THE VALLEY OF THE HUTT. SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 1845.

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 2, 14 June 1845, Page 2

THE VALLEY OF THE HUTT.

SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 18 45.

Be just ami fear not : Let all the ends, thon aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy Goo's, aud Truth's.

I?y recent arrivals from Wellington, we learn that the lands, on the Hutt, have not yet boen surrendered, as promised, by (he Natives. Mr. Fob.sa.ith, the Protector, had submitted to His Honor the Superintendent, and obtained his approval of, a scheme to influence the Natives occupying the land in dispute to quit it, The plan is fully detailed in his letter to Major RiCHMOND,at whose acquiescence we are greatly surprised ; for a more puerile, ridiculous, ineffective, impracticable expedient could not have been devised, rK.-lir.ive of its direct evasion of administering justice to the European settlers 'in that district, as well as of its positive evidence, to the Natives, of the vacillation and imbecility of the British Government. The plan is, to give to all the Natives, in this districts, surrounding Wellington, uut I )cated on the Hutt, tokens, or certi-

ficates. which they must' carry with them whenever they go into Wellington, and any- child, or old woman, hawking about wood, fish, &c , who cannot produce a token, is to be alienated iroin all dealings with Europeans ; and the settlers are called upon to co-operate in the sche i c, by demanding exibition of the badge 'of monopoly. If each 1 of the favored Maones could be tatooed with this token of exclusiveness, so that the settlers could at once recognize them, there might be some chance of carrying into execution the projected scheme ; but to imagine that each native man, woman and child can be induced to produce such a certificate, whenever they sell a pumpkin, or buy a fig of tobacco, is perfectly absurd ; and still more preposterous is the idea of these j Natives, coming from a distance with their produce, going to a station to obtain these certificates, and then returning them before going to their homes. Mr. Forsaith says, he is "satisfied that they would not endeavour to nullify the regulation, by lending their tokens, or any other acts cf collusion with the proscribed '' — But the spring of action with every Native is self-interest, and they will either lend their tokens for certain uiu ; or, more probably, either purchase of the proscribed their produce, or sell itfor them on commission. It is not probable, either, that in so large a population as Wellington—*four thousand, — very few of whom have any direct individual interest in the land, in the Valley of the Uutt, however desirous they may be of the settlement of the dispute : —it is not probable, that individuals, chiefly of the labouring class, who traffic with the Natives, will take the trouble to question, or to turn from their threshold, any Native, ottering for sale that, of which they stand in need:— nor is it to be expected, that storekeepers will refuse the custom of any Native presenting the best of all tokens — dollars — for the privilege of dealing. But, beyond these minor difficulties, attached to this scheme, we think, there are far greater, and more important objections to any such degradation— we can give it no milder term — in Her Majesty s Government descendig to such a measure The Valley of the Hutt has been long in dispute. — The Natives have really been paid twice for it, in order to obtain good, indisputable title to the property: — and when Kauparaha received his remuneration, — for w Inch we believe he had as much title or right as Te Whero-whero, —he pledged himself, that the Natives in occupation should leave, — and they also promised, — in March, as soon as their crops wer,e ripe and out of the ground. r l he Natives that are thus illegally occupying the valley , are not all of the tribe of llauparaha; but they chiefly consist of small remains of other tribes, whose chiefs are dead, and whose lands have passed into other hands. For such peojjle, among their own countrymen, there is a distinctive appellation, which means, in the English language, vagabonds, — without a local habitation or a name. Mr. Forsaith appears to dread any measures tofWards the Natives, for their evacuation of the valley of the Hutt, that might lead to a suppression of the trade with them, for an indefinite period, for, he adds, "that such a result would be injurious to the best interests of the Colony, must be obvious to every one who has the least acquaintance with the principles oi'political economy !'* Oh ! shades of Adam Smith, Ricardo andTooKE, — that your principles and doctrines should have been thus brought into jeopardy, in s ttling a question involving a trade in potatoes and pumpkins between a few rebellious uncivilized savages and the Queen of Great Britain ! ! With deference to Mr. Forsaith, for whom, personally, we have the greatest respect, there are far more serious important considerations involved in the settlement of this matter. — It becomes, now, a question, whether imbecile, injudicious counsels aie still to be supreme, and ,the temporizing system of palliating, and indirectly conniving at, native outrage and resistance to the laws, still to be put sued:-— or, the security of the settlers and the peace of the Colony are to "be established, by compelling the Natives to act justly, — to respect the laws, — and to fulfil their contracts with Europeans. To the employment of physical force, Mr. Forsaitli is also averse: and exclusive of the danger to which the settlers would be exposed in any conflict, he states, that the nature of the country would prevent the entire expulsion of the Natives, and, if expelled, it would be impossible to prevent their return. But the Local Government should not be

