PETITION OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY. (Concluded from our last)

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 20, 18 October 1845, Page 3

PETITION OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY. (Concluded from our last)

But whatever the origin of the views in question, or of the influence of the Missionary Societies in the Colonial Department, the practical result has been thai, from the beginning, New Zealand has been regarded, and measures relating to it have been conducted by the Government, with reference to the interests, not. of this kingdom, but of the native Aborigines as seen through the Missionary medium. Hence the repudiation of a territory which, for upwards of thirty year 6 had been definitely included (in the same way as Van Diemen's Land) in the successive commissions of the Governors of New South Wales; the reluctance to re-acquiie that territory, notwithstanding its acknowledged paramount political importance, which was avowed in the instructions originally issued to Captain Hobson ; and that series of acts which, as bein^of necessity illusive, was in our opinion unworthy of this country. Of this character >ye conceive to have been the recognition of a flag called " National ;" of Ships* Registers to be recorded and granted by Native Chiefs ; of a document pnrporting to be a " Declaration of Independence;" and of a proposed "Congress; together with other measures enumerated in the Memorandum transmitted by the Colonial Department to the FojeignOiflce on lSt;i March 1840 : as well as the transaction termed the J' Treaty of Waitangi," which may be re-

garded as the natural sequel and climax of tljje series of fictitious proceedings, and of which th* hollow and injurious nature is forcibly represented in the Report of your Committee of last Session. To the same false basis of the intervention of British authority in New Zealand we ascribe that character of indirectness which attended the Government in its first measures with regard to land, and involved it in embarrassments from which it has not succeeded in fleeing itself to this day We allude to the expedients by which, while professing to uphold native rights, it denies to pri» vate individuals the lands they had acquired under the exercise of those rights ; while excluding the Ciown from the proprietorship of unoccupied waste lands, it sought to supply the defect by taking possession of private purchases; and now still declaring those lands to be the private property of the Natives, it endeavours to obtain them by the imposition of a land-tax. To the same origin we trace that spirit of hostility which evinced itself at the very commencement of our undertaking; which, though suipended apparently for a time, by the agreement and Chaiter ol Incorporation, has bioken out at every opportunity : has heaped upon us aspersions of the most insulting natm'e, amounting to rapacity, fraud, and implied falsehood ; imparted to the official correspondence that undignified and acrimonious diameter of which complaint has been so justly made; and led to reiterated acts of aggression and misrepresentation in England and in the Colony, the most dangerous tendency of which, much as they impeded our efforts and depressed the energies of the Colonists, was to lower our Settlers in the eyes of the Natives, and to give the impression that they might be injured with impunity. Unfoitunately, also, the same cause induced another step, which, at the very foundation of the Colony, brought the Government into serious collison with our plans. Arriving subsequently to the first establishment of our first settlement in Cook's Strait, Captain Hobson chose entirely to overlook its existence, and to establish the Government, not on the spot where the great bulk of the actual Colonists had planted themselves, but in that to which he determined that they dught rather to have gone. He fixed his capital near one extremity of a narrow country 1200 miles long, in a spot where at the time there was not a single European inhabitant ; so distant from the great bulk of the Colonist population, and having so little natural intercourse with them, that all communication had for some time to be carried on in vessels chartered for each particular occasion j where the Government was, in k facf, practically more remote from the people it was to govern than either New South Wales or Van Diernan's Land. The mischievousness of this error was aggravated and perpetuated by the operation of sinister influences. Without funds, except such as were borrowed, the Local Executive could devise no better resource than to plunge into land jobbing, and the greater part of its higher officers immediately followed the example which it set. Within a very short space of time the Colonial' Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, the AttorneyGeneral, the Crown Surveyor the Commissioner of Land Claims, and other persons in office, were found to have engrossed the most eligible sites in the town. It became the interest of every one of these persons who, from the s>tate of Captain Hotteon's health, in fact directed the Government, to raise as high as possible the value of the lands among which their own were situated. Effectual measures were accordingly taken to foster a spirit of reckless specnlation. Competition was invited by a s) stem of auctions, and the result was achieved of selling, for exorbitant prices, a portion of the town lands. In this profitless gambling the greater part of the capital which, was required for the cultivation of the soil, passed from the hands of the settlers into those of a few fortunate