THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, August 14, 1869.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 65, 14 August 1869, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, August 14, 1869.

Journals become more neeesaary us men become more equal and individualism more to be feared. It would be to underrate their importance to suppose that they serve only to secure liberty ; they maintain civilization. Db TocquEviLLE, Of Democracy in America, vol. 5, 230.

The Government of Mr. Fox, which gained office by wilfully shutting its eyes to the real exigencies of the colony, and the position which the Home Government had deliberately taken towards it, will be somewhat staggered by the intelligence brought by the late mail. Mr. Fox and his colleagues, after having practised on the credulity of a majority of the representatives of the colony, by stating that the course Mr. Stafford's Government was pursuing to get to the end of our native troubles was altogether a false one — that self-reliance was a delusion, and that effectual help could be got from the Home Government by approaching it in a more suppliant manner, must by this time see that entreaties, however craven, will have little avail, and that to our own hands and to our own pur.ses we must alone trust for restoring peace and security to the country. If it were possible to draw up, in regular debtor and creditor fashion, a statement of what the late change of Government has cost the colony, the debtor side would show

a long and heavy list, while the credit account would be absolutely nil. The great outlay on the expeditions which drove Te Kooti from the coast as far inland as Taupo, and which, continued a little longer, must have broken his power by cutting off his supplies if in no other way, is all gone to the winds. This loss may be estimated in pounds sterling, but the moral effect on the minds of the natives, that we failed by relaxing our efforts just when success was becoming certain, is a loss which no estimate can arrive at. Instead of vigorously pursuing the war to its end, which would not have been distant, and teaching the natives the great salutary lesson that the colonists, unaided, were able to punish crime even when committed under the form of rebellion ; instead of following up the rebels to their complete subjection, — giving them no rest, no time to plant and raise food, to replace their ammunition, to clothe and re-equip themselves — the abandonment of our advanced posts and withdrawal of our forces has left the enemy again master of the country, with leisure to grow and store food, the want of which must soon have ensured his defeat. Great as the loss from this must be, we doubt whether it will prove the mosfc serious evil which the colony will suffer arising from the mischievous policy adopted by Mr. Fox. Had we with unswerving resolution pursued the course taken by the Stafford Government to its final end, the moral effect it would have had upon the minds of the natives, upon the colonists themselves and their children, and upon our countrymen at home, would have been above all price. Once done and effectually, it would have been done for ever, and would have been a standing monument to the devotion of the people of JS'ew Zealand to their country, and have given our children, and children's children, a right to be proud of their fathers, who, with stern resolution and at great sacrifices had removed all obstacles to the steady progress of the country in the civilizing arts of peace. But by abandoning the manly determination of relying upon ourselves for, protection against raids of blood-thirsty savages, what deep humiliation awaits us. The late Government has been strongly censured by Mr. Eox for remonstrating in a manly and independent tone with the Home Government against the injustice done us, who with singular bad taste, questioned Mr. Stafford's loyalty to the British crown. If the colonists of New Zealand owe allegiance to Great Britain, the mother-country owes a duty to the colony, which of late she has singularly forgotten ; and there is no colonist (not a craven in spirit) but read the Memoranda by Ministers, lately published by us, on the Downing-street despatches, with other than pleasure and satisfaction. What is to be the tone of Mr. Fox's despatches to the Colonial Office ?—? — Will thou, pupil-like, Take thy correction mildly, kiss the rod, And fawn on rage with base humility ? Are the Commissioners whom the Government are about to despatch to England, to approach Earl Granville, and other dignitaries of the Colonial Office, like " crouching hounds under the whip ?" Are the colonists of New Zealand content to be represented in this guise ? We hope not ; and we hope most fervently that those members of the Assembly who became the tools of Mr. Fox to put this great insult upon us will be called severely to account; and that the various constituencies will show they have not lost all self-respect, though we have a Government and a bare majority of misnamed representatives who have abandoned all claim to it.

