Correspondence.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, Issue 43, 18 May 1861, Page 3

Correspondence.

THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COLONY. To THE EDITOK OP THE ' NELSON EXAMINER.'

Sib— ln the year 1836 a committee was appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into the state of the aborigines residing in the vicinity of the colonial settlements of the Crown in Australia. The acquisition of New Zealand, and its colonization under her Majesty's Government, was felt to be an object of importance to the interests of Great Britain in those settlements. The committee, however, thought that its acquisition as a Crown colony would be unjust to a people whose title to the soil and sovereignty of New Zealand had been recognised by the British Government in the reigns of George the Third and George the Fourth, and in that of William the Fourth, in 1832, in consequence of a letter from thirteen chiefs of New Zealand, in the previous year, to Lord Goderich, then Prime Minister, " praying the protection of the British Crown against the neighbouring tribes, and against British subjects residing in the Islands." That monarch graciously addressed the chiefs as an independent people, and offered them the "fiiendship and alliance of Great Britain ;" and Mr. Busby was despatched by his Majesty, as British Resident accredited to the chiefs, to protect British commerce, and to repress the outrages of British subjects on the natives. [Letter of Lord Normanby to Captain Hobson, August, 1839 ; and memorandum by Lord John Russell to Lord Palmerston, March, '40.]

In December, 1837, the first year of her Majesty's reign, it was found that the proposal made by the late Parliamentary committee on aborigines was inadequate to put a stop to the evils and dangers to which the interests of both natives and British subjects were exposed ; and the repression of practices of the most injurious tendency to the natives of New Zealand could, it was thought, be accomplished only by the establishment of some settled form of government within that territory. Her Majesty's Government waa aware of the danger with which European settlement among uncivilized men had always been attended to the weaker party; nnd rather than involve the New Zealanders in a repetition of the calamities with which the aborigines of American and African colonies had been afflicted, the Government would have left the social improvement of New Zealand to be worked out by the influence of Christian missionaries, if experience j had not shown it to be impossible to take that line of conduct in this case. Colonization was already effected in these Islands; and the only question for her Majesty's Government was " between a colonization desultory, without law, and fatal to the natives, and a colonization organized and salutary." The Government, therefore, were willing to consent to the establishment of a colony by the incorporation, by a royal charter, of certain persons to whom the settlement and government of the projected colony would be confided for a Bhort term of years ; according to the precedents of the colonies in North America, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. [Letter of Lord Glenelg, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to Lord Durham, one of the directors of the association of persons styling themselves the New Zealand Company.] As however the plan of colonizing New Zealand according to the conditions which the Government thought indispensable to granting a royal charter was not accepted by the directors, Lord Glenelg felt uuable to recommendher Majesty to grant the charter. The Islands of New Zealand had long been resorted to by British subjects, as possessing peculiar advantages for refitting whaling-ships iv the South Seas, and on account of the supplies they afford of timber, flax, &c. At the end of 1838 it was proved that the authority of the British Resident was inoperative for repressing acts of fraud and aggression against the natives, and for protecting the lives and properties of British subjects engaged in fair trade with the natives. The chiefs, however, had severally evinced a strong disposition to place themselves under British protection; and, in 1835, a declaration was adopted and subscribed by the chiefs of the Northern Island, when their country was threatened by the Baron de Thierry, iv which declaration they set forth the independence of their country, and declared the union of their respective tribes into one state, under the designation of the United Tribes of New Zealand. They sent a copy of that document to his Majesty William the Fourth; thanked him for his acknowledgment of their national fl«g, and entreated that he would continue to be parent of their infant state, and its protector from all attempts on its independence. Lord Glenelg now thought it necessary that a British Consul should be appointed to reside at New Zealand. [Letter of Mr. J. Stephen, Assistant Colonial Under Secretary of State, and Counsel to the Department, of date 12th December, 1838.] Iv the summer of 1839, urgent circumstances forced upon Lords Normanby and Palmerston the instant adoption of measures for establishing some British authority in New Zealand, and Captain Hobson was appointed Consul and eventual Lieutenant-Governor of such territory as might be ceded to her Majesty ; and upon the cession being obtained from the native chiefs of the sovereignty of such territories therein as may be possessed by British settlers, these territories would be added to the colony of New South Wales, as a dependency of that Government. The Lords of the Treasury, in a minute of June 7, '39, stated that they