adventurers, and in a short time, When the delusion ceased, the population of Auckland found themselves exhausted of their original means, destitute of resources in trade, or in the produce of the surrounding country, and dependent for subsistence on little beyond that public expenditure, for which the Government derived its means either from the taxation of other Settlements, or from drafts on the British Treasury. The stimulus first given proving thus insufficient, other measures were resorted to. Our Agents were not allowed to avail themselves of the p rmission given by Lord John Russell to fis our second Settlement south of Cook's Strait, but an attempt was made to force them to the northward. Captain Hobsun employed the means of Government to entice away the labourers who had been sent out at ourcost, And we regret to add, that the censure of this proceeding by Lord Stanley does not appear to have prevented similar eudeavours at a more recent period. Governor Fitzroy, after setting aside the award of the Commissioner in our favour, at New Plymouth, offered to compensate the claimants if they would take grants in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Even the Colonial Department in this country held out inducements to the intending colonists of New Edinburgh, to vdesert the Company, and establish themselves in' the Northern settlement. Subservient to the Government plans, and rendered necessary by the contradictory expedients above alluded to, was t..e Court of Commissioner of Land Claims, than which it is difficult to conceive a machinery more effectually calculated to disturb the harmony and arrest tiie progress of the community. It proceeded to the investigation of a very delicate question of policy and feeling with the cumbrous forms of legal procedure, alike unsuited to the nature of the case, and the habits of those immediately concerned. It conld not decide on a single case without recognising murder and robbery as the basis of title j it could scarcely enter upon an investigation without offending prejudices or awakening feuds, without exciting desires which it was imposible to gratify and tampering with the rude sense of right and wrony which the natives before possessed. The tendency of its operation was to set the two races in hostile array against each other. One or other of the languages used was always unknown to one or more of the parties interebterl. The very thoughts of the several parties on tho subject of piopetty in land were so different as to be tespectively incomprehensible. The parties best informed on the subject in debate, the Natives

M hos>e law of real propeity was to be tne guidfc of the Court, never had any law of the sott, but only vague, diversified, conflicting: customs. Th.it the ten ible disaster of Wairoi was the result of our br-wg referred to the Com t of Land Claims, and of the undue desires and hostile feelings ex-cited by the continual disparagement of ourSettleib, has nevei been doubted by any unprejudiced person. It embitters our rejrrot to know that the sovereignty of the Middle Island having been proclaimed upon the right of discovery, even the os tensible ground of a reference to the Court of Claims had no place ; that our second Settlement •was fixed at a spot which entailed a dispute, b\ Captain HobsonN refusal toallow us the choice sanctioned by Loid John Hussell ; and that b) specific contracts, relating especially to that second settlement, the Government was bound to put us in possession of the quantity of land which it had sold us, quite irrespective of any transaction bet\i een om selves and the Natives. The Committee of your honourable House has doiip justice to the memory ol those who fell at "Wairoa, b\ recording its belief that they were actuated by a desire to uphold the law. The re cent decision of tlie Commissioner, by virtually establishing our right lo the disputed land, has •shown that the Natives ueie the u long-doei. 1 -. "We make no complaint that their crimes have not been visited with the severe penalties of our law, but we do complain tliat nothing has heen done lo vindicate the authoiity of the Government, or to guard the Colonists from similar outrages; that the whole policy of the Government has been to soothe the perpetrators of the massacre, as if they were the injured part), and to trpat the European co nmunity as dangerous and criminal ; Hut the first official act was a demand from the ptotector of Aborigines that the survivors, not the murderers should h,p capitally punished? that the inhabitants of Wellington, who uii'ler the lawful sanction of the Mag strates, had formed themselves as volunteers foriepelling an expected attack, were denounced as guilt) of illegal acts, and threatened w ith military, violence, and that, without a shadow of inquiry, or a statement of the grounds of his judgment Captain Fitzroy and his subordinates thought propei t proper to throw the entire blame on those who peiished in ihe in fsacie, and to slander the memo! 1 ) of the dead with munanly reproaches. It is not our wish to insist on a severe retail ation for the evcessesof uncivilized men. But fm fhesake of the Natives themselves, who are thus temp ad to a fatal indulgence in their ferocious passions, we depiecatea system which, demoralising them by Usimmediate operation, ensures a sanguinary tcpiebsion, and such an antipathy of i aces as no after policy of Government cm present from ending in the extermination of the weaker and more numerous. It is not our duty to create in the minds of the New Zealanders vague notions of imagined proprietary rights ; to deny to our count r> men the useofa soil now