THE REAL CAUSE OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume II, Issue 34, 20 February 1862, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE REAL CAUSE OF THE NEW ZEALAND WAR.

[From the London Review.' j J lic author of tiic following letter, sent tlirough a friend in "England, who has kindly placed it at onr disposal, is mr. Frederick Carrington, who was the Survcyor-iu-Cliicf commissioned to colonize and to form the town of New Plymouth in Taranaki, and also to survey, apportion, and to settle the whole district containing the disputed lands which formed the subject of wav. lie has been fainilar from the first, with the phases of the whole negotiation, and is probably at his moment the individual, from his nnintcrrtuptcd connections with tile colony, the most compel cut to inform me public of the rights and wrongs, and of the truths of the dispute : To (he Editor of The London Review. fh'R, —That the principal home newspapers have Ink cr. a cloc-p intc-vch-'t in the vmhappy state of afia irs in New Zealand, is evidenced by the various important articles which have appeared in plenty in The London Review and all flic journals. "Whilst it is a source of groat gratification in the colony t hat its difficult icsliareultractcd so much attention in authoritative quarters in onr native country, it is clear that the discussion in the journals has grown voluminous, controversial beyond need or warrant, and, in fact, mystifying. To (lip bewilderment

and irksomeness to the peruser, may be now added tho dangerous fact, that ingenious arguments, put forward in influential quarters, have induced many to receive, as facts, statements which are real only to the imaginations of the propounded. Not only is public opinion in England ill-inform-ed as to the true causes and bearings of this impolitic and unfortunate war, but many even in the very colony are ignorant of tho rights and wrongs of the question between the English Government and tho natives.

Lamentable consequences result from the encouragement which the natives derive from their advocates and apologists, not only in the mothercountry, but in tho colony. Unauthenticatod statements, bold assertions, fictitious narrative special pleading, soft arguments, in fact, nonsense, have woven such a web of mystification about our right to the disputed lands, that, however reluctantly, as knowing something about the facts, I feel myself impelled to step forward, and offer to the public some stubborn truths in a circumstantial account of our acquisition of tho Waitara and Taranaki districts.

I may remark, preliminarily, that I was the chief surveyor to the “ Plymouth New Zealand Company,” and tho “ New Zealand Company,” for the settlement of New Plymouth. In December, 1180, and in January and February 1811, I examined different tracts on each side of Cook Straits and sought in other places for a site for the settlement. In February 1811, I finally determined on fixing the settlement in its, now, well-known place. From these reasons I happen to bo most intimately aequinted with the New Zealand question. I may here observe that, to judge properly of the Waitara and Taranaki question, it is . needful to remember that, when the site of the Plymouth settlement was selected tho whole district was “unowned,” and was, in fact, abandoned ground. In the whole present province of Taranaki, which is sixty thousand acres larger than the four great English counties of Kent, Surrey, Midddlesex, and liertford, there wore not more, than, how many do you think, Sir ? Fifty or sixty natives. This single fact is a whole book fnl of commentary. These poor creatures were huddled close to Sugar-loaf islands ; they were wretchedly clad, bad neither garden nor plantation, and subsisted nponfern-root and fish.

Upon discovcringtbe object ofmy coming among them I was importuned to “bring white pcople” and to “ settle” on the ground. The whole country was before me, “ where Jo choose and I was urged to asumc it “for my own people,” so that the natives might be protected from their dreadful enemies, the Waikatos; who, about eight years bctore, bad made a raid upon them, under To Whcrowhoro, the late king, tortured, slaughtered, and dispersed them, and bad carried away captive nearly all whom they did not kill. Were Ito relate all the terrible scenes, and speak of the savage excesses which befell during this inroad, people would not bo surprised at the terror the natives had of the Waikatos, nor of their desire for their protection by the Europeans in their occupation of the country. It was in October, 1839, that Colonel William Wakefield, the first agent of the New Zealand Company, purchased from certain chiefs and natives driven irom Taranaki, who were residing on Queen Charlotte Sound, and in other places to the north of tho Middle Island, all their rights and claims, which, as far as these people were concerned, convoyed all their ownership in the Waitara and Taranaki land.

