CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

Otago Witness, Issue 119, 27 August 1853, Page 2

CONSTITUTIONAL GOV ERNMENT

We can all remember that not a man was embarked for Otago (or ever would have been) until a constitution was sfiven to New Zealand by the Act of 1816, and which sufficiently attests the clear estimation andfixity of our purpose in regaid to it. But our first party had scaicely landed when it was announced that the constitution had been suspended for five years ; and we now therefore propose to examine the effects of this suspension as it has borne upon New Zealand at large, and Otago in particular.

Be it observed, in the first place, that the blunders in regard to New Zealand, as proved to the House of Commons in 184-5, had been such as to fill the colony with ruin, and turn the mind of Britain in hopeless dismay from a country it had regarded with fondest anticipations — by reason of its climate and position — of becoming " the Great Britain of the Southern Hemisphere ;"— so much so, indeed, that the whole lands of the first settlement, viz. Wellington, were sold and paid for in London befor a settler had sailed ; and so also, to a great extent, with respect to Nelson. But notwithstanding The entire stoppage of all this, by reason of the infliction referred to, it was believed that the frank admissions of the Home Government — the remedies [pledged — and above all, the constitution granted, i would revive the colony, and restore the public confidence. Nature had not changed, and the mantle of confusion ond disaster thrown over it by man having been, and, as it was thought, finally removed, it was not doubted that such a country, colonized by Biitons, and possessed of a suitable constitution, would now assume the high and progressive position for which it was so singularly fitted.

Such, then, were the hopes elicited by the constitution of 1846-7 ; but the effects of its suspension [were absolutely overwhelming. The local government was made practically worse than ever, and intending emigrants, with constitutionally governed Canada and the United States before their eyes, turned from the scene with disgust. The disappointed colonists of New Zealand now also regarded their despotism with a bitterness "of soul which that despotifm! could not but feel and resent ; and hence the increase of a system, by which time-serving men and greedy adventurers — the least calculated to take their place among respectable colonists — were selected as the organs and supporters of government, versus an insulted, and.'at the same time, neglected population. The motto;of these gentry being, " The Government can do anything: let us please that;* say they, "anyhow, and asjeecan best devise — our emoluments and powers are secure." And truly the

