THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 299, 27 October 1864, Page 5

THE WAR IN NEW ZEALAND.

At a time like tlie present when the vilest misrepresentations of the motives and actions of tbe Colonists are propagated both here and at home, it is pleasing to find comparative strangers elsewhere standing up manfully in their defence. It would be strange indeed if men and women should become so changed by einii,Tating to ZCew Zealand as to be the very mercenary savages that Exeter Hall at home, and the Grey party here represent them to he. Cie/tim non unimuni mutant qui Ivanx mare fit mini. Englishmen in whatever part of the üb'rid they may locate thefiiselr.es present much the same average of character. There is the same energy and acuteness in trade, the same love of fair play and justice. They are neither better nor worse than those of the same class of their fellow countrymen at home. "With the following remarks the lecture, portions of which only our space allows ns to extract, is introduced to its readers by the SjuHi Av.xlralian lii-r/ister : — The war in 2Ce«- Zealand and the causes which led to it are lonsidered in the following lecture delivered b' the Rev. Samuel Ironside, before the Wesleyan Mutual Improvement Society,!Xorwood, oil Monday, September lit, the rev. gentleman's long residence in New Zealand, and his intimate acquaintance with the history of its settlement and disturbances, peculiarly qualify him to speak with {authority on a subject as painful as it is important. " I enter upon the sul jeet I have undertaken to discuss this evening with considerable difiidence and anxiety, and not a little distrust of my own judgment as to the present unhappy war in New Zealand, and what led to it. I'or though from my long residence in that country, dating from before the colony was formed, and my intm.a'o acquaintance with its history from the beginning, it may be supposed I hive had abundant opportunities of forming a correct j ulgmnit upon the whole question ; yet when X find that others, with perhaps equal opportunities and greater powers of judging, have come to a somewhat different conclusion to myself, I may well feel some-' what diffident and anxious to-n iglit. I need not say that I am not here as the apologist of any particular party. It is not for me to justify every proceeding of ihe Local Government or of 1 he settlers ; nor could T join in raising ft clamour against the poor misguided aborigines. I wish to take a dispassionate, unprejudiced, impartial view of the matter, and to place it before you in the clearest and simplest light that I may he able to do within the limits of a single lecture. I beg to say, then, at the outset, that the w:tr is between the Imperial Government and a minority of the natives of New Zealand. hatever of blame there may be in the estimation of some in the oriuin and conduct of the war, neither the Parliament, nor Ministry, nor settlers generally of New Zealand are responsible for it. Until very lately the whole ot the interests of the native population were i' tlie single—the irresponsible hands of her Majesty's representative, I he Governor for the time being. At the time that, the constitution of the- colony was granted, native interests were expressly exempt from the control and direction of the Legislature; and although many of the natives availed themselves ol the privilege of tlie electoral roll, and gave their votes at elections, and although there was nothing in the constitution to prevent any native lroni becoming n member of Parliament, yet 110 legislation was permitted in which native interests might be involved without a special clause being inserted in the bill, expressly exempting natives from its operation. In all n»tivc mutters his the Governor was supreme dictator—tlie Colonial Purliuincnt could not interfere. The purchase of native lands was among thes? excepted intercut . The Governor had the of pre -emption ; nono could purchase from the. natives at all. "When the colony was formed, al lands previously purchased by the New Zenlani -ijiind Company or individual settlers were subjectec t > a severe scrutiny by Commissioners specially ap pointed "by the Queen f jr.the purpose. If even tin I'" r ch»se was fair, and the price paid by tho eaib settler sufficient, he oily received in any case ; Lrown <n'ant for 2,. jCO acie=, although the block h au bought were five or ten times that quantity. Al naasactii ns, after tho establishment of the colony

