HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Wellington Independent, Volume V, Issue 426, 10 November 1849, Page 3

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Administration of the Colonies

Sir W. Molesworth then rose, pursuant to notice, to move for the appointment of a commission to inquire into the administration of the colonies. The honourable baronet said. Before I submit the motion of which I have given notice to the consideration of the house, I will take the liberty of presenting a petition which I received yesterday from Wellington, New Zealand. It is signed by no less than 741 men, a very large proportion of the adult population of that settlement, which contains about 4,000 souls. (Hear, hear.) The petitioners state that their reasonable expectations of obtaining representative institutions have been disappointed; that their Governor has established a form of government repugnant to their feeliugs and inefficient for good government; and they pray that Parliament will" not sanction any measure which will delay the introduction of representative government into the southern settlements of New Zealand. I heartily support the prayer of this petition ; first, because I believe that the petitioners are in every way well qualified to enjoy representative institutions ; and secondly, that with representative institutions, New Zealand would soon become one of the greatest and most flourishing colonies of the empire. In new Zealand, imbecile governors, discreditable functionaries, and unnecessary wars with the natives—unfortunately successful efforts to mar the fairest scheme of colonization, and to disappoint the -hopes ofthe choicest emigrants; and, finally, a-constitution proclaimed one day and suspended the next. Yet, at the present moment, all our colonial dependencies do not contain more than 1,000,000' persons of British or Irish descent, (there are as many persons by birth British subjects in the United States at the present moment) ; and our export trade of produce and manufactures to all .our subject colonies (including GMaltar) does not exceed £9,500,000 a-year, or about £1,530,000 less than our export trade in 1847 to our independent colonies of the United States, which costs us nothing. It would be easy to ■take colony after colony, and show in each a series of lamentable blunders which have been committed by the Colonial office. For instance, how the war of races was stimulated in Canada, how the ruin of the planters was made inevitable in the W>st Indies, how a valuable portion of our fellow subjects in South Africa; were driven into the,desert and became, rebels, how the immorality of Van Diemen's Land was fearfully augmented, liow; the colonization of New Zealand was spoilt, how Vancouver's Island was thrown away—all through the ignorance, negligence, aud vacillation of the colonial office. Ignorance, negligence, and vacillation are three inseparable accidents of our system of colonial government. Ignorance is tlie necessary consequence of the distance which intervenes between the rulers, and the ruled ; negligence is the invariable result ofthe want of efficient responsibility, -and the. responsibility of #»/ colonial office' to

Parliament'ismefely nominal, in consequence of the ignorance of' Parliament with regard 'to colonial affairs. And whenever there is ignorance 'or negligence, ;there vacillation must also exist. I maintain that we have' no moral right to relieve ourselves of our criminals at the expense of the cobmies, and that the desire to make a scapegoat of our colonies, by whomsoever entertained, whether by members of this house, or by magistrates of quarter sessions, or by judges on the bench, is a mean and selfish feeling, of which, as citizens of this great empire, we ought to be heartily ashamed. Within the last five and twenty years, as I have already said, about two millions of persons have emigrated from this country. One million have gone directly to the United States of America, about 100,000 to our North American colonies, of the latter more than one-half have re-emigrated to the United States.— Therefore, in all probability, threefourths of the emigration from this country during the last five and twenty years has been to the United States (in*fact, last year three fourths of the emigrant. from this.country, 188,000. out of 248,000 went directly to the United States.) It is not improbable, therefore, that the number of persons now living in the United States, who were borri British subjects, is as great as the whole number of persons of British and Irish descent in all our dependencies. I ask, why do emigrants prefer the United States to the British Colonies ? I ask this question not from any feeling of jealousy,'of, the United Stales. For I look upon those states as the greatest, most glo- \ rious, and most useful children of England ; -for their inhabitants I entertain the strongest regard and affection. I rejoice that we are assisting them in peopling their far west. I rejoice in everything which promotes their interest and redounds to their honour. I believe these feelings are entertained and re turned by the instructed and reflecting men of both countries—l believe that trade, emigration, and similarity of institutions are daily strengthening the ties between Great Britain and her independent colonies; and thence I augur the happiest consequences to our race. But in the same manner as I might ask why emigrants prefer one British colony to another, so I do ask what turns the tide of emigration from our dependent to our independent colonies ? and I answer, colonial office government, convict emigration, and other causes which a. commission would be able to ascertain and point out to the house. Mr. Hawes said the colonists of New. Zealand had had a constitution given to them, but the honourable baronet said that it had been taken away by Lord Grey. ' . " i

Sir William Molesworth : It has been suspended.

Mr. Hawes said it had been suspended because the colonists had taken exceptions to it, on the ground that the power of returning members to the legislative assembly was confined to a small number of the European population, while the numerous warlike tribes were not represented at all. Many of j those tribes were men progressing in intelligence, and they objected to a small number of Europeans exercising the entire power of electing the representatives. That was the ground on which it was suspended, and because, if it had been dogmatically persisted in, it might have had tbe effect of creating a civil war in the colony. Mr. Gladstone said then there is the New Zealand question, with respect to which it would be most valuable to have such a body of rules prepared as the ability of the gentlemen composing the commission would enable them to lay down [hear, hear], It is not without some pain I refer to the history of those transactions, and to the position in which the Government and Parliament are placed in reference to the granting of free institutions to New Zealand [hear, hear]. At the end ofthe session of 1846 a bill was passed with great precipitancy to enable the Queen to grant a representative constitution to New Zealand, but it was so framed that the very first step of Parliament in the ensuing session was to.retrace its own steps, and cancel its own doings by sus-l pending for a number of years the-, constitution they granted, and for all practical intents and purposes to delegate to one man—a man I admit worthy of all respect—the whole authority of Parliament [ hear]. The result of that, I am afraid, is very great discontent amongst the settlers of a portiou of New Zealand. I heard with great pain a petition presented to-day on this subject. It is a marvel and mystery to me why the people of Wellington and that portion of New Zealand should npt have been presented long ago with free institutions. If they were ready for it before, they cannot have absolutely retrogarded, and yet their allegation is that not only have no free institutions been granted to theni, but there is only a hope held out that in , the course of four, years they may be granted to them. Now, in considering, this question, we should.not consider the concession of free institutions as some very'great gift from us to

tlieru/But we should consider that when we are .giving, them. pee institutions, we are doing tlie .'greatest grace and favour to ourselves [hear, hear], not only on account of considerations of public -economy in this country, which, is closely connected with the'improvement' of.our colonial system, but because it i. our interest to'give them strong, and healthy powers, of dcvelopcment; and! where we wish to have it, we can only j brhi „;' it out by enabling the" people. to learn by.practice the managem.ynt of their own ,affairs (hear, hear.) - With respect to the case of Now Zealand, we should never have permitted those zig-zag proceedings—this rapid advance, followed! by as rapid a retreat—this stultification of ourselves—and the Secretary of State, instead of .being able to concoct a system of colon : al philosophy for himself, should have h-jen able to refer for information to a body of men chosen by the Executive Government, information which I am sure they would be able to furnish to him. (hear, hear.)