THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, November 4, 1846.

Wellington Independent, Volume II, Issue 111, 4 November 1846, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON INDEPENDENT Wednesday, November 4, 1846.

TOTHE DIRECTORS OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

Gentlemen,—We have been repeatedly urged to notice the matters-'-which are referred to in the fojlovving observations, but personal considerations of no selfish kind induced us to refrain. The appearance of your 20th Report, and the fear that after all the Company may not terminate its existence ao coon as the settlers wish, haye"

removed scruple* which would not oiherwiso have been overcome.

, We were endeavouring to test the ac- '. curacy of the information you possess, of which you have boasted, and which we ; must now assume to be as you represent. You are not aware of the heavy responsi b'lity you thereby incur. We h id nitherto given y»u credit for extreme ignorance respecting the affairs of this settlement. Believing that even in a corporate. body the personal characters of the individuals composing it would have some influence ; we did n"t believe that you would act as you have done, had you been fully inform d on the subjects with which you had to deal. By boasting of the accuracy of your information you admit your knowledge of the facts, and deprive yourselves of excuse, We must tell you then that you have abused the confidence reposed in you, and we will prove it to you. Tarn back to the leading article of the " New Zealand Journal" of May 23rd, 1840, and look at the information .which,/ without contradiction or qualification, you suffered, to be put forth. It is there siate'd :— The settlers on their arrival at Port Hardy will be relieved from all the usual difficulties which attend ihe pioneers of colonization. Every thing will be prepared for them. Houses even are in course of erection, and the first colony will really go out to a home. The Company has and will continue to have, the best possible information as to the capabilities of their new possessions. On other occasions great mistakes have been committed as to the locations of Towns and settlements. In the present case no such mistake can be committed. There has been adequate local knowledge previous to the very first step in the way of actual settlement: and from the manner in which the country has been examined we have a guarantee that * knowledge of the country will in all cages precede settlement. The importance of this will be apparent to all who are cognizant of the history of colonisation. In the same paner is published a private letter from your Principal Agent, to which attention is therein particularly called. In that letter, -which is dated , is stated as follows :— ' I have read in the Sydney papers the regulations for the sale of the Company's Land, and as regards the first settlement, am prepared to fulfil their engagements with the public at Port Nicholson I have seen an account of the sale of 100,000 acres. I have decided on the first ssttlement being at Port Nicholson, bat I have land for settlers for the next fifty years. .; ...... We care not to dwell here upon the inadequate preparation made to receive the settlers on their arrival, and the losses incurred in consequence; nor to lay any great stress on the fact of the chief town itself being removed after considerable expences incurred, and the waste of-pro-perly attending it. But we call your attention to the sort of positive inforraati >n you paused to be circulated in the colony, and in England, and its peculiar accuracy. With "adequate local knowledge," a statement was published in the New Zealand Gazette, your then newspaper in the colony, in which statement the Hutt Valley was described as containing 30,000 acres of available land, when it was well known that the Hutt Valley did not contain one third of that number of such acres. This did not require measurement to ascertain the fact. A gentleman, who had been but a fortnight in Port Nicholson, on his return to London, informed us that he was snre, from the view he obtained of it, the Hutt Valley could not contain more than about 7,506, or at mo?t 10.000, acre 3 of available land', and subsequent events have proved the accuracy of his judgment. In order that no doubt* might be left on the minds'of readers at home, a pictorial representation, termed a bird's-eye view, of the harbour here and the land around, was very neatly drawn and lithographed. You .hung; a copy of this, beautifully colored, against the wall of the colonist's room in the New Zealand House. As,you will, recollect, it represents the Hutt District like a broad valley extending far backhand lying be. tween two ranges of hills nearly parallel. The ranges of hills by which the valley is really bounded, meet at a point where there is just sufficient space for the river to flow between. A correct view would not have suited the description. No one couM seethe valley and give such a bird'seye view of it by accident. No one can see the picture, and look at the valley itself, without noticing the gross misrepresentation. If you were accurately in formed when you received the drawing, you must have been told, that it was not true, and yet you published it. Or did you recejve acorrect drawing and alter it to suit your purpose? If your information has been accurate, yon mnst have learned that so far irom your Principal Agent ueiu<j able to fulfil all your engagements with the pnbl/c at Port Nicholson, there were not i 40,000 acres of available land in that dis-

