AND WELLINGTON SPECTATOR.

New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume IV, Issue 278, 6 September 1843, Page 2

AND WELLINGTON SPECTATOR.

Wednesday, September 6, 1843. About the period when the colonization of New Zealand was first projected by a body of private individuals, there were in the space of five years, to the best of our recollection, no fewer than five successive Secretaries of State for the Colonies. Lord Ripon, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Stanley, Mr. Spring Rice, and Lord Glenelg, followed each other in rapid succession ; men of various opinions and various capacities for business. It was scarcely to be expected that the negociations which took place between the Government and those who aimed at the establishment of this Colony should under so many varieties of policy as these official changes involved, be brought to a satisfactory or speedy termination ; and it was not perhaps very surprising that wearied by procrastination and the opposition they met with on the part of Government, the projectors should at last launch their first expedition without the aid of Government or even its friendly recognition.

Before this was achieved another change had taken place at the Colonial Office, and Lord Normanby, who refused pertinaciously to recogmze the New Zealand Company in any shape, found himself under the necessity of following its first expe lition with some show of protection on. the part of the parent Government ; and he accordingly dispatched the late Governor Hobson as Lieutenant-Gover-nor of the Colony, under "the Governor of New South Wales.

Another year saw another change, and., Lord John Russell filled the Colonial Secretaryship. At first partaking in the prejudices of his predecessors, his business-like habits and common sense led him before long to take an independent view of the subject, and throwing the dictation of the Chief, Clerk, whose views had been adopted by the preceeding. Secretaries, he became the best friend which » the ill-used settlers in Cook's Straits had yet found. Had he remained in office or his policy been pursued, our present position would have been very different fromwhat it is. But Lord Stanley thrust him from his seat, and the old grudge of the Chief Clerk again regulated the views of the Colonial Minister with regard to this Colony./ It is believed that now after two years mis-1 direction, Lord Stanley has awakened to a sense of the injustice under which we have suffered, and is prepared to retrace his steps ; if it be so we trust that he may retain office till our ills are redressed.

Had Lord John Russel been able to inoculate the Auckland Government with his own views, our sufferings at its hands would have been much less than they have been. But sent out under Lord Normanby's Secretaryship, and deeply imbued with his prejudices against the Company's Settlements, it was easy and agreeable to the Local Government to avoid carrying out Lord John's good intentions towards us. It was still in the power of Auckland to continue in its attempt to swamp these settlements, and had its own vitality been greater, it would have succeeded ; fortunately its weakness has procured its own downfal more effectually than ours ; into the pit which they digged for us they have fallen themselves.

However, though tha days of Auckland tyranny we sincerely trust are numbered, yet, till we know to a certainty that we are relieved from its trammels, we must not forget to oppose the same front towards its aggressions as we have hitherto done. We must not forget that the «ame officers, who for nearly four years have been animated against us with the bitterest hostility, still hold the reins of Government ; we must not forget that there are serious questions at this moment at issue respecting which we have of late been engaged in a sharp contest with Government, and which deeply involve the character of ourselves and fellow settlers.

Those safeguards of liberty which we enjoyed at home have here been greatly weakened. No popular representation exists in the , Legislature, no check upon arbitrary taxation or arbitrary expenditure of the taxes. The grand jury has been altogether abolished, and its functions confered upon a " salaried officer of Goverment; the ordinary powers of Justices of Peace have been abridged, while a larger authority than Justices possess at home has' been conferred upon a Police Magistrate appointed and paid by Government ; the new ordinances by which we are governed have been framed in so loose a manner, as leaves it in a great measure in the discretion of the Judge to interpret them as' he will ; that Judge sits supreme and alone, not checked as in England by brothers oh the Bench, a majority of whose opinions prevail ; we have in fact ' no defence against the tyranny .of those irr power, no barrier between the' people and their rulers -except the petty jury, the municipal "corporations^

and the limited power of the unpaid Magis^ trates. '. It has always been a subject of surprise to us, that so few of those institutions, which, at home, are considered the foundation of liberty, and the principal sources of prosperity, should be transplanted into colonies. The earliest period of English history attests the value of popular institutions, in fostering the growth of a rude people ; the history of the present age attests i their value in securing the prosperity of more civilized communities; and yet whenever a new Colony is founded by Great Britain, it is shorn of most of those advantages, which experience teaches us are best adapted to ensure its success ; and it is not till after a long struggle with difficulties that they are tardily granted when they can be no longer withheld.

At the present moment the greatest vigilance ought to be exercised towards the Police Magistracy. By that office the Auckland Government is represented in this place ; recent events have proved that the instructions by which its exercise is directed are arbitary and imprudent in the extreme ; and we have seen an attempt made to exalt its powers above those extensive ones given it by the Colonial Ordinance, to the entire exclusion of the authority of the Local Magistrates. The latter have manfully resisted the aggressions and driven back the Police Magistrate from the position he had so injudiciously assumed. But let it be borne in mind that his legal powers are very large and his instructions much larger ; that he is the principal medium through which the Auckland plans can be brought to bear upon us, that in many cases, such for instance as the Cameron's case, or the Manson's case, we have no appeal, no means of enforcing an equal administration of the law between the white man and the native, and it becomes apparent that as regards our liberty and possessions, we are almost at the mercy of one man. The recent conduct of the Local Magistrates proves that they know their duty and will do it ; we respectfully but most earnestly call upon them as the principal guardians of our liberty to be very vigilant to resist any encroachment which may be attempted upon their own authority or our rights.

