GOVERNOR HOBSON'S DESPATCHES.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume 26, Issue 275, 26 August 1843, Page 2

GOVERNOR HOBSON'S DESPATCHES.

When we commenced our observations on the last Blue Book, we disclaimed all desire to advert to the errors of the late Governor Hobson as his ; it is as the acts of the Auckland Government of which Hobson was the head and front, that we have made them the subject of comment. The same men who in his life time sat at his right hand and aided his judgment, now hold the reins themselves or aid the judgment of those who do ; and the same spirit which actuated them while he lived, actuates them now. It is with the view of ascertaining what that spirit is, that we examine the despatches of the late Governor.

In one of those despatches, dated 26th May, 1841, we find the following passage — " Having already reported the course I adopted on the receipt of her Majesty's letters patent appointing me the first Governor and Commander-in-chief of this newly formed Colony, I judge it proper to convey to your Lordship a general statement of the constitution of society and of the position in which I stand in respect to the settlers generally throughout the islands. Those persons who have seitled~at Port Nicholson under the auspices of the ' Company are from their rank, their numbers, and their wealth, by far the most important in the Colony. But it is to be regretted that, from the impunity with which they have heretofore in defiance of the Government encroached on the land, they assume a tone of dictation and authority which is totally subversive of all Government,, and which must eventually be overcome, or the sole management of the affairs of the island must be surrendered into their hands,"

It was an unhappy day for the settlements in Cook's Straits when such an idea took possession of Governor Hobson. It is not a very easy matter to bring down the honest pride which distinguishes the true born Englishman, but there are many ways of harrassing him to death, and of extinguishing a spirit which cannot be quelled in the life-time of its possessor. Some of these methods were unfortunately within Governor Hobson's reach, and the succeeding paragraphs of his dispatch indicate what was passing in his mind. " I design " says he " shortly to visit Port Nicholson, when I will require the Agents of the Company to submit their claims to the examination of the Land Commissioners. The Natives in the neighbourhood of these settlements have evinced considerable dissatisfaction at the occupation of lands to which they lay claim, and more than one tribe has called on me to remove the intruders, threatening to dislodge them by force if I do not afford redress."

Here were two rods in the hand of the Governor ready for the backs of the settlers at Port Nicholson, well fitted, if any thing could do it, to " " their proud spirit. It was in his power to yield or withhold Crown Grants, and to restrain or encourage Native aggressions — the grants have been withheld and the aggressions not restrained.

When men labour under strong prejudices, they should beware cf penning 'despatches which may appear in a blue book. We have just quoted a passage in which wishing to shew the weakness of the title of the Fort Nicholson settlers, Governor Hobson. states that " the Natives were much dissatisfied and threatening to dislodge the intruders by force." In the same despatch, a dozen lines further on, where his cue happens to be to exalt the Native character, he writes — " The Natives, I rejoice to say, continue to preserve a peaceable demeanour toward the white population, and hold themselves amenable to our laws in a wondeiful degree." It certainly is a strange species of " peaceable demeanour" when men "threaten to dislodge intruders by force," yet there is hot a syllable in the depatch to reconcile the two statements; and the only inference that can be drawn from the inconsistency is, that when the Governor saw things with reference to the, Settlers in Cook's Straits they bore one aspect, and that when he saw them apart

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from the Settlers in Cook's Straits they bore another,; m m «As respects my position Qthe despatch continues) " your Lordship will have heard before this can reach you, of the hostility I have experienced at the instigation of the Company's Agents from the Settlers at Port Nicholson ; where public meetings have been held and resolutions adapted to petition her Majesty for my removal from the Government on the ground of partizanship, neglect of public duty, &c. This petition has produced a counter petition from those interested in the northern portion of the island, applauding my measures, and praying her Majesty to retain my service and still to honor me with her gracious confidence." The applause of the northern portion of the island, soon passed away, and our readers are aware that a petition for the late Governors removal was shortly sent home from that quarter, many times stronger than any ever penned in Port Nicholson. The Wellington settlers have at least the credit of consistency — they did not applaud one month, the man for whose removal they petitioned the next, nor will they succumb to the attempt to " overcome " their proud spirit, merely because the leader of the party which seeks to overcome it has been changed.

" Had I been base enough to prefer my own comfort, to what I believed to be, the public benefit, I would have established myself at Port Nicholson ; where surrounded by a compact society, all personally identified with the place, I might have left it to the Company's Agents or their press, to answer any censure which might flow in upon me, from other quarters. Or had I been still more base and kept in view my pecuniary advantages, there could have been no scheme devised better calculated to ensure my own fortune and that of ray friends, than presented itself at Port Nicholson ; it needed but to have speculated largely in the Company's shares, and having raised their value by the location of the Seat of Government, to have sold off my interest whilst they preserved their artificial value. But, my Lord, I claim no merit for resisting these temptations ; for had I yeilded to them the moral debasement would have sunk me to the grave."

