Spirit of the Press.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 302, 31 August 1865, Page 1

Spirit of the Press.

COMBES AND DALDY’S CASE, [From the New .Zealander, August 16. J We publish below a letter from Mr Walter Combes, to the publishers of this journal, -contradicting in the most emphatic manner the statements which have recently been current in all parts of the colony respecting ;Some supposed smuggling tram actions carried on by the firm in which Mr Combes is ,a partner, for the purpose of supplying arms .and ammunition to the rebel natives in arms .against the British Crown. The enquiries which have been made into this matter have been based /upon an extract from the Hawke’s Bay Times, which was reprinted in several colonial papers, among which was the New Zealander. For the information of -our readers we re-produce this extract: —

THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. [Communicated to the Hawke's Bay Times, June 5.1 In reading the.debate of March 10 in the British Haase of Commons, the manly speech of Mr Roebuck deserves the praise of all true colonists, .and when he traces .-one of the principal causes of the war, he states a great fact, and it only requires looking through theDustoms entries from 1855 to 1859, to see the immense quantities of war material imported into the colony by the Auckland merchants. The writer of this was in the employ of a noted trading firm engaged in the native trade, -owning a small schooner running from Auckland to the various ports of the Bay of Plenty, trading with the natives with gunpowder, lead, and rum, arms of all sorts, from a George 11. musket to a Minnie rifle, tomahawks, and cartouch boxes ; in fact, all the implements of war coveted by their dusky customers. One of their common tricks to cheat the Customs was to enter the vessel with pork in casks, and to clear out with empty casks and salt, the said casks containing six or ten kegs of sporting powder and bags of salt, containing each about lOOlbs. of old lead, boxes of caps, &c.: all these shipped in the open day, rolled through Auckland streets, left standing on the wharf, and sold in the Bay of Plenty. The old files of Auckland papers need only to be consulted to tell tales of cargoes of empty casks and tons of sash-weights j(lead, of course) for building purposes, in places where the only buildings going up were raupo wharea. The writer of this knew of one whare containing at one time seventy-two kegs of powder headed up in the way mentioned, and close alongside an old potato hole with about a ton of leaden sash-weights in it. And all this carried on by a fiim, whose principal held ofiiee next to the Superintendent ; and he went home, and with other Auckland merchant*, who had made their pile by Tower muskets and other honest merchandise, went in deputation to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and hoped that the war would be carried on with vigor, and cruisers stationed to prevent the extensive smuggling by the Yankees. R. G. H. The statement made by this paragraph appeared to Major Richardson, the head of the Customs Department so astounding, that he at once made enquiries into the matter; and when questioned in the House upon the subject he was ready with his answer. The following is the account of what took place in the House in relation to this subject : HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AUG. 10, 1865. Mr Burns asked the lion, the Postmaster-Gene-ral whether he had taken steps to discover the correctness or otherwise of the statements contained in a paragraph published in the Wellington Independent of the 27th June, headed “ How the Maoris were supplied with Ammunition,” and whether he is aware who were the persons that supplied the said ammunition. Major Richardson replied that the subject was introduced to his notice by this paragraph, and and he at once wrote to the Hawke’s Bay Times to ascertain the truth of the report, and in reply he received a very full answer, giving all the information, which was simply to the effect that during the interval of the Arms Act not being in operation, there was a firm who did trade in arms and ammunition to the natives. The firm alluded to was that of Combes and Daldy, of Auckland, who used to supply these materials of war to the natives in exchange for wheat.

The case, therefore, now stands thus - A Cabinet Minister has stated, in his place in Parliament, that he has received information that a firm in Auckland has been engaged in supplying munitions of war to rebel natives ; and he makes this statement, not only without any expression of his own disbelief in it, but in such a way as to induce us to think, that be himself throughly believes it. ; This is a serious matter, and such a statement from such a quarter throws the “ malicious libel” of our Wellington, correspondent entirely into the shade. Under

