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New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, Volume IV, 4 October 1843, Page 3

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On Friday last, Sir Everard Home and the officers of the North Star gave an elegant entertainment at the Hutt to a large party. Monday was the day originally fixed for the excursion, but the continued wet' weather prevented its taking place before Friday morning, when the firing of a gun at eight o'clock, the signal of preparation, announced that boats would be ready at Barrett's wharf to convey the visitors to Petoni. The point of rendezvous wa3 fixed at Burcham's, and a large room, which he has recently erected, -was elegantly decorated 'with evergreens, and allotted to dancing, ah amusement which was kept up till a late hour. The party were prevented returning to Wellington before Saturday morning; but Sir Everard and his gallant Officers,- anticipating the possibility of such an event occuring, had taken beds for the ladies. , The refreshments were; most liberally provided, and of the best description. We must not omit mentioning the attention which all received from the Host and Hostess, of the Aglionby Arms, and we sincerly hope that, so long as Burcham's House is conducted with the spirit which he has shewn in its management, that it will prove a source of. attraction: and his labours and enterprise be .rewarded by that patronage which civility and > attention wght always to enwtre. ' ;

(Copy.) . Wellington, New Zealand, May 24, 1842. Sir, — I have taken tbe liberty of addressing you on the claims of the New Zealand Company to the land which they alledge themselves to have purchased, so far as it affects the rights and interests of the Natives of this part of New Zealand. lam induced to take this step, because I have no doubt that the results of the enquiry instituted by Mr. Spain, as Commissioner of Land Claims, will lead to some attempts on the part of the Company in England, to cure the defects of their title by means of an Act of Parliament; and it is right that. some persons should watch their proceedings on the part of the Natives. I am fully aware that the questions now at issue between the New Zealand Company and the Native claimants are so complicated, and so fraught with danger, as to require some interposition on the part of the .Legislature. I do not, therefore, deprecate the interference of Parliament to adiust and determine the respective claims of the European Settlers and the New Zealanders. Nor would I push the claims of the Natives to an unreasonable or impracticable extent. lam rather of opinion that this case cannot be decided by a rigid application of extreme principles, but must be settled in a liberal spirit of compromise. On the one hand, I would not assert the claims of the Natives so absolutely as to give them the power of closing their country against English colonization ; and on the other, I cannot regard any amount of advantage to be gained frorrf the settlement of these Islands by a civilized race as a plea for the infliction of positive injury, under the guise of law, upon their present occupants. Happily, there is no necessary opposition between the attainment of the advantages anticipated from the settlement of the country, and the maintenance, in the fullest manner, of the just claims of the New Zealanders. IH.here be any apparent opposition, I hold that it is incumbent ■ on the British Legislature, ?t all hazards, to do justice to the weaker party. But Ido not imagine that there need be any apparent opposition. There has prevailed in England an extraordinary misconception with regard to the opinions and practices of the New Zealanders in relation to the sale of land. It is very true, that immense tracts have been nominally purchased by the Agent of the New Zealand Company, and by others, for very trifling and inadequate considerations. It may, however, be doubted whether the parties by whom the sale was made had any notion, however imperfect, of the sense in which the transaction was understood by the buyers. The utmost which they can be conceived to have understood was, that within certain specified limits, -the party purchasing should be allowed to settle upon the same terms, aa the members of the tribe owning • the land. They might have believed that they were conferringarightof citizenship, so to speak, under which the stranger who reclaimed and cultivated land, might be guaranteed in the enjoyment of the land which he had thus appropriated. Or, as is equally probable, it was regarded as no more, than that the Chiefs who signed the deed, and received the price, conceded to the contracting party, the right of purchasing from, its actual ownsr any land which he might desire to obtain for use. At any rate, whatever they did mean, no doubt can be felt by any person acquainted with their usages, that they did not mean to give to any one the right to drive 'them from their Pah's, to occupy and appropriate the ground they had cleared and cultivated, and to restrain them from the liberty of using any unoccupied ground for the purpose of raising the food necessary to tlieir existence. Abundant evidence can be furnished to pi-ovethat this could not have been their intention. And if it were more doubtful than is actually the case, they would be entitled to the protection of a Court of Equity, against the consequences of their own ignorant c and improvidence; nor. could the British Government and Legislature fairly or honorably affirm a contract founded on misconception, and pregnant with injury. The two principal purchases by the New Zealand Company have been, that of N the Harbour and Distiict of Port Nicholson, and that from the Chiefs of the Kawia Tribe, of all the land within certain limits defined by degrees oflatitude. The former is estimated to comprise about 100,000 acres, and ths latter includes within its boundaries nearly 20,000,000 of acres. There is also a purchase of land at Wanganui, and one at Taranaki, both' of which are how1 ever included in terms within the limits of the purchase from the Kawia Tribe. To the two first purchases, of which alone I ! am at present competent to speak, there are , objections, arising first from the nature of the I contract itself, and secondly, from the manner in which the pledges given to the Natives have been carried out. In the first place, the purchase has been made from a few of the principal Chiefs only, although there is not a single » Freeman or Rangatira who has not an absolute t right to portions of the land, subject to no interference or control, either on the port of > individual Chiefs or of the whole body of the I tribe. It is assertedhy the great .majority of the Freemen, and aoJSegpf the principal Chiefs ' of the two tribe4gKnf§|honv these purchases \ have been mao^iMrh^^rat^ truth I cannot r pretend to affirffi^hat-Jth^flid not consent to the sale of theifran lsnsso'r even to the sale - of the unoccuDpfojPprtions of the territory, which might be**rfgOTßed as the common pro.- - perty of the tribe. The names of very few are t attached to the purchase deeds, and these, v without exception, admit that they only signed c for themselves. Those who have not signed s the deeds, assert that they were no parties to £ the sale ; and of tlnse who did, the majority r now pretend that they were not aware of the t nature and intention of the documents. As . this matter has been referred by her Majesty,* a< Government to a .Commission, especially aps. pointed to enquire' into the sales and alleged c sales by the Natives, it would be at least pred mature to offer any opinion as to tbe truth of a these statements, or as to their effect, it true. :- But I have a right, as a friend of justice, and c interested in the welfare of the native races, to d . adduce the fact, that these statements are mad^ to a, ground for calling upon thoie who art

