MEMORIAL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume I, Issue 2, 29 April 1843, Page 4

MEMORIAL.

The following is the Memorial which* has been adopted at the Public Meeting to which we referred in our last : — Aucldand, New Zealand, 19th April, 1843. To the Right Host. LORD STANLEY, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for mE Colonies, &c, &c. The Respectful Memorial"bf the undersigned Merchants, Farmers, Tradesmen and others, Colonists of New Zealand, and especially residents of Aucldand, the Capital of the said Colony, in Public Meeting assembled, Sheweth, That this colony, notwithstanding its great natural capabilities and the advantages it possesses in soil, climate, and the possession of a highly intelligent and improveable native population, has been brought to so great a pitch of Repression and distress by the acts of government and the -want of confidence arising" therefrom, that your memorialists have for months past,, anxiously looked forward to the expected arrival of a new governor, as the only event whiclrcan restore any life and prosperity into the colony, and save many of them from utter ruin, pr from the necessity of abandoning the country of 'their adoption ; but, this hope having been thrown into doubt by a rumour having reached your memorialists of the probability of your Lordship recommending to her Majesty the appointment of the officer at present administering the government, Willoughby Shortland, Esq., to the ofiice of governor, they hasten to represent to your Lordship their utter want of confidence in him, and their conviction that they and the colony would inevitably be ruined by such an appointment. That this want of confidence in the governor pervades and paralyses every class of the community ; every interest having, in the most extreme degree, been paralyzed by his acts, and the uncertainty which always attends them. The original settlers of the country have "been brought to ruin by the heartless delay in deciding on their Land Claims, insomuch that there can be no doubt it would have bsen more just, and greatly more merciful to have rejected their claims altogether at first, than to have kept the unfortunate claimants in a state of hope deferred from year to year ; looking for a speedy settlement, and gradually wearing away then* remaining means in the payment of enormous fees extracted from them; for, to such an extent has this system been carried, that the greater number of the claimants have been compelled, in order to continue the prosecution of their rights, to mortgage their lands on such disadvantageous terms,

that, in very few instances, will the original purchaser be the party benefitted by the tardy ■justice hereafter to be dealt out to their claims, i ; That capitalists are discouraged from be- j .coming purchasers of land, and embarking in ( [agricultural pursuits by the limited quantity of | Hand offered for sale affording no variety for choice ; by the sudden alteration made in the price of land, and by the injurious competition of the high officers of the government, espe"cially of the acting governor himself, who has been enabled to purchase allotments at onethird less than the price of the adjoining ones, from a disinclination on the part of some, and a dread on the part of others, to compete openly with the agents of his Excellency. » That the commercial interests have been greatly injured, and a heavy loss sustained [ by the colonial revenue, in consequence of the unparalleled proceeding of the governor, in ' refusing to sell the bills, (drawn by him on the 1 British treasury for the support of the colony) in Aucldand, where 'they were continually required as a means of remittance, and where they might have been sold at par, or at almost a nominal discount ; and instead of doing so, sending such bills to Sydney, where, after remaining for some time unsold, and the drafts drawn against them for the immediate use of the government being dishonoured to the great loss of those who negociated them ; they were handed over to an agent and sold at the un-heard-of rate of .fifteen per cent discount, although secured by the additional, and your memorialists believe, illegal, security of debentures on the revenue of the colony. That the scanty portions of the revenue of the colony, applicable to the making of roads, &c, has been recklessly squandered away, without the slightest regard to the wishes and interests of the colony, or the individuals most directly concerned, the greater portion of the money having been expended m excavating and forming embankments in one of the principal thoroughfares of this town, which, besides being a work far beyond the resources of this colony, and of questionable ultimate advantage to the community at large, has inflicted the most grievous injury on the proprietors of the property on each side, by utterly destroying their buildings and valuable improvements, some of the houses being left from 10 to 16 feet above the level of the street, while others are sunk as much below it, with the additional evil to dread of the whole falling down, as it is likely to do in the approaching rainy season ; and what renders this extraordinary act the more arbitrary is the fact, that the houses have been built on levels prescribed by the late Surveyor- General and the government, had themselves, in conformity with isuch level, lowered at considerable expense, the portions of a street which have now been raised, shewing at once the utmost vacillation of purpose, reckless expenditure of the public funds, as well as a heartless disregard to the wishes of individuals. The same arbitrary conduct has been evinced in another instance: — the principal street in the town (Queen street,) having been changed (after the allotments have now been sold to the public nearly two years) from a straight line to an obtuse angle, whereby the frontage of some of the allotments has been thrown forward 30 or 40 feet beyond the original line of street, creating the utmost confusion and uncertainty, co that the more prudent of the proprietors have altogether declined to build, until they can be assured as to which is to be held the proper line of street ; but this assurance the governor will not give, nor will he guarantee the parties 'building against loss, in the event of the line of street being again and again changed to meet the ever varying intentions of government. That the proceedings of the government with regard to the native population, are looked upon by your memorialists with the greatest alarm and distrust, being calculated, in an eminent degree to lower the character of the British government and people in their 'eyes, and to encourage them to acts of aggression and outrage ; the administration of justice towards them, or rather the casual interference of government with them, being dictated by | the purest caprice, instead of being based , on a fixed and unswerving system. On one ', occasion the whole military force of the colony was sent by sea, at one day's notice, to a distance of 200 miles, and at an expense of many hundred pounds, to interfere in a trifling quarrel, in which no bloodshed had taken place, and. in which no greater outrage had been committed, than the seizure by the natives, of a boat on which they had some real or pretended claim ; while, at another time, a savage war takes place, and the proceedings of a British commissioner are forcibly put a stop to without the smallest notice being taken ; — the most contemptible opinion of the power, as well as the justice of the government, being created in the minds of the natives by these nugatory and contradictory measures. Your memorialists, therefore, humbly represent that, by these, and many other acts of oppression and misgovernment, by the most deplorable vacillation and inconsistency, by a systematic, and, as it seems, studied disregard of public feeling, such a deep rooted distrust ' of the government has been created, that all

classes of people have suspended their exertions ; every capitalist delays investing his property, and every enterprise is at a standstill, waiting for the arrival of a governor, in whose intelligence, integrity, and firmness they can place reliance ; and should your memorialists be denied this boon, and the present acting governor be confirmed, those of them who still have the means, will be compelled to quit a colony, condemned to an indefinite period of misery and distress. (Here follow the signatures.)