LOAN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 268, 23 March 1869, Page 3

LOAN.

The following, which appears in the Wellington Independent of March 20, seems to indicate the policy which the Government would like to pursue. The Independent, as we have already explained, is the Government paper : — " And here we would express our deliberate conviction, that ' self-reli-ance ' has never yet had a fair trial in this colony. The fullest and most elaborate enunciation of that policy that we have seen is in a Parliamentary paper dated Oct. 8, 1863, signed by Mr Domett, and modestly entitled a ' Memorandum on Roads and Military Settlements in the Northern Island of New Zealand.' This paper details the means by which it was believed peace could be secured. These means were, the planting of military settlers at certain points, and their being employed to make roads by which all the principal settlements should be connected together. To effect this, Mr Domett considered that 20,000 men would be required, and the cost of introducing them and their families, and of employing them in making the roads that he had indicated, was estimated at £2,300,000. Had this scheme been carried out, we

fully believe that; future native rebellions would have been scarcely possible, or, if any had occurred, they would have been quelled with small expense of either blood or treasure. This, too, would have been but one result, for far more was looked for. The memorandum itself says : — ' It will introduce and establish the permanent presence of a power sufficient to create and keep alive in the minds of the natives that respect without which all attempts to civilise them are hopeless. It will pave the way to their reduction beneath the sway of law and order, and give them a chance of escaping a doom otherwise inevitable. And thus it will render possible the co-existence in New Zealand of both races in peace and prosperity.' Who can now pretend that if this is self-reliance, it has ever been attempted on such a scale as to give any reasonable hope of its success ? It is true that the money was raised, but it is equally true that it was expended on a war that led to nothing. The few settlers who were introduced were never employed on such works as had been suggested, and in the end the whole scheme has drifted out of sight and almost out of memory. But can it be said that a policy has been unsuccessful which practically remains untried ? We venture to assert on the contrary that, if an effort were made to give effect to it even now, it would be successful, notwithstanding all the difficulties that have accumulated since 1863. Nay, we even believe that the works would prove so reproductive, that the North Island might safely take all the responsibilities they would involve, only asking the aid of the Middle Island as a debt to be repaid hereafter.

" This, too, is an object for which Imperial assistance may be fairly sought, and in which such assistance would be eminently advantageous. Let the English Government sanction the raising of a loan for this purpose, spreading the term during which the money should be paid by the lenders over the period during which it could be expended in the colony, and the loan could be raised at once, and on most favourable terms, while the collateral advantages to the colony would be great and immediate. The gradual introduction of so large a body of settlers, with the means of giving them employment for nine or twelve months — giving them land at the same time, and encouraging them to settle upon it, would give such an impetus to trade, and would so restore confidence to intending settlers, that these 20,000 families would form a series of nuclei around which others would quickly gather. The value of land would thus rise, and its sale be proportionately extended, while the increasing development of the resources of the country would enable it the better to bear the burdens that have fallen upon it.

" It is also to be observed that our advocacy of self-reliance does not mean that we desire to see the troops withdrawn that are now in the colony. This is not said with any view te their services in the field, but because we fear that their being withdrawn might have an injurious effect upon the minds of the natives. There is a great difference between allowing the natives to suppose that the settlers are too weak to defend themselves, and their being caused to suppose that England has cast us off. Those who remember the evil that was occasioned by the fact that the Wairau massacre was allowed to pass unavenged, will fully realise how undesirable it is that the natives should again get the idea that the Queen, of whose power they have heard so much, has ceased to care for her subjects in this remote part of her empire, and the idea might be engendered if all the representatives of the British power were to be removed."

I?r ; Haaßt.;' wishes tdf than]fc Biricefely those who have so readily and liberally answered the appeal made by him in favour of the Museum, ■■■■'. Dr Haast hopes that further subscriptions will be added, sufficient to carry out Mr Mountfort's plans. Following the suggestions of a. correspondent in the Lytlelton Times, he begs to invite the teachers of public and private schools to make collections for the same purpose among their pupils for the instruction of whom the Canterbury Museum will in future be always available He begs that the Working Classes will particularly understand that he will be happy to receive the Smallest Contributions. For the convenience of Subscribers, Lists have been opened at the following places : — The Bank of New Zealaud Messrs Miles and Co., E. S. Dalgety and Co., Wilson and Alport, J. P. Jameson, Cook and Ross, Lyttelton Times, I'ress, Evening Mail Star, Literary Institute?