172 ADVENTURE IN NEW ZEALAND. Chap. VI, 
schooner brought in a cargo of pigs and a newspaper 
which contained the Governor's closing speech. 
Its distinctive features were — the credit claimed by 
his Excellency for the greatness and efficiency of the 
labours of his first Parliament ; his public allusion to 
Mr. Earp's opposition to the Corporation Bill as sur- 
prising in one who had been selected as the representa- 
tive of a body of people supposed to have brought with 
them, " in all its freshness unimpaired, the English 
" love of liberty ;" and the remarkably bad composi- 
tion and undignified style of the oration. The con- 
cluding sentence, especially, refuted the complaints of 
the open part which the Governor and his officials 
had taken in the vulgar parliamentary squabbles above 
described, by " feeling assured that it would be ac- 
" knowledged that, on all occasions, due deference was 
" paid to opinions when deference was due ; and that if 
" no deference was paid, it was because no deference 
** was due." 
The children at Wellington were taught to try 
whether it were easier to repeat this peroration or the 
old nursery rhyme about " Peter Piper picking a peck 
" of pepper." 
The Auckland estimates for the year 1842, copies 
of which now arrived, were more intelligible. In 
almost every department the intention reigned para- 
mount of fostering Auckland and the Northern dis- 
trict against the Company's settlements. And while 
the very extravagant sum total, 50,992/., enabled every 
one to predict that a heavy burden of taxation would 
have to be borne by every English inhabitant of New 
Zealand, it was clear from the separate items that the 
benefit derived from the expenditure would be almost 
entirely confined to the proclamation-capital. 
Thus, on looking over this estimate, as subsequently 