■were by the Governor alone of his agents. It will thus bo seen that the cry raised against the settlors, ns having originated tho war, through their covetous greed Of thq patives' funds, is a wicked calumny, lho calumny is old, has been often rcpcatcu, nZi as often denied." lecturer then enters at great length into the >\ aitarn question. To New Zealanders , l0SC! t'tictilai-.s tieiid lio repetition, and we, tlieretor'e, take tip , the. lecture at their close, merely reiiiarkihg tlint Mi 1 : tiikts the common sense rieiv of the rjuestioli thai Teira's r. Y v i* i . s iiud that Goverhpr Brdwiie was rrght iii supporting a. subject of the Queen in ms rignt to sell his own property if he chose, ■malfjru tho Land League. " After a delay of nino months, during which timo the Commissioner and his assistant made diligent inquiry even-where, they reported Teira's titlo to he good. No one objected to tho sale save the Land League party, who had no legal objections to raise .The Governor paid £100, part of the purchase hiottoy, and surveyors were soiit to hi}'. tht> .block out and measure it. King and his mob sent sonio women to remove tlie surveyors* chains and instruments, they themselves remaining in. perdu watching the oporat\ou, : Tho surveyors returned,and reported to the authorities. A detachmont of soldiers was sent up to occupy the land thus pifrchi'sed. "William King appealed to Potutuu I. of "Wuikato, and as an inducement to gain his interference, and that of "Wailiato generally,' gave tho whole of tho "Waitara over to the Maori King—a thing he bad, of course, aa much right -to do as any of you. However, tlie Maori King accepted of tlio Waitara lands, and Bent soniu of Ins men to assist "(Villiattt King in tho v/ur. Tliis is,, to tho best of my ability, a true, simple statement of tho origin of tho war. I think I have convinced every impartial listener that tho war is not a settler's war. All tliey have had to do with it has been to sutler inconvcniencc and loss, and have their houses desolated in consequence. It is, however, im impwinl question. Still I cannot see how the Governor Cctild otherwise than enter upon the unhappy conli;ct. The war was itib'vittibio': -It }V!iS justHudilc, too, if ever war was. Even His Lordship if;s ijJthbp of New Zealand, wlioso authority every Maori lover will respect, lias conic to this conclusion. He said some time hack—' The Crown must assort its authority, or remove all the settlers away from tho | Northern Island.' " His criticisms on the militaiw blunders of the : Taranaki campaign we need not report. They are too well-known to need repetition. From these he passes on to tho concluding remarks of his lct'ttire. find let those who. look upon the aboriginal of Kew.#erijand,..tlie. frtyage wlioso eve lights up only when greed, murder, or cannibalism are about to be gratified, read of the barbarities of here recounted, and say if this is their beau ideal of a noble race —if their victims, the maligned settlers, are the persecutors or the persecuted. " I will tell you one or two incidents which will give you an idea of the character of tho natives and tiie situation of the settlors. Dr. Neild, a member of tlie Society of Friends, whose principles would not allow liim to hurt a hair of their heads, was living upon his own farm about a mile from New Plymouth, lie -fras driven into town, his house ransacked and burned,' although it was hot half ft mile from a blockhouse, but the militia were not allowed to'protect it. He had laboured for years, and brought his p ; a'ce into beautiful cultivation. He had expended £2000 upon it, and then was driven away. Ho is now practising his profession successfully in Sydney : but for all tlie protection lie received from the Goj vernment he might with his family be starving. Mr. ! Samuel Ford, the Superintendent of a Sabbathschoo'i, kept a large store in Devon-street, New Plymouth. He had a large number of native customers, who had got deeply into his books fo the amount of .£SOO when the war broke out. He went out during the struggle against his wife's anxious entreaties; but he, too confiding, said, " Tho natives will never hurt mo; they know me too well as their friend. No, my dear: they will not hurt me." In one short hour after using these words he lay a murdered corpse upon the Queen's highway, and those who were most active in the murder were those who were most deeply in his debt, and were hoard to exult in having thus paid their debt to Samuel Ford. There was a gentleman at Tataraimaka, a member of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, who had paid £10 an acre for 150 acres of this land that had been purchased three times over. He got his land into cultivation, built a small Water-mill, and expended upon his property £3000 or £4000 besides Iris labour. He bad made it a beautiful place, but was driven from it at the beginning of the war, with his wife, a! delicate and well-bred woman, and his daughters. He was, two years and a half ago, dependent upon his pay of lSd.'a day as a militiaman, and his wife and daughters were earning a hard living at tlie washing-tub in Nelson." •' And these were the people who were represented in the British House of Commons as coveting the land of the natives. I say it. is a wicked libel ; they never did deserve such a character. There was a local preacher named ITawkcn, who had a contract, to supply tho troops with meat. Of course ho had to place himself in danger in getting in his cattle, and lie was shot down by the natives, leaving his widow and family destitute. A fine young lad named Rawson, came out with his family; but he will be a cripple all {lie days of his lite, as he received a shot in his groin during a skirmish with the natives. It is really ""too bad, after all this hardship, lo>!3, and bereavement, that they should bo utjjustly stigmatised as they have ; but. " truth is great, and will prevail." I inav say, as an ardent lover of tlie natives, that, if the Knglish Government had been strong enouL'k twenty years ago when they took possession of the country to say to the natives " the land is declared waste lands of the Crown ; but we will provide for you as much as you can possibly require— say 200 acres for each adult'." Hadthe Govornnieutdone that it would have been the greatest blessing for tlie New Zealanders themselves, for they never have been able to agree as to the ownership of the land; they are always fighting about it. If the million's wo-th of property created by the settlers in the' Northern Island could bo taken away, not one month would elapso before the natives would commence fighting amongst themselves for it. It was a mistake to say that some 20 or 30 natives should claim a whole county. It* was a dog-in-the-manger policy to say that no others should settlo ur,on it. It would be better for tho Crown to take it," and for the Queen, as tho mother of the country, to give to every native a sufficient quantity for his own use. The rest should be located by settlers, who would make future war impossible. Under a sounder system the country may offer prosperous homes to industrious Knglish settlers, anil to all the natives of the country who will live quietly and poacoably.