anxious for the maintenance of the rights of the' New Zealanders, to protest against any legislation which may have for its objects the settlement of the questions thus raised, until the 1 report of that Commissioner has been received. Wn<n that report is made, there will be sufficient materials' to warrant a decision. At present, any measures for quieting titles must be founded upon imperfect and ex-parte statements.

Bat, in the second place, there are objections, perhaps of a more important nature, arising but of the manner in which the pledges of the New Zealand Company have been carried out. In the purchase deeds as well as in the published documents of the Company, there is contained a pledge, that one tenth of the land acquired shonld be set apart for the use of the natives. This pledge has been in form redeemed, but in substance, it has, as it seems to me been widely departed from. Reserves for, the benefit of the natives have been made, but unfortunately they have been made in such a manner as to produce few or none of those immediate results which were anticipated by the intelligent and philanthropic individuals ■who devised the plan. In the harbour of Port Nicholson, for instance, there are nine pahs or native villages. Of these only three have been selected as native reserves, and one is laid out as a public reserve, leaving five which have become the property of private individuals'. In the immediate vicinity of the harbour there are perhaps about 500 or 600 acres, which might be considered as occupied by the natives for the purpose of cultivation ; not that the whole of thiswas under culture at any one time ; but that this quantity had been reduced into possession by individual natives. Of this quantity certainly not one third has been reserved for them; I believe I might say not one sixth; and unfortunately, although it may be that the land which has been selected as native reserves may be in quality and position of fair average value, it is so selected as to possess, with only one exception, that of Petoni, but little utility for the present purposes of the natives. The native inhabitants of this placj, even those who, in the first instance, resisted the settlement of the White men among them, are reconciled to the settlement, partly from a feeling of its being inevitable, and partly from a perception of the many advantages which they derive from their intercourse with the English settlers. They ask only for a place whereon to reside, and land tfpbn which they may raise food. But if the arrangements of the New Zealand Company are adopted, and the tiiles of those, who have purchased under them, are absolutely confirmed by Parliament, a large proportion, if not the majority of the native inhabitants of Port Nicholson will have neither the one, nor the other, — at leasi without an abandonment, not merely of their present habitations, but of their present modes of life;

