GOVERNMENT RESOLUTIONS, RE MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON NATIVE MATTERS, NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 559, 16 August 1862, Page 8

GOVERNMENT RESOLUTIONS, RE MINISTERIAL RESPONSIBILITY ON NATIVE MATTERS, NEW ZEALAND.

The hon. Mr. Domett to move That iv the opinion of this Hou«e, the ,relations between his ExcelNncv the Governor and his Responsible Advisers should ret upon the following bsMS : — 1. That Ministers should in conformity wl*h tlie E ival instructions advise the Governor in Native affairs (as well a. in colonial affairs) whenever his Excellency desires to obtain such advice, and should also tender advice on all occasions of importance when they deem it their duty in the interests of the colony to do so. 2 That Ministers should undertake the Administration of IVative affairs, re«ervinpj to his Excellency the decision iv all matters of Nativo Policy. ft' That, as the decision in all tnatteis of Native Policy is with his Excellency, the advice of Ministers shall not be held to bind the colony to any liability past or future in connection with Native affairs beyond the amount authorised or to be authorised by the Ilouse of Representatives, The following are the Despatch and Resolutions above referred to :—: —

DUKE OF NEWCASTLE'S DESPATCH. Downing-street, 26th May, 1862. Sin, — I have hud under my consideration your (kspUi'hes, noted on tho margin, informing me of tie Janiji'.agp which you h ivo held to your Ministry, of the plans which you piopose tn yourself and tiiem, and of the course which you dosire the Home Government to pursue in lvjsard to the management of Native afiairs, and the cost oi the war in New Zealand. 1. In the first place, you inform me Iliatyou propose hereafter to conduct Native affairs, like all other matters, with advice of your Executive Council, aad you deprecate any attx-nipt to Eet up either tue Governor, or any special body between the natives • and the General Assembly as it protective power. 2. You propose to e-tabiish a machinery for the government and improve ueut of the natives, which you suppose will eventually cost about flsty thousand pounds a year. Half of this sum you stale ib already provided by the Coloniml legislature, and you have led tha local Government to expect that the other half wjII be virtually supplied by the Imperial Government in the shape of a reduction from thr Colonial contiibutioiiof five pounds a head to the expense •• f the Imperial force stationed in New Zealand. 3. You propose the maintenance for some years of a large military force, partly as a standing exhibition of strength aud* determination, partly in order tj atiord to the out-settlers that protection and sense of security which is essential to enable them (ironta'oly to occupy their farms. 4. You suggest that roads should be made by tbo troops (still suppo.-ted, I presume, at tl-P expeu.se ot t'ne Imperial Treasury), in joiij unction with natives, and 5. You propose that military men sliou'd be employed as Commissioners in the Nativo diMiicts, continuing virile so employed to receive Iraperi d p.iy aud allowances. With regard to the increasing dtbt due from the Colony to the British Treasury, you btate that to exact payment would be ruin to the Colony, an. 1 3 on transmit a memorandum diawn up by the Colonial Treasurer, proposing the following 1 course, " Not to attempt to meet thes^- demands, or to provide for ilu-s excessive expenditure at present, but to wait till the existing difficulty i.s rumovod; to asiertain with accuracy what proportion of the L-:. t jenr>e H)l! innieiiil * Government would afirr due ajli!)er' r icn.n full Knowledge of the facts of the dv-e, charge tlie Colony with ami then to Jipplj lor.iguaiauteed L.-rnof luo requisite amount.'' Now I must in thefin-t place observe, that I *cc in the p.>pers before me no adequate apprehension, on tlie part of flic New Zealand Government, of the obligation under -which the colonists themselves He toexert theaisplves in theie oh nj.lefence, and to suhmit to those sacrifices which are necessary from persons whose lives and property are in I' anger. Mr. Reader Wood states *hat the annual revenue of the Colony (independently of the land revenue) is L 272,000; h^b meatioi.s that L 90,000 of thit bu,a are vaid to Provincial Governments, and he observes that the lnad fund is^ Provincial revenue, and expended in colonisation and public works ; but it does not appear to occur to him that the revenue itself might be increased by the imposition of fresh taxation— that a portion of that revenue which is so applied as to relieve municipalities from the nece-isily of imposing local trxes might be applied in whole, or in part, to the more preying neads of the colony, and that the portionofth.it revenue which h devoted to public works and colonisation may, in times of disaster, and particularly in time of civil war, which is disaster, be'diverted to the permanent object of averting absolute ruin. No doubt 111 steps 'like these, the Colony would be making sacrifices. But tin's is exactly what the British Government lias a ri£<ht to expect from them. Tho.°e who are expending half a million a year ia ihe defence of the colonists and their property, a very appreciable item among those which fix on tlie British tax-payer the burden of an income tax, are entitled to expect from these eoioni&ts, that instead of having recourse to the momentary relief of a loan, exhausted ifc would seem almost before it was raised, they should by some immediate, general, and lasting sacrifice of the kind v, inch I have indicated, give some pledge of their readiness to take their share, as fir as their meau3 will allow, in the dpfence of their country ; and in connexion with ibis subject I cannot pa^s without remark that passage in theOolonialTrea&urer's financial statement of 23rd July, 1861, in which he characterises as '' unfairly charf;edagainst theOoloay" demands properly made against the Colonial Government by the Coinmiisaiiat, nor the very strong animadversions ioade in the Colonial Legislature on the .conduct of the Commissariat officer in bringing forward these claims in tha simple discharge of 1113 duty. Little however, as lam satisfied with the contents of your despatch in these respects, I am earnestly « desirous to afford the Colony in a time of undoubted trial, the utmost assistance which can be given with any justice to this country. I therefore proceed to coiamunicnte to you as explicitly as is now possible the decisions of her Majesty's Government upon the questions which you have raised. I am ready to sanction the important step you have already taken in placing; the management" of the natives under the control of the Assembly. I do so partly in reliance on your ov/n capacity to perceive and your desire to do what is best for those in whose welfare I know you are so much interested. But I do it also because I cannot disguise from myself that the endeavor to kpep the management of the natives under the control of the Home Government has failed. It can only be mischievous to retain a shadow of responsibility when the beneficial exercise of power has become impossible. I cannot hold out to you any hope thnt a large military force will for any length of time be kept in New Zealand. It is for the colonists themselves to provide such a military police force as will protect their out-settlerp. If it is not worth while to the colony to furnish such protection, it would seem to follow Jhat it is not worth while to retain those out "* settlements. You must therefore expect thonirh not an immediate, -yet a speedy and considerable diminution of the force now employed. I doubt whether, un'ler present military regulations, an officer can be detached from his regiment to serve as Commissioner in a native district ; but, in case this should prove practicable, Her Majeoty's Government can only assent to such an arrangement on the understanding that the whole pay of the officer f=hall be defrayed by the colony. I can hold out no prospect that this country will consent to bear any part of the expense of 1112 local militia and volunteers ; all existing and future liabilities on this score muse be defnu ed by the colony. This sum appears to have amounted, on the 29th of October la&t, to one hundred and ninety -three thousand one hundred and eighty pounds. The agreement so latoly entered into by the Colonial Government for the contribution of fire pounds per man to the cost of the tioops stationed in the Colony, must also be fulfilled up to the close of the year 1361. But in consideration of the present difficulties of the Colony, and in compliance with your advice, Her Majesty's Government will bo prepared, under the following conditions, to reckon as military contribution all sums shoivn to be expended in a manner approved hyyou on Native Government, or rnther purely native objects, ia excess of twenty-six thousand pounds which I Rnderstand to be the amount now paid from the Colonial revenue towards those objects. The conditions subject to which I am able to authorise this concession are the following :—: — 1. Tlie amount furnished by tlie Colonial Government shall not be less than Twenty-six thousand pounds, and that furnished by the Imperial Government must not exceed the amount of Military contributions due from the Colonial to the Imperial Government, calculated at the rate of Five pounds a head f6r every soldier employed. 2. No other Imperial funds are to be employed nor any advances procured from tlie Treasury chest towards paying the expenses of tho schema. 3. An account of these expenses must be furnished to the Controller of the Tieasury Chest for the information of her Majesty's Government and of Parliament, shewing the amount and application of this Imperial contribution. 4. The present arrangement fa to last for three yesrs, that is to say, from the Ist January, 1862, to the3lst December, 1834, when it i-t to be hoped that the colony may be in a posif ion to provide for the well-being and povemment of the natives, so far as the institutions which you propose to introduce shall not have beeomfr self-sup-portiufi by means of local taxation, the result which you -will keep Bteadily in -view, and the importance of which I cannot too earnestly impress upon you. 5. "In giving up for. a limited period the claim of iris connwy to a portion of the present military conributioQ, ao pledge is to be implied as to the con

