CITY OF LONDON PETITION.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 185, 20 September 1845, Page 113

CITY OF LONDON PETITION.

NEW ZEALAND. To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.

The Petition of the undersigned merchants, bankers, and traders of the City of London, showeth —

That your petitioners, from the pursuits in' which they are engaged, are intimately connected with the commerce of the metropolis in its various branches, and deeply interested in its paosperity.

That among the most important elements of that prosperity they regard the development of the rich resources of the colonial dependencies of the British empire, the encouragement of prudent colonising enterprise, the extension of protection and impartial justice to the colonies, and an inviolable adherence to all engagements' made under the authority of the State with those who may embark person or property in colonising projects.

That, impressed with these sentiments, your petitioners regarded with equal interest and satisfaction the establishment of British settlements on the islands of New Zealand, and the subsequent declaration of British sovereignty therein ; anticipating with confidence, from the geographical position of those islands, and their peculiar advantages of soil, climate, and natural productions, combined with the character of the native population, that their possession could not fail to ensure great national and commercial benefit, and that they would, in a comparatively short period, rank among the most valuable appendages of the British Crown.

That from the spirit and enterprise manifested by the New Zealand Company, the liberal and enlightened consideration exhibited in its arrangements for the welfare of the aboriginal population, the powerful resources at its disposal, and the personal connexion of the individuals to whom the management of its affairs was entrusted with all the leading interests of the country, your petitioners were induced to regard that body as a valuable instrument for carrying out advantageously, under the just control of the Executive Government, all the

beneficial objects contemplated in the establishment of New Zealand as a British colony. That it was with deep regret your petitioners perceived the useful operations of that Company impeded, and the peaceful settlement of the colony suspended, by the existence of differences between her Majesty's Government and the Company, and with corresponding satisfaction they hailed the apparent termination of those differences by an arrangement entered into in the year 1840, and the subsequent incorporation of the Company by royal charter in 1841.

That the renewal of differences with the Colonial Department, and the simultaneous occurrence of distractions and disputes in the colony, having produced universal dissatisfaction and complaint, sowed the seeds of alienation between -the European and native races, and reduced both the newly-founded settlements and the New Zealand Company to the verge of ruin, your petitioners, in common with the whole British community, viewed with the most lively interest the appointment by your honourable hoiise, during The" last" session of Tarliamerit, of a " Select Committee to inquire into the state of New Zealand and the proceedings of the New Zealand Company." That the publication of the Report of that Committee, with the evidence on which it was founded, has satisfied your petitioners that the New Zealand Company and the colonists who emigrated under their auspices have been exposed to hardships and difficulties, the result of the policy on the part of the Colonial Office and the local authorities, which call for prompt interference and redress.

That your petitioners cannot forget that to the efforts of that Company it is owing that New Zealand is not a colony of France, nor overlook the fact that its claims to lands so perseveringly opposed by the Colonial Office are pronounced by the Select Committee of your honourable house to be founded in justice.

That the whole inquiry proving to demonstration the invaluable capabilities of the colony, and how grievously their development is at present retarded ; the claims of the New Zealand Company, and in how great a degree its usefulness is impeded ; and the urgency of the necessity for extending to the colonists that encouragement to which their spirit and forbearance so well entitle them — the whole case calls loudly for prompt parliamentary interference and redress.

That your petitioners, therefore, earnestly pray that your honourable house will be pleased at once to adopt such decisive measures as will secure to the colonists in New Zealand all the benefits of just law and government, to which, as British subjects, they have an inalienable claim, and will give to the New Zealand Company an immediate title to their lands, as recommended by the Select Committee. And they further pray that such reparation for the past and security for the future may be granted to the Company as may vindicate the honour of the State and restore the Company to the sphere of usefulness for which it is so well adapted. Such measures your petitioners implore your honourable house to take, in the conviction that by them alone can the attachment of the colonists to the land of their birth, its constitution, and government, be cemented, the ultimate destruction of the native race be averted, the confidence of the public in the equity of the State be confirmed, and the resources of New Zealand be fully developed. In these results your petitioners, as members of the mercantile community, have obviously a direct and deep interest; but as British subjects they seek it, because they entertain a confident belief that, aided by the boundless capital and redundant labour of the mother country, the magnificent islands which have so recently been annexed to the British Crown are calculated, at no distant period, to become important sources of national wealth and prosperity, and to increase the strength, influence, and stability of the empire.

[Here follow the signatures of 115 of the first mercantile firms in London.]