triot. You must have been informed tW a large portion of the land, the pos« M of wlachyo,vr had engaged o '' muat be taken at Manawatu, 80 mil™ Wanganui, 110 miles, dinantfr^^ * Nicholson, you must have foamed ti? theexpenee attending removal of co ' to either of those places, was equal to 0 !]?' evpences from London to New Zealan Dtd you ever express regret for deceivX the public in this mater? Did you know that every person who read vn»! terms of sale, and the passages ab.l quoted, calculated that a district had bee discovered, which would have affords! the quantity of hnd required within a reasonable distance of the chief town say twenty-fiva miles at the outride? 'jJiJ you not confirm this impression by yon! advertisement for the Secondary Series of Country Lands ? which we reprint-

.Lands in New Zraland— The Dire<«tn«„f the New Zealand Company hereby they are ready to receive applications for country l*nds, in sections of 100 acres each, m thenlt fIQO per section; which will . en ti t Qe Ce to select out of the surveyed land* i„ thevicS of the Town of Wellington, in the CoJS pnndpal settlement, comprising the exten.ive dl tricts surrounding the harbour of Port Nicholson m Cook's Scr.lt.. Purchasers proceed S colony .w.,11 receive an allowance of 6-) ncr It subject to the Company's Regulations, whlclS be obtained with all requisite information at™ Company's House, in Broad-street Baild n l g London.-By order of the Directors. John wS Secret.ry.-New Zealand House. 15th May iS

Was it consistent with truth to 'public to the world that you were prepared to S. , , C B o,n P an y 8 engagements at Port Nicholson? Are Manawatu and Wan ganui at Port Nicholson ? Was it in god faith to sell land which you described as in- the vicinity of Port Nicholson, and send the purchasers to Manawatu and Wan. ganui for it. While we write the settlers at those places are- fernMing Had tliey been near Port Nicholsdn'as you promise! they should !>e, they w »uid have been comparaiivefysafe, '•■"''

The plan of your First and Principal Settlement, wa<» impracticable. It was known to he so by your Principal' Again early in 1840. A m-re glance at the term* and very slight knowledge of the conn'ry, would have sufficed t» determine thi-< point. But you had " adequate knowledge." On the arrival of the Bengal"Merchant, early in 1840, several of the settlers wh> came ia that ve«spl, desiroiji of fettinp; to work to clear land aud obtain a living, urged your Principal Agent to erant leases of 20 acres of land in the neighbourhood of this harbour, to each of the settlers who held Land Orders; such leases to have been on terms that if the land should be selected by any sectionist, he should pay for the improvements, or .the land be reserved a reasonable time. But your Principal Agent had no power to alter the contract made with the land'purchasers by the Company. Its thorough impracticability was' urged upon him, and so much was it felt at the time, that a proposal was formally drawn out and signed by several parties for the division of the Hutt valley into ten acre allotments, and to let the holder of every land order have one sur»h allotment. Had such apian been adopted a great pari of the valley would have been cleared, produce had been raised much earlier, capital saved to the colony, and the evils resulting from maori occupation in all prohability avoided. But the attempt appeared hopeless, the original plan was adh red to, , and as the country would not adapt itself to the plan, and the plan could not be ■ adapted to the country, many settlers were ruined; and then told th'ov owed their ruin to Colonial Office Government. Many of the.settlers' who, held land orders could hot go upon their lands. Will you venture to repeat what the libeller of your settlers has not hesitated to assert, that there were other lands which they might have hired. Will you insult those whom you have so deeply injured by such a statement? Yon yourselves had effectually prevented them from doing so. The agents appointed te pelect lands of absentees had not in the- first instance powers to grant leases, and by the time those powers arrived you had puffed the land and raisedthe notions of the owners in England as to its value, that land upon reasonable terms could not be obtained. As a proof that land in the Hutt valley lias been over valued, Mr. Moleßworth's farm, of which you made ko much, that you were supposed to have a peculiar interest in. it, has proved, and- is admitted to be, a failure ; although it has been since his departure in the hands of oneof themost active and economical men in this settlement. And we cou'd' name some who have been ruined by renting land even in the Hutt valley.' It is true that this is the best country for an< Englishman' out

of England,, hut.not. true that 50 or 100 per cent per annu'w, is to be m .do' for money laid out in'htnd herK -

