for an appointment, and, as I am exceedingly poor, I
cannot afford to throw away another shilling in atten-
dance upon the convulsive fits of the Colonial Office, which
end in nothing ! Till I am gazetted, I have neither
right, or inclination, to interfere in anything, and
therefore, by going to London, I do nothing but lose
money, and, consequently, independence of mind ; for
he who lays out money in the public service, must make
it up by getting employment, and to get this, he must
ask favours, which I will not do. I shall therefore
wait a little while upon the course of events. If I see
another man appointed, I shall, as they say, 'follow my own inventions.' If I be appointed, I shall go, at once,
to town, and work as hard as I can in the service of
my good friends at John Street, for whose interest I
shall, Governor or not Governor, always entertain the
sincerest good wishes. Since I saw you, I have married,
and Mrs. Napier is all ready to go to Australia at the
shortest notice, like a good soldier's wife.
" Always truly yours,
"C. Napier."
"May 5th. — The commissioners are to-day gazetted, and thus the next important step in the formation of the colony is taken.
"May 6th. — Colonel Torrens, Hutt, Angas, and Rowland Hill dined with me to-day. After dinner Hill read his proposed terms for selling land ; these were violently opposed by Torrens, who has a mortal antipathy to the auction plan. Hutt differed from Torrens' view, as also from that of Angas, who main- tains that the tender is useless, and the auction the only fair plan. I fear there will be some difficulty in bringing these views into anything like harmony.
"May 8th. — The first meeting of the commissioners took place to-day at Osborne's Hotel. It was attended by all, with the exception of Wright and Mills. The Act was read and discussed, and finding that the first