In November, 1839, agents of the New Zealand Company landed on the Sugar-loaf Islands, about two miles west of the present town of New Plymouth, and purchased, on certain conditions, a continuous tract' of laud of the residents which extended for several miles along the coast and also inland, and which space contained the whole of the Waitara and Taranaki land. The brig Guide brought the payment, and it was accepted and shared among all the resident natives. ■ It wasmv intention originally, to have placed the town of New Plymouth on the bunks of tho River Waitara, but, on examination of the oiling and the anchorage, and tho mouth of the river, I found that tho occasional surf and the tidal hindrance presented insuperable difficulties, and I therefore determined on placing the town on the spot on which it now stands.

’’A hen I commenced the surveying of the land, 1 employed Maoris, together vvitli my own people. One morning the natives 1 employed became very troublesome, and, their number being increased by others, they all disrobed themselves of their mats, and, axe in hand, danced their savage wardance. it ut when they were appeased, we all left the ground and returned homo. Upon inquiry, through my interpreter, as to the cause of the dissatisfaction, I found that it arose from their being promised presents, when the sale was effected, upon white people coming to take possession. And at this very time, notwithstanding their sale of the land, these people were in constant expectation of an attack by (be W aikatos, and set vigorously towork to bniid a war-pah. On the Sth of March, ISII, I wrote to Colonel Wakefield, and asked for the promised presents, whichhescnt in the schooner Jewess; but both the schooner and her contents wore lost near the Island of Xapila in Cook Strait.

It was some few months after the arrival of the settlers, which took place on the 31st of March, ] 811, that To Wherovvhero, the lute king Totalmi asserted a right to the whole of the district which I had selected. Ho sent one of Ids principal chiefs, with two hundred Waikatos, to the spot, wdio danced their war-dance, and told ns that they were the owners of the country, and the people who were to unpaid. The resident people of the country, who had before sold the land to the New Zealand Company, were present; but were cowed and overborne, and remained silent. When the Waikatos had finished their war-dnnee, they were informed that the Governor should be made acquainted with their claim. -This was done, and some time after, a- deed was executed by the Waikatos, conveying to the Queen the land they claimed, winch included the whole of tlio Waitara and Taranaki country. I staked out the town, hci-e----npon, and the suburban sections ; installed} the holders ; and t he surveying of the rural land being advanced sufficiently for (lie purpose, 1 put the purchasers of it in possession and 1 had com-

mcnced the making of an engineering and military map ot the country, and had been invited by the natives to stay at their pahs while the survey was going forward, when I was informed by the New Zealand Company that sufficient land had been surveyed. And hero I may remark that the boundaries of the settlement of New Plymouth were first defined in the Government Gazette of September, 1811, and that, on the 25th November, 1841, a surveying expedition started from the town of New Plymouth, and marked out the boundary line to the north, which included the Waitara and four miles beyond, under the authority of Governor Hobson.

1 left the settlement of New Plymouth in August. 1813, having surveyed and apportioned, in fifty-acre sections, 10,700 acres on the north side of the Elver Waitara, and 22,300 acres on the south side of the river. I arrived in London in February, 1844. It is now worth while observing how the English Government ratifies and adopts the arrangements previously made. At this time the Land Commissioner appointed by the Home Government arrived in the Colony, to investigate and to decide upon the land claims. Under °tho authority of Government, the Commissioner, Mr. Spain, examined into the purchases made by the New Zealand Company, into the claims of the natives, and into the purchase effected with theWaikatos by Governor Hobson. And, in June, 18-14, the Commissioner’, under the authority of Government, awarded to the New Zealand Company the square of land embracing the Waitara and the town of New Plymouth. But now observe the absurd mistake from which so much mischief has resulted! The scenes are changed. New administrators arrive upon the spot. Governor Fitzßoy makes his oppearance. Interested advisers with false views crowd around the newly arrived and inexperienced Governor, and they find the means of persuading him to reverse the decisions of Mr. Spain, and to set aside the politic and judicious arrangements which he had made. In two words, the new party induced the Governor to hand back the claims of the original native settlors to them, as if we were to begin de novo, and to set about a new purchase as if the perfect acquisition of the land had not been already effected.