I am fully aware of the difficulties by which this question is surrounded. It is no easy matter to adjust conflicting claims, when the property at issue, is worth from £10,000 to - £12,000. This is the present value of the land, which has been unnecessarily, and as appears to me, unjustly taken from the natives, and allotted to purchasers under the New Zealand Company. The English claimants who imagine that their investment is about producing them from 1000 to 4000 per cent., will, of course, resist to the utmost any attempt to deprive them of the land allotted to them; and with justice. They ventured in a lottery, in which they mighthave lost the whole of their venture. They have left their native country and have encountered the perils and hardships of a new settlement, in the hope of obtaining those rewards, which are. the appropriate compensation for the difficulties they have passed through. They have chosen land, offered for their selection by parties specially nominated for the purpose, and who were constituted by their office, guardians of the native interests in the place. Had the land in dispute been reserved for the natives, they would have chosen the land next, and but little inferior in value. Had this been done, their loss would not have been appreciable. As it is, to lose the land they have selected, would involve a loss to them of nearly all their property, for which they could obtain compensation neither from the New Zealand Company nor from the Government. In this case, to do justice to the natives, " would be to inflict upon them injustice of a precisely corresponding amount, and against this injustice they may be expected mostrea- • sonablv to protest. Many of them also have expended large sums in the erection of buildings and in the improvement of their properly, and all probably have made arrangements upon the faith of their title to the land in question. These men consequently are entitled to the protection of the Government equally with the natives. On the other hand, there are in the immediate vicinity of the Harbour of Port Nicholson about -500 Natives, who are almost absolutely dependent upon the products of their own cultivation for subsistence. The land reserved for them is comparatively useless. They have no beasts of burthen, and no means of transporting produce except in their canoes, or upon .their own backs. Con«ectaently, nearly all their cultivation was along the banks of the risers, and within a very short? distance of th%ir%et|kments. Land however valuable^itself, irfhuated at a distance of fonr or Qre miles, ia^useless to them The majority of these asserti.that they have not sold their land, arid ikh'as. happened that the •only tnbe withiri the dfstric£w"hp admit the sale. is also the only tribe wKote,pahs and potatoe grounds have been maintained inviolate. Those .who deny the sale find themselves gradually thrust out of all the land they have be^en accustomed to cultivate, and which' they consider as their own peculiar property. Hardly are they allowed to take out of the soil the crop they have planted, and as soon as the crop is taken out, they are informed that the land is no longer theirs, and that they must go elsewhere. They have been^ told* by their well wishers, not to oppose force to the encroachments of the settlers, but to rely upon the justice of the Government; and they have hitherto awaited with patience the adoption of protective measures by the Crown. But in what manner this protection is to be afforded them is a question dp great difficulty. To restore to them their lands would, tf« (haWftKeci; be to repair an- injustice

