The Anglo-Maori Warder. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1848.

Anglo-Maori Warder, Volume 1, Issue 25, 12 October 1848, Page 2

The Anglo-Maori Warder. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1848.

The Royal New Zealand Fencibles have quietly returned again to their usual employment, having resolved—to use their own expression —that "half a loaf is better than no bread:" so that we may now, without fearing to be accused of sowing discontent amongst them, venture to examine into the real merits of the question between the Pensioners and the Government, as likewise between the Government and ourselves. We will open up the whole as fairly as possible ; in no factious spirit, although there is even too much to be complained of, but with care to avoid the smallest exaggeration, the certain detection of which ivould only foil the end we purpose to attain. How different are the present prospects of that force from the day-dreams indulged in when it was disembarked. Their imaginations had become excited, as is always the case during a long voyage, their pay had accumulated, they were employed by government, at so high a rate of wages as to render their services unattainable by private individuals, and that for doing that what was no better than a half-day's work -. so elated were they, that it was no easy matter to persuade them to suffer any part of their families to take service in the houses of the older settlers. " When Jeshurun waxed fat, then lie kicked." And now, their despondency is only paralleled by their former over-expectation. They find themselves suddenly cut down to the minimum of wages, with no security foi the continuance of even that, beyond the first year of residence in the colony ; four companies out of six, owingto the bad choice of location, being effectually debarred from the chance of obtaining private employment, while sickness averages between seventy and eighty per cent per annum. " Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness." That all the three parties interested are losers, is too ev idem to ueed insisting on : the Government, from the enormous and profitless outlay ; the force itself, from the almost total failure of the self supporting scheme ; and the settlers, from finding that very rate of labour actually raised upon them,which the expedition of a Pensioner corps was intended to bring down. It only remains for us to enquire, as dispassionately as possible, at whose door the fault should be justly said to lie. Let us compaie the scheme, as originally devised, with what it now is, as practically earned out. A project of military colonization was conceived some while ago by the home Government, by which a double end was purposed to be gamed ; which therefore suited the War office and the Colonial office equally well, although, to a certain extent, the objects of the two may have been supposed distinct. For the main anxiety of the Secretary at War would naturally have been to relieve the country from the burthen and reproach of destitute pension-

ers; whilst Lord Grey on the other hand, must have looked rather to the advancement and increased security of the colony nnder his charge. The idea conceived was this : to re-embody men> many of whom were almost in a state of starvation, becoming inmates of poor-houses, one after the other*, to convey them with their families to New Zealand, there to put them in possession of small plots of land, which they were to hold, as under the old feudal system, by a kind of military tenure. By this, defence and free labour would be at once afforded to the colony, while the necessity of supplying it with convict labour, which was at one time seriously spoken of, would be entirely done away with. It is well known that all our former attempts at military colonization had failed. This failure Lord Grey attributed to "the circumstance that men accustomed during the greater part of their lives to be constantly under the care of their officers, and to be left very little dependent upon their own forethought and providence, had been sent into our colonies, under no superintendence whatever, and left to shift for themselves under circumstances altogether novel to them, undet difficulties with which they were little fitted to contend;" and secondly, to the force having been scattered in isolated habitations over a large extent of country, instead of being collected together in villages, where education, religious instruction, and medical attendance, might be effectively provided for them, and a : system of strict control maintained. For the future avoidance of every such cause of failure, a new system of organization was resolved upon, the leading features of which are briefly these. The enrolment of a corps for settlement in New Zealaud was authorized, for the purpose of extending to this colony the same principle of defence by means of armed Pensioners which had been found to answer so well at home, and by which the old soldier would be enabled, while no danger threatened, to follow agricultural or other pursuits; whilst in the event of war, he would be able to take the field and join the regular force employed for the defence of the colony, receiving for such occasional service the rate of pay authorized for enrolled Pensioners, by the Royal Warrant of 7th September, 1543. Their pensions were to be retained for life; but in lieu of the additional pay which they received for military service at home, a cottage and an acre of land, available for cnlti • vation, was to b£ provided for them immediately on their arrival, the prudnce of which last, together with their pensions, and wages obtainable from the old colonists, it was supposed would be amply sufficient to place then) beyond the reach of want; while the enrolment money was doubled, but to be expended entirely under the direction of the Staff-officer, in providing for a more ample store of military necessaries than is usually required. The reason for only a small quantity of land being allotted to them in the first instance, was this: —that it was expected to prove more conducive to their comfort and ultimate welfare, to labour for daily wages, than to attempt the cultivation of land on their own account, and on an extensive scale, without the requisite capital for doing so effectually ; but it was provided, that if on the completion of their service, any of the Pensioners should wish for a grant of twenty-five acres of uncultivated land in preference to the cottage and ground originally allotted to them, they should be entitled thereto, in such locality as the Governor of the colony might direct. There is likewise another privilege to which they are entitled, of which they were not made aware until some time after their arrival in the colony, that of claiming five acres of land from ; the Government at the upset price, without waiting for the expiration of the seven years. So at least his Excellency caused it to be understood ; but upon what authority, we are unable to say. The greatest care was enjoined on the part of the Staff officers of the Pensioner force at home with regard to the selection from among the candidates who should offer themselves, both as to character, to bodily vigour, and to age ; forty-eight years being the maximum allowed in the first instance, which was afterwards reduced to forty-five. This regulation however does not seem to have been very rigidly adhered to, it having been a common observation when the first companies were disembarked, that if all were under the limited age, many of them must have been born at twelve years old. The enrolment of a certain proportion of discharged soldiers, who were not pensioners, was to be likewise permitted. The conditions of enrolment, together with the terms proposed to officers \olunteeering for this service, will be found in another column. The most important feature of the scheme was this ; that the six companies should be located iu two, oi tinec settlements, so conveniently within reach of each other, that the main expenses attending separate establishments should be avoided, oue doctor, one clergyman, and oue schoolmaster sufficing thus for all, that they should be able to aftord each other mutual support, both in a civil and militar) point of view, and that they should be established uithin five miles of employment, bejond which distance they were Jurbiddcn to tra\el to obtain it,

