Ninety Years Ago

Northland Age, Volume 3, Issue 14, 5 January 1934, Page 5

Ninety Years Ago

[By W. E. Bedggood] Ninety years ago Governor Fitzroy arrived in Auckland on December 23, and formally landed on the 26th (Boxing Day), 1843,'with his wife and three children. Captain Fitzroy was an officer of high reputation and at the time of his appointment as Governor was a member of the English Parliament. Lord Stanley speaking in the House of Lords in 1848, thus describes his personal character: “Never was there a man influenced by more honourable, more high, more praiseworthy principles than Captain Fitzroy. He took the Government of New Zealand at great personal loss to himself ; by taking it he sacrificed the position he had previously held in this country, he relinquished much which few men would willingly give up for the purpose of doing that which he believed would be for the public good.” Former Visit to New Zealand In .1835 Captain Fitzroy had visited the Bay of Islands in command of the survey brig “Beagle” on which was also Darwin who acted as natur- ' alist for the expedition. This stay was limited to ten days, but Captain Fitzroy found time to visit the then five-year-old mission settlement at Te * Waimate, which he declared to be a “fragment of Old England,” and he was greatly struck to see an oak growing and looking so healthy. State of the Country > New Zealand at the time of CapFitzroy’s appointment was a Crown Colony, with a Legislative Council, consisting of the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, Attorney - General and three magistrates whose names stood highest on the commission. This form of Government continued in force until 1852 when the Provincial Government was set up on constitutional lines. Governor Hobson had been dead a little over 15 months when Captain Fitzroy arrived to take up office. During that time Mr. Shortland had assumed the duties of Governor, and matters had gone from bad to worse, and were thus described at that time : “The country has become beyond example, one general scene of anxiety * and ruin, so that property has lost its value, personal security has been stake, and happiness has almost ▼eased to exist.” Emigration had ceased, and many who had arrived would- have, if possible, gladly left again. The Natives at the Bay of Islands were restless owing to loss of shipping dues, the effects of the customs putting up the cost of articles, and whalers not calling, not being able to sell land to any other than the Crown which was not in a position at the time, through lack of funds, to purchase. Government salaries and current accounts were in arrears to the extent of £5,000. There was a floating debt of £24,000 and a revenue of only £20,000 of which customs yielded * £IO,OOO but cost £4,000 to collect. The British Government granted £7,545 towards the support of the Colony, but strict injunctions were issued that no bills were to be drawn on the British Treasury. In anticipation of the Imperial grant ,the Colonial Treasurer was instructed to raise a loan from the

bank for £5,000, but it was found that the bank’s funds were nearly exhausted and only £2,000 could be arranged for at 12i percent. In April, 1844, Governor Fitzroy reported to the Secretary of State that he had to issue debentures for £l, £5, £lO, £SO to be paid to the creditors of the Government “as a negotiable recognition of the money due to them.”

To pacify the Maoris, in March he issued a proclamation “waiving the Crown’s right of presumption over Native lands.”

During September the Custom duties were abolished (and New Zealand for a time was a free trade country), and in their place a property and income tax was imposed amounting to £1 for each £IOO. In the South—Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth—dissatisfaction was rife. Governor Hobson had died before any crown grants had been issued to old land claims, and the settlers who had purchased from the New Zealand Company did not know how they stood. These settlers had no say in the Government of the country and complained that the Government collected about £12,000 from the' south and they only received as many hundreds in return, and to increase their despondency, was the loss of several of their leading citizens at the Wairau Massacre which took place on "the 16th June 1843, when 22 Europeans lost their lives. This will give some idea of the state of New Zealand at Christmastide 90 years ago, and what Governor Fitzroy had to face when taking office.