New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, November 30, 1844.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 8, 30 November 1844, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, November 3 0, 1844.

Wx said in the first' number of this paper, that a* far as the interests of the settlers are concerned, we were without any Government at all, and every day confirms « truth, of which, perhaps, few were sincerely ignorant. The Governor staid here for a week, and since then has been coasting between this place and Taranaki, but there is no symptom of the slightest change for the better in the position or prospects of the colony. The firsf, last, great, fundamental question of land, remains exactly as it was. Negociations have been going on between the Governor and the chiefs at Waikani. Some few hundred pounds more have been paid to Te Raupheraha and Rangihacata, that is handed to two young natives Martin and Thompson, the former Te Rauperaha's son, the latter Rangihaeata's nephew, for which the old men have given a receipt. The natives on the Hutt have been informed of the payment and the condition on which, it had been made, namely, that they should leave the Hutt, which, as might have been anticipated, they have positively refused to do. Another attempt to persuade them is, we are told, to be made by inviting Martin and Thompson to see them, and by young Mr. Clarke spending a week amongst them and giving his Maori vocabulary an airing. During these negociations the Superintendent has made known that no force will be used to cause the natives to fulfil the bargain made with the chiefs, and thus, we believp, must burst another bubble about the possession of land, and thus will Captain Fit?roy have relieved " the distressed settlers in Cook's Straits." The whole of this affair has been so childish, and the self-delusion or the attempt to delude others, by those who have meddled in it, is so transparent, that we can hardly help laughing. At all events we can " grin " and we must " bear "it; for {her© can be no chance of any satisfactory settlement -with the natives through the medium of any one concerned in these proceedings. The raaories must have been highly amused at the display of what the runners of the Government call its "policy." Yes this was the very word applied by an official present when the Governor at his last visit proposed his plan of out-witting the chiefs, of which this scheme for obtaining possession of the Hutt was a part, Policy indeed ! we would sooner call the machinations of a spider, policy, not forgetting that that ingenious artificer generally catches a fly, whilst in this case the combined virtue, wisdom, and valour of the Government have not, for alj we know, caught even a maori maggot. "What can Captain Fitzroy do ? " we can imagine, some official defenders saying, " How can he act otherwise after receiving Lord Stanley's dispatch repecting the Wairau Massacre ? " Did these pleaders in favour of the Governor on such a ground ever hear -of Major-General Sir Charles Napier, one of the heroes of Corunna, afterwards Governor of Cephalonia, and recently the Conqueror of Scinde ? He was once talking with Colonel Colebrooke, who had been a .Colonial Governor, and we believe still is one, a sedate matter of fact red-tapist, about the difficulty irr*hidra person in command Is 'placed, \pu receiving instructions from, home written without a full knowledge of the circumstances. of the. transact ions to which they relate, or relating to a transaction to which circumustances bad been added since the dispatch was written ; and Colonel Colebrooke said — "I will tell you what I should do in such a case, I should read over the instructions very carefully, and determine in my own mind how the Government at home woulJ have instructed me, provided it had been in possession of the same fufrl knowledge of the circumstances of jjie trsriiaction, or of the addition circuraffrppei, as myself, and I should then act «T#raiogly." "Well, J will tell you what I should do Colebroke," said Charles Napier r— I should read over the instruction! very CftnfoUy, and, after having decided on what 4 believed the Government would have me do under the circumstances, I should do exactly the contrary." Apply this to the

