NEW ZEALAND BILL DEFEATED

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21529, 16 December 1939, Page 41 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND BILL DEFEATED

On June 20. 1838, the House ui Commons, by 92 votes to 32, refused to give a second reading to a Bill "for the provisional government of British settlements in the islands of New Zealand.” The Bill provided for the appointment by Parliament of a Board of Commissioners consisting of 16 of the most prominent advocates of the New Zealand scheme. They were to have power to enter into, negotiations with the Maoris for the ceding of land to Britain. They were to be the supreme governing body within the limits of the lands acquired for settlement, and in order to prevent white men from escaping from the hands of. the law, they were to obtain by agreement the right of exercising criminal jurisdiction over the whole of the country. These powers were to be held for a period to be determined by Parliament. Further, the Commissioners were to have power to appoint a Council of Government in New Zealand. Other provisions of the Bill dealt with finance and the treatment of the Maori people. In accordance with Wakefield’s teaching, land was not to be sold for less than a fixed minimum price (of 12/- an acre), which price was to be uniformly applied; a quarter of the land revenue was to be used for the benefit of the Maoris and for schemes of local improvement; the remainder was to be applied to the purchase of further land for settlement and to the conveyance of emigrants to New Zealand. Preliminary expeditions for the purchase of land and the negotiation of treaties were authorised, but until £lOO.OOO had been raised as payment for land, or by borrowing, nothing could be spent on the conveyance of emigrants to New Zealand. The Commissioners were to be empowered to purchase the assets of the first organisation to attempt the colonisation of New Zealand—the company of 1825. The transportation of convicts to New Zealand was to be prohibited, and a bishopric was to be established. There were provisions, too

—though incomplete and sadly lacking in definition—for the establishment of Native reserves, and for the general protection of the Maori race.