But some did try to.go upon their land And knowing, as you did, that "some obstacles" were "arrayed against the peaceful settlement of the Strafs duirin</ the lifetime of Rauparaha" Knowing you did, how rieee.-sary it was that thrs should be concentrated in order that they might.be "strong enough to resist his evil designs against the plantations," (you adhered to a plan which separated them, and you sent them to risk their lives by. endeavouring to' settle on land which !you knew they could not do. And when they Had tried and failed and wasted < their jmeans in the attempt and came to you for redress you informed them they were the victims of Colonial Office Government. And you held out great hop.-s that the Government w.ould redress the evils from which they were suffering. Those hopes as often a 9 renewed so often were disappointed Ca?i you wonder then if unable to go upon their own land, prevented by exorbitant demands from renting j.and of others, seeing day aft r day, week after week, month after month, and year after year all your promises broken and : hopeless of obtaining redress, some of those who under other circumstances woulil have gone to 'work with energy, became listless, vacant, 'insane, or abandoned themselyes to drinking to b gtiiie the time, and went through a round of excesses which ended in their ruin. Was it not enongh that they were ruined ? Was it right to exposetheir follies and designate them as "scamps." Was it right to stamp with the weight of your aid and approval the .work, of. their sometime companion and leader, in which they were so exposed ?

You, Gentlemen, have appeared to take great interest in the welfare of your set tiers, and you have warmly advocated their cause in the House of Commons. Your statements of their sufferings excited the sympathy of that House and of the public, and drew from the Ministry great advantages for yourselves. You obtained from the Government the promise or a grant of four'acres oflaad for every pound you had expended in the objects specified* and in taking the account you included the money of land purchasers, which by your contract you had bound yourselves to expend for their benefit exclusively. It was not your money, it,was their money ;< and it was.ho mord expenditure of yours, than a payment by a servant of his employers money forhis employers purposes Is the expenditure of the servant. Seeing, benefits to which you were not entitled conferred upon you by the. Government, in consequence of the.sufferings and losses endured by.the settlers, one of those setventured, oh behalf of himself. an 1 Other*,, to express a hope.that out of the benefits yp.u had received you would impait somewhat to the. sufferers. You kindly replied, as to his own case, that you were surprised at the applicatijn, and, as to the ease.of the settlers, 'you deeply sympathised with them, jpu had urged the hardships they had undeigone upon tho attention of the Government, who alone were responsible. You could dp nothing for them. Kind protectors of those who had been ruinecf by trusting yon. Friends of humanity, .

I give thee sixpence, I would see the dammed first

We appreciate your anxiety to concert measures to 'prevent the dispersion of the settlements consequent upon the news of of the dissolution, of the Company. You do not deceive us, do not deceive yourselves. If* the.settlements had 8 o far depended on.you they had long since fallen to the ground. Remember your promises, and how they have been broken; the. hopes you excited, and how they have been disappointed j the natural difficulties, of the, country, and, how, you' have added to them ; your knowledge of the danger, and your exposure of the settlers to that danger ; the confidence they, placed; in you, and how you have rewarded that confidence,—arid y6u will not be surprised that they now wish to terminate your influence; No longer blame the Govermerit for evils yourselves have caused, but rather give credit for the forbearance wjiich has been exercised .towards you,, by those whom you Jjaye abused., : We have no pleasure in this task, but. having begun, v» c mustfinish it; and will iii the next of these articles endeavour to Bhew-' ! yoirbciW'it v?M the Cries'of 'settlers" Wera stifled;' and their complaints misdirected. '

By the putter Royal William, JJoviN master, from; the Southward, s we haje obtained theioUovdng-iotelligenc©, , ; T.;

At Go-a-shore, Woody Station, the «halers have procured 52 tuns of oil, and 4% tons or bone. « , .. ;

.At Peraki Price's Station, the whalers of bo P ne° CUre • 52,uns of oil » and 2 £ *»™

At Por- Cooper, Messrs. Rhodes and Greenwood's Station, .he whalers had procured 18 tuns of oil, and A ton of bone. ■.-,..;■

No whaling vessels had lately been in atAkaroa. The settles were peaceably employed tilling their grounds.