done to them, at the price of similar injustice to equally innocent parties. To confirm the titles of the European settlers, would be to deprive the original occupiers of the soil, of land which they have never Bold, and without which they can hardly subsist. It will be for the English Government to decide between these conflicting claims. In this place, if any questions arising out of them, are to be decided by a Jury of Englishmen, there would b» but small probability of justice being done to the natives. In whatever manner the difficulty may be solved, there can be but one opinion as to the impolicy of the proceedings, by which this dilemma has been created. The originators of the New Zealand Company, framing their plan in England, without other materials upon which to base their opinions than such as were supplied by books written with far different objects, or were gathered. from the discriptions of parties whose attention had never been directed to the peculiar circumstances in the country, upon a full knowledge of which, any plan for the benefit of the natives ought to have been founded, could only frame a plan in outline to be filled up on the spot by their Agent. That plan proceeded upon two assumptions — Firstly, that all the land within certain extensive districts would be purchased for them; and— secondly, That the different tribes occupied an extent of land, quite disproportioned to their wants, of which the largest portion might be appropriated to the European Settlers without any inconvenience. Both of these assumptions have proved fallacious.'/^ The New Zealanders never have consented to the sale of all their lands, and could not, in fact, conceive such a bargain ; and although the land occupied by many of the tribes is far more extensive than required, yet it is only in respect of particular portions, that an appropriation of the land to the English Settler can be made without producing great injury to the native. With regard to the first point, all the natives of Port Nicholson, I believe, without a single exception, agree that many, if not the majority of landholders in the district did not consent to the sale of their land to the Agent of the New Zealand Company, and they also assert, what from my observations of the natives here, and in other parts, I am quite certain is the case, that every freeman has a right to particular pieces of ground, the boundaries of which are as well defined, and as rigidly maintained, as any estate in the most civilized country. They further agree that no one person however great may be his power, has a right to interfere with, much less to disposeof, the property of any freeman without his consent, and that even the majority of the tribe have in this respect no power over the minority or even over a single dissentient party. According to the customs of the New Zealanders, therefore, the New Zealand Company have no title to the greater portion of the lands, which they have professed to sell. And it may be stated with confidence, that nothingshort of an Act of Parliament could divest the Native Proprietoi of his title.; nor that without an adequate compensation. The Islands of New Zealand, by whatever title they may belong to the British Crown, have not been acquired in any manner which would operate to the extinguishment of private right to properly, or could enable the Crown to grant land previously occupied under a title valid, according to the recognized customs which are the laws of the country. Not merely, therefore, is the assumption of the New Zealand Company, that they had extinguished the native title to the large tracts nominally included within their purchases quite unfounded, but, the defect in their title resulting from the omission on the part of their agent to complete his purchases, does not seem susceptible of any remedy short of an Act of Parliament. Arid, assuredly, the Legislature of -Great ■Britain, will pause before it takes from 500 individuals, subjects of the empire, and entitled to all the rights of citizenship, settled in fixed habitations, and cultivating their own lands, the 600 or 700 acres needful to their subsistence.

With regard to the second point, it is quite true,— firstly, That the possessions of .every tribe, are altogether disproportioned to <iheir wants ; — secondly, That the reserve of a tenth of the whole country would be far more than sufficient for their subsistence upon a footing of equality with the English Settlers. But it is not sufficient to reserve a tenth upon the plan of the New Zealand Company. The accessible lands are, in many districts, and particularly that in the Port Nicholson district, comparatively small, and a large proportion of these, large at least as compared with the actual reserve had before the arrival of the Europeans been ocoupied by the natives. While then, less than a tenth of the whole district might be adequate to the support of the natives, they would require a much larger proportion of the immediately accessible lands. In this respect their position differs widely from that of the EnglislTSettlers ': these latter bring into the Colony with them capital and skill, of both of which the New Zealander is destitute. They have moreover habits which allow them without inconvenience to live alone .with their families or dependents in the forest, satisfied with occasional visits to the town, arid ebntented to wait until the progress of settlement supplies them with society and secures' that increased vahie of their land' to which they look for ultimate, independence* while the New Zealander, alwiays accustomed to live in the midst of his tribe,; would find nothing in the most extravagant anticipations of future wealth, even could he be made to understand the process by which this was to be realized, to compensate for-the enforced sacrifice of i all his habitual pursuits and associations. The European also can take' with him a sufficiency of food, tools to abridge labour; cattle to perform the most toilsome^ works', he has besides means of conveying his surplus produce to market) and of bringing to his home the articles of necessity, convenience, or luxury, which that surplus may enable to purchase. The natives have no such means at their disposal and nothing has been done to supply.this deficiency. Living upon the sea ooast for the convenience of fishing ; , assembled in pahs for the purpose of security ; the New Zealanders cultivate just Bcr much ground in the neighbourhood of, their residence as may'suffice' to furnish them with food, an'df enable thereto obtain blankets tobacco and a feW other articles in exchange for

