3

A.—3a.

-tive institutions : probably a period of two years may suffice to settle the questions to which I have alluded, and to prepare the colony for the contemplated change; but this would soon be ascertained from the reports of the Officer Administering the Government. I should perhaps add that it is not in the least my wish to reflect upon the inhabitants of the northern portion of New Zealand, or to draw any invidious comparison between themselves and the people of the southern settlements : on the contrary, there are in the northern part of the Island many gentlemen for whom I entertain the highest respect and esteem ; and I would yield to no one in my desire to promote, in as far as practicable, the prosperity and happiness of the colonists in this part of New Zealand. But, the troublesome questions to which I have alluded having arisen, and there being every probability, from the number and character of the Native population, that disturbances may arise from them, I believe that in making these representations to you, and in basing such recommendations upon them, I am taking the most certain means of securing the true interest of the inhabitants of this part of the Northern Island, and at the same time performing a paramount duty to Her Majesty's Government. I have, &c, G. Grey.

No. 3. Copy of a Despatch from Governor Gbey to the Right Hon. Earl Gbey. (Confidential.) My Lobd, — Government House, Auckland, 3rd May, 1847. Since I had the honour of receiving your Lordship's private letter of the 27th November last*, transmitting the drafts of the papers relative to the introduction of a new Constitution into this colony, which had been printed for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, I have felt much concern lest any want of care upon my part in omitting to forward sufficiently detailed information of the circumstances of this portion of the colony should have left Her Majesty's Government in ignorance of various points which, I fear, were not under their consideration at the time they determined to introduce immediately into the Province of New Ulster a Constitution of the nature of that which is proposed. Should I have fallen'into this error, the only excuse I have to offer is that, from the tenor of previous despatches from your Lordship's department, I did not think that any change would for some years be introduced into the form of Government of this portion of New Zealand, and I did not imagine that, in the first instance, the form of Government now proposed would have been introduced into any part of this colony. My reasons for entertaining the apprehensions above stated are that Her Majesty's Government will, I fear, by introducing the proposed Constitution into New Ulster, not do that which, from your Lordship's despatch forwarding the Charter, I understand them to intend to do, but something different from it, and for which I believe (referring to the large number and present state of the Native population in this colony) no precedent has been established, either by Great Britain or by any other country : that is, by the introduction of the proposed Constitution into the Province of New Ulster, Her Majesty will not confer, as is intended, upon her subjects the inestimable advantages of self-government, but she will give to a small fraction of her subjects of one race the power of governing the large majority of her subjects of a different race. She will not give to her subjects the valuable privilege of appropriating, as they may think proper, the funds raised from themselves by taxation; but she will give to a small minority of one race the power of appropriating as they think proper a large revenue raised by taxation from the great majority of her subjects of another race. And these further difficulties attend this question: that the race which is in the majority is much the most powerful of the two ; the people belonging to it are well armed, proud, and independent, and there is no reason that I am acquainted with to think that they would be satisfied with and submit to the rule of the minority, whilst there are many reasons to believe that they will resist it to the utmost. And then, it must further be remembered that the minority will not have to pay the expenses of the naval and military forces which will be required to compel the stronger and more numerous race to submit to their rule, but that, on the contrary, these expenses must be paid by Great Britain, whilst the minority to whom the new powers are to be intrusted will benefit largely from such expenditure, and will have a direct interest in rendering it as great as possible. Before stating the reasons upon which these views are founded, I think it proper to mention that Her Majesty's Native subjects in this country will certainly be exceedingly indignant at finding that they are placed in a position of inferiority to the European population : they will undoubtedly argue, as they now frequently do, that they not only cheerfully ceded the sovereignty of their country to the Queen, but that when attempts have been made by some discontented tribes to throw off the sovereignty of Great Britain, and that at a period when, from the smallness of the British force in the country, they had apparently some hopes of success, the principal chiefs came forward, and freely gave the services of themselves and their people, and shed their blood in assisting to maintain for Her Majesty that sovereignty which they had yielded to her; whilst, on the contrary, they would justly regard the mass of the European population of this portion of the colony as having been attracted here solely by motives of personal benefit, such as a desire of carrying on trade with the numerous Native population, or of benefiting by the expenditure of the parliamentary grant-in-aid of the civil Government, or by the naval and military expenditure. In illustrating the reasons which have induced me to form the opinions I have stated, I will take the population returns, published by my predecessor, for the year 1845. No great change has taken place in either the European or Native population since that period; in fact, the distresses of the country induced many European settlers to quit the colony, and no corresponding immigration has taken place; with the exception therefore of the troops and naval force which have been brought into the country, the European population does not much exceed in amount that which it was in 1845, although some changes may have taken place in the relative population of the British settlements from

* This letter is not on record.