THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 140, 10 September 1853, Page 4

THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

(From the « Times,' April 11.)

Loßd Grey, on his first appearance in this Parliament, last Thursday, said that the charges of fraud and malversation brought against the New Zealand Company are groundless, and that those who made them must be convinced of their groundlessness, since they do not move for a committee of investigation. We assert, on the other hand, that these charges are true, and this we will endeavonr to prove. When a case is transparently clear, there is no need of overlaying it by a committee, and since the publication of the papers on New Zealand ordered to he printed On,the Ist July, 1852, it were idle to pretend that any investigation could mate fraud and malversation clearer. In a letter to Lord Grey, dated the 19th of August, 1848, the Commissioner for New Zealand uses the following words :—There is a sum of eight thousand and upwards owing to them from members of their own body of Directors, for which they hold over-due promissory notes, for advances made to them out of the Company's funds for the payment of instalments on shares." Upon this letter, Lord Grey, through his undersecretary, on the 9th of September, observes, — " That there was very great and objectionable irregularity in the transaction by which they permitted some of their own body to become indebted to the Company." Is this charge groundless? Again, on the 11th of June, 1849, when, it will be Temembered,|the Directors were carrying on the Company with a part of the £236,000 advanced, and subsequently given to them by Parliament, under the act of 1847, for colonizing purposes only, it was reported jto Lord Grey by Mr. Cox, the Commissioner, that a sura of £525 was voted to a director for special services performed in 1841-2, and a further sum of £837 for fees due to directors for their attendance from the Ist of June to the 21st of September, 1842. Parliament advances money in 1847 and the following years for colonizing purposes, and the directors divide portions of it among themselves for services rendered many years before. This is officially notified to Lord Grey, and he now says the charge of misappropriation is groundless, and that those who make it know it to be groundless. Next as to the groundlessness of the charge of fraud. We assert that Lord Grey is cognizant of the fraud committed by the directors, and that he has himself, under his own hand, sanctioned its continuance; and for proof of this we rely entirely on.letters addressed to and received from the Colonial Office. On the 28th of February, 1848, the then New Zealand Commissioner wrote to Mr. Hawes a letter, of which the following is an extract, and of which no one of the statements has ever been disputed by any one :— " You are aware that the Company submitted a case regarding their liabilities to their Nelson laml-pusrchasers to their coiiHsel, Mr. Buckle,

•who returned an opinion, dated November the 6th, 1846, to the effect, that the Company had no tenable defence against actions for the return of the purchase-money and (for damages for breach of contract ; that they then submitted the case to another counsel, Mr. Lloyd, who returned an opinion, dated January, the 18th, at variance with Mr. Buckle's, and favourable to the Company's non-liability. It appears that the Company had occasion to address Earl Grey on January the 26th, 1847, a "letter, in which they referred to the favourable opinion on their case without alluding to the existence of an unfavourable one , and on January the 28th 1847, they address a separate aud confidential letter to their agent^ Colonel Wakelield, regarding the said case, which they transmit to him, accompanied by Mr. Lloyd's opinion alone, without any allusion to Mr. Buckle's ; and in this letter to Colonel Wakefield, they refer to the cognizance they had already given Earl Grey of the favourable opinion, and instruct Colonel Wakefield to make whatever use his discretion may dictate of the documents in question."

Annexed is the following extract from Colonel Wakefield's letter:—

" The confidential communication made to me by the Court of the legal opinion of the responsibility of the Company to compensate their purchasers who have not yet had an opportunity of selecting a portion of land purchased by them, has been sufficiently promulgated by me to dispel a notion on the part of some of the purchasers that it would not be in vain for them to seek compensation by legal proceedings.'' Here, then, Lord Grey was apprised of the commission of a fraud and of its success. That he so understood it himself we have his own written statement, in a letter dated the 3rd of March, addressed to Mr. John Abel Smith, one of the New Zealand Directors:—

