Correspondence.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 883, 14 December 1855, Page 3

Correspondence.

iSJgpOur Correspondence columns being impartially open, we are not to be identified with any opinions expressed therein.

To the Editor of the Southern Cross. Sik,—When Sir George Grey reduced the price o land to ten shillings, he completely abandoned the Wakefleld theory number one—that of making the price of land pay for bringing labour to the Colony ; for, as twenty shillings an acre had not effected that object, certainly ten shillings could not, except on the principle that cheap land will induce people to come here : upon that principle it was only a half measure— the price should have been reduced as low as possible, to induce capitalists to come; and it is evident that in tome way or other the capitalist must, in the first instance, pay for bring'ng labour. The Wakefield theory number two —which is now in force in this Province, holds out encomagement to those who cannot come, —the poor, working settler, (there are none here), but indeed to them it is merely a sham, for offering land on credit to those who have no means of making use of it to advantage, will only injure themselves and the Colony. Cheap land will bring capital, capital will bring labour, and reducing the price of land to the lowest point, will have the effect of rendering tne native land question more easy ot settlement, —which is still the most important question in the Colony,— as will be seen by the following extracts from a letter published at New Plymouth, by the Lord Bishop of New Zealand, and which letter bears on the whole subject.

Extract No. 1. "If the purchases had been conducted with more deliberation, over fcmall blocks of land, and with the

consent of all the owjiers, there is reason to believe that tho colonists would have remained undisturbed, as the purchases of private settlers have, almost in every instance, been «ustain d by the testimony of the Native ! vendor*." '

[ No. 2. [ '^\Vi»«n Capt fVHoy waived the Qh pen's right of t preeiiiptiu.ni, 7u,0C0 acreb of land were bought by English puichaaersin the course of a few months ; and the gival argument alleged in favour of the "Penny Proclamation," (as it was called), was that the Natires woul.l bt discontented if they were restarted m the . enle of their land. j* " The general a pearance of the Pro\ inee of New ' Plymouth justifies the belief, that, in respect of the joint interest of the two races, the state of th? case is i essentially the same as at Auckland. Th« coastingcraft, and canoes, of that Frounce., are here represented by the alrnoat innumerable carts, which may be I seen on market days coming from north and bouth into the settlement. Almost as many ploughs are constantly employed in augmenting your exports. I hear of £125 paid by a Native purchaser as the* prief* of a pnir of bullocks. The thrashing machines in use in the settlement are said to be the property of Native farmers. The river Waitara is stated to have exported, in one yfear, £5000 worth of produce ; every shilling of which, has been spent in your stores ; and has paid its percentage to the ie\enue, administered by your Pro\incial Council. Surely then it is as unjust, as it i& impolitic, to grudge to an industrious people the possession of land, which they have shown themselves so able and willing to cultivate ; and to look with an evil eye upon the places which remain waste; and even to threaten force, if they will not consent to sell the land, which, whether cultivated or not, is admitted to be their own. It is strange, indeed, that your advisers, in the local papers, who dwell so much upon the sixth commandment, should tot get altogether that the same law has also said, — 'Thou shalt not covet.' They may disguise it to then o\ut consciences, but it is my duty as a minister of the Law of the Gospel, to lift up my voice against the publication of opinions which would lead to the sin of muider aa a dnect consequence of the sin of covetousness. I offer to my countrymen my best assistance, and influence with the Native people, in all their just and lawful deshes. but I have no fellowship with covetousness, because Ahab found it to be but the first step to blood-guiltiness. Surely there is enough of blood already crying out of the ground ftgainst the Christian nations of Europe,— against Spain, France, and England, — to make us tremble for the issue of our connection with the New Zealanders. I cannot remain silent while opinions are bi'ing expressed and plans proposed, which, if you prove the stionger, would destroy the New Zealanders, or, if you be found the weaker would destroy, yourselves."

No. 3. " Let the tribe be once assembled, in undisputed poisession of its ancient territory, except such portion-, as have been already sold, and a Crown title granted to each, as an individual propiietcr, with full power to [ dispose of his land, by sale, lease, or bequest ; and then, ( I believe, it will be found that land will be obtained by new settlers on far easier terms, by purchase or lease from the natives, than from their own countrymen. " This I believe to be not only the best, but the only way, in which the further acquisition of land can be brought about. No menaces of military interference are likely to have any effect upon men, who from their childhood have been accustomed to regard it as a point of honour, to shed their last drop of blood for the inheritance of their tribe. And yet these mpn, and others of their lace, have already sold 30,000 acres m this settlement for tenpence an acre,- a million of acres at Ahuriri for a peitny-thieejarthmgs; the •whole of the first Auckland temtoiy lor about fovrjtshcc ; and the whole Middle Island, south of Kaikama, for a mice per acre. Nothing is more easy than to extinguish the Native title, nothing will be more difficult than to extinguish a Native war."

