THE Wellington Independent. THURSDAY MORNING, 17th DECEMBER. THE HOUSE AND THE WAITARA.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVIII, Issue 1997, 17 December 1863, Page 2

THE Wellington Independent.

THURSDAY MORNING, 17th DECEMBER. THE HOUSE AND THE WAITARA.

"NOTHING EXTENUATE; OR SET DOWN AUGHT IN MALICE."

The large majority of readers Trill scarcely thank as for again referring to the "Waitara : they are sick and tired of the Waitara and are quite content to leave it in the position

in which Sir G-eorge Grrey, by the advice of Messrs Domett and Bell, has placed it. But as some very important proceedings in re--1 lation to it have been going on in the AsI sembly, we are bound to place them on | record, — proceedings moreover in which the G-overnor completely out-generalled the House, and strengthened his position most materially. In a previous issue we reported a resolution of Mr Weld's, agreed to sub silentio by the House of Representatives, in which it asserted its intention to abstain from controverting any of the Governor's statements relative to the Waitara dispute, because the Duke of Newcastle had already done so— being satisfied to leave whatever vindication of Governor Browne's procedure might be necessary, in the hands of his Grace. But Sir George was not to be silenced in this off-hand way ; he saw that he had the House at an advantage, and he pressed it hard when he sent down the following message in reply :— " The Governor acknowledges the receipt of a latter which he has received from the honorable the Speaker of the House of Representatives, dated the Ist instant, enclosing a copy of certain rasolutions which were adopted by the House of Representatives on Wednesday last, the 35th ultimo. "In the first of those resolutions the House of Representatives states it is of opinion that the renewed and definite recognition by his Grace the Dulce of Newcastle, in his despatch of Auguat the 25th, 1863, 'of the justice of exerting military force against Wm. King and his allies,' has happily rendered it unnecessary for the House to controvert or supplement statements made by the Governor in his despatches on the Waitara question, — and inthethiid resolution the House requests the Governor to transmit these resolutions to bis Grace the Duke of Newcastle. " The Governor, in reply, informs the House of Representatives that the statements made by him in any of his despatches on the Waitara question, were made advisedly and after long consideration ; and he is at present satisfied of their entire accuracy. He trusts, therefore, that the House of Representatives will inform him which of those statements the House is prepared to controvert, and the grounds on which it does so, in order that the Governor may have an opportunity of showing the accuracy of his statements, at the same time that he transmits the resolutions of the House of Representatives to her Majesty* Principal Secretary of State for the colonies. " Government House. Auckland, "December 2, 1863." On the 3rd December, Mr Fox moved the consideration of this message, proposing that the answer thereto should be entrusted to a Committee consisting of Messrs Weld, Fox, Richardson, Gillies, Pitzherbert, and Peatherston. Mr Weld, however, moved an amendment setting forth his grounds of objection, which we refrain from printing because of its extreme length, and because it came to nothing. The whole Waitara question was now in a fair way of being ripped up, to pre- : vent which had been the aim of all parties during the session — those opposed to Goververnor Browne's procedure in 1860 being satisfied with the rectification effected by Sir George Grey, and those who still thought Governor Browne to have acted wisely being under a cloud from the tergiversation of Messrs Domett and Bell. Besides which all parties felt that now was not the time to discuss ma+fpTa nf this kind; matters which while their discussion could produce no practical good, might be productive of much disunion and harm : — in fact with the gloomy prospects which the rebellion held out, (before the attack on Rangiriri) it was of vital moment that there should be the greatest unaniminity possible, and that thosa old questions on whjch the House had formerly had such faction fights should be entirely ignored. Later in the session when Mr Weld came up, he injudiciously introduced a resolution which the House allowed to pass, as already stated, in discreet silence ; but now that Mr Weld was about to open up the | whole subject in the amendment above mentioned, the House was most desirous to effect a compromise — anything rather than enter upon a violent party debate. The following resolution, proposed by Mr Gillies — shirking the pointed demand put to the House in the Governor's message — was adopted by way of compromise, Mr Fox withdrawing his motion for a Committee, and Mr Weld doing the same with his amendment thereto : — " That this House having had under its consideration the message of the Governor No 7, in which his Excellency, in reference to the resolulution oi the House of the 25th of November, requests to be informed which of the statements therein referred to this House is prepared to controvert, and the grounds on which it does so : Resolves, that this House, in supporting the measures of Governor Browne, did so on the ground that the i quarrel between the Government and Wm. King was clearly not as to title to land, but as to whether the course taken by him was justifiable, and the recourse to arms by him and hia allies in defence of that courae compatible with the Queen's sovereignty. That on the other hand it appears to this House that the tenor of his Excellency's despatches on the Waitara question leads to the inference that the quarrol was one as to land, and Dot as to jurisdiction and sovereignty. That this House adhetes to its former opinions, and controverts the accuracy of the various statements by which it appears that his Excellency has been led to taka an opposite view and especially those statements which are referred to in the Duke of Newcastle's despatch of 25th August, 1863." However much the House might intend to compromise the matter, Sir George had no intention to budge' an inch, and he therefore sent down another message pinning the House into a corner from which there was no escape. He referred the House to the points at issue between himself and the Duke of Newcastle, and asked which of them it was intended to support his Grace in maintaining ; at the same time forwardingadespatch which His Excellency had addressed to the Duke last October, incontestably showing the fallacy of the objections which the Duke had raised to certain statements of His Excellency — the statements which the House had in its first resolution said it should controvert if the Duke had not already done so. When this second message came on for consideration, the House was in such a fix that the only course was quietly to draw in its horns and leave Sir George Grey master of the field, and so the message was merely directed to be printed and there the matter ended. The Governor'sDespatchandMemorandum would occupy two columns, and as we have