" I hardly know," says Lord Grey, " how we can allow the Nelson settlers finally to agree to an arrangement to which they may have agreed only under the erroneous impression that the only legal opinion obtained by the New Zealand Company on the matter in dispute was in favour of the Company, and against the claims of the settlers. I am, for my part, entirely unable to reconcile to my ideas of what is fair and honorable dealing, the conduct of the Company, who having the opinions on the disputed claims of two lawyers, one of these being in their favour, and the other decidedly against them, sent out to the colony, with the view of influencing the settlers, the favourable opinion, entirely concealing the fact that any other existed." This is Lord Grey's own opinion of a charge which he now, without the addition of a single new fact, declares to be " groundless." Happy would it have been for Lord Grey if he !had always held this language; but in the interval between the 3rd and 9th of March his convictions underwent a remarkable change. In a letter of this date, he does not doubt the strictly honourable intentions, of the Directors, though he thinks it unfortunate that such an opinion was not communicated to Colonel Wakefield, and admits that this, in some cases at least, influenced the conduct of the settlers. On the 31st of March, 1848, Lord Grey addressed a letter to Governor Grey, in New Zealand, enclosing the two opinions, stating that the directors " would deprecate their being communicated to the public, and that he, Lord Grey, agrees with the Company, that it is by no means desirable to communicate copies of the opinion of the counsel in caises like the present to the public." The information was withheld, and the settlers left to their fate. ♦ ■ '

These extracts have been long, because we were anxious to take nothing for granted, but to rest the case entirely on documents brought under the notice of, and emanating from Lord Grey. We will briefly recapitulate what we have proved. Lord Grey has had brought to his notice, officially, the fact that the New Zealand directors divided amongst themselves the public money with which they were intrusted by Parliament for purposes of colonization, and lent to members of their own body the money of their shareholders, for which he himself officially reproved them; yet he declares these charges to be " groundless." Lord Grey received from the officer whose duty it was to report it, an account of the fraud, involving the suggestion of falsehood and suppression of the truth, practised by the New Zealand Company on remote colonists, whom it was his peculiar duty to protect. That he fully knew the nature

of the transaction is shown by his letter of the 3rd of March. Yet this transaction he sanctioned and assisted by expressly enjoining the Governor of New Zealand to conceal the document which would have given the settlevs a true view of their rights and their wrongs. Once more we call upon Lord Grey to explain, not merely his acquiescence in this fraud, but the active assistance which he gave to it by his letter of the 31st of March, 1848. We do not want to know what was his opinion of the New Zealand Company, but we want to know why he set up again a detected imposture and gave his best assistance to the success of a transaction which he states himself to be quite unable to reconcile to his ideas of fair and honourable dealing.

MR. DOBSON'S SPEECH,

At the Election of Members to represent Christchurch in the Provincial Council, Aug. 30.

Mr. Dobson commenced his address by stating that it was a time honoured custom for candidates for parliamentary honours to appear before their constituents, on the hustings, and there to make a public declaration of their views, on the leading political questions of the day, that the electors might have an opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with those who aspire to the honor of representing them, and that they might have some public pledge as to the probable tenor of the future political career of those whom they might elect. In the present election this was more a matter of form than otherwise ; first, because as yet we have no party politics, and secondly because in our little community the candidates and electors are known to each other from private intercourse, much better than they could ever be from any amount of hustings speeches. He therefore would address them very briefly, and would confine his remarks to the consideration of two important engineering questions, viz.— the price of waste land and the Sumner road.— Perhaps they would smile at the idea of the price of waste land being called an engineering question, but he thought that it deserved to be called an engineering question rather than a political one, inasmuch as the value of the richest land in the Canterbury settlement depended entirely on the execution of engineering works, which from their very nature could not be undertaken by private individuals, and the cost of which must necessarily be defrayed out of public funds. There are two ways of disposing of the waste lands. They may either be sold by auction at intervals, or they may be always open for sale at a fixed price, which appears the more desirable plan, and this fixed price may be either a uniform price throughout the settlement, or it may be varied in different parts, according to the character of the land and other circumstances. Now it manifestly appears unjust to charge the gravelly plains and the steep hill sides—which are only available for pastoral purposes—with the same price as the rich fat agricultural belt which extends along the seaboard ; and again, in this colony, where limber is of value, instead of being a curse, as in heavily timbered districts, it would be desirable to put such a price on the forest [land as would prevent speculators from monopolizing valuable timber, whilst it should not be high enough to injure thebona fide bushman. He would, therefore, divide the waste lands into three classes— the pastoral, the agricultural, and the land ; the first being the lowest and the last the highest in price, and, when considering the elements which should compose the price, this system of valuation would appear just and fair, not only viewed with regard to the abstract value of the land itself but also viewed with relerence to the amount of public money which would be required, before the land could be brought into a saleable condition : the stoney plains in the interior being passable in almost every direction for drays and horsemen, and requiring little outlay in the way of roads, whilst the agricultural districts, from their swampy character, are inaccessible during a great part of the year, and for the most part unavailable for cultivation in their present state, for want of a system of arterial drainage, which shall give facilities for private drainage, and for the construction of firm and good roads across districts which are as yet hopeless morasses. It is a peculiar feaof the Canterbury district, and one which distinguishes it from the other New Zealand settlements, that it is precisely the land which requires ihe greatest outlay of public money to

