Mr. F. Tuckett's Letter to the Editor of the Nelson Examiner.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume I, Issue 22, 16 September 1843, Page 2

Mr. F. Tuckett's Letter to the Editor of the Nelson Examiner.

SrR, — I deeply regretted that I could nt,'i conscientiously add my signature to that i' 1 -] many of my fellow-colonists, in adoption o t 1 the declaration which appeared in the la". A number (July 22) of your journal, under t^ j head of "Correspondence. " [ 3 The document contained so much to wlik 1 , J my heart responds, and I feel it must appeaj < heartless in one of the few who escaped a hoi jj rid and (to our finite comprehension) an ucj l | timely death, to stand aloof ; but my depou -| tion is therein .appealed to, as it appears t[|| me, in support of an unfounded inference. fi& I dare not shrink from doing justice to tlj/1 '. living from fear of being reputed a defamis of the dead. I dare not suppress the tru%| ' if it be called in question, or consent to sac/j<| fice its enduring interests at the shrine of apj l ephemeral sensibility. \j,' It is my conviction, which has never ya,p vered, in reference to the conflict at tljjfi Wairoo, that it was not the result of aiy|l premeditated design on tho part of the n^ ( tives, but that, on the contrary, they soug|||< earnestly to avert it. j|| a I cannot blame the natives for resisting tfigj| forcible execution of a warrant under a po^ IIP whoso authority thoy havo never ac]aio|S>f lodged, and winch, as yet, has never bei^ 1 imposed upon them. I declare now, 1 did before the attempt was mado, that if, ®^ presence of an armed force and under thtfaF ened compulsion, they had submitted -B^ thoy had not .fought in defence of tho li|> er ß^ of their .chiefs-, (unless restrained by a hig^B^ consideration, that of Christian duty), would have shown themselves contemptiw e and recreant to mankind. My conviction W|c that they believed tho land to be. by "»M*f their own ; that they wero assured, ou "W authority. of a Government Land Coaii^S

jioner, that it was not ours ; that they had ippealfd to him, in consequence of our being in the execution of the survey, or of liaving been assured by us that we were about b dolo ; that they knew that this Government officer was opposed to our proceeding ; ivnd that they made an appointment with [i m to meet him at Port Underwood to investigate the land claims, and ( promised not L enter theWairoo within the time appointed; that they kept to tlieir engagement, and that to ie Commissioner did not. I arrive at this Conviction on information derived from the hatives themselves. They had undoubtedly arms with them ; nt a more formidable armed demonstration ias often occured in England in the protection of game and to put down poaching. The Wairoo is a native preserve of pigs, of which lumbers had been poached, to the extent perhaps of £80 in value. The first complaint made to me on my arrival at the Wairoo was rf the thieving of these pigs, afterwards of the land, followed by an order to quit. They were almost persuaded to suffer the survey to proceed ; but, later, they urged that occupation would quioldy follow on the completion of the survey, and that then it n-ould be more difficult to keep possession (vastly like our English notions of the importance of possession). Many, perhaps, of your readers, who will not allow to the New Zealander the influence of a better motive, pill yet readily concede to the probability of bis being guided by policy. They did not =eck a pretext' to quarrel ; they wished to sell the land to the best advantage. With ;hat consideration for the interests of the iborigines, which justice demands, our lamented resident Agent liad had a special ■cserve made of all cultivaved lands in the ;urveys of other districts inhabited by the Maories, and hence, I imagine, one reason >f their eagerness to commence cultivation n the Wairoo, and to defer the execution of ;he survey until they had planted. They fought-for their imagined rights, and ;ofar I justify them. Half the determination md resolution ordinarily exhibited by poach)vs in England, and such right would have teen put down by our might. Far be it from no to palliate the murder that was afterwards perpetrated. When the murderers shall be arraigned, as I trust they will be, let their counsel plead for them any extenuating circumstances that his conscience can allow. To shield the guilty from punishment is not the duty of the magistrate, and, in reference to the higher interests of morality, still less does it become a minister of the Gospel, since on its authority guilt unpunished and unrepented of here, must follow man, without remedy, to judgment hereafter. I remam^sir, yours respectfully, Frederick Tuckett. Nelson, July 28, 1843.