New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday December 14, 1844.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 10, 14 December 1844, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday December 14, 1844.

The value of the intelligence brought by the Ariel from Sydney this week, cannot be overrated. By a letter from Mr. E. G. Wakefield to his brother Colonel Wakefield, it will be seen that the Committee of the House of Commons on New Zealand had decided every point of importance in favour of the New Zealand Company, and by a letter received by Mr. Justice Chapman we have learn', that the Committee had also decided, -that all land, not in the actual possession and occupation of the natives, must be considered as " waste land " belonging to the Crown. If the Colonial Office act upon this report, there will be an end of the system, kfrwhi^h fictitious claims' have been allowed, and by means of which, a premium for inventing and, if necessary, forging claims has teen offered to every Maori throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand. There will be an end to an exhibition of mingled folly, injustice, and cruelty, which only those who have seen the sufferings resulting from it, can duly execrate. Of course there will be an end to the Penny an acre proclamation, or rather to the proclamation for giving land away, contrary to reiterated instructions, and to an Act of Parliament. There may,-also, be an end to Captain Fitzroy's performances as a Governor. He may, doubtless, remain and carry out the instructions of the Committee, in issuing Crown Grants to the Company for all the land which it has purchased, and in giving possession by employing military force, but will he do so ? It matters not, for some one must do it, and, after five years suffering, the settlers in Cook's Straits have a prospect of enjoying what they have purchased at an expense of life, money, vexation and harrassing delay, at which it is frighful to look back. "Not so fast," some readers may say. "True it is that the Committee have reported, but when and how will eff?:t,be given to its 'report?" We answer tfiat question by saying that nobody knows. We do know, however, that tre Committee was composed of ten ministerial members and of only five in opposition to her Majesty's Government, and that we may trust to them to see that their report is promptly acted upon. Lord Howick too, was the chairman, who, besides being one of the most indefatigable members of the House, has devoted years the consideration ef systematic colonization, and who, although without Lord Stanley's fluency and power as a debater, is as far his superior in general knowledge, as he is in industry and tenacity of purpose. .Lord Howick alone is a pledge that the iVport of the Committee will not remain a dtld letter. If it should cost some thousands to carry it out, from the necessity of employing military force, the blame for this necessity must fall on the Colonial Office. It first hatched the figment that Maori titles to land were of the same nature as ' titles to land in England ; and by establishing Mr. Spain's Court of Claims it opened contracts as honestly made, as perfectly understood by bpth parties, and as solemnly ratified, coufirmedj'tnd finally closed, as any such contracts could be. The Local Government improved upon the hint thus given them, and and rtfver missed an opportunity of obstructing, thwarting, plundering, and oppressing every colo::ist connected with the Compauy. By these means the colony, when the present Governor arrived, had been brought to a deplorable state of exhaustion. Nearly all capital had been expended, immigration had ceased, and a large jcommanity, that might hare been thriving and affluent if not consumingi ng goods from the mother-country, and paying for them in. exports of oil, wood, and flax, was Casting about for the means of subsistence. Such a state of things was an opprobium even to the Colonial Office. Captain- Fitzroy must, we presume, have had instruction? to apply a remedy. How did he do it? He began by an explosion of childish passion at Barrett's Hotel, which surprised and shocked every body in the room, and then proceeded to Ntlion, where be dismissed