would be prepared, upon the contemplated cession in sovereignty to the British Crown of territories within those Islands which have been or may be acquired by her Majesty's subjects, under grants from the different chiefs, being obtained, to concur iv the arrangements for the government of the said territory, and for raising a revenue to defray the expenses of the establishment. [Treasury Minute, 19th July, 1839.] Shortly after this, Captain Hobson's appointment to the office of her Majesty's Consul was signified to him by Viscount Palmcrstou, and it became the duty of Lord Normanby to instruct him in the duties which he would be called on to discharge, "in a separate capacity ;" that is, as Lieutenant-Governor, under the superintendence of the Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.

I must remind your readers of the fact that a large body of her Majesty's subjects had already established their residence in New Zealand, and that many distinguished persons in England had formed themselves into a society "having for its object the acquisition of land and the removal of emigrants to these Islands ;" "and the interposition of the Government had become too evident to admit of inaction." Reports had readied the Colonial Office, establishing the fucCs " that about the commencement of 1838, a body of not less than two thousand British subjects had become permanent inhabitants of New Zealand : amongst them were convicts who had fled from our penal settlements, and seamen who had deserted from their ships ; and these people, unrestrained by any law, amenable to no tribunals, were alternately the authors and the victims of every species of crime and outrage. Extensive cessions of land had been obtained from the natives, and several hundred persons hud recently sailed to occupy and cultivate these lands ; an extensive settlement would rapidly be established in New Zealand ; and unless protected and restrained by necessary laws and institutions, they would repeat the same process of war and spoliation under which uncivilized tribes have disappeared, as often ns they have been brought into the vicinity of emigrants from the nations of Christendom. To mitigate, and if possible to avert these disasters, and to rescue 'the emigrants themselves from the evils of a lawless state of society, it was resolved to adopt the most effective measures for establishing among them a settled form of government. To accomplish this design was the principal object of Captain Hobson's mission. New Zealand was acknowledged as a sovereign and independent state ; so far at least as it was possible to make that acknowledgment in favour of a people composed of numerous dispersed and petty tribes, who 2>ossessed few political relations to each other, and were incompetent to act or even to deliberate in concert. But the admission of their rights, though inevitably qualiGed by these considerations, were binding on the faith of the British Crown. The Queen disclaimed for herself and for her subjects every pretension to seize on the lands of New Zealand, or to govern them as a part of the dominions of Great Britain, unless the free and intelligent consent of the natives, expressed according to their established usages, were first obtained. Believing that their own welfare would be best promoted by the surrender to her Majesty of a right now so precarious, and little more than nominal, and persuaded that the benefits of British protection and of law administered by British Judges would far more than compensate for the sacrifice by the natives of a national independence which they were no longer able to maintain, her Majesty's Government resolved to authorize Captain Hobson to treat with the aborigines for the recognition of her Majesty's sovereign authority over the whole or any part of the Islands which they might be willing to place under her Majesty's dominion. The natives might probably regard with distrust a proposal which might seem to carry on its face the appearance of humiliation on their side, and of a formidable encroachment on ours ; and their ignorance of even the technical terms iv which the proposal must be conveyed might enhance their aversion to an arrangement of which they might be unable to comprehend the first meaning or the probable results. These impediments Lord Normanby thought would be gradually overcome by the exercise of mildness, justice, and perfect sincerity in the Governor's intercourse with them. " You will find, I trust," he writes, " powerful auxiliaries among the missionaries, and among the older British residents who have studied their character and acquired their language. You will frankly and unreservedly explain to the natives, or their chiefs, the reasons which should urge them to acquiesce iv the proposals you will make to them. You will point out the dangers to which they will be exposed by the residence among them of settlers amenable to no laws or tribunals of their own, and the impossibility of her Majesty's extending to them effectual protection, unless the Queen be acknowledged as the sovereign of their country, or at least of those districts within or adjoining to which her Majesty's subjects may acquire lands or habitations.