most revolting of these their practices — at least in 1 Otago — has been their misrepresentations of the ; people to the New Zealand Government; and in ] such wise as to enable that government (wittingly or i unwittingly is its own affair) to convey these inven- 1 tions to the Colonial Minister as being the senti- i ments of the people, to the intent that their bondage ; might be prolonged,ifnot indeed completely rivetted. : But we acquit the Suspension Act of any such de- , sign as the latter. On the contrary, it gave powers to shorten the period of suspension ; and it was urged by Lord Grey, that meanwhile municipalities should be erected (on the principal of American townships), their elected office-bearers being ex officio justices of the peace, — an arrangement, thisi which would at once have given confidence in the dispensation of magisterial justices, and have rendered it impossible to misrepresent a people who could have spoken their own mind as constituted electors, in place of being belied and trampled on in the dark. But the fact of such privileges being held out at home, and denied in the colony, has just been the bitterest ingredient of another dreary period of five years' stagnation. And what, then, has been the effect of all this upon New Zealand colonization ? A glance at statistics will show that, with the exception of certain bands of pensioners sent out and located about Auckland at an enormous expense to the colony, no immigration has taken place in these quarters, saving that of a few persons connected with a large expenditure on troops and pensioners, and the occasional appearance in the Company's old settlements (in veriest driblets) of kinsfolks and acquaintances of such old settlers as had attracted them. The best lands have been on private sale, as in Wellington, so far as purchasers could be had, and beginning in 1849 at 4s. 6d. an acre, so that public sales at any price have been out of the question ; and the boasted land fund at Auckland, miserable as it is, appears to be made up of little patches under competition by traders and functionaries, who have been required to bid against each other, to their own punishment and the mockery of a land fund. Then, as to customs I revenue, if we take into account the expenditure of I troops and pensioners (in excess of rations, which appear to be duty free), and of the persons attracted by them — together with the increased taxation laid on in ISSI, and amounting, on the average whole, to 20 per cent, at least — have we not an absolute and increasing deficiency to the present date ? And all this stagnation the dire result of despotic rule ? But things would have been still worse, except for the indomitable energy of certain old settlers, who, in absence of colonization, have accumulated some > flocks of sheep, and drawn a few articles of export j from the wilderness. I Such, then, have been the effects of another five years' degradation and misrule in New Zealand, the | whole of which will be most significant and instructive j as compared with the onward progress of constitutionally governed Canada within the same period as reported by !Mr. Joseph Hume. But it was proposed to make special reference to Otago, to its share in the j common infliction, and the effects thereof on its pro- j gre^s. Now, we are prepared to show (and a com- J ing book of Parliament will give it more in docu- i mentary detail) that Otago has had by far the | greatest share of infliction, but that, notwithstanding every effort to the contrary by open assault and withering neglect, it has nevertheless grown up to what it is, — small indeed, but all the more sturdy and \ igorous, perhaps, because of the blasts to which it has been exposed ; and the reason is — became it is really a Class Settlement. Let any man go through the block and ask how it is that a people of such stedfasl adhesion to constitutional government, of so much unity of sentiment, and of moral and industrial habit, come to be here ? Nay, let him go beyond the block, and mark the extent to which former shepherds and other workmen have been supplanted by the same class of persons, and at the higher wages that is given them, and they will themselves explain it at once. One after another they will tell you — "I wanted to come to Otago, and had to produce certificates, in no ordinary way, but under a searching scrutiny — first as to moral and religious character, and no less so as to being an intelligent and efficient workman" (tradesman, shepherd, or labourer, as the case may be). Now, here is the whole secret of the matter ; and although the religious element is not insisted on in connection with a particular Church, its reality, so far as can be got at, is so. But, seeing the quarter from which this scheme has emanated, it appears natural, and desirable also, that the preponderance of numbers should prove to be in affiance with that quarter. We say so — first, because in a new country, and under a voluntary movement, the masses can only be provided for under one form, leaving others to do &£ they pleased (an attempt to the contrary ha^rrtg been tried, for instance, at Nelson, and failed) ; and, secondly, because of our conviction that the Presbyterian or Nonconformist, of whatever orthodox sect he may be, if he could not in such a case command a majority for his own, would, of all others, have the greatest confidence and least scruples in uniting himself with an offshoot of the Free Church of Scotland. But another element is also at work, and which attaches to New Plymouth, a class settlement in its way, and long before any other was thought of, having been founded by a class, of superior character and industrial habits, from Devonshire. These persons correspond with their friends, and, as " like draws to like, 1 ' they have been added to through all adversity, and however short of the numbers that would have flowed to them if unopposed by an obstructive government. And even so, also, with Otago — "like draws to like;" and, however repressed by a hostile government, the characteristics of our immigrants, to the latest arrivals, have been more and more in harmony with the original design, and who just fall into our ranks as being perfectly at home. We have said that the sturdy little plant has taken root, in despite of a hostile government. Hostility, as applied to government, is an ugly word, and we shall therefore restrict our observations to the very words and over| acts of that Government itself. Could any thing be more clear in words than

