NEW ZEALAND.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume IV, Issue 198, 28 October 1864, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Westminster Review.) (Continuedfrom our last.) Governor Hobson died ; n office, and Captain Pitzroy was appointed in his stead. He reached New Zealand at an unfortunate time for himself, for troubles were fast gathering around. His administration has been much decried, mainly by those connected with the Company, and he was ultimately recalled. Nevertheless, upon a dispassionate view of his career, with the advantage of the experience that as siuce been gained, it remains to be shown how, upon the whole, he could have acted better, under the circumstances. His issue of paper money, the unpardonable sin at the Colonial Office, was unavoidable.

He was more sinned against than sinning ; and none will deny him the credit of unselfishness ; of having sacrificed himself to what he believed to have been his duty to the colony. It is now perceived that he saw farther into the future, ; 'than others ; he was in advance of the time, and shared the general fate of those who do not ‘chime in with the dominant ideas of the period. ■- j The colony had already lapsed into a state'of extreme financial embarrassment. The new Governor was left without the means to fulfil the obligation incurred ‘at Waitangi, of purchasing the land offered for sale: the northern natives were clamorous with disappointment. In want of money, troops, and military stores, he followed the only course left open, that of waiving the Crown’s right of pre-emption, on payment of a small fee to the Government. Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, showed a generous appreciation of the difficulties with which the Governor was beset, and sanctioned the arrangement. The natives were so far content; as well they might be, in again obtaining, as before the treaty, a market price. For the lands favourably situated, near to Auckland, about £1 per acre may be taken as an average. As much as £5 an acre was in one instance refused; but that was for land which they chose to keep. Explicit instructions had been given to the agents of Government, during the administration of Mr. Shortland, not to pay more than 3d. per acre. Further difficulties were awaiting Governor Fitzroy in another part of the colony—at Taranaki, where the conflicting interests of Maories and Europeans have been throughout most glaringly opposed. The Company had effected what they called a purchase. The deed was drawn out in English, and the boundaries defined by latitude and longitude, embracing a space of country belonging to thousands of natives who never saw the Company’s agent. One Richard Barret, a Pakeha Maori, acted as interpreter. Colonel Wakefield himself acknowledged that his object in so loose a transaction was “to secure the land from Sydney speculators.” This title was inquired into by Mr. Cmmissioner Spain, who recommended a Crown grant for 60,000 acres, on the assumption that certain of the Ngatiawa tribe had, by their captivity or absence, lost all claim to the land. This was not good Maori law, and the greatest excitement prevailed.

A large meeting of Europeans and natives was assembled at New Plymouth, to hear the final decision of the Governor. The Governor refused to confirm the award, and allowed in all their integrity the claims of those of the Ngatiawa tribe who were not parties to the sale in 18 10. In consideration of a further payment, the natives gave up all claim to the site upon which the town was built, and to the adjacent land, 3500 acres in all. The governor publicly and officially recognized the right of the ancient owners to resume the rest of the district, including the Waitara, the block for the possession of which the present war was entered on.

Governor Fitzroy was not equally successful'in hindering an outbreak at the north. The point from which the hostile movement had its rise, was a belief, fostered by various ill-disposed persons, that the Treaty of Waitangi was violated, that the land was to be seized, that the people were to be made slaves, and that the Government only waited for an opportunity to carry these intentions into effect. Yet the natives were desirous to avoid bloodshed. When Heke commenced his “ war with the flagstaff at Maiki,” as he termed his opposition to the Government, he declared constantly that he fought “ not against man, but against he rakau," i.e., the wood of the flagstaff; which had no blood. His quarrel was not with the settlers, but with the emblem of the Queen’s authority. The disturbance out of which the war immediately arose commenced in April, 1844, in the seizure of two American whalers in the Bay of Islands, fined £3OO for non-compliance with the Customs regulations. The agent for these ships was reported by the natives at the time to have informed them that mischief would bofal them in consequence of the flagstaff and Custom House ; that no American ship would visit the Bay on account of these seizures ; that he would proceed to America to fetch men-of-war to rectify these evils, and remove the flagstaff and Custom House. In a few days after the delivery of this speech, he sailed from the Bay, leaving the natives under the impression that he had departed for the purpose of putting his threat into execution. This part of the account we do not remember to have seen in print; but it is authentic.

