THE NEW ZEALAND QUESTION.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 239, 13 November 1847, Page 2

THE NEW ZEALAND QUESTION.

[From the Time*, July 16.J * ; % The agreement lately made between her Majesty's Government and the New Zealand Company, and which,, after undergoing a short debate in the House of Commons on Monday, is now embodied in a bill which was read a third time last night, is a measure based upon twofold considerations of justice and expediency. Whilst Earl Grey has fully recognised the claims of the Company to something in the nature of compensation for injuries inflicted by the Colonial-office both at home and abroad,, he very wisely prefers to rest his ample concessions chiefly on the expectation of public benefits which the Company is capable of conterring on the colony. No one at all acquainted with the history of this the only modern attempt at systematic colonisation can have failed .to perceive, with how fair a promise the settlement ' of ' New Zealand commenced. Through the active and prudent direction of the gentlemen who conducted its infant efforts, the germ of a society containing all the elements of industry, intelligence, and order,- was planted in the midst of a savage people. Not flung among the aborigines like an apple of discord after the fashion of most European immigrants, but heralds of peace and pioneers of civilisation, the Company's first band of colonists landed in the Bay of Wellington. From that moment prosperity set in — not to the settlers alone, but to the natives also, in nearly equal proportion. No internal discord nor extern*! hostility interrupted the , steady development of the Company's natural resources, The_ New Zealanders, though cunning, and som"e4 times unscrupulous, were neither treacherous nor intractable. Sir Robert Inglis paidttketn a tribute of praise but little exaggerated when he described their conduct as "surpassing the;, forbearance and magnanimity of nations nominally Christians." This , happy, state, of things, however, was not allowed, to^Qontimtev, The success of the Company was too much for the jealousy of certain individuals. •• Tfies* were not satisfied with the honest gains' of the bona fide colonist. There- is aclass^o£ persons to be found in every infant settlement: who regard it less as a field of legitimate enterprise than of reckless speculation, i Thejr are called land-jobbers. With .small capital - they buy large tracts of land at a cheap rat! in the hope of afterwards selling them; iir small portions at a great jprofit. They do more mischief than .flood,, fire, or tempest* and offer a more serious , obstruction to the; progress pf a young cplony than poverty* sickness, disease, or death. The avaricious designs pf these persons were much checked

by the power and precautions of the Company. Judging fron^ an inward consciousness of their own unpatriotic purposes, they could csee invthe Utter nothing but a prosperous ri~ ,'val.' tTbe future to them was nothing. So loiig as they got huge grants and made rapid , sales, they cared not if' the land of their traffic vere straightway afterwards absorbed in the waters of the Pacific. Their object was to make money and then, withdraw. They neither had nor wished 'to have any permanent interest in the country. They were therefore unavoidably hostile to the Company, and to those among its settlers to whom New Zealand was the laud of their adoption. In this spirit they set to work to undermine and to destroy. They earwigged the Gover- , pojs, and dropped false insinuations into the lion's mouth at the Colonial-office. In their *tc ry, • the Directors were land-jobbers like themselves, but more rapacious, and (this wii^ their pinch) more .favoured. The .islands .were insensibly, falling. Jqto, .the, hands of a j, jelfif kiuanopoly;,, . which ■ disregarded every- ,, thing but its own dividend. The common .weal was not their weal. Wellington was their favoured spot, and all .the rest a blank. , Theae representations haJ their effect. Whether implicitly believed or not, they produced their fruit in jealousy and suspicion. In the .colony itself they were especially successful. , Hobson, Sliortland, tnd Fitzroy, imbibed an inveterate hostility to the Company, which .was fostered by the missionaries, and perpet3 u«ted by Messrs. Clark and Sons. The local Government was conducted in a spirit as if the settlement at Wellington- was a rival power which must by all means be put down. Now backed by Downing-street, now .acting in defiance of it, the Governors who preceded Captain Grey -continued stedfast in their infatuated animosity. The end was the suspension of the Company's proceedings, and very.nearly its destruction. Jt is upon an impartial review of these and other circumstances that her Majesty's Government have come to a conclusion favourable to' the. Company's claims of compensation. The exact nature of these claims will be best understood from the following extract from the Company's memorial of the 23rd April : — „ "In the first agreement (November, 1 840), relying on a pledge of Lord J. Russell that a Crown Grant of its lands should be made forthwith, the Company waived its claim to all purchases -from the natives, increased its; capital, spent furtherlarge sums of money, and incurred heavy liabilities in colonising 'according lo its chatter. No grant under that agreement has ever been made. "* "In the 2d and 3d agreements (June 1841, and August 1842), the Company purchased Jinds from the Government, with the full understanding that' it should have the proper deeds of grant without delay ; and on the strength of this they proceeded to colonize, and again spent money and incurred liabili- j ties. No deeds, under those agreements, have ever been made. f f In the fourth agreement (May, 1843), relying on the distinct promise of Lord Stanley, that conditional grants should be made immediately on Captain Fitzroy's arrival in the colony, the company resumed its operations which had been suspended in the preceding January, in consequence of the nonfulfilnaent of the former agreements and the hostility of Government, spent; further sums, and incurred further liabilities. No -grants were made in accordance with that promise. Partial grants were tendered, but long after the time fixed, and even then they were rendered useless . by the » interpolation of unauthorized and 1 vague clauses, aud were consequently refused by the company. f \ This statement, if it be true, discloses a •fringe tale of mismanagement and misgovemment on the part of the colonial authorities bdthltere and in New Zealand. ' Either successive' secfetaries have deceived the company with promises'- not intended to be performed, or they hay rashly' committed the important functions of government to men at once |> reiumptuous and incapable. That the statieirient is true, at least in its principal features, it a facj which • may be inferred from the measures now in course of completion by the present Ministry. For although Earl Grey, J» very r properly impressed with the great capabilities of the company in respect of the future colonization of New Zealand, he would not, it may fairly be presumed, have consented to, such favourable terms, unless under a convictiou that they were justly due nan acknowledgment and atonement for past errors, ' He would not have felt justified, nor would the country have held him justified, in leading tb£ public monies to a private association,* in granting to individuals exclusive privileges over a whole province, nor in guaranteeing debts and losses to the amount of a quarter of a million of money. Yet, under ike peculiar circumstances of the case, we cannot charge him-with undue partiality in doing all- these things. Even Mr. Hume, thesArgu* of the public treasure, is lulled to

acquiescence by the force of facts. The company, indeed has so strong a case as to silence all objection. But the case of the Colonialoffice wears a very different aspect. Down-ing-street loses in exact proportion as New Zealand-house gains. The history of the transaction in every step is suggestive of conclusions most injurious to the intelligence, and' even to the good faith; of our colonial administration ; and it cannot much be wondered at if people should eventually demand some radical alterations in a department which is at once unjust and inefficient. -