New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, October 26, 1844.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 3, 26 October 1844, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, October 26, 1844.

Perhaps the most striking, as well as the most pleasing, sight, to any one just arrived in the colony, is the harmony between the natives and the settlers. A stranger, acquainted with the history of New Zealand, only from books, in which its inhabitants are described as cannibals, whose occupation is chiefly internal warfare, and who seldom miss an opportunity of plundering foreign vessels and eating their crews, must be astonished at the sight of a perfectly friendly intercourse between them and thousands of white men. The existence of this harmony, with some exceptions where the Government and its protectors have interfered, must be apparent to any observer ; and to a reflecting one it must furnish a conclusive answer to all that has been said or written against the policy of colonization as regards aborigines, and especially against colonizing before converting to Christianity. This harmony arises from colonization, alone, which brings Maories and white men together, and teaches them to help each other. This knowledge on both sides would have been sufficient not only to preserve peace and harmony, but co-operation ; to have created the most binding of all ties,those arising from mutual services rendered and received, and to have cemented such a union between the white and the brown, as would have produced a real amalgamation of the two races, if the Colonial Office and the Local Government would have let them alone. On the contrary, as soon as the New Zealand Company had obtained any thing like a footing in New Zealand, and the progress and prosperity of the settlers, assisted by the natives, became known in England, the Colonial Office interposed. The Government, as was fit and proper, sent its officers to take possession of the country in the name of the crown ; and, the Church of England, declaring that a new field had been opened for its labour* in converting thp heathen, made a Bishop, augmented its Missionary staff, and prepared for more vigorous efforts than heretofore. There was a distinct sphere of action for the Government in establishing and maintaining the sovereignty of the Mother-country over the colony, and in preserving peace, law, and order, within the colony itself. There was a distinct sphere of action for the Bishop and his staff in trying to make converts. If each party had confined itself to its respective sphere, no harm might have ensued to the colony. Provided the Local Government had been of an average kind, whether the Bishop and his assistants made few, or many, or no real converts, the colonists would gradually, with the hearty concurrence and assistance of the natives have cultivated the waste, and improved their own condition, as well as that of the aborigines. The Government & the Church of England, however, instead of each party acting in its respective sphere, have interfered with the colonists and with each other so as to have caused wide spread aud almost irremediable mischief. The Government, assuming that the natives had cause of complaint against ths settlers, appointed Protectors, animals of' a nondescript genus, some thing-betwsen a parson and a policeman, who soon found, that as far as Maories were concerned, there was in reality nobody to protect, and the Bishop we believe must have found, that converting before civilizing was beginning at the wrong end, and that in reality, there were no abiding converts to be made. Both Protectors and Bishop, however, must do something, and so they set to work, at instructing the Government, in the performance of its functions, respecting the natives. They seem to have made the Government believe that the settlers, whom we all know to be a most industrious, intelligent, and peaceful body, were idle, dissolute, and rapacious, and above all, ready for outrage against the natives. Acting on this aud similar information, the Government adopted a system of depressing the colonists and exalting the natives, which has brought the colony to the very verge of ruin. - In a country with a most fertile soil, a most salubrious climate, and a native race anxious to assist the settlers ; after the