The disaffection increased rapidly ; Heke twice cut down the flagstaff; the third time it was defended, and in the fight which ensued the town was burned, though not by design. The attacking party even assisted the settlers, with whom they had no quarrel, in carrying their goods down to the beach. Hostilities were then commenced in earnest, but, owing to the rashness of the officer commanding the forces; with ill success on our part. The Home Government, for various causes, became dissatisfied, and Governor Fitzroy was superseded by Governor Grey. The natives professed to have no cause of quarrel against us, so long as the flagstaff was down ; and we, on our part, did not risk the setting it up again. But they were still quite willing to fight when attacked. At this timtf only the embers of war were left. Governor Grey, deeming it advisable to gain some success to redeem the disaster at Ohaewai, renewed it. Kawiti’s Pah, Ruapeka-

peka, was invested by a mixed force' of regulars, volunteers, and native allies ; and one fine Sunday morning, while the defenders were outside at prayers, our natives crept in, and we followed, without the loss of a man. The others, in the'endeavour to retake the Pah, inflicted some loss on us, but suffered more themselves. Governor Grey, considering that enough had been done to save, our credit, accepted overtures ofpeace; nominally, with the advantage on our side; in reality, on theirs ; for the flagstaff still lay prostrate. Nor was it raised until the time of his successor.

The policy of Grey was diametrically opposite to that of Fitzroy, as Fitzroy’s had been to that of Hobson, and as that of Gore Browne was, in its turn, to Grey’s. The Company, who had been jealous of the favour shown to the landholders in the North, and had exerted themselves to the utmost to procure Fitzroy’s renal, had no reason to be dissatisfied with the views of his successor. He retracted the waiver of pre-emption, and attacked certain of the grants already made to the original settlers: but unfortunately, in a “ secret and confidential” despatch, immediately made public by the Secretery of State, he also committed himself to the assertion that the grantees, including Church Missionaries, had caused the war. The charge was resented and disproved; but the Governor steadily refused either to substantiate or retract. A period of bitter controversy ensued, the damaging effects of which endured until his departure from the colony. He probably wrote under a hasty impression, misled by imperfect or one-sided information ; but his main error was in making no amends when the refutation, by proof unanswerable, was made good. A reputation for infallibility is dearly earned at such a price. We touch upon these matters as lightly as fairness to the colonists will permit; for the most prominent supporters whom Governor Grey has now in the colony are those who were most stroncr. ly opposed to him during his former administration. Being of those who have defended native rights throughout, they cordially support him in his present endeavours to save the race, even while vigorously prosecuting a war which has become a necessity; and bury all former causes of grief under this—the one essential consideration.

The pre-emption land claimants were obliged to accept such terms as were offered by the Government. Their legal position was unsound, and their only reliance was on the good faith of the transaction between themselves and the Crown. The grantees and the old land claimants offered a sturdy resistance. In the Supreme Court, judgment was given in favour of one of Fitzroy’s augmented grants. This led to a partial settlement of the claims, although the decision was reversed on appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, who, while not questioning the Governor’s power to make the grants, discovered an informality in his mode of doing it. So obstinate was the resistance, that the Government was driven to very questionable shifts to obtain possession of the confiscated lands.

Oneofthese eonsistedin apretended extinction of the native title. The process was to offer money to the original owners of land, tempting them to sell it a second time, in order that the Government, upon the strength of the native conveyance thus acquired, might take possession. If the natives refused the bribe, alleging that the land had been fairly bought from them before, it was pressed upon them until their virtue failed ; thus breaking down in the native mind that punctilious respect for agreements by which they had been once so honorably distinguished. The following example is quoted from a speech delivered by Mr. Busby, formerly British resident in New Zealand, at the table of the House of Representatives. Whether the native actually used the strong expressions towards the Governor which he mentions in his narration, we cannot undertake to say ; but the account of the interview is accurately rendered fromjtbe Maori recital. Nor is it likely that the native should have coined so gratuitous an untruth.

