The want of a Bank has long and severely been felt here. This defect is now supplied, and mercantile operations of considerable magnitude may now be entered into. Indeed, without a Bank, the progress of the Bay of Islands must necessarily have been extremely slow, as all transactions must have been on a very confined scale.

All parties of consequence seem to unite in taking a deep interest in the welfare of this Bank, and amongst the list of Proprietors are to be found the names of several gentlemen connected with the Mission, of three gentlemen holding the highest Government appointments in the Colony, and, indeed, of every respectable person in the Bay of Islands.

We have great pleasure in referring to the body of Directors, the selection of which, certainly, reflects every credit on the good taste of the Proprietors. Some little dissatisfaction, as might naturally be expected, prevailed on this point on the day of election, but it has now entirely subsided, and it is generally admitted, that a better selection could not have been made.

In conclusion, we wish the New Zealand Banking Company all success and prosperity, and shall watch its progress with no ordinary degree of interest.

On Thursday night the 3rd inst. some person or persons, evidently acquainted with the place, effected an entrance by the front door into the store of Messrs. SPICER & WEAVELL, on the Beach, and took away from the counting-house a brass-mounted writing desk, containing cash and various bills and notes to the amount of about £80. The desk was afterwards found open and stripped of all its valuable contents, not far from the spot. Bills were immediately posted offering £60 in the name of Mr. Spicer, and £20 in the name of Mr. B. E. Turner, for the apprehension of the offenders; and warrants were obtained to search various suspected places. We regret, however, to say, that no sufficient clue has as yet been found to detect the robbers.

We learn, that on Tuesday night the 1st instant, a second attempt was made to rob the premises of Mr. Grenier, of Kororurika.

We regret that we have been under the necessity of deferring our Shipping Report till next week, when we shall give as full a list as we can procure.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Advertiser & Bay of Islands Gazette.

Sir, I hope you will publish the letter I sent you last week, with the following addition—that O'Donnell, and the other persons who broke out of the watch-house, are strongly suspected of having been concerned in the robbery of my Store—O'Donnell having been on the Beach several times, in disguise, and having taken his wife and property away during last week.

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
THOMAS SPICER.
9th Sept., 1840.

The following is the letter above alluded to by Mr. Spicer:

Having observed from the commencement of the publication of your Newspaper that, whenever occasion requires, your columns are open to give publicity to public wrongs, whatever may be their origin or who be to blame, I, therefore, request, that you will insert in your next Number the following brief statement of facts:

PRESENT TIMES.

About six weeks since a man named O'Donnell committed a forgery to the amount of £20 on His Excellency the Governor; the forged instrument was passed to me, and I soon after discovered the forgery, and caused O'Donnell to be apprehended and taken before the Magistrates. He was committed to take his trial, but admitted to bail. The bail taken were irresponsible men, and O'Donnell contemplated and boasted of intention to escape. He was again apprehended upon my affidavit of facts, the bail discharged, and it was stated by the Bench that he should not again be admitted to bail; however, about a week since the same bail or sureties were taken, who, finding he was about to abscond, gave him up, and he was confined in what is technically called the Lock-up or watch house on Saturday last, and ordered by the Chief Constable to be safely ironed. On Sunday morning it was discovered that he had made his escape, in what manner is, no doubt, well known to one or more parties whose duty it should have been to have seen him secure. It is a fact which cannot be contradicted, that from the time of his being first confined, he had been on terms of great intimacy with more than one of our policemen, drinking together, &c., &c.

TIMES PAST.

When a robbery or felony was committed the guilty party was taken into custody by the inhabitants, and if he had goods or property the same would be sold to the value of the stolen property, and the person robbed receive the amount of that value. In cases where it was considered necessary, the thief was flogged, tarred and feathered, and exposed along the Beach and to the shipping in Harbour, that he might be well known. This was found to be an effectual check to robbery and fraud. The same man, O'Donnell, who has been allowed to escape, underwent that ordeal, and left off his practices until what is called Law, made its appearance on the Bench. What is the consequence? I lose my £20, and other persons will be subjected to similar losses, unless prisoners are, at least, placed under the charge of proper persons and, in lieu of security, till the time of trial.

NEW ZEALAND.

