NEW ZEALAND COMMITTEE.

New Zealander, Volume I, Issue 10, 9 August 1845, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND COMMITTEE.

In our two previous numbers, we have extracted from the Report of the Committee of the House of Commons, the Resolutions proposed for their consideration by Mr. Cardwell, ti>e legal adviser of the Colonial office, and like-w ise those proposed by the Chairman of the Committee, Lord Howick, the avowed ! organ and supporter of the New Zealand Company. We have so done, in order that both documents should be put on record in our columns, in consequence of the great difference of opinion, as well as strong party feeling existing in the Committee, between the partisans of the New Zealand Company, and those members of the Committee who approved of the views and policy of the ministers. As the Resolutions of Lord Ilowick were adopted by a majority of one only, in the Committee, as the basis and groundwork of resolutions to accompany their Report ; and | as, likewise, Lord Stanley did not consider he was, from such circumstance, bound to follow, implicitly and fully, all that the Committee suggested and advised in their Report and Resolutions ; — the publication and dissemination of the resolutions of Mr. -Gardwell,""in the Colony, wfiTOWceive to be of the highest importance, as they plainly and ably declare the opinions, views and policy entertained and adopted towards this Colony by Her Majesty's Government The Resolutions of Mr. Cardwell may be considered as a " State Paper." It is very clearly and skillfully indicted, — evincing determination to keep good faith with the Natives, whatever may now be the difference of opinion as to the Treaty of Waitangi, which secures to the Natives, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands, estates, forests, &c. It likewise deals with the claims of the New Zealand Company in a masterly style. It is a document, in juxta-position with the actual resolutions and report of the Committee, that proves the decisions of such parliamentary committees are not always determined by common sense or absolute wisdom. The publication, in the Colony, of the resolutions of Lord Howick, it has been remarked, may have an unfavourable impression on the minds of the Natives, inasmuch as it will enable the many mischief-making persons to insinuate among the discontented chiefs, that the Treaty of Waitangi would not be held sacred by the Queen of England, and that all the land, except what the natives actually cultivate will be taken from them. But we are quite of the converse of such an opinion. The acute intelligent native, although not versed in the subtleties of political strife, is perfectly sensible that mere assertion, and that not emanating from authority, is no proof: and however ill-disposed persons may attempt to misinterpret the second and third resolutions 'of Lord Hovick to them, they will, we are certain, ask if it is the Icorero of the Queen herself? Besides, the natives rely on facts; and the waiving of the right of pre-emption, and allowing them ro sell their land to whom they please, is contradiction quite sufficient to counteract any erroneous impressions that may be attempted to be circulated among them on this subject.