a Jjody of magistrates without assigning a reason. The description of both these exhibitions is said to have produced a striking effect on the Committee. Since then Captain Fitzroy has pursued a course which it is impossible to describe by any word usually applicable to the proceedings of a rational Governor. He has been full of action, only he has done nothing but mischief. t He has talked and written, we imagine, enough to have saved an empire, but no trace of benefit is visible to the eye of the most curious observer. He has not settled the Land Question ; but he has rendered its knot so complicated, that even his successor must employ a sword to cut it. He has not conciliated or acquired the slightest power over the maories, for they do not conceal their scorn of the whole body of officials. He has not taken a single step to develope the resources o£ a country, whose resources he himsaid ,were inexhaustible, out he hss (Ay* troyed its revenues. Having nearly no incoapofe he has promised to reduce the expenditure to half, which promise is potently believed t but his promise to pay the other half is at an enormous discount. No other man could have demolished a character and the remains of a colony, in so short a time as Captain Fitzroy has done. The prestige of a new Governor vanished in a fortnight. Philo-maorieisra or rather prosstration at the feet of filthy savages was Gai zetted as the only road to preferment. A Maori Exemption Ordinance, and a Maori Land Trust Ordinance, quickly followed ; folly could ' no farther go without declaring that the white men bad been imported expressly to furnish maori pic-nics, and thus has Captain Fitzroy shewn himself to be the saviour of the colony. Again we say that if- it-cost some thousands to set things right, the' blame of the necessity must rest with the Colonial Office, who by its acts and by those of its servants, have done all the mischief. We are most anxious for the arrival of the Caledonia, which was to sail on the first of I August, and may, therefore, be expected in _a week or so, as she will bring out the particulars of what has been, done by t}i€( friends of the Colony in England. It Is clear that they have not been idle, and if we should obtain possession of the land, and an entire new policy should be adopted respecting the colony, we shall havp to thank the absentees for those inestimable boons. We believe, there were never more than, half-a-dozen persons who advocated a scramble for the land of the absentees, and they will, we trust, now preceive the impolicy of their project. We say nothing of the honesty, for that i was on a par with American repudiation, wh ; ch is on a par with the honesty of promising to pay for goods on delivery, and on. receiving them telling the seller to go to the devil, but we may shortly point out its folly. There is no I parralel to it except in the old fable of the body and the limbs. The absentees, that is ! those who have bought land here and their ! friends in England, are the body of the colony. On those we have depended and must continue to depend for existence, as well as for support and encouragement of every kiud. The insane idea of quarrelling with them is perhaps the strongest proofs of the straights to which misgovernment had brought us. It I was not like killing the goose for the golden | egg, for as -the absentees -land could be more"" easily obtained than thpir own, there was no egg to get. It was more like some of those mad inspirations observable during a shipwreck, when men destroy for the sake of destruction, and run a muck in order to kill others, because they believe that they might be drowned themselves. Their project was insane, dishonest, impolitic, and un-English, and we repeat with heartfelt satisfaction, that it never had more than six advocates.

We understand that the Superintendent has been most assiduous in coaxing the natives to leave the Hutt, according to a promise said to have been given to the chiefs at I Waikanai, wh«n Captain Fitzroy, handed over to them four or five hundred pounds of the Company's money. All his Honor's endeavours have, however, hitherto been without avail, and Te Ringa Kuri b&3 got his seed potatoes ready to be planted on Mr. Sw.ainson's land. It is rumoured that the Maories

have, in this transaction, completely taken in he Governor, Mr. Hadfield, and all engaged in it, that is to say, that they have displayed their habitual trickery and ignorance of moral obligations by flatly declining to give that for which the money was paid. Nay, it is whispered that when asked by the officials to fulfil their promises they grinned, put their tongue in , their cheeks, and cried out " spooney," " does your mother know your out " 1 " has your mother sold her mangle " ? and were guilty of many other acts of indecorum and downright rudeness. His Honour, we believe, feels very sore on the subject.c t. He suspects that some of the Yankee whalers have been paeaching the doctrines of equality and repudiation amongst the innocent children of nature.