tinuance of that contribution as a permanent arrangement ; but it is clearly to be nuiWatooJ, tli>t the s»itl to bo required from New Zealand for inilitaiy piotection £.li.-Ul remain subject to any genet al measure which Parliament, or Her Majesty's Government, may alopt v,-it'i 'e'ranl to the maintenance of Imperial tioops in t'ne Oulonii"-. You will not iail, I trmt, to vceojrni.sp, in the^c concessions, the tlt;-ire oi her Mnjesiy's Government to co-oper<ite, in a spirit of I'bLiv.hty and confidence, with yourself and tlie Co'ony, in the important and hopeful attempt which > o*i and youv Miri-steis are now making 1 to introduce such civilizing institution"! ainonE: the native tribes as may, nndcr the biebsing of Providence, save both racrs of Her Majesty's subjects in New Zealand from the miseries of chil war, and the Imncihl and Colonial Governments from the heavy burdens which it entails. I have, Lc,

STEAM

The following resolutions h.ivc becu arrived at by the " C'JinmittJO on LYraniunictijus/' -uid will be considered by tiie Hous/i.i Committee on Supply, on

Your Committee beg to report the following resolutions :- -

K n solved. — Tint the requirements of the Colony will lot be fully -jati^iiod with It~,s than tlivue lines of Intercolonial Steaus Service, \l?.. — between -Melbourne and tlu South, b^tweon Auckland and Sydney, and between Cuuk's Strait and Sydney respectively. That tkePteamSfvvict refirwd to in tho for^o'iii"; Rosoiution of the Committcp be un<lerUki;n by tho General Govornment, und be borne ua the General Estimates.

T'jat comrnunipa ions should b"3 imintaiuel between tlie piincipal Pro^incc& of the < "olo.iy, four times a month, an I hetwoen the Provinces t\\ L c a month, pi ovided that ihe whole expen.-e of iuoli Inte? provincial Seivice do not exceed £i2O_.UOO per annum.