FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1865.

Evening Post, Issue 201, 29 September 1865, Page 2

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29,1865.

Tkbre is a large tract of country in the Southern portion of the province of Auckland, aud nominally under the rule of the Government of that province, but through which the Queen'a writ has never run. No attempts have been made to form settlements in it; indeed it is said to be unfit for settlement by Europeans. Its inhabitants are uniformly hostile to the objects and rule of the British race. It is stated that at the present moment no Englishman, with perhaps one or two exceptions, who might have strong personal friendships with influential chiefs, could travel through it. It is in this district the honorable the Native Minister proposed to form new provincial districts with a system of Government peculiar to the native race ; and although his bill was refused last night, he succeeded in showing the House the necesSity of doing something for the district, and the danger of neglecting it*|t seemed to him that the question which the House should consider well, an J which the people should not neglect, was whether it was right to allow this territory to be peopled gradually and accidentally by casual efforts of volunteers going into it and making settlements here' and there through it before the} had secured any law or anthority of Government over the tribes. If this desultory system of settlement were allowed to go on before acquiring the confidence of the natives, it was more than probable that hereafter the country would be involved in the same troubles as other parts of Auckland have already experienced. Besides, the presence of these hostile tribes in the centre of the island is a standing danger to the whole of the northern settlements. Mr. Fitzgerald said that all he required the House to do was simply to affirm the necessity of dealing with this difficulty at once. All he proposed to do was simply to constitute districts within those districts, to appoint a government officer .whom they might call by any name they pleased, but whose duty would be to enter into negoeiations with the natives and gradually to ascertain what sort of government would be acceptable to them, and what kind of Governme* i they would consent to live under. D1 1 :: c was nothing objectionable in this

policy, and nothing calculated to compromise the Government in any way ; and had the bill embodying it been received and passed, there is little doubt but its operation would have been for good. It must be agreed that the first step towards the settlement of any new country is to acquire the confidence of the natives, and the measure proposed by Mr. Fitz - gerald would have led to that if it did not entirely secure it Protection to property was the basis of all settlement, and the grievance of this country was that settlements had grown up all over it, but were still disconnected; so, when difficulties arose the settlers were unable to render that assistance or protection to each other which the exigencies of their case demanded. The province of Taranaki is a standing illustration of this fact. The quickest means of settling this difficulty is to form settlements in the unsettled districts, and thus by degrees connect existing settlements. This was one of the objects of Mr. Fitzgerald's measure, and there is little doubt but its refusal by the House will retard the removal of this difficulty.