MR. E. G. WAKEFIELD AND THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 184, 15 July 1854, Page 8

MR. E. G. WAKEFIELD AND THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

(From the Australian and New Zealand Gazette.) In a late number we published a statement made to Sir George Grey by Mr. E. G. Wakefield, that in consequence of long and severe illness from 1846 to 1850, he was "dead" to the New Zealand Company ; and the rejoinder of Sir George Grey, that he appeared to be sufficiently alive, when money was to be divided amongst the directors. The fact being;, that in 1847, and subsequently, Mr. E. G. Wakefield was sufficiently alive to take his seat at the Board of Directors. We extract the proof of this from the minutes of the New Zealand Company itself, as printed at page 94 of a Blue Book presented to Parliament on the loth last year. The minute book of the New Zealand Coirpany declares, that on Thursday, the 17th June, 1847, Mr. Wakefield was present at the Board, when Mr. Hutt^was in the chair. The subject of debate was the sum of £7,171, the disposition of the said sum, and the resolution that "it should be divided aniongst the Directors and Auditors." On the Ist of July, in the same year, the Committee of Management of the New Zealand Company directed the sum to be paid into Messrs. Payne and Smith's bank, to be drawn out by any three of the Directors named in the list to be transmitted to them. At another Court held on Friday, the 14th of January, 1848, Mr. Wakefield was again present, the subject being the distribution of £5,875, of which £5,169 is called, the unappropriated balance of the Directors' back fees. On the lllh of May, 184S, he was again present, the subject being the payment of £3,500 to a Mr. Bett. From these extracts it would appear that Mr. Wakefield was in the habit of attending the meetings of the Company for nearly twelve months of a period during which he declared to Sir George Grey—though the latter was in possession of the Blue Book now lying before us—that he was " dead to the Company," and had nothing to do with its affairs. At what other periods he attended, we have not the means of showing. At a meeting of the New Zealand.Company, on the 21st of October, 1552, Mr. Buckle is reported, in the Times of the 22nd, to have said : " The Canterbury Association were the debtors of the New Zealand Company. They had repudiated the debt, because, as was alleged, the Directors of the New Zealand Company had appropriated a part of the public money to their own private purposes," (meaning the sums above alluded to, being part of an amount which Government had lent on the understanding that the Canterbury colony was to be promoted therewith). " The meeting would be more surprised to hear that Mr. E. G. Wakefield, who was known as the prime mover of the Canterbury Settlement, had himself received a portion of that money—he believed he might say £1,000. He would suggest to the Committee, that they should report on the sums received by Mr. Waketield, not only on that but on other occasions, and as to what sums Mr. Wakefield's family had received." The position of Mr. Wakefield, then, was this: he had received £1,000 of this money from the New Zealand Company, though the Canterbury Association claimed it as being devoted to their purposes. Mr. Wakefield was at this time a Director of the New Zealand Company, and at the same time the prime mover of the Canterbury Association; so that whilst in the former capacity lie had participated to the amount of ±1000 in division of the moneys in question, yet, as a member of the CanterburyAssociation, he was a party to the repudiation of the debt of the latter io the Company, on the ground that they had wasted funds properly belonging to the Association, by dividing it amongst their own Directors—Mr. Wakefield being himself the recipient of no less than £],000 of the said money. With tliis the Governor of New Zealand taxed him, on bis saving that at this very time he was " dead to the Company." The inhabitants of Wellington thereupon'called a meeting, at which Capt. Daniell reiterated the charge, and said that Mr. Buckle had made the same charge in London. At this meeting Mr. Wakefield again denied the matter. The report of the meeting is in the Wellington Independent of July 6th, 1853. At this meeting Mr. Wakefield made a speech, in which lie says lie was struck with apoplexy in 1846, from "which time he had

