it became known that the French Loan
had been taken at a high price. Quotations 4to i per
cent. above par were realised for Consols. Exchequer
Bills brought 565. to 58s. premium, and Reduced Three
per Cents. touched 1001 to 1004.
There was no improvement in the Foreign Bonds.
Spanish Actives were 244; and the Three per Cents.,
36i 1. Brazilian were 884, and Portuguese Converted,
56 to *.
The additional transactions in Railway Shares have
been these :—Chester and Holyhead were 1 ; Churnet
Valley, I to 4 ; Great Southern and Western (Irelan' •,. ,
38; Great Western, 73; Ditto, Fifths, 151; Binning. , A. ,'„
122 ; Ditto, Thirds, 364; Ditto, Fifths, 24 to it; BOUtb:,:`,'
Western, 411 to 43*; Croydon, 3 ; Manchester and'..i,
Leeds, Sixteenths, 2* to 3; Norwich and Brandon, New,
24; Rugby I• South-Eastern, 54; Boulogne sad
Amiens, 3ci- ; 'Orleans and Bordeaux, 4i; and Paris
and Orleans, 22* premium. Eastern Union were 1
discount, and Brighton 4 discount to par. British
North American Bank Shares were 51 discount, and
London Joint-Stock 3i premium.
There was a decline in the rate of Exchange on Ham-
burgh, Trieste, and Paris, but upon Antwerp, Amster-
dam, and Frankfort, the quotations were firm.
The following is the official return of the exports of
bullion from the port of London for the week ending
Thursday last :
Silver Coin to China 3,600 ounces.
Silver Coin to Rotterdam 60,000 „
Silver Bars to Rotterdam .. 5,600 „
Silver Bars to Hamburgh 45,000 ~

DIABOLICAL ACT.—On Tuesday night last some
evil-disposed person tied a rope across the high road, at
a place called Cat's-hill, in this county, with the inten-
tion, no doubt, to cause mischief. It appears, that on the
same night a son of Mr. Wrenn, fishmonger, Ware, hap-
pened to pass down this hill in a cart, and being unable
to perceive the obstruction in consequence of the ex-
treme darkness of the night, the horse came in contact
with it, and the result was, that the animal was thrown
down, the cart turned over, and the driver precipitated
into the road. The shafts of the vehicle were broken ;
but we hear that the driver and the horse escaped with
comparatively little injury. It is sincerely to be wished
that the perpetrator of this diabolical and cowardly act
may be detected.—Hertford County Press.
On Friday, some bills becoming due at several of
the Perth banking-houses, and none of the parties
concerned having appeared,it was discovered, on
inquiry,
that forgeries to a very considerable amount had been
committd. The usual steps being taken under simi-
lar circumstances, it was ascertained that the guilty
party had absconded. This was no less a personage
than the Ile,. —, minister of the neighbouring parish
of --. No sooner did such an extraordinary circum-
stance become knowe than it became the subject of every-
body's talk ; and during the whole of Saturday, Sunday,
and Monday, up to the hour of post, innumerable ru-
mours.and conjectures were in circulation as to the ex-
tent of Mr. —'s delinquencies, and the parties involved
by his frauds. All that can be stated in the meantime
is, that Mr. —, with a stipend of 4001. a year, has ab•
sconded ; that there can be little doubt he is guilty of
fraud and forgeries to a considerable amount ; and we
believe that this is all that any one is justified in stating
in the present state of information on such a disagree-
able subject.—Perth Pape%

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