unavailable to man ; or lo coirupt the native races Ky -timiilaiing their lapacity, and satisfying their craving for noxious enjoyments. But it is our duty to them to earn into effect plans for their ultimate improvement and incorporation with the settlers whom we intioduce among them; and, in furtherance of such plans, to use our supeiior power to enforce on them obedience to the laws ■which we know to be for their good. We have nought in vain, however, in the acts of the Government for any plan for the impiovemeutofihe Natives, or any evidence of a wise care for their interests Absorbed in the scheme of conferring upon them a proprietary liirlit in land, avid either blind to the fact, or careless as to the result, that this proprietorship is the certain means of their destruction, the Govei nment appears to have been incapable of receiving am higher or larger idea. It seems to have no conception that there are duties invo'ving a graver responsibility, or evidencing a more enlarged intelligence. The plan of \ative lleseives has alwa\s hereto ore been the objectof disfavour. While eagerly using oni stipulations as an ar-iii-meiit against us, the Government h, s turned to no account the Reserves ulm-hwe placed in its hands. Those v> Inch it affected to make in Auckland, and of w Inch the Colonial Offi-p despatch of 18th August lasj would suggest a belief that they were in actual use, never had any existence. Nothing has been done to familiarise the Natives with habits of order by means of military diciphno Instead of maintaining the relative position of the Chiefs, as we pioposed, elevating their character, and attaching them to British rule, Ihemeasnies of the Government have in even vi ay tended todeutade them, and render them discontented ami turbulent. li\ the lavish estimates of the Colony we find a pjoteclorate of Aborigines made a pretext for creating offices for Eniopeans, but not one thousandth pai t of the expenditure devoted to any service of real utility lo the Aborigines themselves. In an expenditure of £128,985 19s. Hd ', the toral amount appropriated to religion and education during three years is to the former £38R, Os. 3d , to tliK latter £91 Bs. G<l. In niter disregatd of the moral contamination ■vi'luch Ims inevnablv resulted, and which ought to have been foreseen, n number of boys from Paikhurst Penitential y have been imported into Trie countn, and, m order to evade the pledge given hj Lord iN'oimanfy, that ' no convict should lie sent thither to undergo Ins punishment," the individuals weie paidoned on teaching their destination. Peih.ij.s tiie:e is nothing connected with New Zetland w Inch more demands the attention of .this honourable House than the modem which revenue has been raised and expended. In spite of the constitutional punciple that the people, of HiiS empire ate onh to be taxed by their ovrn consent, the tevenuc of New Zealand is raised by a council composed of four Government Oflitvis, and ihiee peisous named bj theGovernot, lemovealde at \,\s pieasute, and in fact vibited or Uiiedtened w ith iei:ioval if their opposition becomes tiouMesome, By ntciofsuch a council Governor Hobt-on was enabled to load the mlant , colony -u ilh debt, and exllclu^t lib resources by an impiorident expeudituie. Dm iiig three >ears, ul winch alone the accounts have been furnished, uut of £123,000 a!«»esanl,itsjppearstliat less than a tint tl was applied to objecis v» earing a chajactei of utility or permanence Tn'e excess of eutlu) u>fi i enl income, was £57,000$ the annual'

(jOst of the Government, with lespect to the European population, £9, 7s. lid., £8, 14s , and U, IDs 3.1. a head. The financial pi oceedings of Captain Hobson's temporary successor, Lieutenant Shortlaud, are clneflv know m bv the difficulties in which he was involved, the failure which attended his measmes, and the disallowance of of his Bills by liei' Majesty's Treasury. Of Captain Fitzroy, the course has heen still more extraordinary; he imposed taxes which would almost appear to have been contrived for the very purpose of preventing the growth of a colony; he issued an inconvei tible currency in notes for very small sums; to conciliate a turbulent tuhe, he, without colour of law, exempted a particular port from the general customs' duties to which the rest of the island was subject; then suddenly altering his entiie financial policy to uphold this error, he has in an instant abolished the whole customs' duties of the Colony j and after proposing the precarious resource of an income tax for raising a portion of the revenue, ; "hi -h he flniig awaj, ha* left the remainder of his expenses to be defrayed by the Imperial Treasury. In old times, when our forefathers laid the foundation of the greatest colonies that the world has ever seen, the revenue and expenditure of every colony was fiom the first defnned from its own resources, and modest establishments were dictated by thesimple habits and restricted means of the earl) colonists. In the middle of the last century, the internal government of the thirteen Colonies of North America, with a population of three millions, cost only £100,000 a)ear; and with this small outlay for the business of Government, did these communities of Englishmen contrive to make and to administei salutary laws, to reclaim the forest, to establish a flourishingtrade, to cultivate the arts of peace, and to lay the foundations of a great empire. Even in our present Colonies of North America, representative institutions ensure a wholesome economy. Fortyseven thousand peoplem P. ince Edward's Island are well governed for£l9,6ooa year. The taxation of Nova. Scotia is 10s. 9d. ; that