Another very necessary provision was this, that the men embodied for this service, though they would not be constantly employed in military duty, should yet be under the constant care and superintendance of officers in permanent pay. The men and officers are consequently placed on a very different footing. The latter serve under the usual military regulationsjwhile the former are quasi-civilians, not amenable to military law save when called out, either for exercise, or for defence of the colony. So at least we believe them to be in spite of the printed condition—which we do not clear- . ly understand—providing that every pensioner enrolled in the corps should be subject to the provisions of the Mutiny Act and Articles of War during the continuance of the seven years for which he is engaged. It is possible that the condition may have been carelessly drawn up, and intended to refer to those occasions only on which the Pensioner should find himself under arms, during the continuance of the . period laid down. For it appears that they cannot be tried by Court Martial, excepting on those particular occasions ; although liable to a severer jurisdiction, in the shape of summary punishment at the hands of their own officers, either by fine, dismissal from the force, or even by loss of pension for life. With regard to the infliction of minor punishments, it seems to be still a moot point whether the approval even of the officer in command of the force be needed ; but in more serious cases—though we are unable to perceive where the line is to be drawn—it would seem that the punishment must be lecommended by the officer commanding the corps, who is again obliged to refer it to the Governor. If the Governor approve that recommendation, it is returned to the officer who made it, and the punishment is carried into effect pending the decision of the Secretary at War, who is himself obliged to refer it ultimately, as a matter of form, to the Commissioner of Chelsea HospitaW In order toftHure the carrying out of its plans to their fffilst extent, the War Office has given to the coirnbanding officer —who is alone answerable for thSjdiscipline and interior economy of the corps—and in some cases, to the to the subordinate officers likewise—the privilege of direct correspondence ; relieving them from the rule whicli requires that all colonial correspondence with the Home Authorities should be canied on through the medium of the Governor ; thus giving clear proof to their complete independence of the Colonial Government. TheGovcrnor himself appears to possess no power at all of iuterfereuce, beyond what is conferred on hiin by the regulations established under the Act authorising the enrolment of a Pensioner cotps. In suppoit of this view of the question, it may be added that the private instructions of the Officer in command of the corps were never officially communicated to his Excellency. We have given an exposition of the original conception, as ue have been able to understand it ourselves, always acknowledging the possibility of mistake. To our mind, it was arranged with great prudence and foiesight, e\en with elegance; nor is it easy to refrain from an expression of disappointment at seeing it so completely marred. In our next, we shall be prepared to review the manner in which it has been carried into effect and to contrast establishment of he force with that WSfe for it by the origination oiHHraPie.