"We have said above that the intelligence brought by the late English mail must be anything but agreeable to Mr. Fox and his colleagues. .In our telegrams of English news, given in our last issue, mention was made of a despatch of Earl Granville's to Sir George Bowen, in reply to a letter of Mr. Eitzherbert's, which in the plainest of words told the colony that the resolution of the Government was taken not to assist it either with men, or by means of the credit of the British Government to enable it to raise a loan to bring the war to a successful close. This despatch was received and printed in the colony three months ago, and by a strange oversight we failed to copy it at the time. We now give it : — A number of Englishmen, -without any invitation or encouragement from the English Government, took upon themselves to form one or more settlements in the islands of New Zealand. The Government of the day considered itself responsible for placing the relations between these British subjects and the natives among whom they settled on a reasonable basis, and for securing order among the settlers. It therefore acquired the islands by treaty from the natives, and established a regular gofernment in the settlements. The treaty did not render the English Government liable to the pnyment of a subsidy (us might be supposed from Mr. Fitzherbert's phrase), or any other onerous conditions, but merely gave the natives the rights of British subjects, and bound the Queen to respect their territorial rights ; rights, it may be observed, the existence of which were perfectly recognised among the tribes, and which they were ready to support by force of arms if necessary. The Government was amenable at first to the Home Government, afterwards almost wholly to the settlers. But it was never at any time attempted to make New Zealand tributary to Great Britain, or to direct local affairs in such a way as to produce any political or pecuniary advantage to this country. The colony was governed with a view to the real or supposed advantago of the inhabitants. In one part of the colony, New Plymouth, a great and not unnatural desire existed to acquire part of the neighbouring lands from the natives. The Governor, holding as an Imperial officer the position of protector of native rights, but also anxious to gratify the desire of the colonists, took a step satisfactory to his responsible advisers, to the local legislature, and apparently to the mass of the colonists, though blamed by some as inconsistent with those duties to the natives which were in some sense Imperial. The result of this step, taken entirely in the interests and with the approval of the colonists, was a war carried on partly at the expense of New Zealand, but principally at the expense of thia country. And the result of the war is, that the leading tribe of the Maoris is scattered ; that the power of the others is broken ; and that large tracts of land to which the Government had no claim, and the settlers no access, except by friendly arraugement with the natives, are confiscated, sold, and occupied by Europeans. ]t may bo added, though not part of the argument, that meanwhile the number of the colonists has risen from 49,800 in 1857 to 218,500 in 1867) and that of the Maoris ia supposed, with more

of conjecture, to have fallen from 56,000 to 38,500. If this statement is correct, it follows that the Imperial Government havo not transferred to that of the colony any obligation whatever, except that imposed on all of us by natural justice, not to appropriate tho property of others ; that all tho Imperial expenditure on the colony has been for the benefit of the colonists, and a great part of it may bo viewed as the price paid by this country for tho territories which have been recently, and as I think unwisely, appropriated by them ; and lastly, that no part of the colonial expenditure has been in any degree for the benefit of the mother country. So far, therefore, as there is any equitable claim remaining unsettled, it is not a claim on the part of New Zealand against .Great Britain, but the reverse ; a claim, and a very heavy claim, if we thought proper to urge it, on the part of the mother country agoinst the colony. Lastly, Mr. Fitzherbert says that the Imperial Government "insisted" on transferring the burden of its obligations to the native race from itself to tho colony. What tho nature of those obligations is, in the opinion of tho Home Government, I have already noticed. But I must add that her Majesty's Government view this transfer not as forced on the colony, but, on tho contrary, conceded to the colon y in compliance with the direct and indirect demands of the colonists. Tho duty of protecting themselves against those whom they claim the. right to govern followed as a matter of course. I cannot help observing that if the opinions expressed at different times by my predecessors are correct, the present dangers of New Zealand are due not to the punctual performance of their obligations to tho Maori race, but rather to their adoption of a policy which, if not consistent with those obligations, was certain to appear so to the natives affected by it. This despatch could only -have been published in England, at the time it appeared, by direction of the Colonial Office, and must have been printed to show the friends of the colony at home, alarmed at the news of the White Oiffs massacre, how determinedly the Government intended to adhere to the policy it had laid down