of New Brunswick 10s. 6d. ; that ofCauadaSs.2 1. ahead ; but New Zealand, though from the fitbt an unmixed and untainted community of free and enterprising Englishmen, has been subjected to the sameatbitrary government, lavish expenditure, and bin thensome taxation which have been imposed on our Convict Colonies. Independently of the burthen of taxation, this lavish expenditure is an uncompensated evil ; it corrupts the colony by accustoming it to unnecessary establishments, gives mischievous example to private luxury, checks the noble disposition to serve the public for no reward but the iiood opinion of the public, which is found in all free communities ; maintains a host of insolent officials by the labour of others; conveitsa vast pioportion of those who should he working, into idle recipients, or greedy expectants of salary, and subjects the colony to the rule of those whom no government or individual will trust or employ at home; but in New Zealand this evil end has been attained by taxing every individual £3 a year, being three times as high as the amount disbursed in the United Kingdom for its eflective expenditure. Here, as in other colonies, this system has broken down, debts are co tracted, applications are made to Parliament, and the Colony becomes an object of cost and aversion to the iVlother country. The value of the two systems of colonization which have been pursued by the Government and by ourselves, may be best tested by a short comparison of their respective principles and results. We conducted our operations on a scale of considerable magnitude, obtaining tracts of country of such extent as permitted us to proceed with consistency and uniformity. We anac-hed to our lands a price nominally high, but by making it the same for town as for country lands, and by disposing of both in equal proportions, section fot section, we rendered it really low. And out of its gross amount, we appropriated from two thirds to five-sixths to the pui poses of emigration, public works, education and religion : tiie aborigines beinir provided for by setting apart for their exclusive benefit portions of the land i'self. The Government, on the contrary, made its bargains in minute poitions, and with some few exceptions, bou.ht its lands a stiip here and a batch theie. While it attempted to resell the&e, it rendeied stiles comparatively impracticable by its profuse bestowal of free grants ; and while it lavished country lands the sole source of pro duction upon persons opposed to colonization, it stimulated competition among such colonists as there were, for the unproductive sites of town residences, fitted only to become the occasions of further expense. By these means the price, though nominally lower than ours, was in practice rendered at once both higher and less productive for public objects. Of the gross amount obtained, instead of one-half, as prescribed by Act of Pai liainpnt, less than one-fourth appears to h*>ve been considered applicable to emigration, instead of one-seventh as indicated in Lord Stanley's despatch, of 15th Sept., 1842, less than one-twenty-fifth to the aborigines. The consequence has been, that at the end of the fiist quarter of 1843, the Government had for the sum of £39,655, sold 5,168 acres of land, yielding a general average of £7 13s. Sd. an acre. At the same date we had disposed of 221,720 acres for ;£280,840, or at a general average of £l ss. an acre. Dining the brief period extending fiom the commencement of onroperalionsin 1839, to their suspension in IS 13, we have introduced into the colony neatly 9,000 persons. The Government, exclusive of the convict boys, under 800. We had established three separatesettlements. Our emigration had been carried on under the immediate inspection of the officers of the Government, and conducted in such a way as to call forth then unqualified praise. A large amount had been expended by us in public woiks; in constructing roads and bridges ; in ptovidiiig facilities of access to the poits; and in extensive sin veys, as well as in expeditions, for the purpose of exploring the interior. We had made provision for religious establishments, a poition of the original scheme of our settlements. In each successive scheme we had devoted to this i ry vision a larger and larger proportion ; pto-

cceding always upon the principle of supply ing funds without distinctions of denominations in amounts equal to the sums raised by the parties themselves. Upon this principle, the majority of our settlers being rhembeis of the Church of England, the creation of a New Zealand Bishopno had been mainly effected by our efforts ; and in the hope that our settlements w ould receive the advantage of the permanent residence and example of the Bishop, our contributions, given upon the same principle, had fonnod a large portion of its earliest endowment. Other of our projects for the benefit of the colony, had been fiusliated b) a refusal of the co-operation of the Government j but we are justified in saying that, until the disasters occasioned by the policy of the Government, our effoits had been so far successful, that the transference of a large body of emigrantshad been effected with comparatively little of the hardships usually supposed to be incident to their lot} that our settlements had attracted a large number of persons, of such property and strition, as are rareh induced to resort to distant colonies; and that they presented an aspect of a steady progress in material prosperity. With the natives our settlers were living in a state of perfect tranquility and friendship; and it is worthy of lemark that the behaviour towards then of