His parting remembrance to mo was to send for a native of Wangaroi, and tell him that he was to go to Mr. Johnston, who was going to Wangarei to purchase the land which was mine. The native came to me, and gave me the following account of the interview:—"l was led,” said he, “ into the presence of the Governor, who told me I was to go with JXr. Johnston, who was going to Wangarei to purchase the land. X said to him, ■ O Governor, the men of Wangarei will not soli that land to you, for they sold it many years ago to Mr. Busby.’ He said he intended to pay you for the land in proportion as you had paid for it—if much, much; if little, little. I then replied, ‘ The men of Wangaroi will not allow any white man to live on that land without the leave of their father' [meaning myself.] The Governor then said, ‘ Are you a gentleman f’ 6 Mr. Busby, great was my boldness in the presence of the Governor when he asked me if I were a gentleman; and I said to him—‘ Amongst my own people lam a gentleman, although I may appear a slave in your sight. But if you stood iu the presence of my people divested of your Governor’s clothes, perhaps you would appear as little a gentleman there as Ido here.’ He then said I was a child; the elders would listen to Mr. Johnston: and I replied’ ‘(1 Governor, I now perceive you are a robber of land

The first person who received money from the Government for my land no sooner reached Wangarei, than he was forced by the other natives to bring it back to the Government. lie was again prevailed upon to take the money (€200), and ho was then deprived of the whole of it by the rest of the natives. Though his signature was to my titledeed, ho was a very inconsiderable person amongst them who sold me the land. At this time I wrote to the Government. entreating them not to corrupt the natives, who had already divested themselves in my favour of all title to the land, and who could not convey to the Government a title they had ceased to possess, but to try the legal question between the Government and myself in the Supreme Court.

p The Government declined this propositionl then ofered to convoy my title—which had never been disputed by any one—to the Government, on their agreeing to refer to the decision of the Chief Justice what amount of money would he an equitable compensation, under all the circumstances for my having procured the tract of land in question, and having conveyed it to the Government. This proposition was also met by a refusal. The Government continued their efforts to corrupt the natives, of whose integrity it is a remarkable proof, that it was eighteen months after the principal chief first told the commissioner that the land was mine, and refused to treat with him respecting it, that that chief told me that he ‘ had then, for the first time, consented to take money for my land.’ These were the words lie used, and he recapitulated at length the argumeuts by which his conscientious objections had been overcome.

The Government in this way worse than wasted between £3OOO and JM(KK) of the public monoy. One is lost in astonishment at the fatuity of men in such a position as that of the principal officers of Government, in supposing that men could convey a second time rights of which they had previously divested thomseh es; and that they could procure for the Government a title, by forcing money upon men who told them the title was not theirs to convey. The waste of money was but one part of the evil. A large assemblage of armed natives took place soon after at Kororaroka, headed by one of the most troublesome of those who commenced the war on the first occasion. Their object was to obtain from the settlers there a second payment

for the land, to which they said they were as well entitled as the people of Wangarel. Nothing prevented a second outbreak but the lulluenco of Pene Taui, the most Influential chief of Ileke's party, who had been gained over to the Government by having been employed, with his people, to make Broad from the harbour to his village.

Wo must restrict Ourselves to one more instance, which created a great sensation at the time, and which has at last been decided in favour of the person aggrieved. A man named Mcurant had married a native woman, by whom he had a family. Certain chiefs transferred to her by native deed thirty acres of land, “as a marriage portion and for the support of her children.” This land being within two miles of Auckland was considered valuable. The Government seized it; retained twenty acres, and gave the husband a Crown grant for the remainder—this grant containing a false recital. A petition was presented to the Legislative Council by the husband on behalf of his wife. In this it was shown that the confiscation of the land, under such circumstances, was in fact a premium upon concubinage; for that if the woman had lived unmarried with Mcurant, no power in New Zealand could have touched her land. It was also shown that this case had a direct bearing upon the political status of halfh-cstes—-whether they had English rights, Maori rights, or norights at all; a question which the Legislature had been careful never to decide, because of its obviously awkward bearing upon the Government doctrine concerning land. The case was stifled in Council, on the plea that the petitioner had told an untruth, i. e., had made a misstatement; which, however, was afterwards traced to the Colonial Secretary himself, petitioner having merely copied it. The Government attempted to make' a title by purchasing the land from the donors, but the money was rejected by all but one. The land was twice put up for sale by public auction. The first time no one could be found to bid, the case having excited strong public feeling; subsequently, the Colonial Secretary, we believe, made a purchase. The matter was brought again and again before the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who declined to interfere, and would not even allow the correspondence to appear in the New Zealand Blue Book, though specially requested to do so. Had it not been for the watchfulness of the Society for the Protection of Aborigines, the case would entirely have escaped notice in England. The story may appear incredible ; but can be substantiated, in every particular, from the papers concerning it in the Colonial Office.