for itself, of washing its hands altogether of New Zealand affairs. Five gentlemen in England, who had held high official positions in the colony, on seeing this despatch in print, at once understood its significance, and, forming themselves into a committee, had two or three interviews with Earl Granville, and Mr. Monsell, the Undersecretary at the Colonial Office. We give the names of these gentlemen, to show the consideration which must necessarily have attached to their representations : Sir George Grey, Sir Charles Clifford, H. Sewell, Esq., Mnjor Atkinson, and J. Logan Campbell, Esq. The case of the colony, we may be sure, was urgently pleaded by these gentlemen, but without the smallest success. The last interview with Mr. Monsell was held on the 18th of June, the day on which the mail for the colony closed. We are able on authority to give the general result of these interviews : The decision of the Home Government was expressed in clear terms, that, except as regards the possible employment of Imperial officers and non-commissioned officers in the colonial service at the cost of the colony, no help would he given to it, and that the Government will not, under any circumstances, interfere in its internal affairs. The gentlemen mentioned above, as a last effort, drew up the following protest, which with difficulty was printed in time to forward a few copies to the colony by the departing mail : — Wo, the undersigned persona who have been officially connected with the Legislature and Government of tho colony of New Zealand, venture to take this public notice of a despatch from Earl Granville to tho Governor of New Zealand, dated the 21st March ultimo, in reference to an application made on belialf of that colony, for assistance in its present dangers. We feel justified in taking this step, because we personally had a share in the transactions to which the despatch relates, and because the colony lias no authorized political organ in this country. That department of Government (the Colonial Office) to which the colony would naturally look for protection, becomes itself the instrument of wrong. In milking this public protest, we disclaim all intention of reflecting on Earl Granville. ' We have regretted to see that for some timo past each successive Secretary of State, on assuming the seals of tho Colonial Department, has been led by wrong information to attach his name to some despatch, the allegations of which being erroneous, and the tone irritating, if not insulting, tho Colonial Government has been forced into a position of hostility with the Colonial Minister; whilst it has always been the earnest desire of the colonists, in the most friendly and loyal spirit, to aid that high officer in the did charge of his onerous and difficult duties. We regard tho allegations, expressed and implied in Lord Granville' s despatch, as calculated deeply to injure the European population of New Zealand in tho estimation of their fellow-countrymen in Great Britain ; to inflaino the passions of natives already in arms against tho Government ; to produce disaffection among those who are friendly ; to drive those who are neutral, or wavering, into the hostile ranks ; and at the same timo to create a bitter feeling of hostility on the part of the colonists towards the Government of tho mother-country, which it is to be feared may become a national tradition. Its publication in England at the present time was unjust, because tho colonists, not having had time to reply to it, are thus condemned unheard, and suffer prejudice which may be difficult if not impossible to remove, from groundless charges of the gravest kind, circulated without refutation. We declare, from our personal knowledge, that the allegations so conveyed or implied against the Colonial Government are without foundation. Equally groundless is the imputation implied in the despatch that tho colonists are not exerting themselves to the utmost in their own defence. Wo regard the action thus taken by the Imperial Government, accompanied by an absolute refusal of aid to the colony under any circumstances, as in the highest degree ungenerous. It is the first time in British history that Great Britain insultingly refused assistance to her countrymen in danger, which she herself has boon instrumental in creating. We declare that the repudiation of tho plain obligations entered into by treaty on lier Majesty's behulf with the natives of New Zealand, upon the faith of which they permitted us to colonizo the country, is inconsistent with British honour, and it is our belief that such repudiation will bo subversive in the nativo mind of all confidence in the good faith of the European race. Wo protest that the statement made in tho despatch, to the clfect that all responsibility arising out of those obligations was transferred to the colonists at their own demand, is at varianco with the circumstances. We feel surprised that such a statement should be mario, in disregard of the formal memorial of tho General Assembly of New Zealand in 1862, expressly doclining to accept such responsibility. We regard the despatch itself as fraught with danger to the colony. The moment it becomes known in tho colony it will bo interpreted by natives, and circulated amongst their fellow-country-men. This will occur simultaneously with the removal of tho last regiment. Our friendly nativo allies will thus bo told that the Queen has withdrawn the protection to which they have been accustomed to look, in the last report, in the part they have taken in support of the Queen's Government against their own countrymen, whilst the whole body of the natives will be taught to regard the colonists of New Zealand as their oppressors, who have brought their present dangers on themselves by neglect of their obligations and wrongful usurpa*

