TO WHOM BELONG THE LANDS WRESTED BY GOVERNMENT FROM THE ORIGINAL SETTLERS ?

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 3, 6 May 1843, Page 2

TO WHOM BELONG THE LANDS WRESTED BY GOVERNMENT FROM THE ORIGINAL SETTLERS?

The above question has suggested itself to us in consequence of the opposition made by the Natives, to the settlement of Mr. Terry on the Puru and Weiroa, and as it is an important question, and one, on which depend, in a great measure, not only the future prosperity, but the present peace of our colony ; we offer no apology to our readers for bringing it under their consideration. It must eventualiv, we are well aware, be referred to the Home government for a final answer; but the colonists alone ran supply the informatior, and the facts by which such answer should be determined. The natives, form by far the largest, and the most interesting portion of our present population ; and we do well, clearly to understand our position^ with regard to them. Although they are a patient, a forbearing, and even a philo sophie people, the circumstances which we have so fully detailed in our last, sufficiently prove that there is a point, at which forbearance will cease, even with the forbearing native; and a time when he will not only strive manfully to maintain his rights, but also, most certainly convince his oppressors that he has such a keen sense of the wrong sustained, that even his life will not be considered too great a sacrifice for its removal. The Manganui quarrel, though not immediately betweea the natives and the government, has siill a very close connexion with the present, and the two most certainly trace their origin from the same cause: an attempt by the government to infringe upon what the natives consider their rights. To understand the cause of the present quarrel, it will be necessary to state, that many years ago a considerable portion of land in the vicipity of this town, was purchased from the natives by Mr. Fairburn, one of the " Church Missionaries," partly for him-, self and his family, and partly for the mission, and the natives themselves. The motives which induced Mr. Fairburn. to buy this land, have been unjustly, and tpp, severely censured by many parties, mostr likely, because they were ignorant of the" circumstances under which it was acquired. Injustice to Mr. FairbuFnyi§|is but right that we should mentioa tha>tbis land, was

the cause of many serious and fatal quarrels among the neighbouring tribes, who each laid claim to " the debatcable ground " In order to prevent these unhappy quarrels, it was proposed by die natives, with the consent of the mission, that Mr. Fairburn should purchase the land, which was accordingly done. Aud we believe, as fairly bought and sold, as any land has ever been in New Zealand. The rest of its history is precisely that of all the land claims 'in New Zealand ; a small portion has been awarded by the commissioners and the government, to Mr. Fairburn, the disposal of the remainder was left in abeyance, until a few days ago, when the government claimed it all ; and gave Mr. Terry a lease of some of it, with permission to erect machinery for dressing flax, together with the right of cutting flax over all the land. On the arrival of Mr. Terry, however, he discovered that there were other parties whose permission it was necessary to obtain before he could, with any degree of security, carry out his intended project. A small body of natives, who were at the time resident on the land, strenously asserted their right to it ; and insisted that he should forthwith remove himself and his machinery from their grounds. Stating at the same time, that they had not sold the land to government, but to Mr. Fairburn, who alone had a right to it 3 and that in the event of Mr. Fairburn's claim being disallowed, the land must return to them and the other original owners. Mr. Terry had no alternative but to desist from the undertaking, until he should send to headquarters, and ascertain the wishes and intention of government in this emergency. One of the persons called Native Protectors, was immediately sent by government to the spot, with the view of pacifying the natives We are not able to ascertain what steps this gentleman has adopted. The proceedings of that useful class to which he belongs, being always kept secret, until they effervesce in some such manner as they have lately done at Manffanui. But as the natives at present Residing on the lands, form a very inconsiderable portion of those who have claims upon it, we think it likely fhat they may have been for a time pacified by a little money, and plenty of promises. Of the former there is certainly Ji- tie to spare from the treasury ; but the latter is the current y coin of the offices of the Colonial Secretary and Protector of Aborigines. To the final settlement of this question every man in New Zealand must look vvith interest; and those who know the character of the government, the native, with interest, and even alarm. It may be true that ihe few natives on the spot, have been for a me men t pacified; but from the history of similar proceedings in New Zealand, we are far from looking upon Mr, Terry's position as an enviable one. Every tribe in the Thames, and many of the "Waikato natives, are connected with this land ; and before they submit to its occupancy by Mr. Terry, or any other than the original purchaser, we apprehend from our estimate of the native character', that the government will have to act the part ot Noble, the Kaitaia chief, and with greater success than he did. We are afraid that parties, in England will not understand the merits of this question between the natives of New Zealand and this government ; and at the risk of being tiresome to our local readers, we must state, that this dispute has arisen in consequence of the partial settlement of this country by Europeans long befoie a British government was established : lands were sold by the natives, and bought, and occupied by Europeans. The government on their arrival, affected a very high tone of morality, and expressed great sympathy with the natives, and extreme regret for the manner in which it was pretended, the natives had been cheated by the Europeans. The consequence of this humane feeling, was the enactment of a law, declaring all title* to. lands purchased from natives invalid, and the appointment of Commissioners to en- 1 quire into the conduct of, Europeans in! this respect, with a view of judging of the< fairness, or unfairness of their transac-J ftions with the natives; in this act there< 'was a still higher stretch of humanity,! and condescension on the part of the; framers of the law, inasmuch as, by oqei of the clauses of the Bill, the Queen was