deterred from prompt action to enforce justice by any such prospective fears ; in this p vrticu-j lar instance of long forbearance on the part of Europeans, and of most flagrant breach of faith and violation of repeated promises by the Natives. Rauparaha declared that they should leave, and it appears that he has proceeded to Wellington to endeavour to accomplish that object ; but, by the annexed extract from the " Wellington Independent" we learn, that he visited the Hutt on the' lsth May, and was received by the Natives with perfect derision and contempt. If Rauparaha cannot induce them to go, the Government must act towards the Natives as British Laws would dictate towards any European, so illegally possessing and occupying the property of another. To any civil authority or power it is idle to expect obedience from the Natives, in their present state of excitement throughout the Colony : exclusive of their ignorance of the distinction between civil and despotic government. If they will not obey, peaceably, they should be compelled by military force, and as the greater portion of these refractory Natives have no actual possession whatever of their own, on the north side of Cook's Straits, and as the New Zealand Company arc undoubtedly now legal proprietors of an immense distiict, surrounding Wellington, we would suggest, in order to prevent future annoyance to the settlers, to make prisoners of these Natives, and transport them over to the southern shores. of the Straits to Cloudy Bay or Queen Charlotte's Sound. Although Major Richmond has sanctioned it, we trust that the Executive Government will not be led away by the protectorate twaddle of Mr. Forsaith's scheme, but refuse it their sanction, and act with becoming dignity, energy, and firmness, as soon as the serious insurrection at the Bay of Islands shall have been satisfactorily quelled, and the forces there employed are at command for other purposes.

Wellington, April 30, IS 15. Si r, — lii my communication of the 2i>lh inst., I informed )our Honor that I entertained sanguine hopes of succeeding in my negotiations with the natives relative to the quiet evacuation of the Hutt, having been authorized to make such proposals as I deemed ampl\ suilicieitt to rein ore their objections ; but my recent inlei views with them have tended very considerably to weaken the confidence I felt of being able to effect this, object, and I am constraiued to say that I have now very little hope of inducing them to leave speedily. The great obstacle to their immediate aeqiiiesence in the terms I have olfeied, is t lie advantage they are daily deriving from traffic with th».\set tiers; so long hs their every wish can be giatilied, and every necessary procured by the bale of their commodities, my arguments and oilers make but little impiession. This has led me to consider, whether some practical means could not be devised for depriving them of these inducements, and, hy hning an interdict upon their tiafile, convince them, that no fuither advantages can be q lined by persisting in the occupation of the Hutt. I am ful I \ sensible of the difficulties which present themselves in the contemplation of such a measure, and every person who has the least acquaiirance with the principles of political economy, will see at once, that any scheme aiming at a 10UI suppression of trade and commerce with the natives as a body, and for an indefinite period, would not i only be injurious to 'he best interests of the colony, hut absolutely impracticable; in fact, the j attempt, would be absurd ; but when it is contemplated to confine the restriction to u small body of the natives onh^ and Ib -a limited period — I imagine the plan not only practicable, but perfectly feasible, if supported by the voluntary efforts, of the public ; at least the difficulties attending the experiment are not insurmountable, anil even less nnmei ous. in my estimation, than thos-» which would attend the employment of physical force. Independently of the danger to which rniuiy of the settlers would be exposed, by the adoption of compulsory measures, the nature of the country is so favourable to the coveit resistance of the native., thai it would be almost impossible to ensure their entile expulsion, or to pteveut their return if expelled ; at all events, it would be very long belbie the settlers could enjoy a complete sense of becurit) 5 w Wereas, if the public can I c made to feel that they have it in their pow er most effectually lo sever the ties which bind these natives to the Unit, and an appeal be made to them, to co-operate in a measure so safe, so humane, and involving so few sacrifices, the result is morally certain} we should soon have the natives as desii ous to abandon their present position, and thereby recover the forfeited advantages of commercial intercourse with us, as they are now obstinate in maintaining possession. 1 would piopose, therefoie, subject of course to )our Honor's approval, that the experiment be tried, and if theie is reasonable prospect of unanimous and cordial co-operation of the public — for w ithout this it would be useless to make the attempt, and the probability of such co-ope-ration uiight easily be obtained through the medium of the public prints, then, tok&is, signed by yourself, or some duly authorised petson, should be issued to the resident natives of the pahs in the district, to be presented by them, whenever they had put chases to make or articles to sell to ttie Euiupeans, those natives only being admitted to the advantages of traffic who were in possession of these authorised tokens, proving them to be unconnected with the iesi» dents on the Huft. The natives of the district would soon understand the object of such a regulation, and from my frequent opportunities of ascertaining their sentiments respecting the conduct of the intiudeis on the Hull, I am satisfied that they would not endeavour to nullify such an attempt by lending their tokens, or an) jotheraol of collusion with the proscribed. In the case of sttangeis coming into town from the out-settlements, for the put poses of tiade, tx\