taken no part in the Company, except in regard to the Canterbury Association, and t cei;tainly never with regard to a division of money amongst the Directors of the Company, of which proceedings he had no knowledge at the time they took place. He would state, on his word of honour as a gentleman, that he had never received one farthing from the Company either as compensation or pay for labour." Mr. Wakefield then proceeded to state that the New Zealand Company were his debtors ! anjl they had repaid him some, but not all, of the money he had lent them. Sir George Grey, said he, insinuated that he (Mr. W.) had received some compensation as a Director; but ." the Governor shrank back at his reply like a snail into his shell. The charge from the beginning to the end was utterly false." Now, if the latter statement of Mr. Wakefield be correct, there is, of course, only one inference, viz., that the minutes of the New Zealand Company, which we have quoted above from a Parliamentary Blue Book, which minutes were extracted from the Company's minute ;book, and given to Government for publication, are neither more nor less than a forgery as concerns Mr. Wakefield. We have not much reason to speak highly of the New Zealand Company ; but we know quite enough of its members to know that they are incapable of such conduct, even to their worst enemy, which Mr. Wakefield unquestionably was. We must, therefore, investigate farther. The question goes in a small compass. Did Mr. Wakefield, or did he not, receive money from the New Zealand Company as compensation or pay for his labours? He says, on his "word and honour as a gentleman? that he did not. Mr. Wakefield resigned his direction of the New Zealand Company in 1849. (See Parliamentary papers of July Ist, 1852, page 332.) That is, lie was a member of the Company from its first formation to 1849, a period of some eleven or twelve years. Prior to 1842, Mr. Wakefield, being a director of the New Zealand Company, had voted to him by the Court of Directors a thousand guineas, not as repayment for money advanced, but as "a testimonial for his services" If it be asked how we know this, the answer is that the above words were extracted from the minute book of the New Zealand Company by Mr. Buckle, whose speech we have quoted, and that the correctness of the expression, "a testimonial for his services," lias been confirmed since by Mr. Hardington, the Secretary to the New Zealand Company, who stated, moreover, to our informant, that, though he was not secretary at the time, the minutes and accounts of the Company showed that it had been paid to him. It is, however, useless to argue the matter further, as both the payment and its grounds were well enough known by many, to ourselves amongst the number. So much for the declaration of Mr. Wakefield, on the word and honour of a gentleman, against the real state of the matter, as it stands in the minutes and accounts of the New Zealand Company, of which he was a Director. Come we now to the second sum of £7,171, or, as other accounts state, £8,200, which forms the ground of complaint on the part of the Canterbury Association, and as having been divided amongst the Directors of the New Zealand Company, of which division Mr. Wakefield says that he " knew nothing." The facts will be found to be as follows. In 1841, when the New Zealand Company was in the full career of the puffing stage of its existence, the Court of Proprietors voted that the Directors and Auditors should be remunerated with £1,500, a year amongst them. Immediately afterwards, the New Zealand Company was in difficulties, and from the first of June, 1842, the sum voted to the Directors was not paid, and they remained unpaid till 1847, when, as has been seen, they voted themselves the £7,000 and upwards as the case may be. In 1846, the Government had granted them a loan of £100,000, and in 1847, another of £136,000 ; together, £236,000. When applying for these loans, the Company said nothing about being in debt for back fees to Directors, but they furnished accounts of assets and liabilities in which no such debts were recognised ; thus abundantly implying that no such engagements were considered to exist, as in fact the Company never was prosperous; the payment of a dividend in the first instance having been only a judicious-puff towards the creation

