PETITION.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 8, 30 November 1844, Page 1

PETITI ON.

To the HoDorable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, — The humble petition of the undersigned inhabitants of Port Nicholson, in the colony of New Zealand. SheweTh, — That your petitioners comprize persons of different religious opinions, some being members of the English Episcopal, others of the Roman Catholic, others of the Scotch Presbyverian churches, and other Dissenters of various denominations. That your petitioners established a settlement and formed a town at "Wellington, Port Nfcholson, nearly five years ago, upon land purchased from the New Zealand Company, which Company at the time of offering for sale the land upon which the town has been founded, undertook to set apart portions of Und 'for* the use of the public for various necessary and useful purposes, and among Others for the "purpose of forming cemeteries. t'hvx in fulfilment of ffudhjundertaking the Surveyor of that Company, under the instructions* of its Principal AgenJ, did set apart a portion of ground in a c6nrenient part of the town as a cemetery, and that mch cemetery hath since the time whea it was so tet apart—' being a period of more

than four years — been used as a place of burial for Protestants of all denominations, lesiding within' and near the town of Wellington. That your petitioners have now learned with feelings of surprise and anxiety that it is the in • tention of his Excellency Captain Fitzroy, Governor of New Zealand, to interfere with the dispos stion of this piece of ground made with the New Zealand Company, by appropriating to the exclusive use of the English Episcopal Church that portion of the cemetery which hitherto by reason of its convenience and accessaoihty has been used for the purpose of burial. That such exclusive appropriation, if made, will be a violation of the rights your petitioners have acquired, and will defeat the objects proposed by the New Zealand Company, in setting apart this portion of ground as a cemetery, and will further as your petitioners submit, be an excess of authority on the part of his Excellency, inasmuch as tbe land in question has been as they believe, fairly and validly purchased by the New Zealand Company, who consequently possess an indisputable legal right to devote such laud to whatever pur» poses they may deem fitting, excepting so far as x they may be restrained by the laws of England in force within the colony. That exclusive appropriation would, moreover, leave the majority of the Prote&tant inhabitants of Wellington and its vicinity, without any public spot in which they could be buried oy the ministers of the denominations to which they belong, since that portion of the cemetery proposed to be left for them, is at present quite unavailable, and must remain so unless an expense is incurred in constructing a road, greater than would be required for the purchase of a site in some other part of the town, which latter course your petitioners are obliged to follow, and thereby be prevented from being interred near their departed relatives, unless ceremonies are performed to which they conscientiously object. That it cannot be urged that any such exclusive appropriation is necessary, inasmuch n3 tiie raiaiaters of the Church of England have hitherto per- | formed the burial service in such ground, over the bodies of persons of their communion, although it has not been consecrated, and has it been used by persons of all denomkrations. That your petitioners ipgard the contemplated appropriation with apprehension and regret, because it tends to introduce dissension and division among a community hitherto united, and in which up to this period Christians of all denominations have lived in peace, with no exclusive rights claimed or required by any, and because if the principle of exclusion and favoritism in religious matters be once introduced, your petitioners believe that an opening will be made for stiife upon a subject, which from its vital importance produces animosities more enduring and embittered than any other. Your petitioners therefore pray, that your honorable House will be pleased to present an humble address to Her Most Gracious Majesty, praying that the intentions of the New Zealand Company may be carried out iv this particular. And yout petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray.

To His Excellency Robert Fitzroy, Esa., Captain RN., Governor and Vice' Admiral or New: Zealand, and its Depencies, &c. &c.

The humble memorial of the undersigned inhabitants of Wellington, and its vicinity, Shewelh, —That your memorialists have heard with deep regret from his Honor the Superintendent of the Southern district, of an intention on the part of your Excellency to appropriate the ground at present used as a public Cemetery to the exclusive use of the English Episcopal Church. That your memorialists have therefore addressed a petition to the House of Commons a copy of which they enclose and they beg to call your Excellency's most serious attention to the statements therein contained, to its prayer, and to the letter of Colonel Wakefield also enclosed, in which the intentions of the New Zealand Company in laying out of the ground are distinctly set forth. And your memorialists pray, that your Excellency will be pleased to suspend any exclusive appropriation of the piece of land in which interments have taken place,' until the will of Her Most Gracious Majesty be expressed. And your memorialists &c.

"Wellington, Not. 27, 1844, Sir, — I beg to acknowledge the receipt, on my return from the country, of your letter of the 18th instant, in which you request me tostatt explicitly "the intention* of the New Zealaad : Coinpauy in the ftrßt Appropriation of the Ceawi* : t«J." <- Jn reply I hare to inform yon that the tl£f>t&n acrta at tn'» back of tanabton-quay were reserved at a plaM of buriaU without r%ffe'rfuce ; los^. Church or religious diitinctiop. - . %, ftm, 'Sir, " 4 YowTety obedient senrant, To Mr, J. Wopdwa^rd. ~"*