case of Captain Fitzroy. We all know that the Colonial Minister must have instructed hiitf as to his general policy respecting the ! Maories, in almost blind ignorance of their character, for who can know it without an ' opportunity of studying it ? As to the Wairau Massacre it is notorious that a whole mass of facts must have been designedly suppressed, and a great many distorted by Mr. Shortland, — and on this information Lord Stanley instructed the Governor of New Zealand. How would a man like Napier have acted on such an occasion ? He would have examined the whole question for himself. He would have found that the policy of his predecessors was a bad one, because founded on a fallacy, namely — a belief that the Maories are powerful and courageous enemies, and faithful friends ; that, as, on ths contrary, they are contertfprible enemies, without any idea of gratitude or honour, that they might be easily coerced, and ought never to be trusted. Respecting the Wairau Massacre, he would have found that it did not result from the aggressions of the settlers as stated by Lord Stanley ; but from the machinations of some wretched Europeans, who feared that colonization might interfere with their power over the Maories whom they aided and impelled to resist, and finally murder the settlers. Having ascertained this much, he would, in spite of a dispatch, have placed the matter beyond all doubt by a judicial investigation. The originators of the Massacre would have been tried, most probably convicted, and, if convicted, punished according to law. The effect of such a proceeding over the whole race of Maories would have been overpowering and permanent, The united power and and justice of one wise white-man would have rendered white-men peaceably paramount throughout the land. Captain Fitzroy has acted differently. Almost as soon as he landed in New Zealand, with very little knowledge of the country and its inhabitants, he proclaimed impunity to all concerned in a wholesale butchery and by so doing precluded himself from ever re-considering the case. He has no doubt acted in conformity with the ignorant views of the Colonial office, but in what sort of a position does he stand as a Governor ? Twelve months will soon have passed since his arrival, and he has not advanced one inch either in conciliating or coercing the natives. Whilst we write, he may be, as he has been for the last fortnight, haranguing the slaves at Taranaki to no purpose. Next week he may be concocting, with the assistance of Mr. Hadfield, some fresh scheme for coaxing the natives not to be savages, but it will be all in vain. To succeed as a Governor a man must govern. Coining petty schemes and leaving them half begun is not governing. Running up and down or sailing hither and thither is not governing. Since writting the above, we have ascertained that the scheme, for getting the natives away from the Hutt, is a perfect failure and never had a chance of success. We have also seen a gentleman, who was present at an interview with the Superintendent last week, of which some account by a correspondent appeared in our last number, and he is most positive that the Superintendent said, that he would forthwith employ military force I if the nattves "refused" to quit the valley of the Hutt. The natives have refused to leave. The Superintendent will not use force of any kind and thus will end the first farce respecting the land since we began this journal. We shall take care to record succeeding ones in their order.

Our paper, last week, contained an advertisement convening a meeting of the working classes on Thursday last, for the purpose of requesting the Governor td make them a grant of land ; a very modest, though, it the same time, a very natural request for them to make, after the expectations held ouc by his I Excellency, the overt acts of the Superintendent, and the example set them by gentlemen so much better informed than themselves. We know that we are approaching a delicatesubject : but the fearless love of truth impels us to say that we allude 10 the proposal for throwing open the Hutt district to a general scramble and appropriation.