of new stock, no bond, fide ground for the pay ment of. a dividend having ever existed from the first day of the Company's existence to its dissolution. Of this the proprietors were ignorant, and in their exuherance at receiving an early dividend voted the above remuneration to the Directors, which remuneration no one who knew the real position of the Company ever dreamed they would demand. That there was no intention of demanding this as a debt for back fees appears in a blue book on the subject of loans. The complaint pf the Canterbury Association then, was this, that the New Zealand Company got those loans from Parliament for the express pin-pose,, amongst other mattery of founding a .Church of England'settlement'. The Directors of the New Zealand Coinpamr did not put forth in their application for thp loans, either the one or the other, that they owed a large sum to themselves for back fees as they ought to have done had the sums been really owing; and therefore the Association, when the money was so applied, considering that it was improperly applied, argued that thp loans were got chiefly on the ground of forming the Church of England settlement, and not for paying Directors before anything had been done towards the Church of England settlement. That the Directors of the New Zealand Company did so divide this £7,000 and upwards, there is no doubt. Now the question is, did Mr. Wakefield know of this division? and did he actually share in it ? We have already shown from a Blue Book that he actually sat at the Board of Directors when it was divided at first ; atid that he afterwards sat ivheh an unappropriated siim of £5,000 and upivards was divided. In short, he was present at the deliberations concerning the division of this very money. That matter is thus set at rest by the Blue book, though Mr. Wakefield /' knew nothing" of his own presence at the board. In June, 1847, the Court of Directors of the New Zealand Company had not got the money irom Government, but were in expectation of receiving it, so that their own minutes show that they had agreed upon the division of this, before they had got it, Mr. Wakefield being present (see Blue Book above quoted, page 94). A special committee of the New Zealand Company had recommended that £2,000 of the £7,171 should be distributed to yarious persons, to auditors, to Mr. Harrings ton, the secretary, &c. but none to Mr. Wakefield. This committee, moreover, declined to appropriate the remainder, leaving this to be done by the Directors themselves. Well, the Directors got the money, and on the 14th of January 1848, Mr. Wakefield being present, they divided, as has been said £5,169, being the " imappropriated balance of Directors' hack fees " (Blue Book, p. 95). The amount was transferred to a separate account at Payne and Smith's, as has been seen, which account was called the "Directors' Fund." (See letter from Mr. Cox, the Government Commissioner, to Mr. Merivale, papers relating to New Zealand Company, page 394.) Over this fund Mr. Cox had no control; and from this fund of £5.199 set apart for the Directors, Mr. Wakefield received a thousand guineas, he being at the time a Director: and Mr. Mangles received five hundred guineas, as appears also from Mr. Cox's letter. ' Now the very amounts of these two donations to Mr. Wakefield prove that they were compli' mentury donations. People do not lend money in specific thousand guineas, nor do they get paid back in like sums. It might as well be said that Mr. Mangles lent five hundred guineas to the Company, and was paid back the same sum. Nor would the complimentary guinea part of the business account for interest, for the payment could scarcely be so exactly timed from the loan that the time of loan would have amounted to exactly a year. Mr. Mangles would not say that he lent the Company Jive hundred pounds exactly a year before at five per cent., and got Jive hundred guineas as payment. In short, it must be a curious kind of debt, as Mr. Wakefield stated the previous thousand guineas he received to be, to be always amounting to just a thousand guineas. But it is idle to pursue such an argument. There is not a Director of the New Zealand Company, nor any one else connected with the Company, who would not regard it as a gip, though Mr. Wakefield " kneiu nothing " about the same ; except the receipt of it.

O ur New Zealand friends may regard the -ibove as the reliable facts of the case, and we leave them and their great theorist to make the best of them. The report of Mr. Buckles committee has never been made public, nor, now that the difference between the New Zealand Company and the Canterbury Association has been mad* up, is it probable that the report w ill be ,made public. Should it be so, the above facts must form part of it.

