NEW ZEALAND.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 291, 3 August 1860, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND.

J.UC evema paooiufc iv iioomuu uaiuiaiij roiall the circumstances of its oolonizatiou. It was with. no ordinary labor, ami coiumou distourageuwuts, that the founders of those settlements, lately so full of promise, now agitated •with warlike passions, obtained a footing in the territory. It may be agreeable to trace briefly some of those steps which have not yet faded from the remembrance of many of our fellowcolonists. In the connection of England with New Zealand, there are three different epochs. The first extended from the middle of the last oeutury—from 1750 to 1815. During this interval many English navigators after Cook visited New Zealand, and fay >k to take possession of it hi the nas."'' '"' Gv-u*. Britain. How far ouch assumption •? ;:r>.=wcssinn are valid in international law ■•;: sh I! ntf inquire; but there can be no queuriov> tV.nfc whatever value they may possess belouga to the British Crown. From 1815 to 1838 many efforts were made in England to induce the British Government to assume sovereignty over New Zealand, and in coflsequenoe several acts were performed which seemed to imply that sovereignty. The British Government, however, declined its express avowal, and in many public aot», recognised the independence of the New Zealand chiefs. In 1838 the aspect of things changed. After many English companies had attempted to colonise New Zealand, there was formed one far more rich and powerful than the rest. This was the New Zealand Company. Possessing great capital, it was enabled to send out a considerable number of oolonists. In 1839, Lord Durham, as President of the Company, demanded formally of tha British Ministry to taka possession of New Zealand by establishing a colonial Government. At length this was done, and in July, 1839, a commission from the Queen appointed a Lieutenant-Governor of the territories which had been acquired, or which should be acquired in New Zealand. In August following, Captain Hobson was named Lieutenant-Governor, and was appointed to treat with the aboriginal chiefs, to proclaim the sovereignty to the English Government. This was not, however, until after, much delay and debate. From, the very formation of the New Zealand Company, by which several other associations were absorbed, it entered upon a career, of conflict with the Ministry, which was at first greatly averse to this colonisation. Independent of official sanction, the company proposed to purhase tracts of land, to lay out settlements, and. gradually to resell those lands according to the value bestowed upon them in immigration. ~ . Mr. Laboucliere was however directed by Lord Normanby, the Secretary of State, to inform Mr. Hutt, one of the leading supporters of this scheme, " that the Government had learned for the first time that a body of her Majesty's subjects are about to proceed to New Zealand to purchase large tracts of land there, and to establish a system of Government independent of the authority of the British Crown." He added that it was impossible his lordship should do any act which would be construed into a direct or indirect sanction of such a proceeding. While the Government assumed this attitude, there could of course be no colonial legislation having the sanction of British law. The company therefore adopted an extraordinary and certainly illegal step. A document was prepared which intending colonists were expected to sign, and by which they bound themselves to submit to an administration of justice according to tho laws of England, both in civil and criminal cases. They, also engaged to form a military array for mutual defence. This being annouuced in the public prints, Lord John Russell, who had become Secretary of State, demanded a copy to submit to the Law Officer of the Crown. Much fencing took place between the Colonial Office and the Company on the subject. The latter offered to afford any personal explanation that his Lordship might demand, but they perceived in his proposition a threat of legal proceedings, and therefore withheld the document. It doe 3 appear an. extraordinary fact that a number of British gentlemen could suppose themselves entitled to erect tribunals, and inflict punishment by any other authority than that of the Queen. It was the duty, therefore, of the Government to warn all persons against the consequence of such voluntary justice, which however cautious and equitable it might be, had one of the worst characteristics of Lynch law, namely that it was without legal authority, and irresponsible to any power known to the Crown. There can be no doubt that these decisive steps of the Company induced the Government to reconsider its position; and thus, after the vessels conveying the first emigrants had sailed. Lord John Russell addressed Sir George Gipps, intimating the displeasure of the Crown at the irregular proceedings of the Company, hut at the same time observing that the Crown would accept the duties of sovereignty. From that time the efforts to colonise New Zealand were unremitted and multiplied. The establishment of the several settlements of the six provinces took place in the following order. Colonel Wakefield sailed in May, 1839, and 864 persons following in September of the same year, in five vessels, and thus jonstituted the first inhabitants of Wellington. Auckland was ' founded in 1840, by her Majesty's Government. In the same year New Plymouth, in tha Northern Island, was established by the : ' Plymouth Company of New Zealand, (which in the year following merged into the -New Zealand Company. Nelson, in the middle Island was colonised by the New Zealand Company through Captain Arthur Wakefield in 1841. Otago was established by Captain William Cargill in 1847; and Canterbury in 1850 by Mr. Robert Godly and the Canterbury Association. Considering