the filetropolts.

A Court of Common Council was held on Wednesday. The report of the Committee on Steam-boat Piers recommended the erection of a two-arched pier at Blackfriars Bridge as a landing-place, and requested power to by a plan before the Court. In the course of discussion, the Lord Mayor said that all the landing-piers in the river are bad—made of rotten barges. The report was adopted.

A meeting of the subscribers to the proposed dinner to Greenwich pensioners who had fought with Nelson, was held on Thursday, at Willis's Rooms, to consider what should be done with the funds in hand. A report was read by the Secretary, which asserted that the Government authorities had more than once agreed that the dinner should be given in Trafalgar Square, and then refused to allow it. They now refuse to permit it under any circumstances. It was resolved that medals should be presented to each of the pensioners, and the remainder of the money divided among their wives and families. The subscrip- tions received for the dinner-fund amount to 4071. 7s. 5d.; of which 611. Is. 3d. has been expended in printing, &c. The balance in hand is 3471. 6s. ; of which some portion is owing for medals already struck.

A special general meeting of the New Zealand Company was held on Wednesday, to receive a report from the Directors on the result of the Parliamentary inquiry. The document comprised the entire Report of the Select Committee, which was presented to the House of Com- mons on Monday last. The gist of the Committee's Report, and their judgment on the questions at issue between the Colonial Office and the Company, are conveyed in the following nineteen Resolutions, with which it concludes- " L That the conduct of the New Zealand Company, in sending out settlers to New Zealand, not only without the sanction, but in direct defiance of the authority of the Crown, was highly irregular and improper.

" 2. That the conclusion of the treaty of Waitangi by Captain Hobson with certain natives of Nett Zealand was a part of a series of injudicious proceed- ings, which had commenced several years previous to his assumption of the local government.

" 3. That the acknowledgment by the local authorities of a right of property on the part of the Natives of New Zealand in all wild land in those islands, after the sovereignty bad been assumed by her Majesty, was not essential to the true construction of the treaty of Waitangi, and was an error which has been productive of very injurious coneequences. " 4. That the New Zealand Company has a right to expect to be put in pos- session by the Government, with the least possible delay, of the number of acres awarded to it by Mr. Pennington ; that the Company has this right as against the estate of the Crown, without reference to the validity, or otherwise, of its supposed purchases from the Natives, all claims derived from which have been surrendered.

" 5. That the Company, in selecting the land to be granted by the Crown, within the defined limits, cannot claim the grant of any land not vested in the Crown.

" 6. That meansought to he forthwith adopted for establishing the exclusive title of the Crown to all land not actually occupied and enjoyed by Natives, or held under grants of the Crown : such land to be considered as vested in the Crown for the purpose of being employed in the manner most contlacive-to,the welfare of the inhabitants, whether Natives or Europeans. " 7. That in order to prevent land from being held by parties not intendine to make use of the same, a land•tax, not exceeding twopence an acre, ought to be imposed; that all parties claiming land should be required to put in their claims, and pay one year's) tax in advance, within twelve months. " 8. That such tax ought not to be considered as applying to the whole estate of the New Zealand Company, so long as they shall continue to sell not less than one twenty-fifth of the laud granted to them annually and to expend a fixed proportion of the proceeds in emigration. " 9. That such tax ought also not to be considered as applying to lands now actually occupied and enjoyed by the Natives, or to reserves set apart and held for their benefit.

" 10. That reserves ought to be made for the Natives, interspersed with the lands assigned to settlers, with suitable provision for regulating their alienation and preserving the use of them for the Natives as long as may be necessary; and that these reserves ought not to be included in calculating the amount of land due to that Company.

" 11. That as it appears by evidence, that the non-settlement of the land- claims has been productive of great confusion and mischief in the colony, it is expedient to adopt measures for granting legal titles with the least possible delay to the actual occupants of land, unless under special circumstances of abuse.

0 12. That the prohibition to all private persons to purchase land from the Natives ought to be strictly enforced; except that land which may have been purchased by Natives they should be at liberty to sell again, provided the trans- action be sanctioned by the Protector.

" 13. That it is highly important that the Governor should have more effectual means of enforcing obedience to his authority, and also greaten facility for visiting frequently the different settlements; and that with this view it is expedient that an armed steamer, of moderate size, be placed at his disposal.

" 14. That it is expedient that the settlers should be organized as a militia, under the orders and control of the Governor ; Natives, under proper precau- tions, being allowed to serve in it.

" 15. That it is expedient that an attempt should also be made to raise and discipline a Native force of a more permanent character, officered in general by Europeans, but in which any of the Natives who may be found trustworthy may hold commands.