the surplus. It may be, perhaps, a question whether the natives would not be happier for some change in theic habits, which should assimulate them more nearly to Europeans. But there can be no question that it would.be alike fruitless and cruel to attempt to introduce such a change suddenly and forcibly, by depriving them of the land from which they had been accustomed to draw supplies; and driving them to scattered locations in the depths of the forests, or on the summits of the hills. Any change, to be beneficial, must be gradual and voluntary; must flow from an acquisition of a taste for the comforts of civilized life, and a perception of the advantages of European habits : not from the compulsory deprivation of all the accustomed means of support. It must not be imagined from this, that the land required for the use of the natives could not be reserved without injury to the settlement; no doubt assertions of this nature wiil be made, and it may even be asserted, that there is an absolute incompatibility between the preservation of ti{e natives in their old modes of life, and the progress and prosperity of English colonization. Nothing can be more unfounded. Oat of nearly 10,000 acres of fertile land which have been surveyed and selected in the immediate neighbourhood of Port Nicholson, 600 would have amply sufficed for the present wants of the natives. Out of 1100 acres of which the town is composed, only eight are occupied by the native pahs. Had the land actually occupied or reclaimed by the natives been reserved, it would no doubt have been rather more than one tenth in value, though far less than one tenth in extent of the land which some of their chiefs nominally ceded, and which the New Zealand Company now claims under that cession. But this reserve would have satisfied the natives, and it would have enabled the New Zealand Company to obtain a valid title to their possessions. That such reserves were not made, is absolutely unaccountable.

As an illustration of the mode in which the native reserves in this district have been selected, I will proceed to describe the general character of the most important, in reference to the various native settlements around the harbour.

The natives of the pah Te Aro, on the southern shore of what is now termed Lambton Harbour, who were nevftr consulted as to the sale, and not one of whom signed the Deed conveying to the New Zealand Company, had cultivated from 60 to 80 acres of land on the hills immediately in the rear of their pali, and had gardens on the space now occupied by the Town. Every one of their clearings and gardens, as well as their pah has been selected for the purchasers under the Company, and they have been required to give up possession. This, however, they have not yet done. There is one section immediately behind their clearings ; and there are three others at a distance of about two miles further, which are, however, of little value, except for grazing. They do nevertheless, possess in the one section in the rear of their pi*esent clearings, one valuable section, which in a year or two, they will probably occupy and cultivate ; but it would have ,been more just, and more prudent to secure to them the ground they had actually cleared. The natives of Kumutoto, on the west shore of xjanibton Harbour, have been allowed to retain one acre on which, part of their pah stood, but they have not within all their district a single acre of country land. The natives of the pah Pippitea have retained their pah because it has been selected as a public reserve, and there are abeut 20 acres of native reserves within that part of the Town which belongs to them ; but they have not a single country section. The natives of Tiakiwai have neither pah nor country land, all has been taken from them. The natives of Kai Wara-wara .whose pah is situate beyond the confines of the town, might have been reserved without the slightest public inconvenience, have had their pah and the whole of their cleared grounds taken from them. The same course has been pursued with the ! natives of Ngauranga. The natives of Petoni, more fortunate than any of their brethern, have had three sections, including their pah and the whole or nearly the whole, of their clearings reserved. The natives of Waiwatu have neither pah or clearings left them. Two sections have been reserved in one part of the land they claim, which will eventually possess a very considerable value, but at present less than a fifth of these reserves is available, the remainder being a swamp. There are, also, two other sections, out of which perhaps 15 or 20 acres would be available, and upon which they formerly had some small potatoe grounds; but these have been abandoned since the death of their chief, Puhakawa, who was murdered there by a hostile tribe, about two years and a half ago. I should qualify my statement with regard to these last, when I said, that all their clearings had been taken away, since the two sections last referred to did contain some clearings. The land thus cleared, however, belonged to the murdered chieftain, and had been utterly abandoned by his family before the selection. With regard to the second purchase, that from some of the principal chiefs of the Kawia tribe, it is difficult to conceive that any claim can be seriously founded upon it. The deed professes to comprise not only all the land.belonging to the Kawia tribe, but all the land between the 38th degree of south latitude on the, west coast, and the 43rd degree of south latitude, including, the possessions of several independent irib"es," as well as all the places occupied by the irlbe to which the parties to the deed belonged! ' ' • . , Tq suppose that the", persons who signed the deed had any'idea of its nature, would be opposed to every thing which experience has disclosed with reference to the native character. And with regard to this alleged purchase, the chiefs who were parties to the contract .have vigorously, and hitherto successfully, resisted every attempt on the part of the purchasers under the Company to settle upon their terri- . tories. In Port Nicholson, the inconveniences resulting from the pretensions of the New Zealand Company to dispose of land to which they hava no valid title, have been mainly felt by the natives. In the neighbouring district of Porirtia, alleged to have been purchased from the Kawia tribe, the inconvenience has fallen ' upon the colonittt. There are among th»