"It is not, however, to the mere recognition of the sovereign authority of the Queen that your endeavours are to be confined, or your negotiations directed. It is further necessary that the chiefs should be induced to contract with you, as representing her Majesty, that henceforward no lands shall be ceded, either gratuitously or otherwise, except to the Crown of Great Britain. Contemplating the future growth and extension of a British colony in New Zealand, it is an object of the first importance that the alienation of the unsettled lands within its limits should be conducted from the commencement upon that system of sale of which experience has proved the wisdom, and the disregard of which has been so fatal to the prosperity of other British settlements. You will, therefore, immediately on your arrival, announce, by a proclamation addressed to all the Queen's subjects in New Zealand, that her Majesty will not acknowledge as valid any titlo to land which has been or shall hereafter be acquired in that country, which is not either derived from or confirmed by a grant to be made in her Majesty's name and on her behalf. You will, however, at the same time, take care to dispel any apprehensions which may be created in the minda of the settlers, that it is intended to dispossess the owners of any property which has been acquired on equitable conditions, and which is not upon a scale which must be prejudicial to the latent interests of the community. * * * * Having obviated the dangers of the acquisition of large tractß of country by mere land-jobbers, it will be your duty to obtain, by fair and equal contracts with the natives, the cession of such waste lands as may be progressively required for the occupation of settlers resorting to New Zealand. All such contracts should bo made by yourself, through the intervention of an officer expressly appointed to watch over the interests of the aborigines as their protector. * * * I assume that the price to be paid to the natives by the local Government tvill bear an exceedingly small proportion to the price for which the same lands will be resold to the settlers. Nor is there any real injustice in this inequality. To the natives or their chiefs much of the land of the country is of no actual use, and iv their hands it possesses scarcely any exchangeable value. Much of it must long remain useless, even in the hands of the British Government also, but its value in exchange will be first created, and then progressively increased, by the introduction of capital and of settlers from this country. In the benefits of that increase the natives themselves will gradually participate. " All dealings with the aborigines for their lands must be conducted on the same principles of sincerity, justice, and good faith, as must govern your transactions with them Ar the recognition of her Majesty's sovereignty in the Islands. Nor is this all: they must not be permitted to enter into any contracts in which they might be the ignorant and unintentional authors of injuries to themselves. You will not, for example, purchase from them any territory, the retention of which by them would be essential or highly conducive to their own comfort, safety, or subsistence. The acquisitions by the Crown for the future settlement of British subjects must be confined to such districts aB the natives can alienate, without distress or serious inconvenience to themselves. To secure the observance of this will be one of the first duties of their official protector.

" There are yet other duties owing to the aborigines which may be all comprised in the comprehensive expression of promoting their civilization; understanding by that term whatever relates to the religious, intellectual, and social advancement of mankind." Lord Nomanby then refer* to the duty of giving

encouragement, protection, and support to the Christian missionaries ; to the establishment of schools for the education of the nborigines in the elements of litemture; and adds— " Until they can be brought within the pale of civilized life, and trained to the adoption of its habits, they must be carefully defended in the observance of their own customs, so far as these are compatible w ith the universal maxims of humanity and morals ; but the savage practices of human sacrifices and of cannibalism must be promptly and decisively interdicted."