" 16. That the employment of Natives in the civil service of the Govern- ment, in any situations in which they can be useful, is highly desirable. " 17. That efforts should be made gradually to wean the Natives from their ancient customs, and to induce them to adopt those of civilized life, upon the principle recommended by Captain Grey, in his Report on the mode of intro- ducing civilization among the Natives of Australia. " 18. That the principles on which the New Zealand Company have acted in making the reserves for the Natives, with a view to their ultimate as well at present welfare, and in making suitable provision for spiritual and educational purposes, are sound and judicious, tending to the benefit of all classes. " 19. That the Committee, upon a review of the documentary evidence re- lating to the loss of life at Wairoa, without offering any opinion upon the law of the case, deem it an act of justice to the memory of those who fell there, to state, that it appears that the expedition in question was undertaken for a par. pose believed by the parties to be lawful and desirable, and which also example in analogous cases had unfortunately led them to expect might be effected without resistance from the Natives. The Committee cannot withhold the els pression of their regret at the loss of life which occurred ; especially the loss of Captain Arthur Wakefield, whose long and distinguished services in the British Navy are recorded in the papers before the Committee, and of Mr. Thompson, the Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. Richardson, the Crown Prosecutor, Captain England, Mr. Cotterell, Mr. Patchett, and Mr. Howard."

In the Report introducing these Resolutions, the Commons Com• mittee devote some space to developing their views on the Native rights in the soil: we select the passages that have the most general bearing- " It appears to your Committee, that the difficulties now experienced in New Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the fact, that in the measures which have been taken for establishing a British colony in these islands, those rules as to the mode in which colonization ought to be conducted, which have been drawn from reason and from experience, have not been sufficiently attended to. When it was first proposed to establish New Zealand as a British colony de• pendent upon New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, the Governor of the latter,' in a very able address, laid down the following principles as those on which he had framed the bill which it was his duty to submit to his Legislative Council for the regulation of the infant colony of New Zealand—' The bill is founded,' he said, ' upon two or three general principles, which, until I heard them here controverted, I thought were fully admitted, and indeed received as political axioms. The first is, that the uncivilized inhabitants of any country have but a qualified dominion over it, or a right of occupancy only ; and that, until they establish among themselves a settled form of government, and subjugate the ground to their own uses by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to indi- viduals not of their own tribe any portion of it—for the simple reason that they, have not themselves any individual property in it. Secondly, that if a settle- ment be made in any such country by a civilized power, the right of preemption of the soil, or, in other words, the right of extinguishing the native title, is exclusively in the government of that power, and cannot be enjoyed by individuals without the consent of their government. The third principle is, that neither individuals nor bodies of men belonging to any nation can form colonies, except with the consent and under the direction and control of their own Government ; and that from any settlement which they may form without the consent of their Government they may be ousted. This is simply to say, as far as Englishmen are concerned, that colonies cannot be formed without the consent of the Crown.' " After adverting to the treaty of Waitangi, between Captain Hobson and some of the Native chiefs, in which Hobson guaranteed to them a proprietary right in their lands, and which they condemn, the Com- mittee apply the principles laid down- " 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 ; and they would thus have been able to begin without delay and in earnest the work of reclaiming and cultivating the unoccupied soil. The pro! ceedings of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the claims of knd 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 is respect 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 purchased. 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 in- considerable portions of lands 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 unimportant." • * *

" A very different policy, with respect to the ownership of land, has been pursued, and has been attended with very unfortunate results. Mr. Spain, who was trent out from this country by Lord John 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 conducting it ; and as he, in common with the Governor and the other Colonial authorities, adopted the conclusion that no land could be considered as vested in the Crown, or in the New Zealand-Company by virtue of an agree- ment with the Crown, which could not be shown to have been fairly purchased from the Natives, there was begun a protracted and most unsatisfactory inquiry as to the nature of these purchases. It was impossible that the inquiry, having this object in view, could be of a different character ; since, if the point to be determined was the validity of purchases from the Natives, it followed that it was necessary to ascertain not only the bond fide nature of the supposed sale, but also the title of the vendors to the property of which they claimed to dis- pose. The difficulty of arriving at any satisfactory conclusion upon either point was insuperable."