Instructions of the Marquis of Normanby to His Excellency Lieut. Governor Hobson.
(Continued.)

Numerous projects for the establishment of a constitution for the proposed Colony have at different times been suggested to myself and my immediate predecessor in office, and during the last Session of Parliament a Bill to the same purpose was introduced into the House of Commons, at the instance of those persons immediately connected with the Emigration then contemplated. The same subject was carefully examined by a Committee of the House of Lords. But the common result of all enquiries, both in this office and in either House of Parliament, was, to show the impracticability of the schemes proposed for adoption, and the extreme difficulty of establishing at New Zealand any institutions, legislative, judicial, or fiscal, without some more effectual control than could be found amongst the settlers themselves in the infancy of their settlement. It has, therefore, been resolved to place whatever territories may be acquired in Sovereignty by the Queen in New Zealand in the relation of a dependency to the Government of New South Wales. I am, of course, fully aware of the objections which may be reasonably urged against this measure, but after the most ample investigation, I am convinced that for the present, there is no other practicable course which would not be opposed by difficulties still more considerable, although I trust that the time is not distant when it may be proper to establish in New Zealand itself a local Legislative Authority.

In New South Wales there is a Colonial Government possessing a comparatively long experience, sustained by a large revenue, and constituted in such a manner as is best adapted to enable the Legislative and Executive authorities to act with promptitude and decision: It presents the opportunity of bringing the internal economy of the proposed new colony under the constant review of a power sufficiently near to obtain early and accurate intelligence, and sufficiently remote to be removed from the influence of the passions and prejudices by which the first colonists must, in the commencement of their enterprise, be agitated. It is impossible to confide to an indiscriminate body of persons who have voluntarily settled themselves in the immediate vicinity of the numerous population of New Zealand, those large and irresponsible powers which belong to the representative system of Colonial government. Nor is that system adapted to a Colony struggling with the first difficulties of their new situation. Whatever may be the ultimate form of Government to which the British settlers in New Zealand are to be subject, it is essential to their own welfare, not less than that of the aborigines, that they should at first be placed under a rule which is at once effective, and to a considerable degree external. The proposed connexion with New South Wales will not, however, involve the extension to New Zealand of the character of a penal settlement. Every motive concurs in forbidding this, and it is to be understood as a fundamental principle of the new Colony, that no convict is ever to be sent thither to undergo his punishment.

The accompanying copy of my correspondence with the Law Officers of the Crown, will explain to you the grounds of law on which it is concluded that by the annexation of New Zealand to New South Wales, the powers vested by Parliament in the Governor and Legislative Council of the older settlement, might be exercised over the inhabitants of the new Colony. The accompanying commission under the Great Seal will give effect to this arrangement, and the warrant which I enclose, under her Majesty’s Sign Manual, will constitute you Lieutenant Governor of that part of New South Wales Colony, which has thus been extended over the New Zealand Islands. These instruments you will deliver to Sir George Gipps, who, on your proceeding to New Zealand, will place them in your hands to be published there. You will then return it to him, to be deposited among the archives of the New South Wales government.

In the event of your death or absence, the officer administering the Government of New South Wales will provisionally, and until her Majesty’s pleasure can be known, appoint a Lieutenant Governor in your place, by an instrument under the Public Seal of that Government.

It is not, for the present, proposed to appoint any subordinate Officers for your assistance. That such appointments will be indispensable is not indeed to be doubted, but I am unwilling at first to advance beyond the strict limits of necessity, which alone induces the ministers of the Crown to interfere at all on this subject. You will confer with Sir George Gipps as to the number and nature of the official appointments which should be made at the commencement of the undertaking, and as to the proper rate of their emoluments. These must be fixed with the most anxious regard to frugality, in the expenditure of the public resources. The selection of the individuals by whom such offices are to be borne, must be made by yourself from the colonials, either of New South Wales or New Zealand, but upon the full and distinct understanding that their tenure of office, and even the existence of the offices which they are to hold, must be provisional and dependent upon the future pleasure of the crown.
(To be continued.)

Printed and Published by G. A. Eagar & Co., Proprietors, at the Office, Tunnell's Terrace, Bank Square, Kororurika, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, where, and to Mr. Wm. Wilson's Rooms, all Orders, Advertisements, and Communications to the Editor are requested to be addressed.