the avowed hostility in the Legislative Council of 1851 ; or inaction (independent of what is yet to be revealed), than the seizure of. our property and Trust funds, and repudiation of every engagement on our behalf, until checked, by the example at least, of the Colonial Minister, who in all things did the very reverse, and had immediately appointed the Land and Emigration Commissioners to receive and apply our monies, in terms of agreement, and as provided for by Act of Parliament in the event of the Company's retirement. This check was a great matter certainly, but it was only succeeded by a new phase of the hostility referred to— that of withering und contempinous neglect — as witness for instance the money voted for us by the said Council of 1851, but the warrant for its issue withheld — the locking up of our funds from land sales — the matter of a Bank Charter — and the petitions of the people on all such grievances not even acknowledged, silence being the rule, and only departed from by an occasional taunt or evasion. But why this antipathy to Class Settlements, and which was equally poured upon the Canterbury ? "We can only know the fact, that in both cases the land funds have a specific appropriation, and may not pass into the general treasury to be dealt with as the Government pleases. And also, as regards the Canterbury more especially, that it has certain rights, incompatible with the exercise of a pure despotism. And this leads to a notice of the Canterbury Settlement, which is also necessary to complete the picture of our five years' thraldom, and its effects. The Canterbury Settlement is the product of a powerful body of England's aristocracy, and it were well for them that a constitution had been both given and erected before they sent a man out of England. Admit that a constitution has followed, and its erection made sure — How much of jealousy, dissatisfaction, and strife, has in the meanwhile been carefully sown ? and advantage to this end taken of what perhaps may have been erroneous — I not in the scheme itself, but in the mode of its earliest working. We mean the creation of an undue I proportion of absentee proprietors, and the launchI ing of uninitiated persons in masses upon a wilder- i i ness, in place of beginning with pioneers, and in such wise that larger and increasingly larger numbers shall follow in progression, and be amalgamated with compaiative comfort and economy of their j own means, — for a first party is always exposed to heavy expendituie, and had therefore better be small than large — an expenditure, however, which diminishes as the country is. opened up, and in proportion to the number of its initiated hands. In proof of 1 these remarks we would just refer to what has been ! written of the numerous party first landed in Wei- | I lington, and its adaptation, according to means and i numbers, for reclaiming a wilderness, and how the | I same settlement now stands iv consequence of its | lands being so largely owned by absentees ; also, to I the statements of Mr. Godley on lea\ing the Canter- ■ bury, hoping and bellerinn that they would get on, . but calling all to witness how different they had i j found the reality from what they had imagined— and I j why ? Just, we believe, because of the crowds of J uninitiated that had been hurried to the spot, as if i the rapidly arriving shipfulls of such persons could I have done aught but add confusion to the scene, and a wasteful expenditure of the substance of the parties. So strongly indeed do we feel upon these points, that, if any thing could be an off Vet to the inflictions of a suspended constitution, it is the fact | that that suspension has saved Otago from the pos- , sibility of such a rush, and from absentee proprietor- j ship also, beyond the diibblet whose purchasemoney was essential to the floating of our fhst party. To those we are certainly indebted, and with e\ery hope and desire for their ultimate remuneration, we ! at the same time earnestly desire, as now taught by > experience, that not another acre shall be taken up | except by actual colonists. Otago is now in a position to absorb with economy and comparative comfort both capital and labour to a large amount. The twaddle about land-sales is absolutely amazing — as if a change of ownership in wild land could of itself do (or even indicate) aught to reclaim and people it with human families ! Make the acquisition easy enough, and whether in the American States or anywhere else, speculators will take it up, and that solely for the power and profit of taxing its future occupants — a process which just retards, by absorbing the means of the real colonist, for whom it ought to be kept, unburdened of any such charge. But to return to our proper subject. We have shewn, negatively at least, the advantages of Constitutional Government for a colony. We have done so by a simple narrative of the paralysis and stagnation inflicted by a suspended Constitution, and the tfn of unmitigated despotism for five years past n^Tew Zealand'as a whole, and Otago in parti- ] calar^ And we cannot but conclude with some reference to the spirit of endurance, of indomitable courage, and stedfast leliance upon the ultimate justice of beloved Britain, which has characterised the whole colony. In sight of all this, is it not ludicrous at least to see a stranger from England, or another in our own ranks, besotted with the conceits of a George Combe, crying out, away with you all — slow coaches and numsculls as ye are ! put your all into our hands, and be sure of this, we will make you all right, body and soul of ye ! Well then, our answer to these exotics is just this : We have minds of our own, and mean to use them, and if so be that they are at the antipodes to yours, we do not at all quarrel with you, far from i« — we only mean to regulate our own house in our own way, and to continue hospitable and kind to ajl who come to it. So says John Bull inEngland, and so do we also here. ;• Men of Otago ! look neither to America nor any where else, but to your own adopted country which is before you. Roads, and a sufficient supply of British labour are what you require. Make your own calculations, and see if 15s. an acre be not necessary for the first, and 10s. for the other. Aitd if so, the fixture of such a rate would at once exclude the speculator, and secure for the real colonist whatis absolutely necessary to himself. " Cheap land" is^ a mere cry to deceive you. Look at the parties whp raise it, and scan them thoroughly. Have they ever

