THE DISTURBANCES AT NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 3, 23 August 1843, Page 2

THE DISTURBANCES AT NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Sydney Herald, July 20.) We yesterday published a correspondence he. tvteen Mr. Bushy and the Governor, in which the former offered his services to mediate beiween the settlers and the exasperated natives at Port Nelson, New Zealand, and the latter declared it to be " quite out of his E*cellenoy°s power to make any engagements"of the sort. The Governorevidently supposed that Mr. Busby expected remuneration, whereas the oftVr was made on grounds purely public and disinterested. Two things are to be res gretted—that Mr. B's first letter was not more explicit,, and that his Excellency did not, before seuding his rather uuciyil reply, ascertain what Mr. B's intentions were, Thatlhe state of things at New Zealand is suffis ciemly critical to have demanded irpm the Governs roent of New South Wales every assistance in its power, is manifest from the facts recently stated in our own columns—the facts which led us to eis press a hope that as many troop* as could hr cpated from our garrison should be sent tbiiher without delay. The nativas are under extreme it* ritation ; and if our information be correct, of which we have no reason to doubt, their irritation has been caused bv a shameful breach of faith on the part of the Government, and especially of the New Zealand Company. Notwithstanding the solemn pledges given in the name ot Her Majesty, over and over again, that their right to the foil should ever be treated with respect, and that the> should never be deprived of their lands without their.own free and entire consent, we are assured that large tracts of territory have been granted by the Government and by the Company to British settlers without even consulting the tribes who were in possession of them. No wonder, then, that thev should lesent such scandalous injustice, especially when aware that the physical superiority is on their own side. They are well aimed, and most amply provided with ammunition. Their pasw>o< are proverbially tierce, their courage high, their muscular strength prodigious, and their warlike pr<-pos»es*ioiis nurtured and fixed by the habits of thsir whole live*. To treat a people like this with wanton insult and gross injustice, to say nothing of its immorality, is the very height of ins sane impolicy. It is to defeat the very ends o» colonization, and to expose British subjects to all the honors of rapine and bloodshed. These retii. butive consequences have already shewn themselves, and it is the opinion of persons well acquainted with the New Zealand character, that unless proper measures Be promptly taken to allay the gathering storm, the settlements will become scenes of the most frightful carnage. Knowing these things, Mr. Busby, whose long residence amongst them as Representative of the British Crown had secured the confidence of the natives, offered to proceed at once to the scene of conflict/and eiert all bis influence to effect a res conciliation between the contending parties. And yet this offer is cooly declined—declined offshand, on the very day it is made, without enquiry and withont consideration! An English ship of war is in our port, and in her the late British Resident hasten, without fee or reward, on an errand of peace and good will, whereby he might happily be the means of saving the lives of multi* tndesof her Majesty's subjects—and what is ihe answer, the cold, phlegmatic, heartless answer? " It is probable that the Notth Star will proceed to Cook's Straits, though not, bis Excellency remarks, very immediately." O, no ! she will take her time—she will wait till the savages have had a little more sport —(ill they have kidnapped a few English females, and roasted and eaten a lew English gene tlemen—and then, it is "probable" she may pros ceed to render assistance !

We really stand amazed at this unf eelingcons duct. How Sir George Gip p 8 can justify it to bis country, and to his own humanity, we a »e at a loss toconcrive. The 'east enquiry would have taught him that Mr. Busby's mediation—a mediation bes tween life and death—was offt red gratuitously : for want of that enquiry, his Exct llcey has lost an opportunity of affording valuable assistance iu a critical and alarming emergency.