PUBLIC MEETING.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 51, 12 February 1842, Page 2

PUBLIC MEETING.

At a public meeting held at Wood’s Royal Hotel, on Wednesday last, the following was unanimously adopted and a deputation appointed to wait upon His Excellency the Gover-

nor for the purpose of presenting it. The petition is in itself so reasonable and so consistent

with the justice of the case, that we doubt not His Excellency will at once grant the prayer of the same. It is founded on the wise and simple plan recommended by Lord John, in nearly all his dispatches to the Governor on this subject* If the Governor regard the welfare of the colony, the happiness of the people, and his own character as a legislator, he will pause and consider well before he reject such a measure. We know that the Treasury is rather low —that he is reluctant to draw upon the Home Government—that he has no other means of defraying the current expenditure of the colony, unless he adopt the plan proposed by the petitioners; by means of which he will not only be able to raise from thirty to forty thousand pounds annually, but also promote emigration and the introduction of capital into the colony, to an inconceivable extent. On the other hand, we beg to assure him, if he lend a deaf ear x to the .petitioners, and be advised in an evil hour to pass'the 5 bill of Sir Geo. Gipps, (with whatever modifications,) that he will inevitably entail ruin and misery upon the whole colony. We know that the settlers will never submit to any measure emanating from New South Wales; and if the Government persist in carrying out such a measure, we have no hesitation in advising the people to oppose it by every legitimate method in their power. Let petition follow upon protest, and protest upon petition,’till every man, woman, and child, in the whole kingdom, is made intimately acquainted with all our grievances.—Till the very name of New Zealand shall become as familiar to them as that of their own native homes, and be associated in their minds with every attempt at the perpetration of oppression and injustice. But we have good hopes of our Governor, and we implore him by all that he values, by hisfVegard for the prosperity of the colony, by his love of

peace and happiness, by his love of justice, and by his own reputation, to weigh well this matter. —Ed.

To His Excellency Captain Hobson, Governor and Commanc er in Chief of New Zealand and its dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same.

May it please Your Excellency : We, the undersigned claimants of Land in this colony, and others interested in claims to Land, beg to thank your Excellency for the withdrawal of the “ Land Claims' Bill,” lately introduced into the Legislative Council. As it is well known that your Excellency is at all times anxious to ascertain what are the wishes of the colonists, and as far as possible to coincide with those wishes, we pray that your Excellency will introduce into the Legislative Council a Bill for the settlement of claims to land, upon the principle recommended to your Excellency by Lord John Russell, and introduced to the notice of the Council by Mr. Earp ; a measure which Lord John Russell, (the soundness of whose views upon all Colonial matters is unquestionable,) has characterized in dispatches to your Excellency, as being one, “which unless carried into effect, there can be no reasonable prospect of the colony making any advance in agriculture, wealth or sound internal polity/’ Fully agreeing with His Lordship’s wise and politic measure, we beg to submit to your Excellency the outline of a plan, based upon the principles of that measure, to which we are convinced few dissentient voices will be found, viz.:— Ist. That Commissioners shall be appointed to decide what claims are valid. 2ndly. That upon such decision being made, the parties in whose favour it is given shall be immediately put in possession of their land. 3rd. That after the expiration of twelve months from the date of granting such possession, an annual tax of per acre shall be levied upon all lands which shall be found uncultivated in the allotments of the parties in possession. 4th. That in case any person by himself or his agent shall have neglected to pay his tax for three calendar months after the same has become due, he shall be adjudged to pay double the amount of the said tax. and in case he shall have neglected to pay the same for three more calendar months, such uncultivated lands shall be declared forfeited t.o the Crown, and shall be confiscated accordingly.

sth. That every person possessing land shall at any time have the power of redeeming his land, or any part of it, by paying to the Colonial Trea surer the amount of years purchase of the

annual tax. With regard to the mode of collecting the said tax, with the least possible expense to the government, we further beg to submit to your Excellency's consideration the following plan : Ist. That, the quantities of all lands granted be published in the Government Gazette. 2nd. That all grantees of land shall, on the day of in every year, make oath before two or more Justices of the Peace in Petty Sessions, as to the quantity of land which they have in actual cultivation, or which they may have cleared or surrounded with a good and substantial fence. . 3rd. That upon this, each grantee sbafl receive from the said Justices of the Peace, a certificate of such oath, as aforesaid; such certificate also specifying the number of acres in his grant which shall be still lying waste, and the amount of the apaouiit of the tax due. 4th. That he shall transmit the amount of his tax. according to such certificate, to the clerk of the Peace for the county or district in which he may reside, who shall give him a receipt for the same, and shall himself transmit the amount to the Colonial Treasurer, deducting 1 p%r cent, as payment for conducting the business of this department. sth. That one-half of this tax shall be expended in making roads, bridges, &e., within the county in which it has been collected, and the other half shall be devoted to the purposes of introducing emigration into the said county or district. Your Petitioners are of opinion that a measure somewhat similar to this would be in every respect the best that could be adopted, both for introducing emigrants into the Colony, and for general prosperity ; since in addition to the emigration brought in by the moiety of the tax it would have the effect of compelling the proprietors of Land to induce, as far as was in their power, persons to come from England and elsewhere, for the purpose of placing them on their Land, in order to diminish the amount of their annual tax by extending Cultivation, and it would in addition be thus the means of introducing considerable capital into the colony. And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray, &c. &c. Auckland, February 10th, 1842.