In another of the late Governor's despatches, he disclaims being " very well skilled in the mere jobbing parts of selling or selecting town allotments," but certainly in the passage above quoted he displays a considerable acquaintance with the principles of jobbing in general. But what we would remark upon this defence is, that it was as far as we can discover, entirely uncalled for. No one as far as appears by the " Blue Book," had charged the Governor with land jobbing propensities, or with having had a view to private aggrandizement in fixing the Seat of Government at Auckland. Why then all this brave negation of a charge not made ? We will not suppose that the Goveanor in person was open to any such charge, but it does look as if he suspected that there was some ground for it somewhere ; perhaps, the Government Officers allotment job, which we have already described may have forced the subject upon his attention, and made him anxious to anticipate the reflections which the allowance of that job might cast npon him.

" The enormous prices given for allotments at the recent sale at Auckland, speaks highly in favour of my selection, and the unanimous opinon of all who have visited this country, seem to confirm the wisdom of my choice. Your Lordship's approval of my proceedings is now only wanting, to ensuie the prosperity of this town, and relieve my mind from all uneasiness."

There is more simplicity in this than we looked for in a gentleman selected to fill the office of a Governor of a Colony^ Surely he could not be ignorant, that prices more enormous than those at Auckland, had been given in other new Colonies, for property which in a few months became of no value at all ; and that lively action among landjobbers is one of the worst signs of a new settlement. The boast of Port Nicholson is that scarcely an instance of an enormous price can be shewn. Whether the approval by Lord Stanley of the location of Government, has really ensured the prosperity of Auckland, as Governor Hobson expected, is pretty well known to all who are aware of the present hopeless condition of that metropolis, acknowledged as it is by its own inhabitants, to be dtpendent for yery existence on the expenditure of a Government, which it is said, neither pays its public officers, nor the mechanics, employed by it. " There is no subject on which I am more solicitous than the re-adjustment of all differences between the Government and the Settlers of the Southern district. They are a valuable class of Colonists, and it shall be my study to disabuse their minds of the evil prepossessions instilled into them by the Company's Agents and their press." Like the shadow which haunted the dis-

eased imagination of Macbeth, the "Company's Agents and their (press " seem ever to have shaken their gory locks at Governor Hobson. It is a pity that persons so sensitive to the opinions of the press should be so disinclined to listen to the advice it offers, and should, (unless when they have a " pledged " Editor,) recoil from the sound of its voice as a horse starts at the blast of a trumpet. It generally happens in colonies, that many of the Government officers are gentlemen who at home have lived " remote from public strife," and probably were never honoured with the notice of the press except when their election ss churchwardens or overseers, or the birth of their son and heir may have been announced. Lifted to the pinnacle of a colonial appointment, they naturally cease to be hid under a bushel, and as the public is affected by their acts the public organs comment upon them. They bear it like hot iron or boiling water — and measures of reprobation which to a case hardened English politician would seem dilute and harmless, are to them absolutely intolerable.

There seems to have existed in Governor Hobson's mind (perhaps it exists in the minds of a majority of Governors) a morbid dread of any contact with the public. The above passage is not the only one in which he speaks in terms of the strongest horror of the press, the " venal press "as he calls it. In his despatch referring to his visit to Port Nicholson our readers will remembor his using that expression. They will also remember his statement that as soon as the settlers begin to express their opinions, "he took an early opportunity of dismissing the meeting." In another part of the blue book we find a comunication signed by six local magistrates of Wellington, in which their sentiments on certain points of general government are conveyed to him. His reply is, " I should hold it to be inexpedient and improper for me to enter into any discussion with you upon the suggestions you have thought fit to offer on the future government of this Colony." When Mr. Sinclair forwarded his complaints against the Government to Lord Stanley, the Governor writes " I trust your Lordship will coincide in the propriety of my declining to enter upon any defence of the charges Mr. Sfnclair has chosen to alledge against me." Aud in attempting to dispose of the charge of crimping brought against him by the settlers at Port Nicholson he-says- " It is highly repugnant to me to offer any defence against charges so unjust and so ! unfounded."

All this indicates the same feeling — a horror of being responsible to public opinion, and particularly the opinion of the settlers in Cook's Straits. It is not the language which a man of business would use in contradicting serious charges or in meeting the suggestions of those whose welfare it was his duty to secure. It was the temper of the quarter- deck, and happy would it have been for Port Nicholson if no more formidable means of gratifying it had existed than the cat of a man of war.

It is time that Governors and nil in office should know, what the true nature of their office is. It is not their duty to over-rule, dragoon, and control all men's opinions to the standard of their own, and to play the part of a work-house master, or the Governor of a prison towards those they rule. Their duty is to endeavour to aid, to encourage, and to advance the views of those who look up to them for countenance and assistance, to be fathers not tyrants to those whose affairs they supervise ; to minister the public wealth for the public good, to consult the happiness of the multitude, not the dignity of office, to live among them, and with them, as a friend and a brother, to whom they may have free recourse in all their difficulties and troubles. So long, however, •as the present system exists of the Governor being solely responsible to the Home Government, and never hearing in his Council, the voice of an independent representative of the people, we fear he will generally be affected with more or less of those feelings of "power and dignity " which are so injurious to the public welfare, and contributive to nothing but the self conceit and intolerance of a troop of officials who swarm at the public expense around the Government domain.