No. 4. •• To sum up this letter, which has grown to ite present length by the repetition of attacks in the local papers, I beg you to accept this condensed statement of my opinions : — " 1. I am quite ready to continue to advise my Native friends to sell their surplus land, on the most JedtJonablG terms, or even to give them to the Government for nothing ; but this ad /ice will be of no avail, until the question is entirely devoid of party feeling ; nnd disconnected altogether from such irritating subjects as the minder of liawiri. " 2. I des're to see each Native land owner secured by a Crown grant for his own individual property ; and registered as a voter ; on the same qualification as an Englishman. " 3. When the Native land owners are thus registered and represented, with full recognition of equal rights and pmilcgea, I will not be backward in explaining to them, that they are liable to all taxes, penalties, and other public burdens, in common with all other classes of Her Majesty's subjects " 4. But on the other hand, I shall resist, by all lawful means, etery attempt to carry out any other interpretation of ths Treaty of Waitangi, than that in which it was explained to the Natives by Governor Hobson, and understood pnd accepted by them. " 5. I hold it to be an act, unworthy of E-iglishmen. to ava.il ourselves of any Native custom, either of conquest or slavery, to dit.lranch.ise any class of Native proprietors; especially when experience has proved, that, where no paity questions are raised, the Native title cart be eximguio^d. £"d aN classes of chiimat.treatisfk'd.ybr <i fete halfpence per acre. "6. Believing roy c elf to be better able than most other persons to judge of the unpiotected position of the outlying settleis in the scattered, and especially in the pastoral, dibtiicts of New Zealand, I shall feel it to be my duty to remind the inhabitants of the towns, even at the loss of my own influence and popularity that the principles which I advocate, and the line o[ conduct which I pursue, are not influenced by any ill will towaids them, or even by an indifference to thei* mt rests, but by a wide, I may say, a general know- r edge of New Zealand, and of all classes of its inhabitants, and by the conviction that the lives and pioperty of our fellow-settlers, scattered as they now arc over at least 15,000 square miles of broken country, can only be presev\ed by the greatest fo> beat ance and t/tc sttictest justice inoui dealings with the Naive people." The foregoing extracts show that the plan of giving Crown giants to individual Native land claimants (a measure sanctioned by the Home Gmernnent) is not only the best, but the only way of settling the Native land question satis facto' ily. A<> a first step towards inclining the Government to grant that measure, rrduce the piice of land as low as possible. The piinciple of making the price of land pay f<n bringing labour ha\ ing been abandoned, let the tax for roads be no longer j raised in such a way, as to be compelled to pay the New Zealand Company (to whom we owe nothing but ill-will) one-fourth of the amount. After reading the above extracts it can no longer be said that the Treaty of Waitangi was made to amuse ignorant savages ; they are no longer ignorant savages, but a people who can, and will if necessary, compel us to cany out that treaty, faithfully and honestly, in the sense in which they understood it, —which was, that their lands should not be taken from them. I' would only be a petty quibble to say, that under thp present system their lands are not taken. The fact cannot be too often repeated, that even the Natives who signed the Treaty ot Waitangi did not understand it, in the way it was explained by Governor Hobson, — that by having no competitors in the market, he could buy it at his own price whenever he pleased ;— the principle which is still being carried out \rith great difficulty. I believe it, for the intercut of bath races, that justice should at once be done to the Native, while it can be done with honor, and not delay until we are compelled to do it. The Natives at New Plymouth will sell no more land to the I Government; others will soon follow their example, and the Government will, at last, be obliged to abandon the present system, and to do, with a bad grace, that which they may now do with a good grace. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, W.F. Pouter. Waiparera, Dec. 3rd, 1855.

To the Editor of t/ic Southern Cross. Sir, — In your Friday's issue, chere is a letter signed "Alexander T. Allen," who was on board of the 'Lady Orey,' schooner, from Chatham Islands to "Wellington, but was detained off the coast of the Middle Island, near the Kai Koras, for three days. This gentleman beheld, and for three nights, a volcano, (20 miles to the southward of (Jape Campbell) and "almost under the snowy ran<*e." Now, Sir, if this gentloman was "detained" oft" the coast, by stress of weather, for three nights, which ho states, what distance do you suppose he was off the coast on the third night from stress of weather? Perhaps SO to 100 miles. He states "that at one time he cou rted 5 wreaths of white vapour, and a dense canopy of smoke." Sir, were not these five wreaths of white vapour the five Southern Provinces, and the dense "canopy of smoke," which after burst into a flame, when dark, Auckland, the Seat of Go* emment, travelling to Christen urch, via the Kai Kords, fully illuminated ; but cheeked on account of the snow. If such is the case, Auckland has astonished Mr. A. T. Allen, and will shortly astonish many more. I have ventured to trouble you with this communication, hoping that its discovery raiv tend, to remove any dread, which miy still remain^ that

Auckland, Mmply, honestly, and only intends to maii;* tain her rights. I am, Sir, Yours obediently, Walteii Brctdib. Carleton Gore, T>c. 10, 185-5. P S.— l wiitc thehO few lines simply bct.iwse two fiiemK otVi'ni?, froii WcllJngtan, poi 'Ztng'ii ' f! ; tl nut , hoai oi the Bent of Ciovr-inment being on its way to the South when they left Wellington.