THE PURCHASE OF LANDS FROM. ' THE NATIVES BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 35, 16 December 1843, Page 2

THE PURCHASE OF LANDS FROM THE NATIVES BY THE GOVERNMENT.

Land has been tho fertile source of quarrel and bloodshed in every country. The possession of lands by tho aborigines, though intended by providonco for their advantage) and support, has invariably been the cause of much suffering and misery to them. Nature appears almost instinctively to teach every man, civilized or savage, to look upon the earth as his best inheritance. Men and land have a sort of mysterious connection. A species of parental affection which tho former will not willingly allow to be broken. Land has been in all ages looked upon as a peculiar property, a property, almost sacredly difficult to alicnato ; civilized men have this feeling to a very great extent, independence is somehow connected with the possession of land. The first thought and.strong hope of the poorest emigrant on leaving his nativo country, are to obtain a portion of land which ho can call his own. This feeliug is not in tho slightest degree consequent on civilization or knowledge, it is anterior to both, and exists like tho love of life, independent of either. It is purely natural, and almost a law of our system, a first and a distinguishing characteristic of our race ; and liko all tho other simple laws and feelings of our nature, it will bo found to exist the stronger in tho uncivilised, than in tho civilised man. In tho latter it will be modified, if not weakened by other circumstances ; in the savage it is strong as his other passions. Tho savage can make no distinction betwixt him who seeks to take away bis life, and him who merely seeks to deprive him of his lands. The two offences are precisely the same in his eyes ; alike criminal, and alike deserving of a similar punishment. Tho practices of even the natives of this country, will afford sufficient proof of tho. truth of this statement. Their jealous interest in the possession of land has ever been the cause of war among themselves, and is very likely to becomo tho occasion of bloodshell between them and the Europeans. This circumstance, and the improper appreciation of it byEuropeans,have in a great measure led to the destruction of the aborigines in every country, ancient or modern where Europeans have attempted to establish colonies. A law of our common nature has invariably and ruthlessly been violated and trampled upon, and a natural effort was invariably made to resist the outrage. The resistance was fierce, cruel, and savage, according to the natural appreciation of the wrong attempted to be perpetrated ; and men have usually classed barbarians as mild or savage by the case or difficulty with which they permitted their land-; to be wrested from them. This in general, fixed their character ; moral and intellectual qualities they were not expected to be possessed of. The existence of this universal lovo of land has been, generally speaking, of late years a little better understood, and Governments gaining some experience by the evil effects of the unrestrained licenses given to favorite and unprincipled private adventurers in former times, have adopted a new system. But ! as is too often the case with every great change, the one system is nearly as bad as the other. In former days the Crown or|

the native sell to whom he will, and let tli 0 Government make a charge to the purchaser for a Crown Grant or ratification of such purchase ; but let them not expect to be ablo much longer to preserve peace or good feeling on the part of the natives if they monopolize tho land market, and continue tlieit present disgraceful jobbing.

and unfairly dealt by. Their necessities may compel them to sell to Government at less than Gd. per acre, but their judgment will at once enable them to estimate the gross injustice when they sec the same lands sold before their eyes to Europeans at one and sometimes five hundred pounds per acre. But the great evil attending the land jobbing of the Government is the unnatural position in which it places them and the natives. In the case of Papalcura for instance, tho Government have first of all purchased the lands from one chief at a certain price. After a time another chief preferred a claim to the same lands ; his title was denied by the party who sold the land; the Government as a matter of course and interest supported the party who sold to them. Tho second party in vain appealed for justice, but the scat of justice was necessarily engaged on tho other side; and it was not until tho two tribes had actually collected their friends and followers to decide by battle tho justico of tho matter in dispute, that the eyes of tho Government wore opened to tho fact that they had not paid all the parties concerned. — And we hear now, and believe it to be true, that a very powerful tribe from the Waikato have preferred a claim to the samo lands, and maintain that neither of tho other parties havo any interest in it. To whom are they to appeal for justice ? Lands havo also been bought at Mauranghi, two or three years ago, from Pomare and some other Bay of Islands chiefs. The Government have paid them for these lands, and there arc still many other natives at the Thames and Kaipara who maintain that Pomare had no title to the lands in question, that he was wrong in receiving money for them. Some of the Thames natives, to our own knowledge, were twelve months ago meditating an attack vpon Pomare in consequence of this transaction; —to whom arc they to appeal for justice ? and whom do they look upon as the upholders of Pomare's title ? — The Government who bought from Pomare. It were easy to multiply cases, but we have stated enough to convince any rational person that the Government must givo up tho traffic in native lands if they wish to preserve peace in the country and to gain the respect and confidence of the natives. This Government may well deceive the I world by tho appointment of a Court of Commissioners to discover if private purchasers have fairly bought from- tho natives, and paid their full value for tho lands ; this would bo right and proper, and they never should have attomptcd any thing else, this would be the duty and province of a good Government ; but this Government have gone much farther, they havo put a stop to all private purchase, because tho natives were taken advantage of — they have publicly declared that all lands bought at less than ss. or Bs. per acre wore unfairly obtained,— and yet they themselves, the Government of this Colony, never have given the natives more than Gd. per acre ! if so much ! ! They have invited every invidious enquiry into the titles of private claimants, and if they find that one native hag not received payment, the titlo is declared invalid : and yet they themselves publicly sell native lands (as in the case of Mr. Bevoridge) that they havo never bought or paid for. — They purchase lands from the wrong natives, quarrels arise in consequence, and there is none to appeal to for their settlement. It would more than fill the small limits of our paper to enumerate all the evils attending this system, but they are so obvious that no one who chooses to think upon the subject can mistake them. Their pressing importance is day by day increasing, and shows not only the imperative necessity for an immediate change, but is also awakening in tho minds of rational and thinking men a fearful apprehension as to the consequences of the past and present. We sincerely trust our new Governor- will bo empowered to meet and to remedy alHho causes of grievance on tho part of the natives in this respect. — We hope that, for tho sake of tho peace and happiness of both races, ho will sec the necessity of raising tho character of Government from its present infamous land jobbing degradation, and making it what it ought to be, tho maintainer and the preserver of the rights of both races. — Let the nativo sell his lands to whom ho will, and at the best possible prices, then ho will unite with tho well-wishers of Government, he will respect and obey our laws. If he have been, or shall be, taken advantage of by the purchasers of his land or other property, let tho Govei-nment be in a fair position to look into his complaint, and to do him justico. Let them come to the native with clean hands, and they will easily govern him. If they persist in the present system, we have no hesitation in saying that a very few years will suffice for the extermination of the whole race. The natives will resist like those of all other countries in similar circumstances, and they will be destroyed. If this Government seek a revenue from land, why not levy it in an honest way. Let