. tions of native lnnd ; and they will learn to regard, • under the sanction of Imperial authority, the masacro of missionaries, women and children as mere • acts of reprisal. Lnstly, we declare with sorrow our conviction that [ the policy which is being pursued towards New Zear land will have the effect of alienating the affections [ of her Majesty's loyal subjects in that country and > is calculated to drive the colony out of the Empire. > G. Grey, late Governor of New Zealand. Chas. Clipfoud, late Speaker of the House of Eepreseutatives. > Henuy Sewkll/, formely Colonial Secre- > tary, and late Attorney General of New 1 Zealand. H. A. Atkinson, late Minister of Colonial 1 Defence. J. Log-an Campbell, late Member of the Executive Council, and Superintendent of the Province of Auckland. "What hope, after this, for Commissioners i sent home by only a majority of four votes, 1 obtained in a party fight in a full house, to 1 ask the Government to change its policy, and unsay all it said when pressed by a i body of disinterested gentlemen of high i character and position, who could, have no motive but the colony's welfare ? It is in- ; deed a sad look-out when we see the present and future welfare of the coiony sacrificed to serve party ends, aud, under the pretext ■ of economy, committed to a course which, 1 directly and indirectly, will cost a sum which, if the amount could only be stated, ■ would create well-founded alarm*

The Financial Statement of the Colonial 1 Treasurer must by this time have been 1 pretty well read throughout the colony. 1 On the morning after its delivery, a very full telegraphic report ' appeared in all the 1 principal newspapers published in towns in telegraphic communication with "Wellington, and the Statement in extenso, has doubtless since been published in every province. We assume, therefore, that every one is now acquainted with Mr. Vogel's views on finance, and many of these, having reference to the condition of the colony when the present Government took office, were exceedingly startling. They will produce their intended effect on the public mind ; and as it will be in the power of but very few persons to correct the Colonial Treasurer's inaccuracies, or expose his misstatements, very erroneous ideas must prevail until the real state of affairs shall be made known, as they will be by-and-bye in debate. As we do not pretend to the special knowledge which would qualify us to examine the Treasurer's Statement, we gladly avail ourselves of two articles which appeared in the Wellington Independent on the sth and 7th instant, in which this is done in a very masterly manner. The writer evidently has a thorough kaow- , ledge of his subject, and our readers, we feel sure, will be glad to learn the true state of our position, and how far the late Government had exceeded in expenditure the votes of the House. The writer commences by noticing Mr. Vogel's charge, that the former method of keeping the public accounts was not intelligible, that great confusion arose out of not bringing all the accounts of the year into the yearly statement. It may be more convenient, the writer admits, to charge all or most of the advances made by the Treasurer, as payments, and afterwards to rectify the accounts, when needed, by refunds. "We quote from the Independent : — But let us not be deceived by Mr. Vogel's round assertion into the idea that the accounts are made unintelligible by the present system. A great and lucid English writer, referring to complaints that his style was difficult, remarked that general criticisms concerning obscurity may often be " nothing more at bottom than complaints that everything is not to be understood with the same ease that some things are." Nothing is intelligible without that degree of attention which the very nature of the thing requires. The accounts of a nation, or of a small people, whose relntions inter se, and with the outer world, are as complex as ours, are in their very nature difficult;. The mere array of a multitude of figures confounds many men, and it is certain that no mode of stating the accounts of New Zealand, under its present constitution and circumstances, will enable him who runs to read. Tho subject needs special knowledge, not only of accounts, but of the political and physical <-i • ''.nuances of the laws and habits of the land, and hum it-main obscure to the genentl public. VVliat shall be said of a Treasurer, who, under pretence of illustrating their obscurity, avails himself of it, and of every technical quibble, to found an assertion that his predecessors have spent £433,232 without authority, the assertion being as to nearly the whole amount untrue, technically, morally, substantially? Mr. Vogel belongs financially to the sect who strain at gnats and swallow camels ; who pay tithe of mint, anise, and cummin, and neglect the weightier matters ; who bind heavy burdens which they themselves will not ho much as touch with one of their fingers — a sect further described as hypocrites. What blunder could be made in reading the accounts as they are now stated that would not be a mote compared to the glaring falsification