Extracts.

Auckland Chronicle and New Zealand Colonist, Volume 2, Issue 57, 5 September 1844, Page 4

Extracts.

GOVERNOR FITZROY. {From the Wellington Spectator, Aug. 7,) More than seven months have elapsed j since Captain Fitzroy assumed the office of Governor of New Zealand ; and it is more ! than six months since his Excellency first arrived among us in Port Nicholson. When here his Excellency pledged him self to two things ; the one to settle the Lard Question, before again returning tohis capital ; the other to pay us a visit vi'hin six months from his departure, Th former was a hasty engagement made in the absence of the experience necessary to warrant any statement on the subject, for which reason we have heretofore abstained from even alluding to a pledge broken almost as soon as it was uttered. The latter was more deliberate and needed less local experience to warrant its being given, and it has not yet been broken, though if report prove true it will not be fulfilled. | What good lias resulted to the settlers of Port Nicholson from his Excellency\ visit ?. the settlement, of the Land Question was and is our most urgent and pn ssing demand. His Excellency knew a»j«l is aware of this. Colonel \Vake field undertook to perfoim tin.l has performed on the part of the New Z«..land Company all that his Excellencv I'eemed neossaiy Mr. Commissioner Spain went right zea* lously to work on behalf of the settlers ami has mouths since repotted, we are bourn to believe, that Maori fraud and Maori belief in the s acts of injustice which may be committed towards the white settlers with impunity, alone prevent the Europeans from obtaining possession of the land absolutely necessary for them to secure the means of subsistence in New Zealand. The settlers almost rendered reckless by despair, find themselves without one word of consolation, or to encourage hope at the expiration of six months from the period when Governor Fitzroy visited Port Nicholson. All well remember the confidence inspired by the expected arrival of his Excellency, and all must fell proponlionably the utter futility of such reasonable expectations. His Excellency returned to his seat of government, called his Council together, and we would fain hope did not, in mockery, liken it to an approach to the representative system. Therin, to j speak moderately, he has willed many questionable things, and uttered more that; are injudicious; all of which when the session, as it in sham-emblance is termed, is over, we will carefully review as the ■fitting occasion arises. The settlers with! one voice cry aloud land! land!! or we perish; and how is their urgent and reasonable demand met? A bill is passed, calling upon them to provide £36,000 in the extremity of their distress, instead of £lB 000, which was all that was demands ed of them when reposing in their belief of prosperity being at hand. Does not Gos vernor Fitzroy keep the people's hands fettered, and at the same time whip them ( for not working ? Could any thing, under the circumstances, be more horribly despotic and cruel than Governor Fitzroy's Government? We believe that we are warranted in stating that not one bill in aid of production has his Excellency submitted to bis Councili this s <ssion, nor can

one particle of evidence that his Excellency sympathises with the distrees of the settlers, with which he was made so well acquainted while here, be detected in his legislative speeches, acts, or omissions.

II his Excellency has determined not to pay us a visit, courtesy demanded that the settlers should be made acquainted with the fact; for he must know that then, ere this, he would have been addressed upon the present state of the Land Question. All is in doubt, and we would therefore call upon the settlers forthwith to lemons strate with his Excellency upon the taxation of the necessaries of life, and upon the state in which he is keeping the Land Question. They are bound also to addres both houses of parliament upon these subjects, and the departure of the Bella Marina will afford a good opportunity. It would also be well to frame an a«l<ltess to the Queen, to be sent to his Kxee !■ ncy to be forwarded to the Colouia 1 Office. Delay, terrible delay, the consequence of Governor Fitzruy's mistaken policy, appears to be the lot of the settlers ; but let them bear in mind, that though acertain delay before we can hear from I England must ensue, that the longer they 'abstain from addressing Parliament the more distant must be the day of relief. We confess thus far, Governor Fitzroy has sadly disappointed the hopes of the settlers, and the greater the disappoint ment the more urgent is the demand for action on their part; we conclude, there tore, by stating agitate I agitate 1 ] for hope therein will now be found To the Editor of the New Zealand Gazette* and Wellington Spectator, Sir, —I take the liberty of troubling you with the following scheme, requesting you will give it a place in your valuable journal, having mentioned it to several persons, competent judges, and it having been approved, I now wish to give it further publicity : Seeing that in the present state of affairs in this colony, it is absolutely necessary the Government should have a large body of trooi s at its disposal, and that the present mode of providing military force is, for many reasons extremely objectionable, I have been led from what I have seen here and elsewhere, to think that a better system might be advantageously and easi ly adopted, by which a considerable stream of immigrants of a superior class would be created and maintained, and the interests of the colony forwarded by the execution of those works, upon which its progress so much depends.

