E.—No. 3. SECTION I.
are trained, a revenue levied, cases tried at indiscriminate meetings of Native3, the authority of Your Majesty's Court repudiated, and an asylum afforded to malefactors guilty of crimes committed on territory purchased by Your Majesty. That old mail roads are closed against the transit of Your Majesty's mails, and against the passage of Your Majesty's subjects, and that on the occasion of the wreck of the mail steamer " Lord Worsley," within forty miles of New Plymouth, the Natives pillaged the vessel, seized one of the mail boxes, and forbade succour from being sent from Jfew Plymouth to the relief of the passengers and crew. That a portion of the territory which has been purchased from the Natives is held by some of your Memorialists under grants from the Crown, and was occupied and cultivated by them at the commencement of the War, is now claimed by the Natives as conquered land —the owners of it being prohibited by them from reoccupying except on condition of becoming subjects of the so-called Maori King, and being at the same time prohibited by Your Majesty's Eepresentative from exercising any right of ownership over it with the view of avoiding a renewal of hostilities. That not only are your Memorialists prohibited from occupying their own lands as above stated, but Your Majesty's Representative is forbidden, under a threat of immediate renewal of hostilities, to construct roads over our lands, long since ceded to the Crown, on the ground that those lands have been reconquered. That after the lapse of nearly two years from the cessation of hostilities the Settlers are still crowded together in the Town of New Plymouth, depending in a great measure for their subsistence on rations issued by the Colonial Government; whilst the Natives, who have been in arms against Your Majesty, are not only unpunished but are allowed all the advantages of free intercourse with the Settlement. That as the events recorded in this Memorial have occurred, and your Memorialists have been reduced to their present condition during a period in which the entire control of Native aiFairs has been in the hands of Your Majesty's Officers, your Memorialists lay before Your Majesty this Statement, in full confidence that when their unfortunate position is known and fully considered, Your Majesty will not allow it to be indefinitely prolonged. Your Memorialists, therefore, pray that Your Majesty may be graciously pleased to cause such steps to be taken as may seem meet for redressing the wrongs under which they suffer. And Your Majesty's Memorialists as in duty bound will ever pray.
Enclosure 2 to No. 20. MEMORANDUM foe the govekxob. This Memorial was laid before His Excellency some time back, but it appeared unadvisable to send it on at once to England, while measures were just commencing (such as taking possession of the Tataraimaka block, &c.) which promised to alter the whole circumstances of the Province, almost immediately, and to furnish the best answer that could be given to Memorialists. Several circumstances connected with the past history of the Province given in this Memorial are either incorrect or at least very disputable. But all the occurrences related have been so much discussed in various ways, and on many occasions in the most public way, that it seems waste of time to re-open the discussion on the present occasion. Memorialists assume that the £200,000 was liberally voted by the Colonial Legislature for compensation " for losses." The House of Representatives did not unequivocally vote the sum for this purpose. The Act appropriating it defines it to be for "the execution of such measures as the Governor, acting " with the advice of his Executive Council, may adopt for the permanent reinstatement of the settlement " and inhabitants of Taranaki," words which the Attorney-General declares will not, in his opinion, sanction the application of any of the money to mere compensation for losses. As, however, a difference of opinion undeniably existed among members of the Legislature on this subject, and the two objects— viz., that of reinstating the settlement and settlers, and of compensating the latter, seemed to be compatible, an arrangement was entered into (proposed by His Excellency) that £120,000, inclusive of sums already given in compensation, should be devoted, out of the £200,000, to this purpose, and the remainder, £80,000, be considered applicable to other purposes of reinstatement, while the Province should be authorised to raise a loan of £50,000 to pay the balance of compensation awarded, which could not be met by the £120,000. This arrangement was consented to by the Government and the Province; and the Provincial Act passed and assented to by the Governor. At the time of this arrangement there appeared every prospect that the settlers to whom the money was to be paid would be able peaceably to re-occupy their farms, and that in the very great number of instances, the money would thus be spent on their farms and for " the reinstatement of the settlement." But recent events have forced the settlers to come in again, and removed altogether the immediate prospect of their being able to apply the money in the way just stated. I append a Minute by the Native Minister on another statement of the Memorialists, relating to the wreck of the " Lord Worsley" and the assumed prohibition of the " Queen's Representative to make " roads over lands ceded to the Crown." In spite of these disputable or objectionable points, it is undeniable that the case of the Taranaki settlers is a peculiarly hard one. But the Government has used every effort and taken every means in its power to remedy the evils they are suffering under, consistently with what is due to the inhabitants of the rest of the Northern Island and of the Colony, and to the paramount obligation to settle the difficulties of the Province by pacific means, if possible. Alfbed Domett May 15th, 1863.
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DESPATCHES FROM GOVERNOR SIR G. GREY
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