MEMORIAL TO THE GOVERNOR, FROM THE INHABITANTS OF THE HUTT.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 141, 16 November 1844, Page 1

MEMORIAL TO THE GOVERNOR, FROM THE INHABITANTS OF THE HUTT.

To his Excellency Captain Fitzßoy, R.N., Governor of her Majesty's Islands of New Zealand, &c. &c. &c The respectful memorial of the holders and expectant holders of the New Zealand Company's lands in the Hutt district, and other inhabitants of the same settlement, Sheweth, 1. That the chief agricultural population of this colony is concentrated on the valley of the Hutt, wherein is contained, by a recent census, between 650 and 700 British settlers, nearly the whole of which are engaged in agriculture. 2. That the protracted settlement of the land question, after a period of near three yeare' delay, is producing incalculable evils to all parties concerned ; destroying the good understanding that formerly existed between the two races; teaching and tacitly encouraging the natives to violate their own solemn compact ; and bringing distress and ruin upon all those settlers who have immigrated to this colony. 3. That, in consequence of this delay and of the proclamation issued by the Officer lately administering the Government, whereby the settlers are prohibited from occupying all lands in dispute, the natives have again taken possession of land they had formerly given up; and, as remonstrances by the authorities have only been followed by concession, each concession has only led to more unreasonable demands or

to greater outrages. Settlers have been recently driven from lands to which no opposition had formerly been made. Their houses have been taken possession of or have been destroyed, and the crops they have planted have been rooted up. In some instances they have been driven off from land by those very natives whom they paid for clearing. Various depositions substantiating these and other aggressions your memorialists beg to transmit herewith. 4. That from this delay has originated another evil, destructive of all good government and of moral law on the minds of the natives. Several instances have arisen of dissolute and wicked individuals instigating the natives to acts of outrage, by dispossessing the industrious settler of his land and giving it to them. 5. That, according to the present administration of the law, the settlers can obtain no redress from the civil authorities. The courts of law, indeed, recognize the rights of settlers to their lands, between themselves, by punishing trespassers and enforcing demands for rent. But there is no power to check, much less to punish, the least or the worst of any aggressions committed by the natives. N 6. That, notwithstanding the long continuation of these faithless and hostile proceedings, your memorialists are not aware of a single instance of retaliation, as yet, having been committed upon the natives; on the contrary, that they have been treated almost universally, if not with uniform kindness, at least with unexampled forbearance.

7. That it is the opinion of your memorialists that the belief of the lands in the Hutt being required by the natives to grow their own food is completely erroneous, and ft>r the following reasons: — On the arrival of the first settlers, some of whose names are hereunto attached, not more than eight or nine acres, not far from the sea, were alone in cultivation, and these have never been occupied by the settlers. The rest of the valley, containing nearly 20,000 acres, was (and almost now is) one thick unbroken chain of primeval forests, every where interspersed with palms and arborescent ferns of from one to 300 years old. No sooner, however, had the settlers made roads, built dwellings, cleared land, and began to send provisions to Wellington, than the natives, jealous of this competition, followed in their steps. And finding they were allowed by the authorities (then held in some respect) to take possession of small patches of land, came among us for the first time, and invited others at a distance to join them. This lenity has been followed by its natural consequence ; remnants of vagabond tribes, from all parts of the North and South Island, are fast congregating in the valley, where they have built two fortified pas, and are well provided with fire arms. Although they are but remnants of tribes who have slaughtered each other in former wars, and still retain a smothered enmity, yet they are now brought together by one common interest. They openly avow their determination of cultivating potatoes and rearing pigs for the white people at Wellington — a trade they find both easy and lucrative, from the facility of the roads constructed by the Company, and the impossibility of the white settlers cultivating the land.

8. Your memorialists beg leave, moreover, *o call your Excellency's attention to this remarkable fact, that none of the aggressions have been committed by that tribe which was in possession of the Hutt at the time it was purchased by the Company. The chief of Ibis tribe, E Puni, of great influence, and as 'much beloved by the white population aa by his 'own people, uniformly declares that the land has been fairly paid for, nay, more, he has .actually refused to receive any further compensation. Seeing, however, that any wandering natives may now take possession of the land he sold us, E Puni, within the last week, has sent a party of his people to do the same, but with this assurance, that so soon as these strange natives are ordered off, he will immediately withdraw bis own people. Evidence upon this important fact will be submitted to your Excellency. 9. That of 175 sections or 17,500 acres in the Hutt valley, thus purchased from the tribe whom the Company found in possession, the stranger natives have only allowed the settlers to occupy nineteen sections, seven of which, on the sea side, are only fit for occasional grazing, while portions of the remaining are still in the hands of the natives.

10. That, in further evidence of the enormous quantity of land lying waste above what is wanted for the native population, your memo* rialists beg to cite another instance in the Wyderop valley — a magnificent tract of alluvial land nearly sixty miles long, and containing by the surveyors' estimate more than 300,000 square acres. This vast tract, however, is almost uninhabited excepting by about 200 natives, cultivating a few potstoe gardens towards the sea. This fertile region, it is obvious, might support all the native population of, the whole islands; and it has not been sold really or aoiainx&y to Europeans. But it re to* far from

Wellington to serve the purpose of the natives, and they will therefore not occupy it. 11. Upon a due consideration of all these circumstances, your memorialists can come to no other conclusion than that, in common with the other settlements founded by the New Zealand Company, they are suffering under hardships unparelleled by those of any other of her Majesty's subjects, and unexampled in -the history of modern times. They cannot get possession of land purchased from the Company, who are authorized by the Government; they cannot purchase from the Crown, for it has none to sell in the settlement; they are prohibited from buying from the natives alone; and, if they rent lands from their chiefs, the Government declines to protect them in their lawful bargains or agreements. Thus, although they are said to live under the just and protecting laws of their native country, all power is taken from them of acquiring property in the soil ; and even this temporary occupation of it may be interfered with, and even their lives endangered by, the momentary caprice of a faithless savage.

12. That your memorialists beg to call the calm and unprejudiced attention of your Excellency to this fearful state of affairs, and at the same time reqnest that, if you have not the power of immediately redressing our grievances, you will be pleased to transmit this statement of them, together with the documents hereunto annexed, to the Right Honourable her Majesty's Secretary of the Colonies, and your memorialists will ever pray, &c. &c. Signed by 118 inhabitants of the Hutt.