The following are the heads of a plan which I would submit to the notice of the Home Government, and the Anglo New Zealander., I propose that troops be established in England solely for this colony ; that they be engaged to serve for seven years certain, and be liable for a. further seven yeais ; that two-thirds he married men; th «i all be selected subject to the rules laid down by the Emigration Commissioners ; that three-fourths be agricultural labourers, and that the remainder he carpenters, masons, bricklay ers, blacksmiths, and a few tailors and shoemakers..; that the regiment be officered by young men educated as engineers and surveyors; that the passage of this force from England be defrayed out of the proceeds of the sale of Colonial Lands ; that on their arrival in the colony, after being thoroughly trained, two-thirds be sent on detachments to the several settlements. These men I would employ in making roads between the various settlements, but in the first instance £ would put them ou one grand line from north to south; when employed on such public works the pay to be doubled. The ordinary pay to be that of the troops of the line. The ordinary pay to be allowed by the Home Government, and the extra pay by the colony ; the latter to be defrayed out of the funds appropriated for public works and surveys; these two departments would then be useless and might merge into this scheme. The cost to the Home Government of transporting troops to the colony would be at least £l7 per head, and having to relieve them from time to time, would amount to such a sum in ten or twenty years, as would produce pay sufficient to keep such soldiers for a considerable period, and the Home Government would save, by my plan, the

whole of the of transporting troops too and from this colony. At head quarters I would employ the officers and non- commissioned officers, in mapping and planning the various works surveyed, from the field books sent up; which would enable the Commanding Officer to judge of the feasibility of any work, previous to any further time or trouble being expended upon it. The troops should serve for seven years certain, and after passing a Board of Examination composed of officers of the corps, and if found to be deserving of reward, they shall be entitled to receive the same either in land or money, as his Excellency the Governor shall decide. After being dismissed'they-should res port themselves every month at a convenient given point, to a discharged noncommissioned officer or the civil authority, whose report should be forwarded to j head-quarters. At the end of the second term of seven years by passing an examination before at least three Magistrates, they shot-Id be entitled to a further grant. That every year at a convenient time (say after the harvest,) those of the second term should assemble tor fourteen days drill, during which time they should receive pay. iNo man to be allowed to dispose of any laud granted to him at the expiration of his seven years service, to prevent such heing done, the Crown deed not to be granted until the expiration of the second term, or for fourteen years. The corps to be recognised in the Army List on the footing of the Cape Mounted Riflemen, or other Colonial corps. The uniform to be of the plainest description, rifle-green and black belts I recommend. At head quarters a school should be established for the chileren of the soldiers, and to be opened at a convenient hour in the evenings for the men. In the first instance I should raise five hundred men, to form five companies, to be called a battalion, under the command of a Major,—of these, three hundred should be married, and allowing an average of one child to each married couple, the cost of transport may be taken as follows : First Years' Muster. S2 m *\« fat £l7 each..... ,£13.600 300 women, J "*- 300 children, at £7 each 2,100 £15.700 Second Years' Draft. 100children,at £7 each •••• 700 £4,950 Third, fourth, and fifth years'drafts do« do. do., making a total of £35,500, payable during the time, to transport 1,100 men, 700 women, and 700 children, in all 2,500 souls. To raise this sum 35,000 acres of land must be sold, (without deduction) at one j pound per acre. With the support of Government, and the opening of the* country by roads and bridges, surely there would be no great difficulty in finding purchasers who would take this quantity of land during the ensuing five years, especially as they might purchase in an} part of New Zealand. I would allow any man on landing, or until the end of the first year, to purchase his discharge for £25 ; at the end of the second year for £23; third do., £2O ; fourth do., £l6; fifthdo., £11; "sixth do., £5. A saving man may always clear himself of the corps, and return the funds expended on him, in two or three years. Of course, upon purchasing his discharge he forfeits all claim to the boon held out as a reward at the expiration of the terms of the seven years servitude. I call this a police force, for it should act in that capacity if required, and in each settlement there would be a guard house, and a party ready to turn out ai the demand of the civil power. The following is the cost of the police department as estimated for this year, (18.4.4):: —