We have said a general scramble. But, in point of fact, we have gone too far ; for, though we have seen various plans .for effecting the distribution, we have examined none yet that went the whole length of an equal division of plunder, among all classes of the community, nor, on the other hand, one that pretended to carry out, with as little deviation as possible, the original scheme of the settlement. Every one was ingeniously framed to meet the particular case of the inventor, ! so as to secure to him the largest share of the sweets of confiscation. All, however, were equally agreed in the justice, the wisdom j and the desirableness, of setting a terrible j example to those wretches in England, who might think of investing their money in the colonies ; who had been so silly as to be entrapped into a speculation to which they had contributed three fourths of the captal; who, for five years,' had been so fraudulent as to hold a barren claim from which they had recovered 'neither principal nor interest, and whose avarice and rapacity had reached that point that, having taken their chance with us in the lottery, they had imagined themselves entitled to the prospective enjoyment of the prizes. The working classes, therefore, have the excuse of example ; but not of example alone. We are withheld from saying, in plain language, all that we think and feel with respect to the abuses of authority — the capricious violations of law and justice and sound policy — by which the prosperity of this settlement is impeded ; but it can be concealed no longer that what should have been regarded as a benign and salutary power, has come to be suspected and detested as the prolific source of our misfortunes. Instead of looking forward to the bountiful progresses of a paternal ruler, we are obliged to imagine a maligant influence, hovering over and circumnavigating these islands ; leaving us neglected but not forgotten thiough long periods of time, during which the innate force of society developes some new resources and lights up some gleams of prosperity, when suddenly the atmosphere is darkened, our evil genius steals into the harbour, deposits .the germs of some misunderstanding or jealousy among us, and then — vanishes from the scene. We ate not using language too forcible, nor deviating in the slightest degree from the truth, when we say that there never has been a single occasion yet, when this settlement was visited by a representative of Government, without his departure being succeeded by some decrease in the public confidence, some disturbance of our harmony or of our commercial and agricultural prosperity ; but above all we have to lament the growth of that indiscribable feeling of vexation and distress which gives one a dim perception of wha> loyal men suffer when, for the first time, theyt conceive it possible, under any provocation, that they should ever come to hate the Mother Country as much as they once loved her. They see that it is possible ; and this, in the case of a virtuous and affectionate child, is the first symptom of alienation, and the de? gree of pain that it excites on its own account, is the measure of that unnatural and fiendlike cruelty which administers a mockery or a poison, in answer to a request for food. We have been led into these reflections by the recent application of the settlers for an adjustment of the Land Claims, and the publication in reply of the Governor's Proclamation concerning the purchase of land. Here are 120,000 acres of land, selected out of a tract extending probably over 120 miles of coast, — not necessary, with small exceptions possibly, to the use and occupation of the natives, — for which considerable sums have already been paid, to which, therefore, their is an inchoate right, a right at least to have the bargain completed on equitable terms, — lands, the acquisition of which is essential to the I existence of thousands of Englishmen, innocent of the underplot of miserable jealousy between the Company and the Government, — lands, that have been made the subjects of complicated transactions, sales, leases, charges, incumbrauces of all kinds, — the possession of which by tho white man would leave the native the owner of vast tracts of country rendered valuable by these concessions ; and yet we are not now in the occupation of *

single acre that was not yielded to us before the arrival of Captain Hobson, although there is no man of common sense in.ihis place who can doubt that the question might have been finally settled, two or three years ago, to the unspeakable benefit of both races, if the4ocal government had honestly and sincerely devoted itself to the task. We say nothing here about the laches of the New Zealand Company. We have a long account to settle wicli them ; but, at present, we are dealing with the common enemy — one of the accidents of warfare which sometimes causes men to be misunderstood — and this we bay, confidently, that if there had been a particle of sincerity in the professions of the ' local government of their desire to settle the land question, they might have done so, on several occasions, and that without violence, fraud, or intimidation, buju simply by an expression of the will of Government, resolutely and sincerely made, that all just bargains should be fulfilled, all imperfect ones completed, and, in all cases, that the white man should have possession of the laud, " subject to the rightful and necessary occupation and use thereof by the natives." But so long as the machinery and secret influence of the local Government are employed to thwart its own ostensible decrees, it will be mere dreaming to think about settling the land question. Even now, by the removal of these emissaries to whom we have alluded, and by a straightforward and manly policy, it might be done, and the colony might be saved ; but we have no hope of it, while those disgusting animosities prevail between the Company and the Government, or whilst the official and missionary land speculators in the north imagine that they can keep open the land question being a perpetual blister upon the prosperity of this settlement. When his Excellency visited this place, in February last, he said, in the hearing of too many gentlemen to have misunderstood him " I will not leave Port Nicholson until I have settled the land question." He did leave the place without settling the land question. He has visited it twice since, without settling the land question ; and now, at the end of November, we are told that his Excellency has made some kind of treaty about a portion of the district/; but the result, so far as we are concerned, is that we cannot obtain possession of a single acre of land that was not ceded to us before his arrival in New Zealand. His Excellency has not settled the land question ; but, in lieu of this, he has been pleased to issue a proclamation, which throws opon the whole of New Zealand prospectively to a general fever of land sharking ; dispenses, by an act of more than sovereign power, with an act of Parliament passed after the most ample experience and the most solemn deliberation ; sets aside one out of three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi; tramples under foot the Land Claims' Ordinance ; destroys the standard of value, which had been artificially created by the Government, for wise and beneficent purposes, on the faith of which ten thousand people had emigrated and at least a million of money had been invested ; annihilates, destroys in utero as it were, the prospective revenue derivable from the sale of so many millions of acres of waste land ; deludes the native with the spendthrift opportunity of selling his birthright in,a gluUeiAud^tepreciatedTirtfrfc^tf 1 confers an enormous power of jobbing and . bribery on the executive, and, in fine, lays open a vast and unfathomable abyss of corruption, in which council members .and, protectors, missionaries aud newspaper editors, and all the droves and swarms of that mythology, may disport themselves without ' limits and without end ; — and- alMhls, upon the pretext that the Queen's Government , will be endangered if the natives have not the power of selling their land. We write deliberately, when we say that this measure, if sanctioned at home, will prove the death blow to the systematic colonisation of this country, and will cause a resuscitation of all those evils which the Government was established to suppress* The capitalist will be destroyed, as a matter of course, if any can be said to survive at - this time, and the labourers themselves, the only persons likely to be deceived by the * proposal, will find themselves the victims of