been with you in anything upright or honestly useful ? And is not the obvious intent of their cry-— away with all provision for roads, labour, or anything else that a colonist might require. Let us just have the land on our own terms, and then, — what then ? — the exclusion of the future colonist, or working man with his savings, except at a price which the cheap land advocate may affix. And mark the doings of these parties even now. Is thefe no selling amongst them to the hard earning and real colonist at 70s. an acre (the reduction to 20s. or 30s. being certain), whilst they are at the sametime seeking to replace these sales at ss. or 10s. an acre ? W. C.VRGILL. To the Editor of the Otaoo Witness. Stb, — Allow me a short reply to your correspondents of last week. Mr. Langlands may be right in practising what he rather excels in, but his subject is exhausted ; and he will therefore be kind enough, so far as I am concerned, to place my letter in reply to Mr. Mollison's — word for word — in juxta-position with his own in your last, or any other he may elaborate, and take it as a final anwer to the whole. Mr. M'Glashan states that he is not now, and nerer was, an admirer of convict labour — and which, of course, is conclusive upon the subject. •Asto my eccentric friend, Captain Bellairs. Having waded through his wordy lucubrations, I can only gather that he is bent on having some thoussands of acres of Otago lands on terms that make no ] fixed provision for roads or labour, and looks for help to this amongst certain of our working classesMany of these classes have acquired lands, and many are not ready for the same step ; but between these two there are at the present moment, and as usual at any other time, a very few who are either about ready or very nearly so ; and the appeal to them is —support my views, and you will each of you save from £5 to £10 on your first purchase. Precisely so ; but then, that this saving is to be acquired at a sacrifice, by which the whole remaining lands will pass into the hands of speculators, so that neither the present small purchaser, nor any future colonist, can ever more have a single acre, but at the price and by the sufferance of the monopolist, into whose pockets, moreover, every shilling of such price must go. Also, that the very first step in such a proceeding must substantially annihilate both road and labour funds. These arc truths either to be carefully concealed or shouted down. And, stranger still, the suggestion that men should calculate for themsehes the amount of nn adequate pro\ision for roads and labour, according to present and progressive wants, as now before them, is culhd throwI ing snuff in their eyes, as compared with the e.ibier 1 process of gning simple ciedcnce to a man who I knows nothing of the matter, as the public can now see, and who is only bent on having a slice of Xew I Zealand in the hands of monopolists, — I am, &c, I W. Caug-ill.

To the Editor of the Or.voo Witness. Silt, — In reading your leading article of last week . I observed your ciiticism on some statistics quoted by me at the public meeting of the 2nd instant, fioiu the report of a select committee of the legislative Council of New South Wales. An error seems to have been made on my part in the manuscript by the omission of a cipher (0). What I really slated, on the high authority cited, was, that from 1533 lo 1810 upwards of one million sterling was realised from land sales in New South Wales., which introduced •SO,OOO souls, which gives £12 10s. each, instead of £1 os. Surely the fact of such statistics coming from a committee such as the above might h.ue convinced you that theie must have been some mistake. But it shows a sad lack of real argument, or anything substantial to object to, when so much is made of such a trifle. — I am, &c , Jokx Hollison*.