It strikes me that this is an enormous sum for such a department, with a population of only 14,000. I think it very strange that a colony collected together as this has been, ■ (and supposed to be

weeded of all scamps) by the selection of its free immigrants, both by the Government and the New Zealand Company submitting them to the examination of the Emigration Commissioners, should con* tain people of such questionable character as to require the above surveillance. Many came ro the colony independent of this scrutiuy by paying their own passage, and some came from other countries. Now one would suppose that people so far independent would have some further means than that of their mere passage money ; and, having something to lose, would conduct themselves respectfully. The Board of works department is now an expense the Colony of £2,710, and the Survey Department £2,400, to which, add annual expense of brig (at least) £1,508, we have a total of £6*612. Put this amount on the credit side of my scheme for the first year, with a power of two thirds of the force, or 333 men, including officers and non-commissioned officers, and let us see how far it will go to provide extra pay. The amount of £6,612 would employ 333 men for a period of 303 days, suppos. ing the body so employed to consist of the following :

By this I show that they have but nine days to spare in the year. Now many days will be wet, and some time must be reserved for drill; therefore the whole sura would not be required. Many may think the the pay proposed to be given by the colony small, and fear that the work might be performed in a slovenly manner. But it must be remembered that there are hundreds of excellent civil engineers and labourers idle at home, and who, when at work, don't make half the pay here offer* ed, I say the pay is abundant, for ere long this will be a far cheaper country ** in all matters of living" than England, and as the soldier would be clothed, fed, and paid one shilling per diem by the Government, he must be a bad manager if he cannot save the one shilling per diem paid by the colony. But I forgot he has a wife, and perhaps two or three chil. dren, how are they to live, will not they require the shilling paid by the colony f No, 1 can prove they can earn one fur themselves. I propose to contract with some indi. viduals to furnish a certain quantity of work, which should be performed in the barracks in a building erected for that purpose. Some may be employed in the tailors'shop, some in making shirts for the men, some in dressing wool for the colors nial manufacture, some in flax, some in the barrack garden. In fine, there are various ways of employment for them, and the husbands need not touch the one shilling per day paid by the colony, and save at least £lO per annum. This placed in a savings bank and left at interest would produce them nearly £IOO when they are dbout to be discharged, to cater for themselves at the end of seven years; thus eusuring them a certain capital to com s tnence farming " the laud they may re* ueive for good conduct/ 7 and make them valuable settlers. This, Mr, Editor, is the outline of the scheme I propose for opening the country by roads, and affording protection to the settlers. I lemain, Sir, Your's respectfully, J. WVJERNiINGHAIf.

£ *. d. 0 0 0 0 Constables and boatmen .. Contingencies ........ ..... 216 12 .£5,141 8 0

£ *• a. 3 Captains at lis. 7d. per diem ... 1 11 9 3 Lieutenants at 6s. 6d. do. ., .. 0 19 6 6 Ensigns at 6«. 3d. do. ., .. 1 11 6 3 Coloured Serjeants at 2s. 4<J. . ..0 7 0 6 Serjeants at Is. 6<l. do. ., ..0 9 0 9 Corporals at Is. 4d. do. .. .. 0 12 0 3 Drummers at Is. 2d. do. . ... 0 3 6 300 Privates at Is. do. . ... 15 0 0 £20 17 3