a delusive theory. The natives" having 1 divested themselves of their interest in the ]«nd itself, will look in vain for the golden eggs, iv the form of 15 to 20 per cent, of the had revenue ; and may then perhaps invent some new, tnd more fearful reclamations, against their governors. They will be thrown into collision with white men of the j lowest class, who will be dispersed in every nook aud corner of the islands, where law cannot reach them ; and, in this way, providence may effect some inscrutable design. We may not understand the policy of the Government. It may be "that they have some idea — we will not call it a statesman like one — of extinguishing the native title, through the agency of the white men, and then of resuming the Queen's right to the land through the means of taxation — without stay very distinct perception that, in all probability, the same process would extinguish the natives themselves. For their sakes alone, and in the interest of humanity, we protest against this monstrous exercise of a capricious and lawless dispensing power ; and we appeal to Lord Stanley, against a most wanton and unjustifiable infraction of his own Act of Parliament, and of their own ordinances, by the Colonial Government.

Without indulging in the extravagant raptures cf the Auckland press, on the late extensive alterations made by his Excellency, whereby the system of indirect ttarx r ation as maintained by the Customs was abolished, and direct taxation resorted to as the principal means of raising a revenue in this colony, we are disposed to believe that the change will be beneficial iv many respects. In the first place, any system of direct taxation appears to press more heavily on the subject, and by rendering it very difficult to increase the amount to be' raised beyond a certain limit, operates as a wholesome restraint on the disposition too often manifested by Colonial Governors to squander the revenue under their control in profuse expenditure, and in gratifying their obsequious dependants by the patronage which a flourishing exchequer places at their dis'£bsal. That "the Local Government of thjs colony is not an exception to the general rule, is abundantly proved by the debt incurred in Captain Hobson's and Mr. Shortland's time, and nothing but imperious necessity could have induced Captain Fitzroy to consent to a redaction of patronage, as in the debate on the estimates in the late session of the Legislative Council, in opposing the amendment of those members who wished to reduce the expence of the current year to £20,000, his Excellency's principal, objection to the proposal was the effect it would have on the salaries of Government officials, for said he, " if no assistance was received from tho Home Government, the expenditure would have to be reduced one half, which would cause many officials to leave the colony, and we should lose a respectable copulation." But we have positively gained by the reduction of taxation to the amount of £12,000, the difference between the two estimates submitted to the Council as the probable amount of revenue for the current year, the last estimate altogether amounting only to the sum expected in the former estimate from the Customs alone. Another advantage to be hoped for from the change will be its effect in hastening the settlement of the Land Cairns, lor as by the policy of the Government we are considered only tenants at will of the natives, we cannot be expected to pay any tax on those lands which ought to constitute a principal part of owsuproperty until we have received a title to tfiem from the Crown. But the advantage will chiefly be felt in the trade of the colony, which mutt receive additional vigoui in being freed from all restrictions. In all new colonies it would be good policy to allow the first efforts of the settlers in establishing a trade, to be unfettered by duties and exactions, but much more ia a colony like this, with -its long line of coast, its numerous harbours, and scattered population, both Native^and European, where the only effect of high duties would be to encourage smuggling, which the Government could have no adequate means of preventing. Let us consider for a moment the effect of these alterations on the shore fisheries. Last year (1843) about twelve hundred tuns of oil and sixty tous of whalt bone, were exported from this settlemeet the produce of the different stations connected with Port Nicholson. The expence of maintaining these stations may be roughtly estimated *t fourteea thousand pounds, and of this sum two thousand seven hundred pounds must, be considered as having been paid to Government in duties. Now it is plain that the/same amount'of capital will from the abo-