The following passage contains the sting of the Report as ajudgment against the Colonial Office-

" Erroneous as they believe the policy hitherto pursued to have been, they are sensible of the great difficulty which may now be experienced in changing it; and, bearing in mind the great distance of these islands, and the consequent impossibility of knowing what may be the state of affairs there when any in- structions that may be sent out shall reach the Governor, they are not pre- pared 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 be 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 unoccupied land, as soon as this can be safely accomplished. He ought also, we conceive, to be directed to grant legal titles to the actual oceupants 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. " The observations already made will enable your Committee very briefly to express their opinion on the question which has led to so much discussion, as to whether the New Zealand Company are entitled to call upon her Majesty's Government to put them in possession of a large extent of land, without re- ference to the validity of their supposed purchases from the Natives. If the view which we have taken of the right of the Crown to the whole of the un- occupied soil of New Zealand, and of the nullity of all private purchases of land from the Natives, be a correct one, and if this were also the view of the then Secretary of State at the time that the arrangement with the New Zea- land Company was concluded, it follows as a matter of course, that by that arrangement it must have been intended to give to the Company a claim binding in good faith upon the estate of the Crown, to the number of acres awarded to them by Mr. Pennington ; and that this claim could not in any way be affected by the character of those supposed purchases from the Natives, which it was the very object of the whole arrangement to set aside as altogether null and invalid. We have already fully stated our reasons for the conclusion to which we have come with respect to the rights of the Crown : we have therefore only to add, that we cannot doubt this conclusion to be completely in accordance with what were the views of the then Secretary of State, since we find that the Charter ander the great seal, by which New Zealand was erected into a separate colony, and the original instructions under the Royal sign•mannal, which were drawn up at nearly the same time that the arrangement with the Company was under discussion, were couched in terms which, as we have already observed, clearly imply that the ownership of land by the Natives was regarded as being con- fined to that which was actually occupied and enjoyed by them,' and that all unoccupied land was vested in the Crown ; while the acknowledgment of any claim of right on the part of Europeans to land, in virtue of supposed sales from the Natives, was in the most explicit terms denied. Upon these grounds we have come to the Resolution which stands No. 4 among those which will be found at the close of this Report."

The Report also alludes to some points of dispute which it passes over-

" Your Committee having now stated very fully their views upon those parts of the subject referred to them which have the most important bearing upon the practical measures which ought now to be adopted, and having in their Resolu- tions adverted to some of those measures which do not seem to require any particular explanation, had originally intended to have offered some remarks upon the complaints which the servants of the Crown in the colony upon the one side, and those employed by the New Zealand Company on the other, have mutually made against each other : but, upon further deliberation, it has ap- peared to us that the unhappy differences which have prevailed are most likely to be allayed by our forbearing to pronounce an opinion which must of neces- sity involve an expression of blame on some, if not all, of those who have taken part in these proceedings. We therefore have thought it most expedient to abstain altogether from entering further into this part of the subject: even as to the unhappy affair at Wairoa, by which so many valuable lives were lost, we will add nothing to the Resolution which we have unanimously adopted, and which will be found among those subjoined to this Report ; and we will only ex- press our earnest hope, that all classes of settlers, and more especially those per- sons to whom important duties in the newly-established colony have been in- trusted, either by her Majesty's Government or by the Company, will feel that the interest and welfare of all require that harmony should be reestablished, and that this can only be accomplished by mutual forbearance and modera- tion."

On the Report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons the Directors of the New Zealand Company remark-

" Of the fifteen members composing the Committee, only one, Mr. Aglionhy, is in any way connected with the Company; and ten, or two-thirds of the whole, are general supporters of the present Government.* It is obvious, • Chairman of the Committee—Viscount Howick. Members- Henry Aglionby Aglionby, Esq., Edward Cardwell, Esq., the Hon. Francis Charteris. the Hon. Robert Henry live, Viscount Ebriugton, the Right Hon. Lord Francis Egerton, Sir John Harmer, Bart.. Benjamin Hawes. Esq., George William Hope. Esq., Sir Robert Harry Inglis, Bart.. Viscount Jocelyn, Richard Mouckton ?ditties, Esq.. John Wilson Patten, Esq.., John Arthur Roebuck, Baq.--(Beport, preseatad- tail, Home on 'Fonda g the 29th July 1844.) therefore, that whilst her Majesty's Government deliberately referred them questions of policy and right to a Select Committee of the Rouse of Commons, that tribunal was so composed as to preclude the possibility of an award favour- able to you on any other ground than the manifest justice of your case."

The Directors' Report also comprises a letter by Lord John Russell, written on the 29th of June last, in reply to one by Mr. Somes the Governor of the Company, and giving some valuable evidence as to the much-contested agreement of 1840.

