THE LAND QUESTION.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 854, 4 September 1855, Page 4

THE LAND QUESTION.

To tie 2sSor 6?tn% Southern CrdH'. t,^ i x .. %l . . i i ;. .>'' > Sftf-l Kate lately received » pamphlet, published frvtfi* Aborigines Protection Society, in review of suchrnwHrfoM nf*he New 2raland Government Afct as bear \wiiVi Specially upon native interests. To thu 1 proposeretunimgon a future occasion ; my present object being merely the calling your attention to the enlarged views of that Society concerning- the direct purchase of native lands. The passage is as follows.:— * "This clause (rendering the Crown the *ofr purchaicr of the lands of native tribes), for the apparent benefit of the natives, "and d.nbtless .intended for their good, is a serious grievance and spoliation." "The right of ownership can scarcely be said to remain when the power of disposal is so taken away. Sovereign* would b.» reduced to farthings or even to a still lover value, if tho«e who hold them could neither paM nur sell them. The oppressive character of this clame involves other objections." "Ist, In estimating the value of native lands, for the settlement of qualification. mu-U low value would be a£xcd as mig'it suit *ny futur.- purchase by the Crown ; rid hud sufficient to give the highest qualification to a large number of Whites might not give any qualification to a single native." "idly, By this clause, the natives are precluded from soiling! exchanging, bequeathing, or otherwise disposing of land among-t themselves; and as they exercised this right before the Treaty of Waitangi, they evidently retained it uiukr the of that Treaty, however the pre-emptive provision may appe.ir to have disregarded "ijdly, This clause is strongly opposed to good morals, as it must operate directly to present the formation of marriage connections between Whites and Natives. It will therefore tend to promote th.U practice ot concubinage which has already largely taken place, to the di-giaco ot the nominally Chilian settlors, and to the irrppar.ible injnty of the* native race. The operation of this principle' has already pro\ed a means of oppression, and a cause of wide-spread dissatisfaction, where an unexceptionable matrimonial alliance had been contracted between a British subject aitd a native woman. "Remedy. The Crown should go no further than to insist on public nuelion. requite the refusal, and be accessary to every bargain. Moie than this would be a violation of the liberty of the subject." In addressing ourselves to this question, some confusion of ideas, will be avoided, by treating it as a mere question of time ; not whether direct purchase shall ever be permitted ; but when it shrill be permitted. For it nutet be &t>, at some period or other ; the natives are bo C»>ning"tnore and more anxious to be relieved from restriction , we have recognised their right to do as they will with their own, so soon as they should be fit for emancipation from a state ot pupillage ; and they have been emancipated by the Biitish Parliament. It is idle to maintain tnat men who are deemed tit to be entrusted with the highest prhilege of the citizen— the electoral franchise— should be treated like ehihh en with lepard to the relations of property. It must be borne in mind that the concession of the franchise to the natives has altered all the bearings of the native question. We must now assume, in argument, that they are upon an even footing with ourselves. The usual objections to an immediate free traffic in real property between natives and Europeans, are these : — 1. The danger of renewed disturbances, consequent upon Europeans taking possession of lands which they f,hall have purchased, not from the real owners. 2. That the natives would injure themselves, by -selling their lands to speculators for a nominal consideration. 3. That money could not be borrowed on security of the land, for "public purposes, unless the laud be acquired from the natives by the Colonial Government. '4. That the emigration fund, and the provision for •public works, would be annihilated. 5. That large tracts of land would be bought up by speculators, who would not attempt to cultivate, but would hold on in expectation of a rise in value. 6 The breach of the legal principle, that all title to land emanates directly from the Crown. 7. That direct purchase, if allowed m one .Province, must be allowed in all the rest; but that it would not auii the intersts oi the Southern Provinces. The first objection is a limb of "the great hob goblin fallacy," by means of which Governor Grey was able | to frighten the Colonial office into a postponement of Representative Institutions for New Zealand. The danger is in imagination only. This is not the place for a lengthened disquisition upon the past dealings of • the settlers with the natives -upon Governor Grey's fruitless attempts to excite the natives against the land claimants, or upon Ins pirtially successful attempts to corrupt the natives by the force ofmnremitting temptatnn, to break down the great barrier against Ins schemes -that habit of inflexible adherence to an agreement, by which the Maoii race was so honorably distinguished before his Excellency's advent to the Colony. .The fact is estahl shed, that in the North, where alone the natives and the settlers have understood each other from the beginning, there have baen no real difficulties about the purchases of individuals. That very many awkward and puzzling cast's have occurred, carefully • exaggerated by Governor Grey, is true; that natives should have received payment for land which was not their own to sell ; that Europeans, in the hurry of competition, in the abseenseof proper checks and regulations, | should have trodden upon each others heels, confusing j boundaries ami claims, was only to have been expected ; i bnt it is remarkable that no real evils— such as could not have been readily cured by mi abler and honcster ] Government, have octurrjd The very harmlessness of j the errorsan a sutHriinit guarantee for the safety of the principle. They are bat errors of carelessness, after all. One tythe of thtipr^cautions which are taken at home against imperfect titles, w.mld obviate every inconvenience. Were hmm to walk the streets of London' with a thousand pounds in his hand, offering to purchase Blenheim or Stnithfieldsay, he would very shortly find a seller; but it does not follow that he would be able to take possession. Natives can of course be found who would be r ady to accept payment for any portion of the country : for why, indeed, should we suppose them hupwwr to temptations which would not be resisted by Cockneys. The difficulty resolves itself into a simple case of caveat emptor. The danger is fictitious— the hobgoblin but a" shadow. The native war was not in defence of the land-claimants, but against the flag-staff, the symbol ol Government. The natives ■won their point, for the flagstaff still lies prostrate. Had they fought about the land, they CDuldhave enforced the surrender of the land, as surely as they did tht T-iil ; n S of the Flag. The most plausible objaction to Direct Purchase, under this view of the case, is the peculiar nature of native tenure ; the ownership of land being exercised, in the great majority of instances, not by individuals, bu. by tribes or families. But this would have already vanished had Governor Grey been sincerely desirous of ameliorating the condition of the native race. For it can be shewn that the very means which ought to have been employed in the facilitation of Direct Purchase would have been a most powerful element in civilization. My attention was strongly called to this question eeveial years ago, by a remark contained in the "Narrative of an excursion to the Boiling Springs," ('New Zealander/ 1847,) wri ten by one of the best and most intelligent of the Auckland colonists, the late lamented Dr. Johnson. After pointing out the evils induced by the native desiie of beiire noted for and thereby acquiring importance, —after shewing- that m hile we accumulate as*} retaiii te increase our importance in the eyes of out fellows, they on the other nand accumulate to give away for the same reason, — that until this vanity be removed from- the native mind, it is needless to expect them to pursue a course of regular industry, he lays down this apparently paradoxical position : — ♦'If, then, we would make them industrious, we mutt, in the first place, make them avaricious." The principle is even more broadly enunciated by Archbishop Whately, in his Oxford lectures on political economy. "1 h-ve spoken of security of propeity, as the most essential point, becaui-e, though no progreps can be ißade without a division of labour, thin coulp neither exisc without necunty of property, nor could iail to aiise with it. * * * "It is this mainspring (Sumner—Records of Creation) which keeps the arts and civilized industry in motion. The lirs>t who, having en.v. v closed a spot of ground, has taken upon himseif to ."assert, Thut is mine, gives a new aspect to the society, -and lays the foundation, «ot of crimes, and wais, and 'murders, as Rousseau proceeds to say, as if those were unknown to the a vage; but of improvement and civilisation." Uut there are many BpecieK of the genus Avarice. There U /he avarice of un Euclio, of a Cataline, of a CrasMib. of a HarpUg >n, of an El wes. Like the rest of the spntimenUt it has its distinction of caste. And if it inujgt be implanted m tl'e native breast, let us at least he Careful to implant the best of the sorj. It appears to 'nte thai,' instead of teaching the aatives to accumulate pence— instead of encouraging a niggardly disposition as » preparation for civilized proprietorship, the more bcuticial course would be, to begin, at the other end. It would thus be our duty to operate, not upon their per-

-«Qn»l, -but upon thri* real ptoperty ; not upon moneys < but upon land. \ .Divide their common property urt£ 1 severities, and tjie object Is attained. The great majorityjinat ive population become proprietors, in the • n th,e Europefm&enae o£.th,e firm. But this cannot be effected w t' out their free consent ; and to obtain this consent, an immediate find tangible inducement must be offered. They must themselves be made the. active agents in the change. , l'he following, passage, extracted from thft life of Martinus Scriblerus, is suggestive: What most conduced to the easy attainment of that language [Greek], was his love of ginger-bread, which his father observing, caused it to be stamped with the letters of the Greek alphabet ; and the child the very first day ate as far as lota. It may he presumed that immediate indulgence would be at least as effectual in teaching political economy to the natives, as in teaching Greek to the younger Scriblerus. But the ginger-bread for them needs baking in another batch. Lei us consider whether we could not have succeeded in luring them to their own advantage. You will remember, sir, that Lord Grey, in the letter of Instruction accompanying the Charter of 1846, ordered a general registration of native lands, linger penalty of fo •- feiture for neglect. This being so far compulsory, was a plain breach of treaty (notwithstanding Governor ftrey's assertion to