THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, February 25, 1846.

Wellington Independent, Volume I, Issue 52, 25 February 1846, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, February 25, 1846.

The procedure of the New Zealand Company in establishing a series of no ated settlements, so divided by 'geographical position'as to form, practically, fnd-pen-tient communities, is not more sU variance With sound policy than "ifia with all the principles of colonisation "which the Directors of fhat Company profess. The essential element of the VVakelidd prin ciple was concentration ; this was the main object of requiring a price for land instead of as previously giving it away ; and to the disregard of this point, the ill success of former colonies was main'y attributed. If, therefore, anything couM surprise us in the conduct of a money seeking'corporation, it would be that the, leaders-should deliberately embrace a plan denounced by the very theory whose adoption "formed their main claim to public support. *For never, we believe, has the niost reckless and improvident Government so provided fbr'the dispersion of the settlers as has been dbne by these very'iKen who proclaim that in ci>loni>atiofc dispersion is synonimous w-iih ruin. The past history of their proceedings proves the truth of what we have thus siated. They sent out between 4,000 and 5,000 individuals to he scattered over a district extending from Wellington to Wanganui, a distance of 112 miles. That they-should not have known the degree of dispersion which this would naturally have involved, is impossible; and yet, instead of attempting to remedy this evil, ei;her by the abandonment of a portion of tin ir plan, or by directing fresh emigrants to (his settlement, by whom ihe gaps between existing settlers might be filled up, they clung tenaciously to the defects of their scheme, aud proposed and founded the Settlement of New Plymouth. In this settlemert, comprising 60,000 acres, about 250 families were settled,—and the Com pany, having thus adequately provided for the dispersion of these settlers, p'anni-d and commenced the settlement of Nelson. To what extent the emigrants gt Nelson have been injured by the mode of colonination pursued in their case,may be learned from the let er of Mr. HeH, to whi h we have before referred. The Company, having there succeeded in scattering about 750 families over a district extending nearly sixty mil s in one direction, and thirty in another,, has commenced the attempt to form the settlement of O;aa 0 , to be succeeded by another in the Wairarapa. In fact, the plan of the Company is to tempt emigrants to encounter the. inevitable evils of dispersion by offerin°town land and a lottery, in order that they may effect salts at higher prices tiian their land would otherwise command-, and may entrap as purchasers those who do not intend to employ the land which ihev acquire. That they have no motive be*yond this is evident, from ihe con'emp-u. ous neglect with which they treat every settlement after it can no longer be made to afford this bait, and from their utter disregard of those implied obligations, which, among gentlemen, are always regarded as more binding than such as can be enforced in a court of latf. And these are the mea whose claim to be employed as the instruments of systematic colonisation in New Zealand, has beenadmittedby the Home Government I But the New Zealand Company do trot merely act.vely promote the dispersion of •he settlers whom they introduce into this colony, but by their negative i»fl ß enee hey oppose an insurmountable obstacle in he way of all attempts to remedy the evils which they thus occasion. Between Wei l.ngton arid Wanganui ihere are hundreds of thousands of acres of land, available both for agriculture and fur pasture. These might be purchased from the natives at ZTP? flftj, Weflhe price which New Zealand Company requires for itself, -at the highest, that is, at 2s. per acre And now ll)at lhe E , ish P* acre a length aware of the necessity of hay „" Ifs ?/T Cc , m New Zealand *> may re" Rrtf- p of the power the Bnu*h Crown, which the Local Govern meut had well nigh destroyed, and than £ forces wielded by a vigorous ha d-evJi person whothug acquires land mi 2 ht fed zpT i n ite possc9B,on - N ° of N ; Zealand presents a greater combination Z advan.ages than may be found united i ? n this d.strict-faut excepting as an obs ac

to communicate, it might for any Influent I it can boar upon oolcnlaation, aa Wc |i 1 be Wotted out oi fho map of ft, | Zealand, the natives are willing ( 0 I there would be many 'f> rsons eager to 1 purchase—the land is easily acccg, j sibl", and v-iell placed for communication I with the existing settlement*. B ut § tweii t'ne purchasers and the settlere— 1 tween the land and the settlers, stands f New Zealand Company—claiming a bar. I ren title—-a power to obstruct and impede ■ —a right to restrain emigration and t 0 I perpeuM'e the consequences Ot their blun. I der?, untt! such time as'the'lanfl'included I wi.hin their limits may rise to a'price suf. 1 ficient to lempt their cupidity, or to 6\}n. I port their extravagance. How tfwge | clbims may affect the interests of the set. I th>rs, whoso money they have i upon the faith of representations falsified $• liy their own measures, appears to be the f least matter in their thoughts. j; This conduct, on. th& part of these syg. l{ tematic colonizers, as tlvy term ihern. P selves, would be sufficiently blimeworiU f,, it tlieir claims ha 1 buen derived from.-tlicir own expenditure. But whun We remember f? that these claims,tso injurious to this B't. t tlera h , have been in a great degree acquired by means of the employment of ■ money which we furnishad, and which ilte ? Directdrs were pledged to devote to our '• exclusive benefit, the injury becomes V deeply aggravated. The Company as we [' have shewn, have a claim to 200,00Q ' acres by virtue of the expenditure of our * funds, and they so use this claim, as that L neither we nor anyone else can derive I any benefit from the land oVIT which it tf extends, although upon every principle of justice, it ought to be considered as poj. \ sessed in trust far a*. A more flagrant V case of wrong cannot easily be selected : Irom the annals of colonizing Companies; or Government. '>; But we believe that the .period of delusion is drawing near to its terminaliofc ; Hitherto every charge upon the Company •"' or its Agencs, has been met with a sneer \ at the motives of the individual by whom it here been made, or has been diverted by p some attack upon the Local Governm nt. i - This -policy, the paltriest and meanest -: trick of effete diplomacy—the coinino.r.. resource of those who have ueiiheV confi* dence in iheir own nor reliance upon lire integrity ot their own —cannot, we trust and believe, bo repea- i-< ted. In this respect, at least, a new era ?-• has commenced. Sectire of justice from.: the Government, we have leisure to turn our eyes to the Company, to demand the *• fulfilment of their pledges, -and to cat them to account for the violatron of thc-fr*" principles. And unless they abandon • their past policy, and en'er upon a career of utili y, :hey he assured that a m-re unanimous voice of coiulemnan'un uill '" from every settlemen', directed 'thorn, than has yet been excited by any act of the Local Government, They will fee struck down in their m»inei.t : of triumph ; and the blow will come from ' Ihos?, who in spite of warning, andalmo-t of proof, have clung to the belief in theff sincerity, hoping against hope, that they ~ would yet fulfil the expectations they had raided y but who, when roused to a full * perception of the troth, will be founrl at . least as j/owerful to destroy as they have * been to uphold. For their sake, as we 1'" as for our own, we trust the Company will, , so act as to avoid this consummation*