SEVENTY YEARS AGO

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 8

SEVENTY YEARS AGO

AUCKLAND IN 1861 EARLY LAND SETTLEMENT INCIDENTS OF MAORI WAR iff ARTHUR MORROW, LIEUT.-COL., RETIRED I arrived at Auckland on June 9, 1861, / liy the barque Mersey—a vessel of some 850 tons—after a somewhat stormy passage of 109 days from The Downs, with a complement of 116 passengers, three of whom were officers of the 14th and 57th Regiments, viz.. Major Steward and Captain Gorton, of the former, and Captain 4 W. R. Russell—afterwards Sir William Russell—of the latter regiment. Among our first visitors to the ship were some brother officers of the respective reciments, stationed in the barracks, ■who informed us of the grave situation then existing between the Government and the aboriginal natives of the Province of Taranaki, principally over the ownership Of the Waitara block of land. The officer administering the Government at that period was Sir Thomas Gore t «.B'rown —afterwards K.C.M.G., for distinguished services in the Sikh and other Indian campaigns—whose term of office had almost expired, to be succeeded by that of Sir .George Grey, K.C.8., an astute politician, besides being a soldier and statesman of undisputed capacity. Government and Settlement The system of Government constituted in the separate provinces of New Zealand j,. was a superintendent —the elect of the people, by a,, competitive vote, with an administrative executive —for a three or ' five years' term of office —of his own individual selection from the members of a Provincial Council. The Provincial Councils were elected by the people for the Etfveral electoral districts into which the provinces were divided. The revenues of such councils were necessarily of'a limited character, as they were derived from tolls and taxes, levied by the authority of various provincial enactments of administration from a sparse community. Irrespective, however, of these local forms of government, there existed a general elective Government for the whole of New Zealand, under the Governor, which in due time absorbed the provincial system. The settlement of the Auckland Province at- this time was to a great extent attained by the issue of scrip for 40 acres of land to each adult, as a free grant '» fr<fci the Crown, to intending immigrants lor settlement; on blocks of land acquired "by Act of the General Assembly from the natives. Apart from this system of colonisation, numerous special settlements were created and formed of large parties from the Home Country, who were attracted by the liberal Government conditions of settlement, on special blocks of good land, set apart for such purposes. 1 may mention that all the land surrounding and including One Tree Hill was classed under the heading of pre-emption land and disposed of at the rate of 10s an acre. Early Land Acts There were other Acts affecting land tenure, as well as the protection of existnative rights, viz., Sir George Grey's regulations of March 4, 1853, validated by a proclamation gazetted earlier that year, ind the Land Claims Settlement Act ander Mi. Dillon Bell's (afterwards Sir Dillon Bell) administration, an Act which delimited the "various claims of certain Europeans, who, from the earliest times, bartered with native owners for large invalidated tracts of land, at the Bay of Islands and Hokianga, Whangarei and else. " where. These in many instances were considerably reduced in area, to the advantage of the native proprietors, a means of settling many existing disputes to the Satisfaction of the dispuiants. In this way, matters respecting settle- " ment progressed favourably until the ~ Waikato war was forced upon us—vi et armis—by various deeds of violence, and even that of murder, and massacre of the white people. As instances the Whiteley and Gascoigne murders, at White Cliffs, and about the same time the murders of Dr. Hope and Lieutenant Tragett of the 57th Regiment, followed by the ambush and massacre of a sergeant and J2 men. , J Subsequent to this, assistance—upon re- ' quisition of the Government —commenced to pour into the colony. Regiments recruited in Australia were, on the conclusion of the'war, to receive grants of land, town and suburban sections, being portions of the native land confiscated. Much of this land was held over by the Government until the surveys were made and approved, When Crown titles were prepared and issued to the officers and men of whom the Australian levies were composed. The majority of them sold the sections to Europeans, and many towns such as Hamilton, Cambridge, Mercer, Ngarua- ' wahia and various others, remain as flourishing evidence of settlements created by the exigencies of war. There were also seven men-of-war —of the old type —in and around Auckland, who performed valuable services when opportunity offered in reducing native- strongholds and pas. The greater part <ST the land so confiscated was in its primitive state, except in minor instances, viz., at Raglan, Kobanga, Ngaruawahia, Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Wairoa and Tauranga, etc. A Difference of Opinion It is no secret to observe that in the prosecution of the war quite an amount of friction existed between Sir George Grey and Sir Duncan Cameron, commanding the troops. As an instance: The general having left a large pa—Wareroa —at Waitotara, fully manned by armed natives, was remonstrated with by Sir George Grey, who pointed out how very undesirable it was to" leave an enemy unmolested in bis rear. The general, however. refused to undertake the reduction of the pa with the field force then at his disposal, until he got reinforcements to make up his command to the number of 2000 men. Whereupon the Governor summoned a lot of friendly natives. These, together with colonial levies, forced the position, taking many prisoners, Sir George taking a prominent place in the Bngagement himself, much to the astonifihrhent of the military commander.