The Directors express a hope that Lord Stanley, forgetting the un- happy differences that have been so fatal, will now afford the requisite cooperation of Government in carrying out the objects of the Company's incorporation : but at all events, they banish all thought of allowing the Company to be broken up, and resolve to prosecute their great work with renewed vigour. They close with a piece of favourable intelli- gence from the colony itself-

" We rejoice in being able to assure you, that all late accounts concur is representing the progress of cultivation and improvement in the settlements as being very satisfactory, notwithstanding the insecurity of property and general want of confidence arising from the proceedings of the Local Government pre. vious to the arrival of Governor Fitzroy. It appears that the natural resources of the country are sufficient to outweigh impediments to prosperity occasioned by misgovernment. In the midst of the anxieties produced by the massacre at Wairoa, and the continued operation of the causes of that calamity, five vessels in the course of three months sailed from Wellington for London, entirely laden with the produce of the Company's settlements, consisting of oil, whalebone, flax, ornamental woods, and wool. The names of these ships, the last of which arrived on the 10th instant, are the Nelson, the Victoria, the Tyrian, the Glenarm, and the Indemnity."

Several shareholders expressed their satisfaction at the result of the Parliamentary inquiry, and unbounded confidence in their own Director* The report was unanimously adopted ; and the meeting adjourned for * fortnight.

At the Bankruptcy Court, last Friday, Messrs. Roe and Blatchford, late bankers in the Isle of Wight, applied for their certificates. The application was opposed by the Directors of the Isle of Wight Joint• stock Bank. In 1842 the bankrupts were made Managing Director* of this bank, having themselves previously traded as bankers ander the firm of Bassett and Company ; and having stated that they were perfectly solvent, when they were really in debt upwards of 50,0001. They were also charged with appropriating to their own banking bust* ness 9,0001. which was intended for the Joint-stock Bank. The bank rupts now asserted that they did not know whether they were solvent or not when they became Directors of the Joint-stock. Bank ; for their accounts had not been balanced for sixteen or eighteen years ! They admitted that they had altered the weekly balances for six or seven months, to deceive the Directors of the Joint-stock Bank which they were then managing. The case was adjourned till Monday ; when Mr. Commissioner Goulbarn gave judgment : he severely censured the con. duct of the bankrupts, and refused their certificates. The Official Assignee, in answer to a question put to him by the Court, said that the debts in this case amounted to upwards of 100,0001.; but, from the uncertain nature of the assets, he should think that the dividend would not probably be more than Is. in the pound.

At the same court, on Saturday, Messrs. Montefiore, who were mer- chants in an extensive way of business trading to New South Wales" received their certificates. The debts were on the joint estate 42,4981.; on which a dividend of about threepence in the pound was expected, and 2s. 6d. on the separate estates. The bankrupts had three establish- ments—one in the city of London, another in Sydney, and the other in Hobart Town. Their failure was ascribed to the great depreciation Of property in New South Wales.

On Friday week, a further dividend of 38. in the pound was declared to the joint creditors under the bankruptcy of Whitmore, Wells, and Company ; making a total amount of its. fid. in the pound already de- clared payable to them. The separate estate of Mr. Wells has paid 205. in the pound, and left a surplus, which has been carried over to the joint estate, and formed part of the fund from which this further divi- dend of 3s. in the pound was paid.

At Union Hall Police-office, on Monday, three foreigners we charged with forging and having in their possession certain Dutch coupons for dividends in Dutch Five per Cent Stock. Evidence was given substantiating the charge, and the prisoners were remanded.

Joseph Ady has been again promising country-folks to find their for. tunes, on receiving a little remuneration in advance ; and has told them, that " in case of any difficulty, Sir Peter Laurie will see justice done to any client of mine, without any fee or charge whatever." One of the expectants, an Irishman, has written to Sir Peter about obtaining a sum cf money by means of Mr. Ady : another gentleman sump mooed Joseph before Sir Peter ; who has made him promise not to use his name any more.

The Honourable William Ross Touchet, who shot Mr. Smith, the gunsmith in Holborn, was brought up at Bow Street Police-office on Saturday ; but Mr. Smith, though reported to be " going on well," was not strong enough to attend to give his evidence; and the accused was again remanded, to the 10th August.

Henry Shillingworth, a butcher, has been fined at the Union Hall Police-office, for cutting off a " learned " pig's tail, while the bristly philosopher was led about St. George's market for an airing.

The Reverend G. Harris, minister of a City church, has committed suicide at Gravesend, by cutting his throat, in a state of temporary insanity. Amelia Alfred, a woman living at Wandsworth, attempted, on Monday evening, to drown herself and two illegitimate children, in a pond on Wandsworth Common. She tied the children to her waist, and threw her- self into the pond : it was rather shallow, and she placed herself on her back so that there might be water enough to cover them. She was, how- ever, dragged from the pond by a lad, her brother, and other persons ; and with some difficulty restored to life. There is little doubt that thev woman is insane, from ill-usage and distress.

The Starlight, Thames steamer, ran against Westminster Bridge 011- Sunday evening, and sank before she could reach the pier. Fort*. nately, it was low-water, so that the vessel was not quite submerged; and the passengers got ashore by means of planks.