THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Friday, August 19, 1853.
LUCEO NOX tJUO. "11 1 have been extlnpu^hed, yet there rise A thousand beacons from the ipaik I bore."
There has been no question which has so long and so deeply agitated the minds of the residents of the Province of Auckland, as the question of cheap land, and a facility of acquiring it. To these important considerations, within the last year or two, have been superadded a painful anxiety to be relieved from the unjust application of a fourth part of the proceeds of our land funds to the liquidation of the New Zealand Company's debts — debts never incurred by, or in behalf of this Province, but contracted by a Company, whose whole career has not only been opposed to, but actively injurious to every interest of the people they have been licensed to plunder. Leaving, for after consideration, that branch of the subject which embraces the question of facility in acquiring a sufficiency of land equal to the demands now being made, and likely to increase upon us,, let us see if there be no means of evading or avoiding the threatened spoliations of this Company of Freebooters. From the tenor of Mr. Gladstone's reply to the letter of Mr. Clark, transmitting the petition of the colonists to Parliament praying for relief from the unjust claims of j the New Zealand Company, it would seem to be but too clear that Mr. Gladstone was not only unwilling to disturb the decision of his predecessors in office, but that he had made up his mind to the enforcement of the New Zealand Company's claim. In fact, he tells us that he " certainly would have complied with the suggestion in your (Mr. Clarks) letter that the petition might he read, had it not been for the settlement of New Zealand affairs during last session." Although we never were sanguine of any great results from the Petition agreed to at the Public Meeting, inasmuch as it did little more than ask the Parliament of 1852 j to reverse the Act of the Parliament of J 1851, still we must confess we did not J anticipate that the merits and justice of the petition would have been passed by without even a hearing. Considering that Mr Gladstone, in the House of Commons, and the Duke of Newcastle, in the House of Lords, had previously presented a petition, on the same subject, from a number of the inhabitants of Auckland, and that that petition had occasioned a rather animated debate in the House of Lords (vide ' Southern Cross' of the 20th and 27th May) on the 7th of December, 1852, — upon which occasion the Duke spoke in strong terms respecting the infliction of this burthen j— recollecting this, we say, we were not prepared to learn that Mr.
Gladstone had shelved the Petition of the Public Meeting entrusted to his cave, without even going through the form of having it read. When that petition was in course of construction, foreseeing its deficiencies, we suggested to the Committee the strength that would be imparted to it by the introduction of a paragraph praying the Parliament to legalize the purchase of Native lands by the Europeans direct from- the natives ; by which means the colonists would infallibly escape any levy of Black Mail at the hands of the New Zealand Company. We were over-ruled, but not convinced ; and on the 20th of February, 1852, expressed ourselves as follows :—: — We hare published another Petition in our morning's issue, not with the rieir of obstructing or diminishing the influence of the former, but on the contrary, in the anxious hope of strengthening it. It will be seen that > more extended illustration of the objections to the New Zetland Company's claim has been set forth in the second Petition, and that a suggestion hat been made, by which Parliament, if unable to repeal the Act 10 and 11 Victoria, c. 112, or to enact a supplementary one, may still, if disposed, protect this prorince from the iniquitous claim of the New Zealand Company. That mode is by permitting the settlers to make direct purchase of natire lands, from the natires, thereby rendering ihe natire in fact what the Attorney General offi« cially declares him to be in figure—entitled to erery right, title, and privilege of the British subject he i*. We are well aware that there are those who conlider this question'as much too important an one to form the concluding clause of the present Petition, whilst it should form a distinct and prominent Petition of itself. To such we would say, the appending it in a clause to the Petition we now publish, Is no barrier to its forming a separate Petition ; and so fully has that fact been impressed upon the minds of many of our fellow-citizens, that a Petition on ; that momentous matter is actually in preparation, and will sbeedily be laid before them. I The Petition above adverted to is that which was presented by Mr. Gladstone and the Duke of Newcastle, and which gave rise to the debate in the House of Peers on the 7th of December last. Had the prayer of the Public Petition embodied a clause praying Parliament to sanction the free and direct sale and resale of native lands, we contend that the colonists of Auckland would not only have raised a question of the most momentous consequence to the progress and prosperity of this Province, but have originated a means