New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1842.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 7, 23 August 1842, Page 2

New Zealand Colonist. TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1842.

The Gazette of Saturday contains a long article on the subject chiefly of the relations of the settlers and the natives, filled with .unconscious misrepresentations. We have neither leisure nor inclination to undertake the office of correcting, in detail, all the blunders into which ou r contemporary may fall in treating upon subjeefs - with which he will not take the trouble of making himself acquainted. And if we now point out one mistake of the kind, it is only because it embodies a fallacy which is likely to mislead many who do not take the trouble of examining • for themselves, the real circumstances of the * case. That our contemporary is quite sincere in what he writes, we fully believe ; but this only •makes it the more needful that his errors should be exposed whenever they refer to topics of importance. There is no more efficient agent of deception than he who is first deceived himself. And, besides this, a person who makes erroneous ' statements, under the belief of their truth, may possibly acknowledge and correct errors when they arc pointed out to him; while one who makes ■ these statements consciously is beyond the reach of conviction or correction. The Lest proof we can give, that we entertain some opinion of the honesty of our contemporary is that, we occasionally take the trouble of setting

him right. The mistake which we now propose to correct is contained in the following passage: —“That the provisions made for the Natives by the New Zealand 'Company, appear ample, we think, no one will question. Upwards of 10,000 acres, 100 of which is town land, have been reserved in the district of Wellington.” There can be little question, that this statement is designed to imply, what doubtless, the writer of the article in question believed to be the truth, that 10,000 acres have been reserved for the use of the natives of .this immediate vicinity. He could hardly mean that a reserve of 10,000 acres for the use of all the Natives, living between the south bank of the Manawatu and this place, would appear to be an ample reserve. He could hardly fail to be aware that this would amount to less than three acres for every native; which by no reasonable computation could be regarded as ample. And yet, the fact is, that the reserve •of 10,000 acres, which is not yet made, is to be

made over the whole of that tract of country, which by the liberal construction on the part of (faptain Hobson, of the terms granted by Lord John Russell, to the New Zealand Company, is included within the limits of the first and principal settlement, The origin of-the mistake into which our contemporary has fallen is obvious. He has confounded the district of Wellington with the New Zealand Company’s first settle-, ment, and thus fancies that the reserve which is to be made for the whole of the settlement, has been made for the benefit of the Natives in the immediate vicinity of this port. We have not now at 'hand the map of the district, but so far as we remember, there are not more than from 700 to 800 acres of available land reserved for the use of a population of between 500 and 600 persons. And these reserves, in scarcely a single instance, we believe in fact only in the solitary case of Petoni, comprise the land upon which the natives resided, or what they had been in the habit of cultivating. Of the pahs round the harbour, Te Aro, Tiakiwai, Kai-warra-warra,Ngauranga and Waiwatu,have become the property of the settlers. Almost every place which had been cleared and cultivated by the Maories, has been similarly appropriated. There is consequently little reason to be surprised at the reluctance of the Natives to give up any piece of ground of which they find themselves in possession. Who is to blame for this ; or whether blame is to be attached to any one; are questions into which we feel no inclination now to enter. We cannot, however, re. frain from expressing our surprise that, so far as appears, no adequate measures are adopted to prevent the recurrence in other districts, of the inconveniences whidh have been experienced from this source. That the reserve for the benefit of the Natives proposed by the New Zealand Company, would, under proper arrangements, have been abundantly sufficient, we are quite satisfied. This might have enabled the Natives to maintain themselves with comfort, according to their ancieut habits ; and at the same time, have provided for the new wants and altered modes of life which our settlement among them will infallibly introduce. This is not, however, the only instance in which wise and well concerted plans have been marred in the execution.

The question which was raised by a correspondent in the Colonist of Friday, as to the expediency of accepting a municipal corporation for this place, is one which it would be idle to argue. The point has been already decided, after more deliberation than almost any other public matter has received in this place. It only, therefore, remains for the public of Wellington to extract from the measure the greatest amount of good which it is capable of affording.

If, however, the matter were still in doubt, and no opinion had been pronounced by any body of our fellow Colonists, as to the fitness of the establishment of a municipality in this district, we should be fully prepared to maintain that upon every ground, even upon that of expense, we should do wisely to accept of it. Few, indeed, can be the occasions in which it would be prudent for any body of Englishmen to shrink from assuming the power of self-govern-ment, lest, forsooth, they should lack energy or discretion for its exercise. It has been hitherto the peculiar boast of Englishmen, that they have, under all circumstances, shown greater aptitude in the administration of their own public affairs, than has been manifested by any other nation. But this aptitude has arisen, not so much from any peculiarity in the race, as from the training which all persons in the mother country receive from the various public transactions in which they are led to bear a part, and from which they derive habits of selfreliance, and of combination. We can hardly bring ourselves to share in the gloomy forebodeings in which some persons indulge, that we should spend too much of our own money, in improving our own condition. There is, no doubt, a wonderful aptitude in most public bodies to spend the money of other people; but this is seldom displayed when the funds are to be furnished by themselves. However, whatever be the amount of this risk, we must be contented to incur it; and its existence only furnishes another motive for the exercise of the

greatest prudence in the selection of those of whom the Council is to be composed. Ve do not look upon the case of Adelaide as being in any degree applicable to this place.

At the tiriie when that corporation was created, the place was in the fever flush of a forced and unnatural prosperity. The uncalculating, and, as it would seem, injudicious expenditure of Colonel Gawler, though their governor, had put in circulation in the Colony large sums of money, upon the faith of whose continuance all parties were indulging in extravagant anticipation of the future, destined .to meet a speedy disappointment ; but which, while they endured, generated a corresponding extravagance of expenditure. In this place, we have gradually worked on our way, in defiance of many obstacles. We have been sobered by the encounter of those difficulties which almost inevitably attend the first establishment of a colony. We know that our only reliance is upon ourselves, and, therefore, we are not likely to fall into any injurious

We beg to call the attention of those who intend to register themselves as burgesses for the town of Wellington, that it is necessary they should do so by next Monday, the 29th instant, as the Proclamation requires it should be done before (not on or before) the 30th of August.