made the guardian of the poor native, which was easily accomplished by declaring that all the lands in New Zealand, whether belonging to Natives or to Europeans " are, and remain, Crown, or Domain lands of her Majesty, her Heirs, and Successors" ! ! ! ; In accordance with this humane act, many of the claims to land in New Zealand\verc examined by the Commissioners, find few of the claimants, as a matter of bourse, were found to have paid the na lives enough for their lands; they were 'consequently deprived of as much as they were found to have unfairly bought, which happened always to be the largest portion. So far right, and it would not be a matter of surprise with any person, that if A "cheated B, and B had a guardian, kind, and powerful as C, that this guardian C, would order restitution to be made to B. This would be easily understood. Let us •now apply the case of A, B, and C, to the -parties in question. A is the original isettler, who robbed B the native, by the finding of C the government, the friend of |)oor B j what course would justice and 'humanity dictate to C the government, in Ibis case ? Every person would, of course iay, to deprive A of his ill gotten property, ar.d cause all that he had unjustly obtained of it, to be restored to the poor 4nd ignorant B the native. But our gov is, too wise and politic to act iipon such a foolish arid old fashioned principle as this ; they certainly find that fyi had in every case robbed poor B, but (they are too knowing to act upon the foolish plan of giving back the property \o p ', they think it is much wiser, and much f)etlcr to keep it themselves. Ho that C, ■who had never paid for the land, takes it l)oth from A and B, without any considerfaiion or compunction whatever. I A, the settler, as a matter of course, all protested against the right of C to Interfere in the matter ; and B, the native, for a time looked on with indifference, 'scarcely knowing the meaning of all this Work On the part of his friend C. B, however, has at length discovered the kind ■Intentions of his false fiicud ; and he now -joins the sideofhis former, but true friend, |\. Such is at present the position of ()>oth parties ; the natives and the originalSettlers, will, as a matter of course, oppose ■the government in every attempt to defprive either of their lands. j Manganui has given courage to the and he will now fight again, for ihe Weiroa. It is likely he may remain jrjuiet for a time, but he will certainly in the end, resist. We warn the government on this head. But, we fear our Avarnirig will be thrown away. We have already repeatedly, but in vain, endeavoured to impress upon the late governor, the impolitic and fatal, tendency of all his (measures regarding the natives. But he Reeded not. i We would now ask, what right Mr. JShortland, as the head of the government, jjjas thus to seize upon the lands of the griginal settlers ? We have examined, |oth, the Land Claim's Bills, and we cannot discover that even they, give him any such right as he now assumes; but such i right as that which a Bill of-his own raming could confer, would be indeed a >oor and miserable right. The matter at ssue must be decided by a higher tribu)al; it must be determined by the voice >f the humane and enlightened, in every portion of the civilised world. Thequesion at issue is not a mere question as to ight of property -, if such were the case, ower would at. once determine in favor f Mr. Shot tland. But ft assumes a higher \ spect, and amounts to this: — Shall the ; [e» Zealander be free, or shall he not? Shall' England, which has paid so many millions of pounds to wipe off the deep wa:n of slavery in her West Indian posgssions, be permitted to disgrace herself % reducing the inhabitants of the islands 01 the Pacific from a state of f.eedom |hd happiness, into a worse than African bondage aad misery. This, and this only, if involved in the dispute at Weiroa. Are J|e natives of New Zealand free, or bond ? f e can easily prQve that they have not it&e privileges of British subject, and we low that England admits not of any her condition than that of free citizenup. The attempt to establish any thing se, upon our free and glorious consiituan, is worse than treason itself; it is au .tempt to lower, to degrade the character : our country in the eyes of every nation

in the world. Mr. Shortiand and his government may certainly deprive the natives of New Zealand of the right of property : he has doubilcss the power of depriving ihcm of their lands; bur, is he not amenable for the consequences that may result from the exercise of this power. If the native will resist, which we doubt not he will do, even, to the shedding of blood, who will be answerable for such deeds ? the native who fights for his lights,— or the government whose measures urge him thereto ? But we feel that it would be a vain effort to appeal to Mr. Shortiand, or even the government in behalf of the New Zealander. The cry of humanity would be lost upon their ears, unless repeated in a tone of thunder from the accumulated re-echoings of the voices of the thousands of the humane and Christian people at home. To them, we would appeal in behalf ot the New Zealander — to those who have given their hundreds, and to those who have bestowed their mites in establishing missions in this country. To such would we address ourselves in behalf of the suffering New Zealander. To such would we appeal against the acts of this government ; and tell them that their ' upwards of twenty year's labours of love, in behalf of the benighted New Zealarxder, are now being destroyed by this government, who seek by their acts to persuade the natives that the missionaries they have sent among them to preach to them the everlasting Gospel, were nothing better than robbers, who despoiled them of their rands ! Such is the impression the Weiroa questiou will leave upon the minds of the native. He is well aware that the lands were not only bought by a missionary, but partly given by that missionary to the Society from which he came to them. Will the missionaries allow their character and usefulness to be lost in this manner ?