he has made or suggested. The quarterly statements show the amounts of advances outstanding at the beginning of tho quarter, the amounts brought to charge during the quarter, and tho advances outstanding at the end. Much less than Mr. Vogel's intelligence, if applied to unravel instead of mystifying the subject, will suffice to discover the actual issues from the Treasury during any period. But who would guess from Mr. Vogel's words that, of the alleged expenditure without appropriation of last year, a large part is advances of 1867-8 brought to account in 18G8-9— money issued in 18G7-8 ; another large portion, money issued under authority of Loan Acts of the Assembly, but not expressly estimated last session ; a third tho marginal amount of £40,000, issued under the Public Revenues Act in supplement of votes ; other smaller sums, payments under the Civil List Act, and specially referred to in Mr. Hall's statement, if not precisely estimated ; and most astonishing of all, one half nearly, is a sum of £195,000, or thereabouts, remitted to England under authority of the Loan Acts to meet interest due the year commencing the Ist July, 1569 ! A more barefacedattemptatinystificationwasnevermade than this assertion of the pretended advocate of lucidity and candour in finance. Had it been really possible to issue the great amount of £433,232 without legal authority, Mr. Vogel would have been amply justified in saying the control is a mere farce. But it would have been absolutely impossible to do so. The Controller dared not have issued the money, and indeed could not, for he had not got it. Tho whole payments of the year actually exceeded the appropriations by no more than £40,000, and this, though not appropriated, was authorised. The whole liabilities hanging over at the end of the p°riod — (unless our financial Pharisee would have all the departments annually wound up, and all the i officers under notice for the 30th June) — were the arrears due for defence servicos during May and Juno, and the few outstanding contracts, including the new Government House, which may amount to ; £60,000. Mr. Vogel charges the advances of 1867-8 1 forward, and the liabilities of 1869-70 back. He could not resist the temptation to fling stones at his > opponents, the less so as in doing it he secured his i own Government against such an attack in future. ' Ho washes the slate on the 30th June, 1868, and

will not have himself charged as hia predecessors, since the "Public Revenues Act," hay* been, with advances of past years brought to account during his own terra. It behoves the House next year to see that by reverting to the old process and charging his own advances forward, he does not claim credit in his next budget for some saving as vast as the over payment he imputes to his predecessors. He may perhaps say that his statement was more guarded than here represented. But the general assertion that the Government grossly offended against financial decency will go forth — it has already gone forth in sonsational telegrams to thousands who will not see the obscure and confessedly imperfect explanations appended to it in the statement. People will believe there was a real over-expenditure, not. merely what may be so called by a straining and misstating of technical conceptions and jumbling them in a most incongrous way with considerations of a more serious kind, using the one or the other, as socined to suit the purpose — for it must have been the purpose — of damaging political opponents. And Mr. Bell, the candid and the pure, is a party to this mystification. The possibility of restraining a Government from incurring liabilities without authority is a consideration which Mr. Vogel raises, but does nothing to dispose of. Then he shows a very feeble grasp of his subject. The whole public services, except what are provided for by permanent Act, are liabilities handed down from year to year by Minister after Minister, which a country cannot escape, but which no one dreams of grumbling at, because they are necessary and proper as well as inevitable liabilities. It is impossible to keep the action of any year exactly within the intentions of the Legislature, especially where others than the Government and people of the country are concerned. The flow of time brings with it new and unforeseen needs. War almost always compels a Government to anticipate the decisions of a Legislature, and to involve it in new liabilities. When an army has been ordered into the field, with the consent and under the appropriation of Parliament, it cannot be the duty of the Executive Government to disband it with its destined work unaccomplished, and the enemy actually in force on the frontier. But in proportion as the affairs of a country become more normal, the discretional powers of the Executive may be habitually disused, and the divergence between the intentions of the Legislature and the action founded upon them may be diminished. The care of a Legislature should bo to allow discretion to the Executive Government only in matters where previous accurate calculation is not possible ; to watch narrowly the exercise of what discretion is allowed; and to punish its abuse in proportion to its extent. If the Legislature is not sensitive, if its political morality and that of the country is loose, it is a vain attempt to check abuses of power by control, pre-audtt, or any other device. Mr. Vogel does more to make finance reckless by teaching his followers to postpone