these circumstances it will be a great relief to the minds of all who care for the honor of Auckland, to read the positive denial of Mr Combes, on behalf of his firm, of a crime which ought to bring to the gallows anyone who should be guilty of it. We trust that the letter which we publish to-day is only the preliminary step to an energetic and preserving effort on the part of the firm of Messrs Combes and Daldy to trace this base report to its origin and to free themselves and the mercantile community of Auckland from so foul a stain. A man who would wilfully and deliberately smuggle lead and gunpowder to the natives in arms against his own countrymen deserves a gallows unusually high, and a shrifc unusually short. A punishment second only to this, is the just due of the man who would deliberately fabricate such a charge against another. It is therefore superflous on our part to say that this matter cannot possibly stop here. Messrs Combes and Daldy have been openly charged in Parliament with the grave offence which we have mentioned, and we are sure that these gentlemen will not rest satisfied with the indignant denial of the charge published in this day’s New Zealander, but will insist on a thorough investigation being made by Government into all the circumstances of this unprecedented accusation. To the Publisher of the New Zealander. Gentlemen, —My attention has been called to a paragraph in the letter from your special correspondent at Wellington, dated 11th August, and published in to-days New Zealander, in which a very grave and serious charge, that of “ supplying bullets to the rebel natives,” is made against the firm of which lam a partner. I take the earliest opportunity of contradicting the same, and further stating that there is not the slightest foundation for such a malicious libel. I have therefore to request that you will publish this letter in your issue of to-morrow, and also furnish me with the name of your correspondent, with the view to ulterior proceedings. I am, &c., Walter Combes. Auckland, August 15,1865.

[From the New Zealander, August 17.] The grave charge advanced against the firm of Messrs Combes and Daldy, merchants, of Queen-street, in this city, is of a character to demand the calmest consideration and the fullest enquiry. What the Honorable Major Richardson said, on the tenth day of the present month, in the House of Representatives of the General Assembly of New Zealand, amounts to neither more or less than this;—That Messrs Combes and Daldy did, wilfully and knowingly, and of malice aforethought, aid, assist, and abet those who were preparing to levy war against the Queen, her Crown and dignity. But not this alone. When those who were preparing to levy war were so aided and abetted, the war was to be levied on the fellow-colonists and fellow-countrymen of Messrs Combes and Daldy. We sympathise with Mr Combes when he indignantly denies that this charge can be true. He may justly turn upon his accusers in this case, and ask them in the language of Holy Writ —“ Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?” The question that we have now, however, before us is, not whether the thing has or has not been done, or whether it be possible it would have been done—but whether there is anything whatever in the evidence already adduced that should lead to the conclusion that arms and ammunition had been exported from Auckland, and that those arms and that ammunition had been placed in the hands of men who were then and there preparing or prepared to destroy the lives, and wreck the property, of the fellow-citizens of the very men who were then exporting contraband of war into an enemy’s country? We will pass over for the present the discussions which took place in the General Assembly in 1858, with reference to relaxing the then regulations as to the export of arms and ammunition, and the discussion also which afterwards took place when this export became so great as to alarm the minds of the colonists. One thing, however, we note, that in all these discussions Mr William Crush Daldy took a prominent part; and that Mr William Crush Daldy was the leading advocate for the sale of arms and ammunition to the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand. Reporting to the House of Representatives on the 30th July, 1858, he says;—

