PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIII, Issue 1407, 1 June 1865, Page 6

PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS.

We have received further papers relative to the affairs of New Zealand, presented to both Houses of Parliament, by command of her Majesty, on the 2nd March, 1864. The following is a dispatch from Mr. Cardwell to Sir George Grey, dated Feb. 27, 1865. Sir,-—I have received your dispatches of the datea and numbers noted in the margin. I observe with great satisfaction that the meeting of the Assembly had brought to a close those differences between yourself and your former adviser* which have occupied so large a portion of your late correspondence, and have been attended with such unfortunate consequences to the colony. I learn with pleasure that Mr. Weld had formed a new Colonial Ministry, on principles which you regarded as being in conformity with the instructions you had received, and that he expected the Ministry would command a large majority in the Assembly. In the speech which, by the advice of your Ministers, you addressed to the Assembly, in the answer of the two Houses to that speech, and in the resolutions adopted by the House of Representatives, I recognise what is, I trust, the commencement of a happier condition of public affairs. I agree in your opinion that these resolutions substantially accept the policy which her Majesty's Government have instructed you to carry into effect in the colony. 1 ' am gratified to see that the Assembly recognise the " assistance rendered to them by the mother country, and cordially appreciate the gallant services per- * formed by her Majesty's land and naval forces. ] 1 have great pleasure in acknowledging, on the part ol ' her Majesty's Government, the gallant conduct and | effective services of the forces raised in New Zealand j and the spirited exertion the colony has made t( J meet the very heavy expenditure which has beet 1 thrown upon it. * You will have learnt from my former dispatchei ' that I entirely adhere to the decision of the Duke ol Newcastle upon the subject of the responsibility o: 9 directing and controlling the Native policy of th< " colony, which had been accepted by the Assembly ii its last session ; and you will have had no difficult] ' in assuring your Ministers that the Assembly wai well justified in expressing its confident trust that thi L' instructions given to you on the part of her Majesty': Government, in my dispatches of 26th April an< '• 26th May, were issued to meet a temporary emer gency, and may lapse the moment a normal stat of things shall be restored in the colony. Yoi j* rightly attach great importance to these resolution of the Assembly. In admitting the claim of th I Imperial Government to exercise a reasonable con * trol over a policy upon which the restoration of peac 1 must necessarily depend, whilst the colony is receiv f ing the aid of British troops for the suppression o internal disturbance, they have, I trust, re-establishe< j harmony between the authorities, whose divide< counsels were a cause of so much regret; and ii i resolving to make every possible further effort t place the colony in a position of self-defence agains " internal aggression, they adopt the course bes , calculated to relieve the Home Government fron . responsibilities which we have most unwilling!; assumed, and from an interference in the interna ' affairs of the colony, which nothing but a paramoun sense of duty would ever have induced us t exercise. You will assure the Assembly that these resolu " tions have been received by her Majesty's Govern . ment with entire satisfaction. I await with grea interest the receipt of your further intelligent when time shall have been afforded to your Minister to take practical measures for carrying this polic; into effect. ' You have already made known to the insurgen natives the general conditions on which their retun to their allegiance will be accepted. I trust ths j now, in conformity with Mr. Weld's proposal, plan n of the land, part of the territory belonging to th insurgents, and now in military occupation, whic " you propose to obtain either by cession or by confis j cation, will be made public without delay. It i B impossible to expect even the commencement of t restoration of peace and order in the colony unti this first and most important step shall havebeei j taken, until the colonists shall know what land j they have to occupy, and until the native race shal I feel assured that they are safe in the possession ant ' peaceful occupation of all their remaining land. Yoi ' will not fail to bring clearly before your Minister j and before the Assembly the conditions on whicl f the Settlements Act has hitherto been left ii r operation by her Majesty's Government. Th j permanent allowance of such an Act wouli r be impossible, for the reasons assigned in mj i dispatch of the 26th April, and I doubt no I that I shall receive from you Acts adopted by th< Assembly to which her Majesty's sanction can b j given. lam sure that, so soon as these first step j have been taken, your Ministers will proceed to con sider what precautions it may be desirable to takeii j order to prevent the recurrence of disputes like tha I respecting the block of land of Waitara, the unhappj origin of so much disaster to the colony. I collec , from the information which you have sent me, that ii the Waikato district, and also at Tauranga, military [ operations have practically ceased; and that all tha r now remain be done in these districts is, that yoi t should give to both races that assurance with respec j to the lands to be acquired by confiscation or cession of which I have already spoken. In the North, not | withstanding the escape of the prisoners from Kawau [ tranquillity had not been broken by any warlike oper I ations on the part of any of the hitherto peaceful anc , friendly tribes. On the other hand, the state oi affairs in the district of Taranaki still gave occasion for much anxiety ; and the restoration and mainI tenance of order in that district will evidently be one of the most serious questions with which your ad- | visers will have to deal. It is impossible not to have [ been struck by the difficulty which has alwaya attended the extension of settlement at this point; I and I observe that Mr. Weld attaches so much importance to the question that, in his original proposals to you, he has made especial provision for the establishment of a strong military post, to be occuI pied by a colonial force, in the centre of the coast line. I doubt not that when tranquillity shall have been restored, your Ministers, before inviting I the expenditure of fresh capital at Taranaki, in preference to other sites, where from local circumstances this difficulty might not be experienced to the same extent, will carefully consider the means by which, after the Imperial troops shall have been withdrawn, the settlers are to be protected from the recurrence of attack. Your Ministers have laid down, as the end towards which their measures will be directed, the eventual withdrawal of the whole Imperial force. It will, no doubt, be necessary that this withdrawal should be effected gradually; and by the present mail the Secretary of State for War gives instructions to General Cameron, which contemplate that he will make arrangements for sending home five regiments. Her Majesty's Government have arrived at the conclusion that, under present circumstances, these instructions may be safely given. I Understand that the colony does not propose to accept the guarantee of the Imperial Treasury under the Act of 1864; but the former arrangement, under which the colony paid only £5 for each soldier, has expired ; and I shall expect to hear from you that arrangements have been made for the new and increased contribution in respect to the troops who still remain. The orders given to Genera Cameron will enable your Ministers to diminish this contribution, if they shall think fit bv requesting the withdrawal of a large portion of 'the torces.—l have, &c., Edw. Cardwell, Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.8., &c.