,lition of duties, be available either in increasing the number of stations, or in strengthening those already established, and it is reasonable to expect in either case that our exportation of oil and bone, at present the principal exports of these islands will be greatly increased ; or as a less amount of capital will be required to maintain the present stations in an effective state, the surplus will be employed in the cultivation of the soil or in other pursuits tending to promote the prosperity of the colony. In any case we are gainers. We have taken some pains in obtaining information on this point, and believe the above statement will be found sufficiently correct for the purpose of our argument, but we supply the data of our calculations receivt-d from persons who have been long engaged in the fisheries, that our readers may judge for themselves. It is estimated that the cost of establishing a four boat station would amount to one thousand pounds, of which sum according to the scale of duties now repealed, one hundred pounds or ten per cent, would be paid to Government in duties, and under ordinary circumstances these fittings aie supposed to last three years. The cost of the necessary provisions and supplies for a four boat station for the season would be five hundred pounds, and of this sum the duties would amount to one hundred and twenty-five pounds, or twenty-five per cent. The number of boats belonging to different stations according to a statement in our first number is sixty-eight, which would produce the above result. It must also be borne in mind that theae duties were always paid before the supplies &c. were sent to the stations, so that their repeal will greatly reduce the losses of an unsuccessful season. While on this subject we should remind our friends in England that for the two last seasons, the supply of well seasoned casks has been wholly inadequate to the demand, the price this year was sixty shillings, and towards the end of the season seventy shillings per ton, and more oil would have been received from the different stations, if they had been well supplied with casks. Some of the oil this season, from the want of English casks, will be shipped in casks make of native wood. The present season has terminated favorably, and the amount of oil to be shipped direct from this port may be estimated at twelve hundred tuns, and forty-nine tons of whale bone. The trade also between the mother-country and .the colony \vill be greatly beuefitted and extended by reducing the price of the goods imported, and thereby increasing the demand for them ; and when losses are incurred from the fluctuation of the market ; these losses will not be aggravated as heretofore by the exaction of duties. And if, as we have every reason to bope, the amount of our exports be increased by our obtaining a nrnrket in England for our flax, our useful and ornamental woods, and other indigenous productions, free trade will infuse additional vigour in our undertakings, and greatly extend our operations. Another great advautage now peculiar to this colony is the attraction it offers to shipping to resort to its ports for refitting and obtaining provisions from the absence of all port charges. At Port Phillip and Adelaide the port dues are very, heavy, and though whalers are allowed to enter Sydney and Hobart Town free from port dues, still their proximity to the whaling grounds, and the cheapness of provisions will always secure the preference to the ports of New Zealand. But while we indulge in pleasing anticipations of the future, and would gladly consider the abolition of the customs as a boon, as the only advantage the Colonists have yet received from their present Governor, we must remember that it is an advantage conferred as it were incidentally, and not out of any regard to their interests, but solely to gratify the natives. They appear the only objects of his Excellency's consideration, for them he can in one day reverse the labours of a Legislative Session, and change the whole system of his Government, nay — upon compulsion can even cousent to reduce the salaries of the Government officials. But the advantages to be derived' from these alterations can only be obtained gradually, as confidence is established, our trade extended, and our exports increased. The change to be beneficial must be permanent, until we are assured of this, a degree of uncertainly will all ways attend and embarrass our commercial operations. While his Excellency continues to act from impulse, and in obedience to the caprice of the natives, who can feel assured of the permanence of any system which is established, when he sees it so suddenly altered ; when on the most important questions the ordinance of to-day, is repealed by that of to-morrow, when Acts of parliament are set aside, and the proclamation of one week reversed in the week succeeding?