When we consider the vital importance of a speedy settlement of the Land Chinjg^ thjfj get&ral distress"and misery occasioned by our forced inactivity, our inability to obtain possession of land sufficient to grow enough to support a bare existence ; we may be excused for recurring again to this all engrossing subject; and, by additional arguments and considerations derived from the facts of the case, both as regards our own position and tbat of the natives, for attempting to whet the almost blunted purpose of our rulers to meet out to the unfortunate settlers of this district a scanty measure of justice. Five years have nearly passed away since the settlement was first founded, and we are not yet in possession of our lands. A year has nearly elapsed since his Excellency Captain Fitzroy assumed the Government of the colony, and gave to the settlers an unqualified pledge of immediately settling the -Land Claims, and yet they remain as far from being se! tied as ever ; and, we may venture to add, that his Excellency's method of dealing with it, has still further embarrassed the question, and thrown additional difficulties in the way of its final adjustment. We think this will appear evident if we inquire who, according to native custom, were the rightful owners of Port Nicholson, and consequently who had the power of disposing of it when the settlers arrived in New Zealand ; and fot this purpose we shall give a succinct account of the principal events connected with its history^ according to the statemehtsi of the natives, and of those Englishmen who,' frocn their long residence in New Zealand, and their acquaintance with the native language and customs, are entitled to be regarded as authorities on this subject. About twenty-five or thirty years ago, E Pehi, chief of the Ngati-toa tribe, who was afterwards killed at Banks' Peninsula, first attacked the Ngatikahunis, who were at that time in possession of the southern extremity of the Northern Island, from Ouridi on the east, to Otaki on the west coast. In this expedition he was assisted by Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, and Watanui, chief of the Ngatiraukawas, who acted as auxiliaries, anl succeeded in driving them out of this district as far as Wairarapa. After this, Pomare, son-in-law of Rauparaha, and chief of the Ngatitamu tribe, removed from Taranaki to Kapiti, and having remained there some time, joined E Pehi, Rauparaha, Rangihaeata, and Watanui in a second expedition against the Ngatikahunis, who they succeeded m driving from Port Nicholson and Wairarapa, as far back as Ouridi. After their victory, the confederate chiefs appear to have divided their conquests between them as follows : — To Watanui were assigned the districts of Otaki and Manawatu: — to Rauparaha, E Hiko, the son of E Pehi, and Tunia,— Kapiti, which in those days was considered valuable as the principal station of trading with ships visiting this coast, Waikanai, Wainui r -aud . Pukirua ; — to Rangihaeata, Mana and Porirua; — and to Pomare, Port Nicholson : this division took place in 1827. In 1833 E Puni, Waripori, and the Ngatiawa tribes left Taranaki, after the Waikato wars in that ! district, and came to Waikanai, where they established themselves ; in the following year they were attacked by Rauparaha and Watanui ; but being assisted by Pomare from Port Nicholson, they succeeded in repulsing their enemies with considerable loss. A peace was then concluded between the different tribes, and the Ngatiawas separated into three divisions, one part remaining at Waikanai, another part settling at Queen Charlotte's Sound, and E Puni and the present natives of Port Nicholson removing to Wairarapa. In 1835, Rauparaha threatened to attack the tribes settled at Port Nicholson and Wairarapa, which induced Pomare with his tribe to remove to the Ghatham Island, when the Ngatiawas, with Pomare's consent, left Wairarapa for Port Nicholson, of which they have since remained in undisputed possession. Now, according to native custom, a title to land was obtained

either by conquest or inheritance, but conquest gave the strongest right ; and if, as we believe, the above statement be correct, we do not see what claim Rauparaha and Rangihaeata have to interfere with the district of the Hutt, since in the general division of spoil it was allotted to another tribe, who in a subsequent engagement with them were conquerors. The Local Government therefore, by countenancing the groundless claim* of Rauparaba and Rangihaeata, have used their influence and authority to prevent the settlers from obtaining possession of the District, for there was no dispute between them and the Ngatiawas, the rightful owners of the soil, who have uuiformly adhered to their agreement in a manner that does them j infinite credit. But as if still, farther to | embarrass the question, his .Excellency has introduced at Taranaki a new rule unheard of by the natives before this time, whereby the title of conquered tribes to any districts from which they have been driven out is to be considereJ4as suspended, not extinguished, and by refusing to confirm the decision of Mr. Commissioner Spain, who has devoted more than two years to the patient investigation of native titles, and who, it may be presumed, has by this time acquired a competent knowledge of the subject, has incalculably increased the difficulties we have to contend with. If this rule be correct at Taranaki, we see no reason why the Ngatikahunis should not claim payment as the original owners of the district of the Hutt ; but even his Excellency is not prepared to entertain a proposition so absurd as this, — then why should he 1 act upon it in the case of the slaves at Taranaki ? In the meantime the natives are .permitted to do whatever seemeth good in their own eyes ; — in the the district of the Hutt vagabond Maories from all parts and belonging to different tribes are allowed to occupy the land, to the prejudice of the settlers and natives who wera the rightful owners of the soil; and, in answer to his Honor the Superintendent's requisitions, declare that nothing but force will compel them to depart. Setting aside all consideration of what is due to the settlers, his Excellency is guilty of gross injustice to the peaceable and well disposed natives of this district. They see with concern and alarm those who formerly dared not approach their territories, now impudently laying claim to the best portions of them, and bavjng their claimr allowed, and aUemptingUo^engross-tha trade of the district with the settlers to their exclusion. They find that no opposition is offered by the Local Government to the encroachments of these interlopers, while they are not permitted to drive them away, or to maintain the settlers in possession of their purchase. They see a premium offered to i turbulence and disaffection, and can hardly be [ persuaded to remain quiet under the temptatation. We were led to believe that, if his Excellency could settle with Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, all difficulty in the way of obtaining possession of the land would be | removed ; now these chiefs have received payment, and those acting under their authority defy the Government and refuse to go away. Now that all has been done that his Excellency conceived was necessary to perfect the title of the settlers, will he teach these chiefs that they will not be allowed to trifle with his authority, and compel them to fulfil their- engagemsnts ? or will he content himself as heretofore by commending to the settlers the virtues of patience ? But.we are entitled to assume much higher ground. The last advices from England state that the Committee of the House of Commons on New Zealand, have taken the same view of the Land Question, with that maintained in the Memorial of the Land Owners, published in our last number : namely, " that all the waste and unoccupied lauds of New Zealand, belong to -the Crown -from the time the Sovereignty of Great Britain was proclaimed in these Islands :" — and further, that it is the part of the Government and not of the New Zealand Company, to extinguish the native title and to put the settlers in possession of their lands. This is the obvious interpretation of Lord John Russell's agreement with the New Zealand Company, in which he undertakes " that the Company shall be secured by a grant from the Crown to them, under the public seal of the colony of as many acres of land as shall be equal to four times the number of pounds sterling, which they shall be found to have expended," in their purchases of land from the natives, and in the other expences attending the founding and establishing their settlements ; the Company agreeing on their part " to foregtf and disclaim all title or pretence of title to any lands, purchased or acquired by them in New Zealand, other than the lands so to be granted to them as aforesaid, and other than any lands which may hereafter be purchased or acquired by them from the Crown or from persons deriving their title from the Crown." If any further argument were required, Lord John Russell's en-