even the ruder classes had from the beginning been characterized by an habitual consideration and kindness, although new in the intercouse of superior and inferior races. This they learned from the example set by the higher class of colonists, who before leaving England, were imbued with the sentiments of the founders of the entei prise, and went out impressed both wilh the impoitance of seriously maintaining a good understanding with the aborigines, and with the efficacy of justice, kindness, and identification of interests, as means of their real civilization. On the other hand, the effects of the policy which has been put sued by the Government are seen in the disasteis that have visited all connected u itli the colony. The violation of our two agreements with the I Government has rendered it impossible to effect further sales of our land. Our income, which is derivable from that source alone, after a gradual diminution, which began nearly three years ago, has for some time past entirely ceased. Fora considerable poition of that period our expenditure was not only of necessity continued, but its ordinary amount greatly augmented, by that insecurity of title which cut off our resources, and threw many of the emigiant labourers on us for support. Having lost the property which we confided to the honour of the Government, we have been compelled to suspend our operations ; and our inability to fulfil the engagements into which, in reliance on that honour, we had entered, subjects us to reproaches winch would be unbearable, if the bad faith shown to ourselves were not the sole cause of our failing in our obligations to others. An end is put to the only effectual colonization of New Zealand that has hitherto existed. The titles of those who purchased from us have been rendered unavailable j possession of the land has been rendered precarious, or altogether prohibited; its cultivation, of course, relinquished Many of the settlers whose position and conduct entitle them to the peculiar svmpathi s of their countrymen, are we fear, ruined ; others are abandoning a colony of which the original prospects have been cruelly destroyed, andi n which their property has been hopelessly sunk. The natural rapacity of the natives has been excited ; encouragement has been given to the most extravagant demands, under pleas either of the invalidity of the title of the original vendors, or of themselves having been deceived as to the p7'ice oi the rintme of the hargAin, Feelings of ill-will between them and their European neighbours have been called forth, and we cannot but fear there is greatdanger of their being involved in further and mote fatal collisions. Nor are the disasters here enumerated confined to those connected with our undertaking, or this dissatisfaction to the neighbourhood of Cook's Straits. In Auckland, also, the greater number are lepresented as being in a state bordering upon ruin. In the Bay of Islands, the very centieof Missionary influence, the natives have been encouraged to an insolent bearing by the unworthy concessions of the Government, until from denying the validity of land sales, they have advanced to impugning the Treaty, and from aggrpssions on our settlers, to a deliberate insult of Her Majesty's flag. In the meanwhile, of the seventy-eight millions of acres contained in the islands.it is declared by the Legislative Council at Auckland, that all but 1,700,000 must be consideied the privaleproperty of native tribes. The right of pte-ernption which the Treaty secured to the Crown, is waived by the Governor, although in so doing he sets aside a fundamental Act of Parliament, and revives the evils oonf n land speculations between Europeans and natives ; and the Government is reduced to a state in which it is wholly unable to carry out its own intentions ; its means exhausted and its revenue dependent upon desperate experiments; " having," as Captain Fitzroy avows, '• neither money nor credit," therewith to acquire more land j undersold by its own grantees in that which it already possesses ; the object of reproach by the injured Europeans ; and as Mr, Busby, the late resident asserts, " viewed with distrust and disaffection" by the natives, who consider themselves " over-reached and betrayed" by its proceedings. This, then, is the case which we desire to lay before )onr honourable House. We have obtained awards for aboveseven hundred thousand acres of land; have claims for se veral hundred thousand aciesmore; and' have come under obligations to alienate above t«G hundred thousand": but we cannot obtain our title deeds for a single acre. We have entered into four successive agreements with her Majesty's Government; on the laith of these agreements we have expended neatly six bundled thousand ponndson public objects; \\ c have scrupulously fulfilled every condition on our part ; but as yet not one condition has been fulfil leil on the pail of the Government. The enterprise out of which these agreements have arisen was commenced before the assnmpon of British Sovereignty in New Zealand,