We should be much obliged to any one who would inform us of the manner in which the Governor connived to get rid of the Bill for embodying a militia. The Home Govern-

merit has from the first been most anxious that the colonists should be armed and trained as a Militia, as we know from frequent men!ion of the subject by Lord John Russell, Lord Stanley, and Lord Ripon. By the votes of the Council at Auckland, it appears that the Governor introduced a militia bill, and moved its first and second reading himself, whereupon one of the so-called opposition members moved lhat the bill be read that day six months, which motion was carried, being opposed by nobody. Of course this must have been done by trickery, as Mr. Clifford being absent the Governor might have carried the bill if he had wished to do so. Does his Honor the Superintendent know any thing about it? Did he suggest that the bill should be smothered lest the militia might render the soldiers unnecessary, and so rob him of the laurels to be won on the bunks of the Hutt? We feel pretty sure that Lord Stanley will not permit his instructious to be disregard or evaded, and that as we dp not derive any protection f r om soldiers we shall be permitted to defend ourselves.

The Governor arrived at Taranaki on the Bth inst., and was still there when the Finetta left on the 23rd. He proposed several schemes for quieting thelJisputes about land but had accomplished nothing. He had accordingly announced his intention of proceeding to Auckland, and leaving Mr. Forsaitli to tiy his hand.

A correspondent, on whom we can rely, has informed us, that the prohable amount of the receipts for the first quarter, from the property and income tax, Will be about £120, in this place, whereas the amount rect-ivedtfrom the Customs' duties last year, during the same period, was about £1800. The Governor's debentures are at a great discount ; the highest offer for a £50 debenture at Taranaki being £30. We understand that the Governor has given as a reason for not employing more labourers at Taranaki, that he has been obliged to employ a great many at Wellington and Nelson, and dwells with great emphasis on his burdens arising from the failure of the New Zealand Company. What stuff ! There may be ten or fifteen men employed by the Government here, and the following account of the matter at Nelson will speak for itself. No burdens whatever have been thrown on the Government by the cessation of the Company's expenditure. " We understand the police magistrate has received an intimation from the Governor that no public works will be proceeded with in this settlement until he hears from home ; but that our destitute mechanics and labourers, if they can manage to pay their passage to Wellington, will be employed there at ten shillings a week. It fortunately happens that out of the large number of men discharged by the New Zealand Company a few weeks since, amounting to nearly 300, about half a dozen only hayj lately been dependent on the fund to prevent dcs itution, placed in the hands of the police magistrate by the superintendent. So active have the settlers been in extending cultivation, that a considerable number have been and still continue to be employed by them in fencing and breaking up new land ; others find employment in sawing timber for exportation others again in collecting spars for a like purpose; while those whose industry and frugality have furnished them with the means to remain on and improve their own little farms arc striving manfully to render themselves independent of working for hire at all. There is reason then to believe that few, if any, will be found to avail .hemsejves of His Excellency's offer. The crops, we hear from ever) quarter, are most promising ; and there can be little doubt that the result of the forthcoming harvest will induce many to farm who have hitherto been deterred by misgivings as to the capabilities of the soil. The 'swamps' of the Middle Island are beginning to be appreciated." — Nelson Examiner.