In transferring to a successor the trust which has been reposed in him since the Ist. of July, the Editor of this Journal would fain hope that during the brief period for which he has held the office, he has not been neglectful of his duty towards the public. He has never regarded politics as some do, as the amusement of a gentleman, but as a, more serious employment ; as" the defence of the rights of the people against the aggressions of those who would injure them, and the advancement and maintenance of whatever contributes to their advantage. He has endeavoured to bear in mind at all times that the trust reposed in him, was not for his own benefit but for the advantage of others ; and he hopes, he has never flinched through fear of offence, or private prejudice, from the expression of those opinions which he believed most conducive to the public welfare.

Reports of the proceedings in the Police Court of Wellington, will in future (in the event of any case of interest occurring,) occupy a portion of our columns, and we are induced to publish these proceedings for various reasons. It has been mentioned to us that our fellow countrymen in England, have no authentic information respecting crime and summary punishments in this Colony, and the question has often been put " if there is a Police Magistrate, his office must either be a sinecure, or if one of employment the state of crime must be so heinous that publicity is avoided, either to ensure the ends of justice, or perhaps it is necessary that the character of the offence should remain concealed as the reports might prove detrimental to the Colony." We have not only the feelings of the Colonists to consult in publishing statements in this Court from time to time, but from a wish to promote a thorough and complete administeration of justice, we purpose presenting as faithful a picture as possible of the occurrence of crime, and the punishment that may be inflicted upon .those who are summoned there.

In carrying out our intentions, we have expectation of every facility being afforded by the Chief Magistrate, for it would be ridicultius to suppose, that a man of his experience and intelligence would wish to exclude reporters, and convert his Court' into one of an inquisitorial character. We feel • therefore persuaded that he will allot without hesitation a portion of the Court for the purpose of i furnishing us with means of obtaining correct information, rather than drive us to the alternative of procuring statements from parties who may be accused of having depicted their grievances in too warm and glowing colours.

We are led to make these remarks' because we understand a case has recently been brought before Major Richmond,' in which the rela-

tions of the Settlers towards, the Native population are deeply involved. And as we shall assume that the report of the transaction, which appears in another part of our columns, is correct, we shall offer some remarks upon the extraordinary character of the offence, and the still more extraordinary manner in which, through the advocacy of the Protector of Aborigines, it has been disposed of. It appears that a Maori entered the house of Cameron, and having opened a box, removed a piece of printed cotton. If the Maori entered the premises with the intent to steal the article, the slightest removal from the place in which it was deposited, wai sufficient te constitute a felonious asportation, and if this part of the charge was substantiated, he was in the eye of the law as clearly guilty of felony as if he had walked off with the goods and converted them to his owu use. But the charge of felony is accompanied with a charge of assault upon Mrs. Cameron, and with the still more formidable charge of assaulting the Constable in the execution of his duty. The latter especially an offence which the law regards with the most jealous anxiety, inasmuch as the executory body, to carry it into effect, requires its shield of protection.

Mr. Clarke treats the circumstance as an every day occurrence, and though the Constable was' severely injured, deems that a trifling affair. The Chief Police Magistrate appears to coincide in the opinion expressed by Mr. Clarke, and dimisses the case.

Now assuming as we have done t that the report is correct, and that the charges as stated in the report were established, (which our correspondent assures us was the case,) the question arises, why was the Maori suffered to go unpunished ? The only solution we can offer to this problem, is that the Chief Police Magistrate must consider that they are not British subjects. If they are British subjects, they are amenable to British Law, and if any one of the accusations were proved there was sufficient reason to send the case for investigation before a higher tribunal. In every sense of the word the Maories are under the protection .of Great Britain and her laws, or Makatou was murdered when he was executed at Auckland, having been tried condemned and executed according to British law. We merely instance the Maori Makatou as one of many who have been made amenable to our constitutional code, and who have suffered punishment for offences which they have committed, and as consistency and impartiality forms the basis of our Criminal Jurisprudence, and the Maori has acknowledged the sovereignty and constitution of our Queen, we shall insist as long as the British banner waves on these shores, that both for the protection of the Settler and of the Natives, British Law and British Justice shall be destributed impartially between them.

We cannot help feeling that the Protector of the Aborigines is the " Showman who pulls the strings." We shall watch most carefully the future conduct of this gentleman, as to ,the part which he appears to take in promoting the objects of the Maories, at the expence of the honest, zealous, and enterprising settler; and, as the Protector is our paid servant, paid out of the revenue of this colony, the greater portion of which revenue is collected at this settlement, we expect that he will advocate the cause of the native only so far as is consistent with their legal rights, well being, and social relations. And though we are far from wishing to embarrass the operations of the Protector ; we will never be a party to sacrificing the persevering and honest emigrant, to any unconstitutional act which may involve his happiness, or the fruits of his hard earned industry.