Tuc reversal of Mr. Commissioner Spain’s award was a most ill-starred and clumsy proceeding. It grieves one to recall the evils which have resulted from it. Instead of the flourishing homesteads and the prospering farms which were everywhere rising, the lands have gone to waste ; and the district is now ruined with contention, profaned with fire and steel, and polluted with blood. As the answer to the setting aside of Mr. Spain’s award by Crovernor Fitzßoy, has arisen the claim of the rebel, Kingi, of whom we should never have heard but for this untoward event. This rebel, Ivingi, woidd have otherwise never dared to lay claim to any Taranaki land, for fear of the AVaikatos ; they had driven him from the country ; they held it because they alone could keep it, and they sold the sovereignty of it to the Queen. It was not until the wily savage knew that the Waikatos had been paid for the Waitara and Taranaki land, and were therefore satisfied, nor until he discovered our weakness in the hesitation which induced the reversal of the Commissioners arrangements, that he ventured to appear upon the scene and to talk of mana.

I returned to New Plymouth in 1837, and was pained to witness the changes. I soon discovered the mischiefs which had followed the rc-opening ot the already settled land question. The natives had deteriorated. All was goingbackward. Diliiculties and troubles beset the settlers. The natives were arrogant and hostile ; and their inimical feelings were well known to Governor Grev, as well as the imminent danger to the colony, long before the flourish of the first tomahawk. 1 have travelled largely 7 both in the old and now worlds, and I have the fullest persuasion that neither Governor Grey nor any other man, in authority or otherwise, could have long delayed the struggle, which was growing inevitable, unless the British rule was to have simply declined into a nominal rule, and unless the Maoris were to be permitted to become masters.

In March, 1559, Governor Gore Browne visited Taranaki, to make himself acquainted with the state of the settlement, and with the position of the natives. I was present when Tcira offered the district of Waitara-land for sale, and I witnessed the defiant conduct of the rebel, W. King, who interposed, and refused to sell. I watched the patience and the painstaking of the authorities of the Land Purchase Department to make all satisfactory 7 on both sides, and to attain to peaceful and to equitable terras, and I can conscientiously bear witness that everything was done on that occasion to heal the discord, consistently with the firm maintenance of the Queen’s authority.

The war by the natives is by no means a surprise. Long before the war broke out I was aware of what was threatening and I know that the southern natives, in addition to the other hostile tribes, were determining to seize the settlers’ lands. The Waitara dispute was a convenient blind, of which they well knew how to avail themselves, lienee the barbarous war in which they conducted themselves, and their aid to the rebel king. The natives speedily become aware of what is talked, done, said, and proposed relative to iNcw Zealand, in England. Every sermon preached, every missionary representation circulated, if it tends to apologize hostility of the rebels to the Queen’s Government ; every leader and every paragraph in the journals (of which I meet many but conveying marvellously little real information) if these views purport to canvass the justice of our cause in the colony 7, and if they seem to take the side of the natives, they will only serve to encourage them. If the natives are led to believe that they will succeed by perseverance, and that we feel doubtful and uncertain of our own rights, and that wc may 7 slacken in the vigorous assertion of them, then it needs no prophet to declare that the war will intensify still more, and grow into a duration of which one may, literally be said limit. * J

I appeal to time to justify me in the correctness of all the foregoing views, which have been arrived at from an intimate acquaintance with all the circumstances of the land-question, which is the cause of the war, as they arose ah initio. New Zealand is remote enough from England, she is at.

the other extremity of the hemisphere, hut this colony may be esteemed as only the farthest end of the bent bow of England’s arc of colonial 'possessions, an end, too, which might assist in lending power, should, at time of political tension, the arrow of England’s national assertion be needed to be let fly. I have, &c., FEEDEEICK GiEEIXGTOX. Auckland, New Zealand, Juno 12, 1861.