settlers of this place, gentlemen who nomirt ally possess land purchased from the New Zealand Company, and selected at Pjrirua, wh'ch would eventually be worth. from £10,009 to .£20,030 of which they are unable to obtain quiet posies! of a single acre. These' persons, who have embarked their all in this colony, and who have greatly contributed to' its success, naturally watch with' the deepest anxiety the proceeding! of the Commission of Enquiry, upon the result of which every thing depends to them; and they lpo.c to the Enrglish Government to secure them in possess '.ons which they have fairly p ur . chased from the New Zealand Compa.iy, and* have selected in the belief that the land had been equitably and validly purchased from the natives. It rray, however, be doubted whether it is in the power of the English Government to afford any relief. The extinction of the native title is a necessary, preliminary to any grant from the Crown ; and this must be done not by procuring the signatures of a few chiefs to a deed conveying immense tracts, of which but an inconsiderable port'on was their own property, but by a separate bargain with every individual claimant for his separate holding and with tl c body of the tribe for that land which is their common property. Stil! in this. district, the existence of any disputes might have been prevented, had any trouble been taken to treat with the native owners, and had the reserves been made with due regard to the necessities and wishes of the natives. From the first moment of the settlement however, to this r resent time, although the validity of the alleged purchase by the New Zealand Company has never for a moment been recognised by the inhabitants of this particular district, no effort has been made to procure their consent to a sale, and the reserves have been made with an almost total d ; sregard of the. natural wisnes of the nitives to have their pahs and potatoe grounds preserved to them. In the first place, then, the alleged purchases by the New Zealand Company have been made from the parties who had no right to sell >nore than an inconsiderable portion ot the land included witlrn the deeds; and, in the second place, the proposed reserves for the benefit of the natives have been so managed a3 to augment instead of removing the difficulty thus created. If, taereforet the settlement of this part of New Zealand is to continue, something must be done by the Imperial or Colonial Legislature to remedy tbesn two sources of dispute. What I am anxious to witneis is, that any remed : al measure may recognize the rights and protect the interests of the New Zealanders. And this, I conceive, may ba done without any injury to individual settlers. It would be, I think, equaLy unreasonable and imprudent to urge the absolute rights of the New Zealanders to all the land which they nominally possess. To argue that a few thousand people scattered along the sea coast, and on the banks of the rivers of this courtry, and occupying not more than a hundredth part of the available land, should, by virtue of tbeir position merely, be entitled to others from the vast unoccupied and •fertile districts* of the island, would appear equally repugnant to justice and to policy. But, o.i the other hand, to found upon the circumstance that the natives of New Zealand have not occupied the greater part of their country, an argument for depriving them of the land which they have cleared and cultivated, would be even more unjust and impolitic. What they are ent : tled to retain would appear to be all the land they have actually* reduced into possesston, and such a portion of the remainder as would, according to their mode of cultivation, be necessary for their subsistence within the next few yean. It is true, that this would include many spots absolutely essential for the profitable settlement of the country, but no difficulty would be found in purchasing these spots at a fair price. It is also true that by this procedure the English settlers would be precluded from occupying ground which had been cleared by the natives, and which, therefore, they could bring into cultivation with far less expense than the neighbouring fore9t ; but this is a fair and legitimate result. There is indeed nothing of which the New Zealanders, have complained more, or with more justice, than of the manner in which the European Settlers have appropriated the land they had just cleared, and uprin which they had expended labour, worth, at the estimate of the settlers themselves, from £S to £12 per acre. By such an arrangement as I have suggested, the natives would be, and would feel that they were, benefited by the Colonization of their country. They would have both the inducement and opportunity to assimilate their habits gradually to those of the civilized race. They would he preserved in idea and in reality, independent and^ equal with the Colonists. Perceivinf that justice had been done them in this most important particular, they would have neither fears nor jealousies of the Settlement around them. They would welcome the'arrival of Englishmen in their district, instead of seekto repel them. And there would-be, a probability almost amounting to a certainty,' of their preservation and hnprove'ment. (Signed) I remain, &c. R. Davies Hanson.