make it saleable, that will yield the greatest return for the money invested in its cultivation and which will therefore command the highest price. So much for the relative value of the different classes of waste land. As regards their actual price, in would be futile in the present fluctuating state of the colonial markets, to say now what the price of anything should be a year hence. But, although it is impossible to say in pounds, shillings, and pence, what the price should be when we have it in our power to determine the question, we may come to a very clear judgment, as what shall be the elements of which that price shall be composed ? He thought they were three in number —surveys, immigration, and public works. He considered it most desirable that the present admirable survey should be extended to the whole of the province, and that to the topographical survey should be joined a careful geological and mineralogical examination of the country, that we might know the nature, position and extent of our mineral treasures, so that private euterprize might be directed to the opening up of our coal and copper mines, without the vexations mistakes which attend such undertakings, when commenced upon insufficient or inaccurate data. He need not do more than advert to the importance of an immigration fund to secure the supply of a steady stream of immigration from the mother country, which alonejcould avert the necessity which seems even now staring us in the face, of importing either foreigners or convicts in order to enable us to keep our land in cultivation, and to prevent our flocks and herds from being scattered over the face of the country, for want of shepherds. With regard to the third item, viz.—public works ; he would briefly explain why he thought it desirable that the expense of the public works should be charged upon the land fund, instead of being raised by direct taxation. The main reason is to be found in the character of the agricultural districts, which are mostly at present in the san?e state as the Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshore fens were 200 years ago, and for this reason it is necessary that roads and drainage shall precede and not follow, the sale of land ; that the government shall always be carrying on their works in advance of the settled districts. If this is not done you will sell no laud at all, or next to none. No settler would be found to give ss. or even 2s. an acre (except as a speculation) for land which he cannot make any use , of, whilst there are many men present to day who would gladly give £2, £3, nay, even £o per acre, for our rich swamps, if they had means of draining their land when purchased, and had access to a market for their produce, by a good hard road. But supposing that you leave the public works to be executed out of a-fund to be raised by local taxation, and that you sell the waste lands at the lowest price at which the government can put the purchaser in possession, the only purchasers will be parties from a distance, unacquainted with the character of the country, and unprepared to meet the heavy local taxation which will be necessary, before their land is even accessible. What will be the result ? They will either abandon their land in disgust, or they will sink their capital in fruitless struggles, and in either case no fruits will be forthcoming for public works, and the land will remain uncultivated and useless.— Gentlemen, it has been argued that if we offer our lands at a low price it will attract capital and labour from England. Undoubtedly cheap land and cheap food are the two greatest inducements to make people leave their native country ; but deaniess of living does not deter peopie from flocking in crowds to Melbourne, in the hope of making proportional profits, and dear land will not deter men of the right sort from coming to Canterbury, if the colony is known to be in a flourishing condition ; and the best advertisement of the Canterbury settlement, and the greatest attraction for those at home, who are hesitating upon which colony to fix their choice, will be, the glaring fact that farmers here are thriving and making money although paying 30s. or even £2 per acre for their laud. He would now say a few words on that most important subject, the question of communication between the port and the plains. He had been asked the question—do you approve of the completion of the present unfinished Siimner road ? He would there most emphatically declare that he did not; because the road was very circuitous, was laid outthrough treacherous and dangerous ground, and because, if ever it were completed, there would be no security from one week to another,, that it might not be