candour and truth to party ends, and making a financial statement a mere instrument of party battle, than he can ever remedy by departmental mechanism. Ho is poisoning the vitality of the political tree. Those who tolerate mystifications such as we have been examining when employed to injure opponents will tolerate in Mr. Vogol or any louder the worst of the abuses he disingenuously attributes to others. ###### We have done with Mr. Vogel's criticisms on the past, and turn to his proposals, which are weak and trimming, and exhibit either want of candour and perception, and are destitute of political conviction. On the subject of further provincial loans he says, that " until the finance of thecolonyis placedonamore satisfactory footing it would be unfair to ourselves and others to enter into fresh liabilities which might be avoided." Yet he will give to the provinces the sinking funds released by the consolidation of loans, and which, as the law stands, may be credited to the provinces in reduction of their debts. Let there be no mistake, this is fresh borrowing. The funds, if required, are now available for colonial use. They may be, and most certainly will be, required before the ye-)r is over, and having been parted with, oilier money will then have to be found to replace them. Or if happily, by the forbearance of Tawliiao, we aro spared the necessity of more borrowing, the money might have been applied to reduce the (louting debt which readies to nearly half a million. Mr. Voxel's present proposals for the year's appropriations to colonial services, inadequate as they are now in some points, can only be carried out by the nid of about £105,000 from extraordinary sources, that is to say from borrowed money and from casual receipts, certain not to recur to any large extent, from the sinking funds released by consolidating the colonial loans ; and in addition to this extraordinary fund he is going to borrow £50,000 for roads, although not by putting debentures on the market at present. These provincial sinking funds would enable him to furnish this amount without further Treasury bills or overdraft. The released provincial sinking funds amount to nearly £100,000. Again, he indicates the intention of capitalizing the Southland interest for a further period, say £27,000. Lastly, he proposes to sanction overdraft by the Provincial Governments to the extent of one-fifth their previous year's income. The gross provincial income of last year was from a million and a quarter to a million and a half. Taking the lower sum, the overdrafts may extend to a quarter of a million. That the utmost limit will be soon reached is scarcely doubtful, and it is equally certain that whilst the provinces exist these overdrafts will not be repaid. But, says Mr. Vogel, there is to be a " clear understanding that the coiony is in no way liable for the accommodation. " This saving phrase Mr. Vogel thinks it worth whilo to employ only two years after the colony has assumed undisguised liability for all the provincial debts, which were in terms as strictly local as the proposed overdrafts. It is idle to suppose that the colony can take advantage of the equivocal political character of provincial institutions to escape liability. If it be possible to repudiate such debts now on behalf of the colony without loss of credit, the recognition of the right to overdraw will remove the possibility ; and henceforth, until the provinces become separate States, we shall be jointly liable for all debts incurred witli colonial sanction, but without providing special marketable security. It is miserably weak policy and uncandid finance thus to slide into an extension of a practice whilst declaring in general terras that it would be " unfair to ourselves and others to do so." Summing up the results for the year of the several modes of sliding into provincial debt thus proposed, we have in round numbers £400,000. The total extent to which it is proposed to lean on extraordinary sources for colonial services is £155,000. We are far from saying that the latter amount is unnecessary. Without a radical change of finance, it is pretty certain our indebtedness must be increased still further this year ; but all the more o» that account is it necessary to curtail these luxuries, and forbear further indebtedness on the provincial side, except it be strictly limited to the object of carrying on some curative process for the whole colony, such as immigration.

A telegram, informs us that Mr. "Wilson's Ghoorka resolutions passed the House of Representatives on Thursday night without a division. So the Government which a few weeks ago, on getting into office, announced its intention — on grounds of economy — of demilitarising the Armed Constabulary, and depriving the force of what soldier-like qualities it may possess, has now given its support to introduce from India a a force consisting of a wild hill tribe, represented as being a particularly vicious race who, with long knives, will follow the Maori into his most remote fastnesses. The weakness and vaccillation exhibited by the Government in its native .policy stamps it as the most imbecile that ever held the reins of office in ISTew Zealand. The resolutions moved by the Defence Minister, originally drawn up by the Government, were abandoned to please Mr. Whitaker, aud these in turn were

materially modified to satisfy Mr. Onnond These are the men who tauuted Mr. Stafford's Government with being without a native policy.