London Wool Report, March 6th, 1854.— The public sales of the remainder of 1853 clip be»an on the 9th ult. and closed on the 4th, anS ' comprised—lß,oßß bales, Australian ; 13,635 bales, Port Philip; 5961 bales, Van Diemen's Land ; 1,947 bales, Adelaide; 1,415 bales, New Zealand and Swan River; 7,528 bales, Cape —total, 47,671 bales. Of the above number, about 1,000 bales were withdrawn and resold, making the apparent larger than the actual quantity sold. The sales opened with a very large attendance of both home and foreign buyers, and much spirit was manifested to purchase at the prices established at the close of last sales. This feeling, however, gradually subsided after the first week, and prices gave way to the extent of l|d on the opening rates; at this reduction more eagerness was observable to stock, and prices remained firm at this reduction to the close. Perhaps at no former period was the show of AVool more indifferent from so large a quantity, the bulk was of avenge quarity, and all more or less infested with burrs, seeds and moats ; and the low prices paid for all this description will convince growers of the importance of attending to the growth and condition of their flocks. For the few good marks exhibited, much competition was experienced and full prices paid for all both from Sydney and Port Philip. In the present series there was a very large exhibit of scoured and hand-washed Wool, all of which sold at moderate prices. We do not recommend their being sent in this state, buyers preferring the Wool in fleece, if properly washed. Skin Wools would leave a Better result if fairly cleansed from sand and lime, the Rochdale manufacturers (the principal purchasers of this description) preferring to scour the wool themselves. Trade generally remains good in most of the manufacturing districts, the clothiers being well employed; and although the prospects of war, coupled with a slackened demand for the Australian colonies, has somewhat checked that brisk inquiry ■which existed a few months since, yet it is exceedingly satisfactory to observe that the raw material still finds ready purchasers at a fair reduction, which, looking at all the circumstances by which trade is more or less influenced, we consider to be very moderate. In the Low Wool market a large demand continues to clear off arrivals, and for Wools ; adapted for the blanket and carpet trade, a slight advance lias been obtained. Should the present rate of consumption continue, and business not seriously affected by the impending war, we may look for the full average prices established during this series being realised in May ; but the very- high rates obtained during the past year will tempt large imports, and in the face of a slackened demand caused by the prices of provisions lessening the spending power of our operatives, and a general timidity among shippers during the uncertainty of political affairs, we cannot with confidence look for an advance, but may rather anticipate a slight decline, in the course of the summer sales. Speculators who bought freely last year for an advance in this series have : been much disappointed at the result, an aye- • rage reduction of full I&d per Ib. having to ibe submitted to. i The merchants met the market freely, and * with the exception of some 4,000 bales since | arrived,- we are enitrely dear of first hand | stock. | Range of Prices op Colonial Wool.— I February and March Sales, 1854.— Sydney : | Superior flocks in best condition, Is 9d to 2s 2jd ; I average to good in fair, Is. 4d. to Is. Bd. ; ordi- | navy and ill-conditioned do., Is. to Is. 3d. ; 1 scoured clothing, Is. 60. to 2s. 2&d. ; fair and I band-washed skins, Is. to Is. od.; heavy, 9d. to 1 303^d.; lambs', good, Is. sd. to 2s. lid.; do. I inferior to average, Is. 2d. to Is. 4d. ; broken I?locks, &c, 7d. to Is. 9d.; in grease, Bd. to lid. I 1 Victoria: Superior flocks in best condition, 11 Is. 9d. to 2s. id.; average to good in lair, Is. 4d.