expenditure of an enormous amount of capital and the endurance of toil, hardship, and vexation for five years, thousands of British subjects are now, instead of being contented and prosperous, forced to struggle for a bare subsistence. This state of things has been brought about entirely by the Government in placing the Maori over the head of the white man, and thus preventing the occupation and enjoyment of one of the finest couutries on earth. Under such exasperating circumstances, the conduct of the settlers towards the I natives has been beyond all praise. We can hardly call to mind a single instance of an offence committed by a white man against a native, and we sincsrely believe that no evidence of a single outrage on the part of a | settler could be produced. The settlers, however, have been grossly outraged. In innumerable cases, they have by means of Maori obstructiveness created, sustained and promoted by the infatuated policy of the Government, lost their whole property — they have been made, as far as could be, vassals to the Maories, and above all, they have seen some of their most esteemed fellow countrymen, dear friends, & nearest relatives savagely murdered in cold blood, by Maori chiefs, who still stalk unpunished and triumphant through the land. Yet not a single act of retaliation has been committed ; we could almost say, not a burst of anger has been heard. On the contrary, as we have said before, the friendly intercourse and harmony between the natives and settlers is such as must strike a stranger with astonishment. Let us see what is said on this subject at home. The following extract is from the Morning Chronicle, of the 4th April : — "Aborigines' Protection Society. — The seventh annual general meeting of the members of the above society was held yesterday, at Crosby Hall, Bishopsgate Street. The honorable W. Cowper, M. P., was in the chair, and amongst the gentlemen on the platform were the Rev. Dr. Burnett, Dr. Hodgkin, M.D., several gentlemen of the Society of Friends, and M. Cadotte, the interpreter to the party of Ojibbeway Indians, recently exhibited in London. From th§ report, the reading of which occupied upwards of one hour, it appeared that an extensive correspondence had been kept up during the past year with several parts of the globe, for the purpose of gaining information as to the state of the native tribes. The report then entered into a detailed account of the condition of the aboriginal inhabitants of Hudson's Bay, the tribes of the Pacific, Guiana, and the United States, where, from the oppression of the Europeans, they were reduced to a state of misery and degradation. The Indians were found extremely tractable, and not averse to civilization, but hitherto the cruelties and impositions of the settlers had taught them more to fear and hate, than to love the white people. In allusion to Africa, the committee stated that they found it demonstrated in too clear a manner to admit of doubt, that not even the slave trade itself, with the atrocities of its internal wars, and the horrors of its middle passage, was so destructive of the aboriginal population of a country as colonization, such as had been carried on by civilized nations. Persecution and injustice, to a great degree, were also suffered by the New Zealanders ; but the committee had exerted themselves with the colonial authorities, and were not without hope that they would ultimately receive the protection of government." On first reading this statement, we were disposed to think it unworthy of notice. Most of our readers know the sort of materials of which an Aborigines Society is composed, namely, of old gentlemen in petticoats and old ladies in breeches, aided by fabricators of horrors, hired and paid by subscriptions from spinsters whose care for man in the aggregate increases as their prospect of becoming the wife of any particular man diminishes ; and headed by some crack-brained member of either House of Parliament, whose failure in his own proper sphere of action, is his only excuse for interfering with the actions of others, and will most likely agree with us that the proceedings of such a body are below contempt. Generally, indeed, this is the case, for there is rarely anything definite, tangible, or even intelligible in the sayings or doings of an Aborigines Protection Society. On the present occasion, however, there can be no mistake about the statement and the j high character of the Chairman, Mr. Cowper, lends unusual weight and authority to the charge. ' The exposure of its absurdity

and falsehood to our readers is not required. They know whether " persecution and injustice have been suffered by the New Zealanders," whether " the protection of Government " has been afforded to them ; in short they know whether the whole sentence relating to New Zealand, and especially the insidious word " also," by which the slave trade and the horrors of the middle passage are made to bear on the subject, is too absurdly false to require contradiction or not. A Public Meeting of the inhabitants of the settlement has been convened, we understand for Monday evening, to take the matter into consideration, at which we recommend every one, of whatever party or position in society, to be present.

In the Sydney Australian, of October 2, we notice black oil quoted in the price current at £23 per tun, exclusive of casks ; while by private advices of the same date, we find that only £15 or £16 per tun, including casks, could be obtained for that description of oil in the Sydney market. We notice this as it is calculated to mislead people here and induce them to send oil to Sydney, when they may obtain better prices by shipping direct to London. We hope the mistake is not intentional on the part of our cotemporary.

To Correspondents. — We have received several letters complaining of petty thefts by the natives, to the writers of which we can only say, apply to the Police Magistrate. Looking at the Native Exemption Bill, this is but a sorry remedy, but we have ho other.

From haste in the publication of the first nnraber of the paper, we omitted to place the proper heading to the report of a trial Guyton versus Hickson. The report ought to have been headed " advertisement " as it was inserted and paid for as such.