Chap. XVIII. PROGRESS OF WELLINGTON. 47^ 
and consult upon tlie course to be pursued, and upon 
the details of a measure, such as they could approve, 
which they might after mature deliberation submit to 
Governor Hobson as the basis of such an arrangement. 
The working-men again resolutely claimed, and perse- 
vered till they obtained, their share in the deliberations. 
The discussions between the two parties, and the for- 
mation of Committees from among their united ranks, 
occupied a considerable space of time. But, notwith- 
standing the little differences as to the share which 
either class was to be allowed in the preparations, an 
observer could not fail to be struck by the fixed deter- 
mination of the colonists of all ranks to obtain the 
power of managing their own local affairs. The utter 
neglect and indifference which the distant authority 
had manifested towards these matters thus became an 
evil not unmingled with good, since it had brought 
forcibly home to the mind of each individual the ur- 
gency of the local institutions being entrusted to the 
direction of those persons who were sure to be most 
interested in their wholesome state. 
I spent a month at Wellington very pleasantly. 
Horses were now plentiful, and the new roads af- 
forded delicious rides ; a curious contrast being pre- 
sented by the neat macadamized causeway, and the 
groups of workmen and wheelbarrows, among the pri- 
mseval forest and wild scenery which they penetrated. 
At the Hutt, the cultivations and clearings looked 
cheerful and promising. From sixty to a hundred 
families were now permanently settled in that district ; 
neat cottages and luxuriant gardens appeared along the 
banks ; the rich crop had induced many a doubting 
settler to clear some land this year ; and the axe-men 
had begun to be a large and important class. Groups 
of smiling children bobbed and pulled their fore-locks 