the contrary), and fell to the ground. But to a voluntary registration of native land held without dispute by a single owner, there could be no objection, And this could have been effected simply by the concession of an advantage to those who comply with the invitation. Let those natives, who choose to register land:: of which they may severaly hold possession, be allowed the free disposal of such lands to Europeans. Only one precaution would have been necessaiy : that the native owner, before being permitted to register, should be required to prove his title to the satisfaction of a competent tribunal, Disputed or even doubtful claims might have been rejected without mercy. With a clear advantage in vrospcctu, native holders of common land would parcel it out among themselves, proportionately to the strength and nature of their respective claims ; after which each individual wou'cl be entitled to register his own allotment. And more than that, disputed boundary lines between tribes-— that fertile source of dissention among themselves — \vonld at last, with the assistance of the Government, be definitely settled. I This scheme was fi:st embodied in a letter to the 'Times': I have since repeatedly discussed it with old residents, acquainted with native customs, and all have agreed in its feasibility. The . c ccond of the seven object'ons, that the natives I would injure themselves by selling then lands to specillai tors for a nominal consideration, is scaicely worthy of a ! serious answer. All who know the natives are aware of their extreme tenacity in bargain driving— of their perfect ability to take care of themselves ; while the experience of many years has proved that they will not be induced by even" the temptation of money in hand, to denude themselves of lands required for their own support. As much as £5 per acre, offered while Governor Fitzßoy's pre-emp-tion proclamat ons were in force, has been refused for such land. Nor must it be forgotten, that if, as there is too much reason to suppose, the native race be rapidly dying out, the proportion of land to numbers, in spite of purchases, will increase year by year. The remnant, whom we hope to preserve, will find themselves proprietors of enormous acreage. The third objection is foonned on the latent and unacknowledged absumpMon. that the native land is not in reality their own, — that they hold it by a charitable licence, merely as locum tencnte* to Europeans for a while, and that they are not entitled to receive the value in case of sale. The right of borrowing, for public purposes, upon the difference between the value of the land and ith purchase money, is entirily dependent upon a proposition which is no longer openly maintained. The fourth objection is the annihilation of the immigration fund, and of the provision for public works, With regard to the immigration fund, we have yet to learn what benefit the Auckland province has derived from it. I grant, indeed, that the abuse of it ib no argument against its use, — that its past misappropriation under Governor Grey, is no reason for supposing that it will continue to he misappropriated, under the control of the General Assembly or of the Provincial Councils; but I maintain that the fund is no longer needed, for the Noith. The natural advantages of the Auckland province are such that immigration will take care of itself, provided only that we have land enough to supply the immigrants withal. There is no lack of arrivals, even now ; every vessel bringn intending settlers ; but they depart as fast, in despair of obtaining land for settlement. The Government has failed in its duty of extingiPfching the native title to a sufficiency ; it is high time that the colonists, by means of diiect purchase, should undertake the matter for themselves. I }iavc heard an inexperienced sportsman, riding across the scent, very properly rated by the master of the pack ;—"; — " Ho IS hard, you tailor ; you cannot catch a fox yourself, and had better let the hounds try what they can do." With regard to public woiks, I am unable to perceive why the lav I should be exclusively bnrthened with the execution of them. Let those be provided for from the general revenue. Merchants profit by roads, wharves, and bridges, to the full as much as cultivators. Tax the land, if you will ; but pay the proceeds into the general revenue, instead of appropriating them to special purposes. The fifth objection, that large tracts of land would be bought up, and kept out of cultivation by speculators, might be classed amonj Sir Thomas B owa'a Co.mnon and Vulgar Errors. It is one of those lo which the ear has been accustomed, and ■which are therefore p.tssi\vly admitted, without examination. The mania of land joblriu has passed away — the jobbers have been hit 100 hard. A little of such work may still be going on, possibly in quarters where it should be least expected ; but the old gigan t; c operations are at an end. The natives will no longer sell at such prices as speculators could afford to pay. AsS wi h the Sybilline books, at each successive negotiation loss la.id is offered for the same money. But even were it possible for this peculiar class of speculators to acqnire the Ixnd, they would not keep it out of cultivation. They would not hold on, to any unreasonable extent; for the single roa^on that if a small profit could be made upon the land, it would not be worth fieir while to hold on. Land is a marketable commodity, like corn. Corn is held back occasionally, but never so long as to came serious mischief. Such things as forestalling and rcgratiug have been, in olden time ; but the rery laws