The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-16 00:00:00

NE W ZEALAND.

We have received a file of the Nelson Examiner
and New Zealand Chronicle, to the Ist of May, from
which we extract the following -
" SPEI4.:CH OF THE GOVERNOR AT THE
CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

" GENTLEMEN-4 cannot allow the session to come
to a close without congratulating you, and through
you the colony at large, on the result of your labours.
" I believe that the statute-book of New Zealand
for the present year contains a more important code of
laws than was ever passed by any colonial legislative
body during a single session, and I cannot but esteem
it a privilege to have had an opportunity of taking
part in laying the foundation of the youngest and
most distant, but by no means the least important of
the numerous colonial dependencies of Great Britain.
"During the present session, provision has been
made for the efficient administration of justice, in all
its various branches, with a due regard to the exist-
ence of scattered settlements, rapidly increasing in
number and extent. For this purpose, the ordinances
for establishing a Supreme Court and• County Courts,
and indeed all the ordinances of the session, have been
based upon the principle of localising the machinery
of the government of each separate settlement, and of
rendering them as independent as possible of the
capital. Circuit Courts have been established, to sit
twice a year—and Local Courts to sit .monthly, for
the dispatch of both civil and criminal business.
Though possessing but limited power in ordinary
cases, the Judges of the County Courts are invested
with the power of granting injunctions, and other im-
portant powers, which must be exercised promptly to
secure the ends of justice, and to prevent irreparable
injuryi to property.
By confiding to the paid Magistrates alone—to
men who are appointed to the office for their fitness
for the efficient discharge of its duties—the important
power of depriving their fellow-subjects of liberty, on
charges of felony or misdemeanour, and, by securing
to every man committed for trial the verdict of a Jury
of his country, openly declared, instead of the secret
fiat of the Attorney-General, the Police Magistrates
Bill appears to me to be calculated to effect a bene-
ficial alteration in our colonial practice.
"The power of dealing summarily with trifling
cases of larceny, given to the Police Magistrate by
that Bill, has been suggested by the recommendation
of her Majesty's Criminal-law Commissioners.
"In a new country, where land forms so impor-
tant a subject of commerce, it, is desirable that its
transfer should be made a simple and easy trans-
action.' To effect this object the law of real .pro-
perty bias undergone a complete revision ; many of
the useless forms and subtleties of that difficult
branch of the law have now been abolished, short
and simple modes of conveying property have been
substituted, and I believe it will be found that the
Bill to facilitate the transfer of real property and to
simplify the law relating thereto, embodies almost all
the well-considered amendments which have been
recently suggested by the most distinguished English
lawyers, but which, from the technical nature of the
subject, and the opposing influence of a powerful pro-
fession, have not been effected in the law of real pro-
perty in England. It is not only desirable, however,
that the transfer of real property should be made
simple and easy, but that the title to so frequent and
important a' subject of sale and mortgage should, as
far as possible, be rendered secure. To effect so de-
sirable an object, a Bill has been passed to provide for
the registration of deeds and instruments.affecting the
title to real property. In the framing of this com-
prehensive measure, advantage has been taken of the
copious and valuable reports of the English real pro-
perty law commissioners. If carried into execution
with accuracy and skill, the Registration Bill will, I
trust, prove one of the most valuable colonial
enactments.

" In a political point of view, the most important
measure of the session remains to be noticed. If her
Majesty's Government had not pointed out the expe-
diency of doing so, the physical character of the
country would have suggested the necessity of invest-
ing the inhabitants of the various settlements in tiffs'
colony with ample powers of local self-government.
While it grants to every body corporate the power of
undertaking, at the, cost of the borough, any works
that may be required to promote the good order, health,
and convenience of its inhabitants, and to render the
navigation of its harbours safe, easy, and commodious,
the Bill to provide for the establishment of municipal
corporations makes no requirements which may not
readily be complied with.: By leaving to the various
settlements the managementof their own local affairs,
the general government will. be relieved of a duty it
could but ill perform,. The inhabitants of each of them
will be interested. id:developing its resources, and in
making it as attractive as possible to the emigrant;
and by this means an honourable rivalry will be
created, and the prosperity of the colony at length
ultimately promoted. That the opposition which this
measure met with in its most popular principles, dur-
ing its progress through the Council, should have been
led by one who was selected as representing the colo-
nists of the New Zealand Company's principal settle.'
its
freshness, a body of people bringing with them in all
freshness, unimpaired, the English love of liberty, may
well form a subject of astonishment and regret.
" Believing that neither the interests of the claim-
ants themselves, nor the future prosperity of the co-
lony, would be consulted by allowing Sir George
Gipps's plan for the settlement of the land claims ques-.
tion to be carried into effect, the Local Government
with much labour introduced a measure, which alone
appeared calculated to meet the many difficulties in
which that subject was involved. So beneficial ap-
peared to me to be the general principles of that mea-
sure, that, in introducing it to the approval of -this
Council, I did not hesitate to incur the resposibility
of deviating from the letter of my instructions. If
that Bill had become law, the said claimant would
almost immediately have acquired a valuable, and
available, and marketable property. Every ab-
sentee claimant would have had an interest in
bringing before the public the many recommen-
dations and valuable resources of the colony ; a
numerous body of settlers would have been drawn
around the three principal settlements of the northern
part of this island, and the value of property in them
rapidly increased. By satisfying all the claimants
southwards of Auckland by grants of land in the
neighbourhood of this town, a district containing all
the advantages of vicinity to the capital, and to the
two harbours of Waitemata and Manakau on the
eastern and western coasts, fertility of soil, and the
extraordinary facilities of internal water communica-
tion afforded by the various branches of the Tarnuki,
it is not easy to decide whether the claimants them-
selves, or those who are interested in the prosperity
of the capital in the colony at large, would have de-
rived the greatest advantage. Believing, though it
would now seem erroneously, the clamour raised by
its introduction to represent the feeling of the claim-
ants generally, I deemed it my duty to withdraw the
Bill first introduced for settling the land claims ques-
tion. Though the motives of the Government were
then generally ioisrepresented, vilified, and impugned,
I believe the time is not far distant when it will be as
generally considered, that the original land claims
bill would not only have prompted the successful co-
lonization of the country, but would, at the same time,
have materially advanced the interest of the claimant.
" In the course of the session, it has been made a
subject of complaint by one of the members of this
Council, and formally recorded by him upon the
minutes, that the suggestions of the mercanti lemem-
hers have not been received with due deference. I
trust and believe that such a complaint is without
foundation, and that the charge conveyed by it rests,
on the unsupported assertion of its author. Through-