nearly similar plan could bo adopted, — o"'}' instead of issuing tokens to he permanently retained, certificates of their eligibility foi tr<i"">« should l)p given them, to he returned when they depaited to llwir humes. If )our Honor appioves of these suggestions, find if you are of opinion that by the publication of such a proposal the settlers may be induced to combine, for tne put pose ofcarr)ingit into effect —I think there can be no doubt of the result i and even though it should be found impossible to induce a combination so perfect as wholly to suppi ess the trade with those natives, jet such a majorit), lam convinced, might be gained as would make it appatentto them, that their opposition to the requirements of the Government had placed them on a very embanassing position — and thus incline them in<»ie readily to embrace any oiler which afforded the chance of an honoiable reti'eat. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, (Signed ) Thorn as S. 1 ( 'o rsait h . To His Honor the Superintendent.

Wellington, Ist May, 1845. Sik,— ln reply to your lelter of je^erday's ddte, 1 hare to apprise yon of my concurrence in the plan proposed by yon, as "likely to be the means of causing the peaceable evacuation of the Hutt district by the intruding natives; and in granting permission lor its insertion in the local new «paper§, 1 have to express an earnest hope that the public will lend their cordial eo-opeia-tion and assistance to a scheme which appeals calculated to effect the object we are all so <lesiious of obtaining. 1 have Ihe honor to be,' Sir, Your most obedient servant, (Signed) M. Kichmond, Superintendent. T. S. Forsai i'h, Ksq , Prut. Aborigines, W? lhngton.

I [From the "Wellington Independent, "{May 17.] The chief to Raupai aha, started for the Hull, on Thursday, lor the purpose of compelling the intruding natives to quit the land in question, and to leave Ihe Valley, so as to put an end to future annoyances. No sooner was it known I that Te Uauparaha had departed, than great was the commotion— calls and horses were in full request, sailing boats weie speedily filled with live fieiyht, and even donke\s became objects of peculiar regard. The sight loving public weie not aware, perhaps, of the harm they weie committing. Kauparaha did not wish any white people to go— he desired them to stay awa> j as' it was his quarrel, and he would settle it. It should also be borne in mind, that had n combination existed amongst tne natives, for the purpose of attacking the place, the town could have been easily carried, ransacked, and deslio)er, whilst nine-tenths of the adult population were follov\ ing the heels of Kauparaha. When liuupar<iha arrived at the pah, he sat himself down on the outside, and did not enter because he had not been invited. liangilueata had pieviously reached the Hint fiom Poiiuicu and encamped, with his followers, some distance up the vallej. The two chiefs however did not meet, there being some difference between them., Uauparal a ordered the natives to quit the Hint and leturu 10 their several original places of abode. He was answered with jeers and^expressions of contempt. Of this we think nothing i— and we aie of opinion still, that if Itaupaialm persists in his order, the llutt intrudeis must give up the land they have seized. The native custom is first to bounce, and then to come down gradually We think it will prove so in this instance, and that Hauparaha will succeed. We are also of opinion that the settlers should leave the natives to themselves, and not flock alter Uauparaha as if they had i never seen a Maori before. Such conduct* does more hai in than good} for we are convinced that Uauparaha w ill do moie towaidb effecting his object his object in one Amir, without the presence of white men, than he would accomplish in ten weeks b\ the presence of the pakeha. Up to the time of going to piess, things remain in the same stale. Rauparaha has done nutliing, ai.d the Muories will nut leave.