against them have died a natural death. Dealers in land, like other dealers, look for quick returns. And the more land they hold, the less they are inclined to keep it back- The alleged danger has never yet been realized, excepting in the case of absentees, — a bpecial case, and practically beyond the -question^ and if il should be lealised, there is an efficaciousi remedy in the imposition of a tax upon uncultivated -land, the property of Europeans. I am, of course, aware of the embarrassment which attends upon exempting the oatives, now that the electoral franchise has heen conferred upon them, from dire<^ taxation ; but I believe it to be over-estimated. As to the abstract principle, that Natives and Europeans ought to be placed on the same footing in every respect, taxation included, it is a -mere crotchet of Governor Grey's,— a principle from which he himself has departed. For Europeans are subject to a tax upon raupo houses, within certain districts, from which Natives are exempt. The exemption is aot provided for in theJßdupo Ord nance itself, but in the Proclamation which brings that Ordinance into operation. With regard to the sixth objection, the supposed breach of the legal principle, that all titles to land must emanate irom the Crown, the difficulty is possibly fictitious ; certainly not insuperable. Means of avoiding it have been readily found elsewhere. An Englishman could purchase from a Canadian Frenchman, or from a Dutch Boer, so soon as Canada and the Cape were annexed to the British empire. But admitting the principle, as stated by the objectors, a very .seiious counter- principle is involved, which may event. rally prove the pivot upon which the question of Diieet Purchase will turn : I allude to the rights of native women, and of legitimate half-caste children. According to Governor Grey's practice, and to Mr, Attorney-Gene-ral's exposition of the law, a native woman, married to an European subject of the Queen, forfeits her native title to land. Her children also arc similaily de&poilul. If, however, 6he live in concubinage with an European, it is not even pretended that the Government have a right to confiscate the land. A premium upon concubinage is thus officially held out. This branch of the question has been a subject of long and obstinate contention with the Government, hitherto without result, but is assuredly a pawn that will go to the queen. The rights of halt-castes must be conceded in the end. And then arises the Crown Grant difficulty. For, if a special exemption from the operation of the 'feudal prin,ciple be conceded to half-castes, it must likewise be extended to their descendants, of whatever mixture in blood. In our West Indian colonies the seventh eioss is treated as of pure Euiopean blond. The generations are as follows: — White, Sambo (apparently a loose link -in the chain), Mulatto Quadroon, Muetee, Mustafina, White by law. Now, if a Maori half-caste be able to hold land without a Grant from the Crown, his "White by law" posterity will be able to do the «arne, and the principle is trodden under foot. If there be any advantage in preserving the point oi form, it is easily obtained. Let Crown Grants be given to natives and to half-castes who shall have duly registered their lands. They would willingly pay the expense of parchment, of engrossing, and of -wax. The most tenable objection, in my opinion, is the last, — that direct pu'chat-e, if allowed in one Province, must needs be allowed in all the rest; but that it would not suit the interests of the Southern Provinces. Ye* even this objection, upon examination, nppcitrs to bt | insufficient. For the necessity remains to be provjd I willingly admit that uniformity of system throughoul

the cokmy! within reasonable limits* iho'ild- be pr ; " served ,\but a dtroet inj«rjr to one province , out of six 1 ii a* dear price to pay for symmetry ; ami an unjust price, if charged by the advocates "of 'symmetry, not-, upon themselves, but upon their neighbours. It might perhaps be uiged, that the Southern natives would have cause to complain, if the power of direct •ale wert« granted to their Northern brethren only. Assuredly they would : but the most important branch of my argument is conceded by that admission. Nor 11 it easy to perceive why we should refuse his admitted right to A, because we are unwilling to grant it to B likewise. I have endeavoured, Sir, to dispose of the main objections to direct, purchase, in a fair and candid spirit. If I be oatreusoned on the subject, I shall not hesitat • to confess my en or. But the subject has long occupied my thoughts, and I have satisfied myself that the concession cm be mad without the shadow of danger. And danger to the Colony is the only ground upon which it can be refused to the Auckland province. The d<nger being eliminated, what almost amounts to a right remains. The unju-t imposition of the Company's debt upon the 1 land fund of the Auckland province has entirely altered the relative position of this province to winds the other five. The Home Government ha\ ng rtfused to take measures for relieving Auckland trom the charge, she must endeavour, by such indirect means as are permitted, to relieve herselt. Of these, the introduction of direct purchase appears to promise best. For if native hind pass into possession ot the Colonial Government for but a single infant, it becomes chargeable with the Company's fourth : if it be purchased by individual colonists from the native owners, it remains intact. The land fund is annihilated' by degrees, and the Company's security "leaves nut a rack behind." Xlbtoikos. 1 4th February, 18-51. i