to Is. Bd.; ordinary and ill-conditioned do., Is. Id. "to Is. 3d.; scoured clothing, Is. 7d. to 2s. 4d.; do. lambs', Is. Bd, to 2s. 4id.; fair and hand-washed skins, Is. 3d. to Is 6d. ; heavy. 10d. to Is. 2d. ; lambs', good, Is. Bd. to 2s. 4d.; do.inferior to average, ls.2d. to 15.7 d.; broken locks, &c. lid. to Is. s£d.; in grease, 7d.to 14d. Tasmania : Superior flocks in best condition, Is. Bd. to 25.; average to good in fair, Is. 4d. to Is. 7d. ; ordinary and ill-conditioned do. Is. id. to Is. 4d.; scoured clothing, ls.9d. to 2s 2#d.; do. lambs', Is. 9d. to 2s. Id.; fair and handwashed skins, Is. 3d. to to Is. sd. ; heavy, lOd. to Is. 3d. ; lamb's, good, Is. Bd. to 2s. 2c1.; do. inferior to average, Is. 4d. to Is. Bd.; broken locks. &c. 9d. to Is. 2^d.; in grease, Bd. to lid. Adelaide: Superior flocks in best condition, Is. sd. to 15.7 d.; average to good in fair, Is. 3d. to Is. 5d.; ordinary and ill-conditioned do., Is. Id to Is 3d ; scoured clothing, Is 5d to Is73£d; fair and hand-washed skins, Is. to Is. 3d.; heavy Bd. to lid.; lambs', good, Is. 5(1. to Is. 83. ; inferior to average, Is. 2d. to Is. 5d.; broken locks, &c. Bd. to Is.; in grease, 7|d to lid. New Zealand : Superior flocks in best condition, Is. 6d.. to Is. 9d ; average to good in fair, Is 2d. to l's. 5&d.; ordinary and ill-conditioned do., lid. to Is. 2d.; scoured clothing, Is. sd. to Is. 6d.;" fair and hand-washed skins, lid. to Is. 2d.; lambs', good, Is. sd. to Is. 9|d.; do. inferior to average, Is. Id. to Is ; 5d.: broken locks, &c. Sd. to Is.; in grease, Bd. to lOd.

Express Communication with Australia. —A preliminary meeting1 of gentlemen interested in promoting rapid postal and other communication with the Australian colonies, was held on the 10th. of February, at the London tavern, to consider the best means of carrying out that object. It was submitted that the rapid progress made by the colonies in material prosperity dining the last few years called for increased exertions on the part of the mother country to shorten the distance between them, and that the market for British manufactures and goods was subject to violent fluctuations in consequence of the want of early and rapid intelligence from Europe, To meet this admitted want, it was suggested that a line of fast and commodious express steam" ships, of from 2000' to 3000 tons .burthen,, and of 500 horse power, should be established for the conveyance of mails, passengers/ and goods. The Legislature of New South Wales has agreed, by a unanimous vote of the Council, to grant the sum of ,£6;000 to the first company who should bring Sydney within a course of post of 120 days with London, which grant was to remain in force for three years. No company had, however, yet laid claim to it. It was believed that a secure,'direct, and expeditious communication might be made between England and Australia within the average period, of 45 days. This, however, could not be eifecled unless some means were adopted to prevent the delay and inconvenience of coaling at the various stations to which ships were now compelled to resort for that purpose. To meet this difficulty, it was proposed to use a compact and simple form of marine engine, for the application of which a patent had been obtained by Messrs. Newton and Fuller. The principle of motive power so proposed to be adoj)ted was one which enabled the principles of expansion to be carried to the fullest extent possible in condensing engines, without sacrificing, as in the ordinary engines, when this mode of economy of fuel was attempted to be attained, an even and regular motion of the engine. Models of the form' of engine proposed to be used were explained to the meeting by Messrs. Newton and Fuller, and it was stated that in all probability the saving of coal would be at least one-half of that already consumed in the steam ships of the mercantile navy. It was estimated that a vessel of 250 D tons and of 500 horse power, fitted with these engines, would consume, on the voyage to Melbourne or Sydney, even supposing she kept up full steam the whole way, 1,340* tons of coals in 50 days. This would be considerably less than half the quantity consumed by the steamers now employed on the route, A gentleman who had lately arrived from Australia by the " Argo," stated that the consumption of coal in that vessel was enormous ; and that, after having taken in 1250 tons of coal at St. Vincent, it was necessary to get 200 tons more at Plymouth to carry the vessel to Southampton. From his knowledge of the colony, he could state that the interval of two mouths, during which there was no

communication with England, was severely felt in the colony, and that the frequent result was a glut of goods in the market at one time, and a dearth at another. Several gentlemen having alluded to the advisability of establishing the description of communication suggested, a resolution was passed approving of the principle of Messrs. Newton and Fuller's engines, as explained by those gentlemen, and the meeting was adjourned, in order that an opportunity might be afforded for widening the basis of operations, and bringing to the support of the project, in a public form, the assistance of all who were interested in the prosperity of the Australian colonies.— Rome, JSeivsl

