MEETING OF PURCHASERS OF LAND FROM THE NATIVES.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 56, 27 June 1846, Page 2

MEETING OF PURCHASERS OF LAND FROM THE NATIVES.

The notices contained in tjie last Government Gazette, which will be found in our columns to-day, and which were made the basis of some remarks in our last number, have occasioned a considerable degree of anxiety and excitement. On Thursday last, a numerous and highly respectable meeting of the residents of Auckland and its vicinity,interested in this question was convened at the Exchange Hotel. The history of this meeting, as we gathered from the statements of one of the speakers, is as follows : — After the publication of the Government Gazette, Mr. Hart, one of the late land purchasers, waited upon his Excellency, to point out certain grievous inconveniences that would result to the settlers from His Excellency's notices published therein. ' Mr. Hart very justly remarked that the mere announcement in the Gazette of another Land Commision, with its vexatious delays, and, (if like the former commission,) its expensive impositions, was enough to damp the spirits, and prostrate the energies, of the entire population. His Excellency, in reply, stated it to be his conviction, that the unrestricted sale of lands was a concession, wrung from his predecessor, by conspiracy and intimidation ; and in support of this opinion, he read a despatch from the late Governor to Lord Stanley, in which, he considered, the fact was implied. His Excellency seemed to mis-conceive the motives which induced Mr. Hart to deprecate the formation of a new Land Commission — and intimated, that the public had better not attempt to contravene his measures by agitation, or intimidate him. by conspiracy — if they did, he would leave Auckland. We cannot refrain from expressing our unfeigned surprise at this display, Surely His

Excellency would not bave us believe that his movements are to be regulated by pique and feeling ! We are rather inclined to hope that his meaning has been inadvertently perverted. However, a copy of Captain Fitzßoy's despatch, which had led to the unfounded notion of a previously existing conspiracy, was obtained from His Excellency ; and the meeting on Thursday was convened ior the purpose of adopting a Memorial, praying His Excellency to disabuse his mind of this enoneous impression, and to relinquish his intention of throwing discredit upon native titles to land, acquired under the sanction of official regulations — and which had already been guaranteed by Lord Stanley in his published reply to the queries of a deputation from the New Zealand Company. The tone of the meeting was strictly temperate and respectful. The chair was occupied by Frederick Whitaker, Esq ; and a memorial, proposed by Captain Heale, and seconded r by Mr. James Williamson, was unanimously adoptedA Deputation was appointed to present it to His Excellency, and a request immediately forwarded to the Private Secretary for permission to do so before His Excellency embarked for Port Nicholson. An answer was speedily returned to the effect— that His Excellency had not time to give the matter a moment's consideration, as he was then about to embark, but that it should have his earliest attention on his return, which he expected would be in about ten days. We purposely abstain from expressing any positive opinion on the despatch written by Capt. Fitzßoy, not having had an opportunity of maturely considering its contents. It has come to our ears that a certain " Übiquitous " busy-body, who has held office under the Government for some time, and is well known here as an intermeddler, was the individual who secretly influenced the late Governor to form the opinion, implied in his despatch. However, we conceive that His Excellency attaches an undue importance to, the statements contained in this document, it he does not attribute a meaning to certain expressions in it, foreign to the scope and design of its author. The Memorial we shall publish when we are enabled to accompany it with His Excellency's reply. Time and space will not allow of our entering fully into the important subject of' the Land question at present ; at a mure convenient season we shall recur to it. We know it to be surrounded with difficulties ; and we believe it to involve -principles of higher moment, than even the^njustice of throwing discredit upon past equitable purchases. The right of the natives to dispose of their lands, is one of the fundamental principles of the constitution of the Colony ; it is the keystone in the arch of British authority in New Zealand— take it away, and the proportions and stability of the structure are destroyed. , We would recommend, our friends and te - low-colonists to continue their respective ope-> rations, undisturbed by the prospective fears of an ultimate disallowance of their just claims. Without a moristious perversion of justice, their equitable titles cannot be annulled; and we are persuaded, that the government will ere long awake to the consciousness, that the solemn professions, which they have put forth respecting their concern for the moral welfare of the natives, are wholly incompatible with such an example of dis-> honesty*

Government Land Sale. — A Land Sale is advertised in the last Government Gazette, to take place on Tuesday next, the 30th inst., at twelve o'clock. There are to be put up 15 Town allotments, at the upset price of £100' per acre ; 7 Suburban allotments, in the parish ofTakapuna, at£l 10s. per acre; 21 Country allotments on the east bank of the Tamaki ; and 2 ditto, in the parish of Waitemata, at 20s. per acre. The Noble . — The American whaler Noble, which was dismasted off the coast in the heavy gales a few weeks back, and surveyed and condemned, after being towed by the Driver into the harbour, was sold at public auction by Mr. Nathan, on Tuesday last, to Mr. J. S. JPolack, for the sum of two hundred pounds. New Plymouth. — The Mary Ann, 35 tons, a new vessel lately built at Nelson, arrived at Manakao on Thursday from New Plymouth, after a boisterous voyage of seven days. She brought several passengers, many of whom remain here. Flour was only £9 per ton at New Plymouth and there were 300 tons beyond the quantity required for the inhabitants of that district. Already there are two flour mills at work and another in course of erection. The settlers were prospering in agriculture and had by experience of former years, arrived at the knowledge of the proper seed time by which they anticipated, next harvest, more abundant product. The greatest drawback to New Plymouth is the continued trouble and annoyance to the settlers by the Natives. The branch road from Mokau to Taranaki still remained under strict <( tapu *' and discontent was spread-

ing among the Native population. At New Plymouth there was a public meeting on the llth May, at which there was much altercation. The Resident Agent of the New Zealand Company Mr. Wioksteed, was openly charged by his late clerk Mr. Chilraan, with embezzlement, and as Mr. Wicksteed had not met the charge as publickly, the other magistrates had declined to act any longer in conjunction with him. The arrival of the Governor was most anxiously looked for and it was the intention of the settlers to be most urgent in their application for the formation of a road between Auckland and New Plymouth. Nelson.— By the Mary Ann, we have received Nelson Papers to the 6th June, but they are [devoid of all interest, being wholly filled with discussions and correspondence on the adjustment of their lands. There is no intelligence whatever from Cook's Straits relative to the Ralph BernaL