| Government was in the habit of assigning | by charter certain portions of country occupied by the native inhabitants to certain favorite adventurers, to bo by them taken possession of, and settled as they choose. These persons again sold the lands so acquired to other private individuals. This system paid no respect whatever to tho nativo claim ; the charter was deemed sufficient title. The new plan is in ono respect somewhat bettor than tho other, in as much as it acknowledges to a certain extent, tho right | of the native to the soil, and the necessity j of obtaining by bribes, promises, or blankets, his consent to' its alienation. It differs from the old plan also in claiming for the Government tho exclusive right and privilege of taking possession of, and selling tho lands of the natives. Tho latter system is in appearance somewhat more favourable to tho native, but when wo take into account the general character of a Colonial Government, together with the circumstance of tho larid being bought by Government with the view of being again sold at as largo a profit as possible, we shall in truth discover that the poor nativo has merely escaped from the frying pan to fall into the fire. He and the Government are by this system placed in a most unnatural position ; the nativo is in fact placed beyond tho natural pale of the protection of tho Government. While he had to deal with a privato individual, a subject to the Government liko himself, he might have some hope of justice ; he could bring his case before the Government ; ho might demand satisfaction at their hands for real or imaginary grievances. But the poor native has now no such hopes ; the party against whom he would prefer his suit, is his judge. If ho imagine that he has been unfairly dealt with by the Govei-nmcnt, to whom shali ho complain? Tho Government has wronged, will the Government decide against itself ? Benevolent people at Homo seldom take this real, this true and sober view of the present condition of the aborigines, of our colonies, and of those of New Zealand in particular. They vainly imagino that because ono bad and monstrous system has been abolished, the new ono must necessarily be better, if not tho best. The Government have deceived them by a show of kindness and feeling for tho natives. They have been imposed upon by tho hypocritical and bastard sympathy of the Government, who professed to abolish the old system because of its injustice, and kindly consented to take the solo charge of tho natives, with tho view of saving them from the evil effects of tho old plan. But where is tho advantage to the natives ? Let tho benevolent at Homo send even to New Zealand, in tho year IS 13 for the answer, and wo fear it will be very unsatisfactory. They will find that the cruel oligarchy is merely changed into tho iron despotism. That the landlord himself is just as bad, if not worse than the middlemen. With the Weiroa example before their eyes, a person would have imagined that this Government would have exercised much caution in their dealings with the natives, but a bad principle docs not admit of good practice. Tho Weiroa natives resisted to death, because their lands were being forcibly taken possession of on a sham purchase. But bad as the case of tho Weiroa natives was, they could still appeal to a higher power for justice ; their quarrel was with tho agent of a privato Company, and they could appeal, and they did appeal to Government, and although they received no immediate satisfaction or assistance, they miglit still hope for it. But what hope have tho natives of Papakura, and those who own Mr. Beveridge's land. The former have certainly three times driven away the Government Surveyors because they had not been paid for the lands, and two tribes have been prevented from going to war because this Government bought from tho wrong natives. Tho peace was brought about by a second payment to ono of the tribes. But what shall Government do in the case of tho third claimants, tho Wcikato natives, who main • tain that they are tho real owners of Papakura ? Who is to decide between Government and them ? If the Weikato natives arc tho real owners of Papakura, how- arc they to prefer their claims against this Government ? Who is to obtain justico for them ? Will they not in the end appeal to their own imaginary or real strength to enforce it ? Tho unsettled claim of tho natives for Mr. Beveridge's land, pretended to be bought and sold three years ago ? stands before them as a sample of tho justice they may expect from this, or any land-jobbing Government. Tho blood of thirty of their slaughtered countrymen on account of Government in the valley of Monganui is a still further evidence of tho justice of this Government. The more wo see of tho effects of the land jobbing of this Government, tho more are we convinced of tho inevitably evil effects from it. — From the smallness of tho price paid, and the largeness of the price demanded by the resale, tho natives are taught to know and to believe that they are oppressed