We had a riiiht to acquire land, and the Colonists to establish themselves, in a countt y treated as sovereign and independent by our own Government. We have conducted ourselves with good faith and loyalty in all our transactions ; and had the Government not interfered, the Colonists would, have trusted to their own prudence for securing success among the Natives. All the wiong of which we complain is the direct consequence of the Government's interference. Under these circumstances it has become necessiry lo turn for redress to your honourable House. We beseech \ou, in your care for the people of the United Kingdom and of the Colonies, as well of the Aboriginal as of the British race, w isely to devise and firmly to apply sufficient remedies to the various evils which have been detailed. It is obviously impossibte to allow New Zealand to remain in its present condition. It is equally impossible to abandon it, Of to relinquish the colonization already begun. It will scacely be thought that great expense and heavy responsibilities should be incurred for the promotion of merely Missionary objects or the the exclusive care of the Aboiigines. The only remaining course is to administer the Colony on a comprehensive system of foresight and justice, for the joint benefit of the Natives, the Colonists, and the Parent State. We conceive the foundations of such a system would be laid in the adoption of the leading principles of the Report of the Committee of last Session. That national faith to which we appeal on our own behalf should undoubtedly be held inviolate with all ; and if undue expectations have been excited in the minds of the native population by the ignorance in which treaties have been made or administered, such expectations must not be overlooked. But they should be met with a due regard to the justice of the case We have highei obligations to the uncivilized tiibes of whose terriioiies we have acquired possession than any founded on mere compact, and we cannot be justified by any treaty in pursuing a policy opposed to their real interests. It is especially their interest that the Crown should administer the unocenpiel lands of New Zealand, and maintain the wise law which prohibits all private purchases of land from the Native tribes. It is their interest that they should be rescued from the machinations of the land shark, and denied the means of purchasing their own destruction. It i& their interest too, that they should be disabused of fantastic expectations of immediate gain, and checked in attempts at extortion 5 and their obedience to law should be temperately but firmly enforced ; and that they should be kept out of collison with that more civilized population on whose good will their future welfate must depend. It is by such a policy wo are pursuaded, and by such alone, that the now imminent chances of fatal conflict may be diminished, and the existence of the Aboriginal population piolonged; that while security an<jf peace are ensured to the Settleis, thewell disposed Natives may obtain satisfa tionof their just expectations, and be inspired with respect for ,tbeit rulers ; that efficacy can be given to plans, for thpir progressive amelioration ; and that, by accustoming the savage to the habits and occupations of civilized men, we may ultimately effect his amalgamation with the lace which must eventually be master in New Zealand. With regard to ourse'ves, we feel that we .are urging a claim of simple equity, when we ask that due effect shall be given lo the adjudication of \our Committee in our favour, and that such further measures shall be taken as may appear best adapted for repairing the serious injury, caused by what we are now entitled to call a withholding of our lights. But if an alteration in the general policy be not considered expedient upon geneial gtonnds, we have no desire thai n should be adopted or attempted on our account. If it be not essential to the welfare of the Aborigines, and to the interests of the people of this - Kingdom, and the ancient laws should he observed, and the rights of the Crown upheld, we have no « ish that these should be evoked for the mere purpose of enabling the Government to fulfil its engagements with us We are content in (hat case to abide the alternative which we are satisfied your honourable House will award to persons who have united together for no selfish end; who have devoted themselves to what they believed to be an honourable and beneficial purpose; who have been baffled by measures which they could not control, which they had no right to a >li«\pate, and which appeared to them to be directed not less against the public good than against their personal success} and who, whatever their mistakes or their failures, haveat least succeeded in securing for their country an extensive and valuable territory, when it was all but saciifieed by the servants of the Crown. Bijt we would entreat )our honourable House to remembei that the inhabitants of colonies not enjo) ing representative institutions live under a despoti m more complete than any absolute government of Europe. In the case of New Zealand the distance from Great Britain relieves the local authority practically from any check. The rule over the Colonists there is such as every member of your honourable House would deem intolerable if by any calamity it were inflicted on those subjects of Her Majesty who do not emigrate. The selection of Governors and other officers possessing ability and ju Jgment is, therefore, of peculiar moment. Finally, we would entreat you so to cast your protecting arm over the Colonists whom we have been the instruments of planting in New Zealand, as to prevent if possible their being compelled to suffer on our account : to uphold a body of Bri • tish subjects who are entitled to admiration and sympathy for their model ation and fortitude in circumstances of severe trial, and who, notwith* standing the oppiessionsof the Colonial .Government, h-tve never forgotten their duties or forsaken their love for the institutions and loyalty to the Soveieign if their native country. By order of the Court of Directors, the tenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and forty -five. Thomas Cudbert Ha rington, Secretary.