whereby to escape from a claim probably without equal in the annals of legislative injustice. What we advanced as a confident opinion in February, 1852, proves to be a demonstrable fact in 1853. The one petition has been received by both Houses of Parliament and stirringly debated in one. The other petition has not even been read in either. Under these circumstances, and with the New Zealand Company so encouraged to pounce upon us, what is to be done? Submit without further effort to their iniquitous spoliations? We trust not. There is; however, no time for delay. If we would save ourselves- from wrong, we must be up and doing. And as a means of rescue from an imposition against which the Press and people of England have loudly called shame, we once more suggest an earnest appeal to the British Parliament, containing an embodiment of a clause somewhat to this effect . — Should it be found imperatire to adhere to the strict letter of the New Zealand Company's Act of P&rlitment ; this may still be accomplished, and the Northern Protince in a great measure relieyed from this most unjust burthen, and without interfeiing in the rights of the Company orer the Southern ProTince, yi'z., by permitting direct purchase of lands by the settlers from th« nattres, and thus present any subsequent monies infested in land from being neceissrily deroted to the payment of a debt, which the Northern Prorince has never incurred. We have all along dissented from the opinion that Parliament would easily be induced to reverse its own act ; — and it was because we did so dissent, and because we saw that by legalizing the direct sale of native lands, a certain door of escape was open from the rapacious spoliations of the New Zealand Company, that we did, and still do, advocate its adoption. It is one of the only two means, that we can discover, of evading the exaction of one fourth of every man's purchase money of laud on which, at present, the New Zealand Company is authorised to lay its clutches; so that even they, who, on other grounds, are strenuously and conscientiously opposed to direct purchase, may, we think, consider that they are fully justified in advocating its introduction if only to defeat the spoilers who would fain batten upon a Province, to which they have never contributed aught save injury. Having spoken of another door of escapo, we proceed to observe ;— if the New Zealand Company are to be upheld in the exaction of their "pound of flesh" from us, who were no party to the bond, still, even at the very worst, they can but demand their -pound, and no more. Now, we are bold to affirm that under the terms of the Act 10 and 11 Victoria, cap. 112, passed in 1847, which constituted the New Zealand Company's debt, and mortgaged " the demesne lands of the Crown in New Zealand" in security thereof; still, in its most disadvantageous interpretation, this can only be legally extended to the lands in possession at the date of the mortgage, and cannot, by any casuistry, affect lands subsequently acquired by the Crown ; for it is no where stated, " in the hond," that all the lands "at present in possession of the Grown, and all the lands which may subsequently bo acquired" shall be charged with the debt. Let an account, therefore, be taken of the lands in possession of the Crown at the date of the Act ; and out of the proceeds of the sale of those lands,— and of those lands alone — if the money must be paid, and this Province plundered— let the New Zealand Company receive their pound of flesh, and
let us be set for ever free from such unscrupulous Vanipyres. But, it may, possibly, be assumed that the Constitution Act passed 30th June, 1852, which repeats, in clause 74, the same words, confers upon the New Zealand Company a claim to their share of all lands held by the Crown at that date. Such an interpretation we do not assent to. But sup posing it to be compulsory, we account it the very utmost imposition to which we are liable. Anything beyond that, we hav c unanswerable grounds to object to. So jus* and upright a view of this nefarious claim may serve to extricate this Province from a continuous mulct in liquidation of a debt not its own, and never contracted to promote its colonization or its commerce. One farthing beyond this we should never consent to pay, without bringing the question,— if needs must — before the Supreme Court,— where the law of the case, we cannot doubt, will be found to be as we have stated it. We may, therefore, we consider, lay claim to some credit for pointing out such an easy mode of emancipating this Province from so odious and so iniquitous an imposition. With reference to legalizing the direct purchase of native lands, — as one of the most upright and beneficial measures, — one calculated in the highest degree to promote the rapid progress and prosperity of Auckland, — we shall have more to say on an early occasion.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DSC18530819.2.5
Bibliographic details
Daily Southern Cross, Volume X, Issue 641, 19 August 1853, Page 2
Word Count
1,782THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Friday, August 19, 1853. Daily Southern Cross, Volume X, Issue 641, 19 August 1853, Page 2
Using This Item
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.