Captnin llobaon, on receiving this letter, begged for instructions as to whether the sovereignty over the Southern island?, their inhabitants being wild savages, was to lie acquired by treaty, and as to what course he was to adopt "to restrain the savage native wars, and to protect tribe 3 which were oppressed (probably for becoming Christians) from their more powerful neighbours." The Secretary of State says, in reply : " It is impossible for me to prescribe the course to be pursued for the prevention of cannibalism, human sncrifice, and warfare among the tribes; but I have no difficulty in stating, that if acts of persuasion and kindness should prove unavailing, practices so abhor- ( retiC to the first principles of morality, and so cafami- j tous to those by whom they are pursued, sltoxdd he re. pressed by authority, and, if necessary, by actual force, within any part of the Queen's dominions." In reviewing this letter wo cannot fail to observe how unlike Lord Normality's view of her Majesty's rights of sovereignty over tlio natives is from the recent theory that her "governorship " was meant only to "avert the evil consequences of the absence of law." I beg leave to request your readers to fix their attention on the miserable state of both natives and settlers before her Majesty acquired ajid assumed the sovereignty of New Zealand ; a state which will return with aggravated force if the aborigines be allowed to succeed in throwing off her Majesty's easy and most beneficial yoke ; also on the paternal character of the motives and purposes of the British Government in undertaking the colonization of the country ; also on the strong disposition manifested by the chiefs to place themselves and their lands under British protection, and, on the recognition by the Government of the civil capacity of the chiefs alone, to transfer their sovereign rights to her Majesty. The Lieutenant-Governor announced by ijroclamation of January 30, 1840, his appointment by her Majesty, and that he had entered on the duties of his office ; and also, by another proclamation of the game date, lie announced that her Majesty, " taking into consideration the present a 9 well as the future interests of her subjects settled in or resorting to the Islands of New Zealand, and also the interests and rights of the chiefs and native tribes, did not deem it expedient to recognise any titles to land in New Zealand which are not derived from or confirmed by her Majesty ; but that it is not intended to dispossess the owners of any land acquired on equitable conditions, and not in extent or otherwise prejudicial to the present or prospective interests of the community; and that a Commission shall be appointed to inquire into and report on all claims to such lands ; and that every purchase of land in any part of New Zealand, which may be made from any of the chiefs or native tribes thereof after the date of these presents, will be considered as absolutely null and void, and will not be considered or in any way recognised by her Majesty." On the sth of February the treaty was signed " W. Hobson ;" and on the 6th with " 512 signatures" of the chiefs assembled in congress at Waitangi. Yours, &c, Nelson, May 15. Inquiiier. To THE EDITOB, OF THE ' NELSON EXASIINEB.' Sib— The speech of the Provincial Secietary on Mr. Elliott's motion for returns relative to the Amuri district, as reported in your paper of this day, contains one sentence which bears somewhat on the actuating motive which tells on the Executive. " He by no means intended to insinuate that the Amuri was not entitled to a much larger voto than that now on the Estimates, but as they had to be framed so as to meet the approbation of the Council, it would be for the Council to say whether they would forego any of the proposed works in the centres of population, and devote the money set down for them to the Amuri."

We have it here set down distinctly, on the authority of a member of the Executive, whose production those Estimates are, that the Amuri is entitled to a much larger sum than the district gets ; that is, the Executive, feeling that justice and right demand somewhat for the Amuri, deny it — deny it deliberately, and give the reason : they must please the Council. Does this mean the whole Council, or a section ; nnd, if a section only, why that section ? Are they or any of them specially and personally interested in any of the proposed works ? Are they the staunch supporters of the present Provincial Executive ? Are they the parties to whose influence only the present head of the Provincial Government and Executive Council can look (or a restoration to office when their present tenure of it shall expire ? It does not seem that the learned Secretary had bis usual acuteuess about him when he made such an admission as i 3 contained iv the sentence quoted ; and it is somewhat remarkable that there is no allusion to the fact that the land sales in the Amuri are relied on by those Estimates for a very large proportion of the funds necessary for the proposed works. I am, &c, Way 15. F. Y.