tgegment whereby he constitutes the Company the Agents or Brokers of the Government for the sale of lands in New Zealand, allowing them 20 per cent, for the two first years and afterwards 15 cent as commission, would be conclusive ; as principals are bound by the acts of their agents, to any persons who enter into engagements with them on the faith of their character as agents. How will the Local Government act on the receipt of this intelligence ? While affecting to sympathize with the distressed settlers of Cook's Straits, will they by secret hostility and the countenance afforded to the disaffected and turbulent natives, continue their efforts to disorganize and ruin these settlements ? Will the Native Protectors and other traders in philanthrophy who have enriched themselves by landsharking, and who now see in prospective a glorious harvest of jobbing in the penny an acre system, fearing that their craft is in danger to be set at nought, talk as heretofore of the dangers of collision,* of the risk of pinvoking a war orextermination with the natives, or the inability of the Government to maintain its authority, and like Demetrius of old when he perceived his idol in danger, calling together their fellow labourers, cry, " Great is Diaria of the Ephesians ?" We are not sanguine enough to expect from the present Local Government any great change for the better : When we were recommended by Lord John Russell to their kindness and consideration, we found their tender mercies cruel ; — and if they experience no difficulty in setting aside Acts of Parliament, they will feel but little compunction in evading the resolutions of a Parliamentary Committee. Our only hope is that men of sense, energy, and discretion, may be appointed to conduct the affairs of the colony, who will'establish something like order and good Government, in the place of confusion and anarchy, which indecision and imbecility have introduced. Then but not till then the settlers may rest assured that prosperity will at no distant period attend their exertions, and reward them for the anxieties and privations which they have suffered.

Bt private letters from Wanganui, we learn that the Governor had deputed Mr. Symonds, P.M., and Mr. Forsaith to treat with the natives for the final sale of that district. They were expected to arrive there on the 4th instant. In another part of our paper will be found, a letter from the principal ■HthiefettneTe; in reply to the calumnies circulated by the Aborigines Protection Society. We regret to hear that the fine new house belonging to S. harrison, Esq., has been totally destroyed by fire, it was caused by a spark from a pipe igniting the shavings outside. The crops are looking well. The Harvest was expected to begin before Christmas.

(Copy.) New Zealand House, July 16, 1844. My Dear "William, — I am writing to you by eve*-y channel, to let you know that the House of Commons, to whom was referred the difference between the Company and the Colonial Office, has passed Resolutions deciding every point of importance in favour of the Company, and condemning the policy and conduct of the Local Government from the beginning to the end so far as it is known here. The Report, explanatory of the Resolutions will not be presented to the House till next week : but the Resolutions are irrevocable, and constitute the pith of the Committee's decision. The Committee consisted of ten supporters of the Government, and five members of the opposition. Until the Report shall be presented to the House, there can he no publicity, and I cannot speak of the Resolutions except in the ! general terms whigh express^he knowledge I of them which hundreds possess. N We shall send out a fast-sailing vessel, on purpose, with copies of the Report and all particulars. The common opinion here is, that when the Resolutions, with the evidence on which they are based, shall be published, public confidence in the Company will he restored, and that a large number of cabin-passage emigrants will at once proceed to the three settlements. Many are known to he waiting only for the decision of Parliament. Yours ever affectionately, (signed.) E. • G. Wakefield. Colonel Wakefield, Wellington, New Zealand.