A mysterious circumstance had lately occuredatAkama. A whaler named Jul,,, Uuff, had disappeared and it was feared by many that hj had met with foul play and been murdered. .The following is the account furnished us by Mr. Allen,"of this transaction.

A whaler named John Duff, a man about 45 years of age, having engaged imh Mr. Peacock, to assist in saving articles from the wreck of the late French ship Colon, started fr6m;Akaroa, on the 19th Oct. towards night-fall for Peraki.. 1 he distance between the wvo-p'aces is nut threat, and the journey can be performed with ease in four or five hours. The man knew every fmt of the road, having frequently travelled it.. He was also fully acquainted with the different shrubs groiv". j»g in the bu,h,up>>n which he could have. provided.he had by any accident missed his way; we are told however, that Duff, could have travelled the road blindfolded.

The non arrival of Duff at Peraki, Hay. ingb-'en communicated 16 Mr. Waisohthe Police iVlagi-trate at Akar.ia, he instantly called out a'tout twenty five o the settlers, and taking a bugle with him-proceeded, to search the budi in every direction. No traces were found however tendino- to unravel the mystery. The tiring the period had been remarkbly fiiie, and from one or two circumstances/it was feared : by the settleri that Duff had been murdered. •: " ;

" The native wife of Duff was about proceeding to Akaroa from Peraki. to: make some disclosure but- she was waiting for a boat to take her round haying refused to travel the road. It was confi.lently anticipated that she would tie able to clear up the mystery. *

The Porirua Road is rapidly.pngressing. The.road between Elliott's Stockade and Johnson's, under ...the superintendence of Captain Russell, is nearly completed. A body of natives are about to commence falling the timber between the stockade at Johnson's and Elliot's.siockadei. On this side, t the civilians are making a first rate road, and when, the entire line is completed the Porirua road will equal, if not surpass, any road in this part of theswprld.

An additional body of the military has been stationed at Pahantanui, and the soldiers are at work reducing the size of the pah, and strengthening the defences.' In the event of a visit from the rebels, Pahautanui will in all probabil.ty be attacked, inasmuch, as the rebels look upon, that position as peculiarly their own.i r

A strong; fort is being erected midway between Pabautaaui and Paramatta Point. When completed,' a : body of the Armed Police will be stationed there for its defence.

A.number of men are now busily employed st the barracks at Porirua. Some difficulty was experienced informing a proper foundation. The contractor was compelled to sink hurdles, composed of picked mai, li.id (traverse ~ways, for a depth of eight feet, by five feet in widlh, the, whole being filled up with concrete. The building will be.of stone, two feet three inches in width, and when completed, 80 or 100 soldiers will besufficieni..to lipid the Fort against any body of men the natives can possibly bring to bear against it.

The schooner Katb, /Captain.Salmon, arrived in port on Monday, ; from Hawke's Bay. The schooner Bandicoot, Capt. Bowden, from Hobart Town via Auckland, was at anolior in the bay when the Kate left. The Bandicoot had on board a large English mail for this settlement, supposed to be" that shipped per Clara to Sydney, This is another palpable evidence of the inconvenience resuiting to tbe settlements in the Straits, from the system of forwarding the mails to Auckland.. Two vessels direct from Sydney,have arrived since the Clara anchored in Port Jackson, and yet we nra compelled to wait, in order to receive our letters by way of the •' dignified " capital;

One branch of industry, for whi.-h t'>ere 15 a good market here, appears to have been overlooked by our manufacturing capitalists. We mean the manuf.iciu/e of blankets. A few blanket looms in. the handf* of persons who could work them well would yield a good return.