Opening of the French Chambers.— The Proceedings of the French Chambers commenced on March 2d. by the delivery of an adddress by the. Emperor Napoleon. We quote the portion of the "Message" referring to Russia. " Last year, in my speech on the opening of the session, I promised to make every effort to maintain peace, and reassure Europe (et rasseur V Europe). I have kept my word. To avoid a struggle I went as far as honour permitted me. Europe knows now in a mauner beyond doubt that if France draws the sword it is' because she has been forced to do so. It knows that France has no ideas of aggrandisement. She only wishes to resist dangerous encroachments (empietements dangereux), Therefoie lam proud to proclaim openly that the time of conquests is past irrevocably ; for it is not by extending its territorial limits that a nation can henceforth be honoured and powerful—it is by placing itself at the head of generous ideas, by making everywhere prevail the empire of Right and Justice. Behold, as am example, the results of a policy without egotism and without arrierepensee .' Behold, England, that ancient rival, who will tighten the bonds of ah alliance with us which will become daily more intimate,' because the ideas which we defend are at the same time those of the English people !■ Germany, which the remem- . brance of ancient wars still rendered distrustful, and which for that reason gave for forty years, perhaps too many proofs of deference to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg!], has already recovered the independence of its movements, and freely considers upon which side are its interests. Austria, especially, which cannot look with indifference upon the events that are in preparation, enters into our alliance, and will thus confirm the character of morality and justice of the war which we undertake (que nous entr'eprenons) . " The state of the question is precisely this: —Europe, occupied with internal struggles since forty years, reassured, moreover, by the moderation of the Emperor Alexander, in 1815, as by that of his successor down to the present day, appeared not to be aware of the danger that might menace it on the part of the colossal Power which, by its successive invasions, embraces the north and the centre, which almost exclusively possesses two inland seas,from which it is easy for its armies and its fleets to throw themselves upon our civilisation. An ill-founded claim (prelention) at Constantinople sufficed to arouse slumbering Europe. " We have, in fact, beheld in the East, in the midst of profound peace, a sovereign exact suddenly, from his weaker neighbour, new advantages, and, because he did not obtain them, invade two of his provinces. " This fact alone would place arms in the hands of those whom iniquity revolts ; but we have other reasons to support Turkey. France has as much, and perhaps more, interest at stake than England to prevent the extension of the influence of Russia indefinitely over Constantinople, for to reign at Constantinople is to command the Mediterranean, and not one of you, gentlemen, I think, will say that England alone has interests in that sea that washes three hundred leagues of our shores. Moreover, this policy does not date from yesterday. For centuries every national Government in France has maintained it. 1 shall not abandon it. Let men then no more say, " What are you going to do at Constantinople?" We are goingihere with England to defend the cause of the Sultan, and, nevertheless, to protect the rights of the Christians. We go there to protect the freedom of the seas and our just influence in the Mediterranean. We go there with Germany to assist it in maintaining the rank .of which it

seemed an attempt was made to deprive it—to mate sure its frontiers against the invasions of a too powerful neighbour. We go there, finally, with all those who desire the triumph of right, of justice, and of civilization. " In this solemn circumstance, gentlemen, as in all those in which I am obliged to make an appeal to the country, I am sure of your support, for I luwe always found in you the generous sentiments which animate the nation. "Therefore, strong in that support, in the nobility of the cause, in the sincerity of our allies, and confiding especially in the protection of God, I hope shortly to attain a peace which it will not be in the power of any one to trouble with impunity." During the delivery of this speech the Emperor was more than once interrupted by applause, which was particularly drawn forth by the allusion to the intimate alliance with England in which the Empress was observed to join heartily. The cries of " Bravo ! Vive I' Em-pereur !" were renewed at its close.