all the circumstances of the case, the progress of these colonies must be deemed satisfactory. Not only has the New Zealand Company recovered its capital and redeemed that kind of enterprise from the odium of utter unprofitableness, but there are sufficient evidences that the New Zealand colonies will take a high place both as communities and as customers of England. Tfilre are now upwards of 50,000 inhabitants. Their exports amount tp nearly; £30p.,Q00, and their imports are nearly £1,000,000. When we consider that colonisation has not been active for more than twenty years, there is certainly every reason to assure ourselves that our eriterprising fellowcountrymen have found not only a salubrious, but also a fertile and prosperous home. To the New Zealand Company we probably owe the possession of these territories; or, at all events, tbeue possession .without dispute. The .j movement was^brily just in time. The Frenp ;^'!^p { Y#i)i^eai:t^cl', r g|vQ.ii- distinct encouragement to tjh,e ocQupatioft o| one of the Islands

of New Zealand—not, it is true, of very great extent, but nevertheless likely to involve great political and social difficulties. This island was intended to form a station, from which the convibts of France would diffuse themselves over the adjacent territories. Subsequently a similar proposition was made by Lord Grey. The natives of New Zealand as well as the colonies united with one voice in deprecating this appropriation of so fair a land. They had in the past history of their country, sufficient evidence of the disastrous power which a few bad men can exercise when in the midst of a native population. The New Zealand Company snubbed and thwarted in every direction on its first progress had, however, connected with it men of great parliamentary influence, and whose stead v per severance secured justice from the Ministry as well, as an acknowledgement of their services by the British Parliament. In a report which we have before us of the winding up of the affairs of the Company, a touching tribute is paid to the memory of those who labored in the cause, and who have since quitted the scene of human turmoil and glory. Some of these are conspicuous names: Lord Durham, Lord Petre, Lord Aglionby, Charles Buller, William Miolesworth, and several others •are familiar to the public. Edward Gibbon Wakefield survived several of his brethren whose ashes now repose in the country which he and they did so much to colonise. One of them, it will be remembered, fell in a combat with the natives. On the merits of this conflict great differences of opinion were entertained. The New Zealand Company, however, had no doubt upon the.subject, and they devoted a sum of money to the erection of a monument which, while it commemorates those who fell in 1843, will be of. some utility as a lighthouse. The colonisation of New Zealand is one of that series of movements to give homes to the enterprising but struggling poor, which have been productive of results so great and glorious. Most of our readers know something of the Rev. John Stirling; that remarkable man, whose life is described by Carlyle in a work as remarkable. He was the son of the Stirling whose thunder first made the London Times famous. This highminded and generous young man, in union with Mr. William Hutt, a gentleman to whom colonisation is deeply indebted, struck with the condition of the people and the alarming effects of the poor-law, —applied himself to the remedying of these evils by means of self-supporting emigration. The grand idea was that the sale of land should furnish the means of removing people to its possession, and although, at the present moment, this scheme is denounced by many who owe to it all they have, or are likely to possess, it was the means of conveying to the colonies several hundreds of thousands of people. So far, however, was the public mind from sympathising with this movement, that most of those who professed to espouse the popular side did their utmost to discourage and condemn it. "It is a proposition," said Mr. Sadler, "which requires the surrender of the best feelings of the heart, and tramples ou the dearest ties of our nature." "It is a system," said Mr. Hutt, on the same occasion, " mischievous in its immediate results, and fatal in its ultimate consequences." It is in this spirit almost every movement calculated to promote the happiness of mankind is met. We are so accustomed to trace similar opposition that we might assume it to be a law of nature that everything contracted and low should array itself instinctively in opposition to everything that may advance the welfare of the race. This is probably necessary to purify an enterprise as well as correct its abberations. It requires years—often ages, to render conspicuous the truth and justice of an idea which the. world received with shouts of derision, and which, before it can be a vigorous principle must, too often, receive the baptism of blood. Amongst the most conspicuous of those who have served their country and promoted the welfare of mankind, the name of Mr. William Hutt will occur to the remembrance of many colonists. There are other men who have been accustomed to occupy a wider theatre—who, having the gift of eloquence in its higher forms uatufally appear foremost in every wordy war. This gentleman, however, with steady and persevering skill has devoted himself to the promotion, of colonial interests in all their various fortunes. It is satisfactory when success has finally crowned the efforts of the company with which he had been more especially associated, to see how highly they have appreciated his unwearied labors, and with what grateful -recollections they confide to him the last formal steps necessary to the final dissolution of that company, whose name will be great in history, and of whose members many will be mentioned as among the b'enfactors of mankind.— Sydney Herald.