not the space to publish, it entire, we do not care about mutilating it ; but we cannot refrain from giving a specimen of the conclusive manner in which Sir George deals with the Duke's objections. ' In the Secretary of State's despatch, No. 88, of the 25th of August, the following paragraph occurs : " I hold therefore that no injustice, and it is with justice only that I am dealing, was either intended or done to William King and his followers by the employment of military force to carry into effect the survey of the Waitara land, for the purpose of ascertaining how much or how little of it was owned by Teira and the others who joined with him in the sale to the Crown." It is presumed that no one will for a moment contend that the Governor intended to do an injustice to the natives, but this much should be said in their defence. A reference to Governor Browne's despatch, No 27, of the 22nd March, will clearly show that th» military force was sent to the Waitara, not for the purpose of carrying into effect che survey of th« Waitara land, for the object of ascertaining how much and how little of it was owned by Teira add others who joined with him in the sale of it. The enclosure to that despatch distinctly explain* as follows : — 11 Previously to the march of the troops, a manifesto had been published in the Maori language , and widely circulated by special agents amongst all the tribes in the Northern Island." That manifesto declared as follows :— " The Governor accepted Te Teira's offer conditionally, on its being shown that he had an undisputed title." Te Teira's title has been " carefully investigated and found to be good. It is not disputed by any one. The Governor therefore cannot allow William King to interfere with Te Teira in the sale of his own land." "Payment for the land has been received by Te Teira. It now belongs to the Queen." . " William King has interfered to prevent the survey of the Queen's land by her own surveyors. This interference will not be permitted," What the natives are hero told appears to be that William King has interfered to prevent the survey of the Queen's land, which had been acquired by purchase from Te Teira. whose titl* to it had been investigated and found to be good, and was not disputed by anyone, not that he interfered to prevent a survey to ascertain the ownership of the land in dispute. After this specimen of the way in which tha Governor completely answers His Grace, no wonder that the House was glad to escape* by backing out in the way it did. A Bill had meanwhile passed the House appointing a Commission to conduct the investigation into the Waitara business, promised by Governor Browne but not yet undertaken. We regret to learn that it is doubtful whether it will pass the Council.