blocked up for months at a time by a sudden fall of rock, as is the case at the present moment on the finished part of the road. Moreover it had been commenced without proper consideration, and under circumstances which had since totally chanced. At the time the Sumnerroad was begun Lyttelton was planned on a very limited scale, whilst .at Sunnier a town had been laid out on a most extensive plan, with Mechanics Institute, a Park, and all the luxurious appliances of a laro-e capital. Since then the site of Lyttelton has been greatly extended ; the town of Christchurch has risen to an importance that was scarcely imagined possible by the early settlers, whilst the town of Sumner has been abandoned altogether and its site sold as rural land. Surely this circumstance alone should induce us to "reconsider the whole question, and to see whether we should not make a much more direct communication between the port and the capital. We do not want a Sumner road but a Christchurch road, and really, althougli in common with the other land proprietors at Sumner, Mr. D. was most anxious that they should have a cart road to their estates, for at present it was impossible to get even a wheelbarrow to Sumner, without chartering a vessel on purpose, he really thought that on looking at the maps in the land-office, it seems as if the road had been laid out for the especial benefit of the town of Sumner, rather than with a view to making a direct communication between Lyttelton and Ohristchurch, and he would urge upon the electors the importance of reconsidering 1 the question most carefully, before sanctioning a heavy outlay on the construction of aline of road that seemed so little calculated to fulfil the requirements of the traffic. But if he disapproved of the line of the present Sumnerroad, the question would naturally follow —■" What line do you advise ?" and he would frankly answer " that he did not know ;" " that he could not tell ;" because as yet no proper detailed examination has been made of the different lines which have been suggested, and we have therefore no data on which to form an opinion. There are, however, three courses open for adoption. You may take what engineer s call an open-country line, winding up the hills to the summit ridge, by the most favourable ground, taking little account of the height at which it is crossed, but attending carefully to the inclination at which the road ascends, and the facilities which the ground affords for its construction. Secondly you may disregard expense and tunnel through the hill on a level, and thirdly you may take a medium course— winding up the hills to a certain point and then tunnelling for a short distance through the most precipitous part of the mountain, and if means can be obtained for the execution of such aline of.road it would appear so far as the general principles of road making enable us to form an a priori judgment, to be the best course to be adopted. He would strongly advocate that no more money be expended on the Sumner road, but .that a careful examination should be made of the different lines which appear most feasible, and that so soon as it shall appear what is really the best line of road, a sum of money should be yearly set apart for its execution, and that its construction should go on steadily from year to year, without let or hindrance, until this great and national wish is completed. Meanwhile he would recommend the improvement of the river navigation, by the opening of the Sumner bar, and the straightening of the channel through the mud flats: two important works which could be executed. at a moderate cost, and which would do much.to.prevent the detention ;ind. delay at present so often experienced in the transmission of goods ; and in' order to afford a land communication, at "those times when vessels were unavoidably detained by violent weather, that a dray track should be cut up Mount Pleasant, which'would enable the storekeepers in Christchnrch at all times to receive goods from port, instead of being entirely dependent upon the water communication as at present. Having tlms glanced at the two most important engineering questions, which would come under the notice of the Provincial Council, he would not detain the electors at that hour by any remarks on his personal qualifications to become their representative. He was no stranger to them, he had been amongst them ever since the founding of the settlement, and lie had been a citizen of Christchurch ever since it could lay claim to the name of a city. That he then stood on the hustings was not'of his own seeking, but in reply to the request of a

large number of the electors, who had honoured him with that mark of confidence, and he left his election in their hands, satisfied that if they did not send him to the Provincial Council it would only be because they had before them men, better and abler than himself.