7. Sale of Anns and Ammunition,—Mr Daldy from the Select Committee appointed to enquire and report as to the propriety of continuing any restrictions on the Sale of Anns and Ammunition; brought up a Report, which was read as followeth;— The Select Committee appointed to take evidence and enquire into the propriety of continuing any restrictions on the Importation and Sale of Arms and Ammunition, have agreed to the following Report:— After receiving the evidence, both oral and written (in answer to circular questions), from thirty-seven witnesses, of every shade of opinion, which evidence your Committee have found of the most conflicting nature, they have come to the following opinion, viz.;— (1) That it would at present not be judicious to make any attempt to re-impose the former restrictions on the Sale of Arms and Ammunition. (2) That it would not be expedient further to relax existing regulations for the same. (3) That it is desirable a distinctive Duty should be imposed on Arms and Ammunition, to enable the Government to obtain a more complete record of the same. —We cannot now give the debate which took place upon this occasion, but we may summarise it by saying that on a later occasion Captain, now Colonel, Haultain obtained the leave of the House for certain returns of the quantities imported, and the names of the importers of arms.after a somewhat sharp debate. Here we leave for the present this portion of the question. When we next hear of the supply of arms and ammunition to the natives, it comes from a statement which was published in the Hawke’s Bay Times of the sth. June last, and was re-published in the New-Zealander about the 10th. of the same month. The person who makes the statement signs himself R. G. H. Who R. G. H. may be we do not pretend to know ; but as the statement is now made to inculpate Messrs Combes and Daldy, it will be for that firm to enquire whether any person whose name answers to those initials has ever been in their employment. R. G. H. states explicitly that ‘it only requires looking through the Customs entries from 1855 to 1859 to see the immense quantities of war material imported into the Colony by the Auckland merchants.’ Now we know that between the period stated a very large quantity of fire-arms, known as Tower muskets—that is,the fire-arm that the British soldier carried throughout the Peninsular campaign underWellington-wasimported intoone of the neighboring colonies, and was there sold at public auction. Enquiry was at that time made as to where those fire-arms were intended for? The reply was for New Zealand 1 And we have next the evidence of our own eyesight that this very same make of musket, with the Tower mark upon it, was picked up after the Gate Pa, and other affairs with the Maoris.

Well then, we take it for granted that the allegation is proven, as to the importation of arms. We proceed, then, to the next assertion made by R. G. H. “ I was,” he says, “ in the employ of a noted trading firm engaged in the native trade, owning a small schooner running from Auckland to the Bay of Plenty, trading with the natives with gunpowder, lead, and rum, arms of all sorts, from a George 11. musket to a Minie rifle, tomahawks, and cartouch boxes; in fact all the implements of war coveted by their dusky customers. One ot their common tricks to cheat the Customs was to enter the vessel with pork in casks, and clear out with empty casks and salt, the said casks containing six or ten kegs of sporting powder, and bags of salt containing each about lOOlbs. of of old lead, boxes of caps, &c.; all these shipped in the open day, rolled through Auckland streets, left standing on the wharf, and sold in the Bay of Plenty. The old files of Auckland papeis need only be consulted to tales of cargoes of empty casks and tons of sash-weights (lead of course) for building purposes, in places where the only buildings going up were raupo whares. The writer of this knew of one whare containing at one time seventy-two kegs of powder headed up in the way mentioned, and close alongside an old potato hole with about a ton of leaden sash-weights in it. And all this carried on by a firm whose principal held office next to the Superintendent; and he

went home, and with other Auckland merchants, who had made their pile by Tower muskets and other honest merchandise, went in deputation to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and hoped that the war would be carried on with vigor, and cruisers stationed to prevent the extensive smuggling by the Yankees.” Here we have the whole indictment. This is not a statement of a correspondent of the New Zealander. This is the statement of a person, giving the initials of his name to the Hawke’s Bay Times, who must assuredly have given his real name to that journal before he could obtain insertion for statements of so grave a nature. Neither is this statement that of the Wellington correspondent of the New Zealander. At the time that this was published in Auckland, about the 10th June last, enquiry was made as to who was meant by a gentleman who held office next to the Superintendent, who went home, and who, when at home, went in deputation to the Secretary of State for the Colonies ? The reply to this question was that the description could apply to none then at home other than to Mr William Crush Daldy, of the firm of Combes and Daldy, merchants, of Queen st., Auckland, then acting at home as Immigration and General Agent for the Province of Auckland. At that time, since that time, up to the sixteenth of the present month, Mr Walter Combes, the head of the firm of Combes and Daldy, did not deem it incumbent upon him to take any steps to wipe out from his own escutcheon the foul blot left upon it by this charge. How could he, if he ever prayed at all, pray to God to save him from “ battle, and murder, and sudden death,” if this charge were true ? And if it were not true, why did he allow the name of his fellow-coion’sts to be coupled with himself in a matter that would make every true Englishman point the finger of scorn and contempt at them and him ? Why did he not take instant measures—as instant as he took on Wednesday, when the letter of our Wellington correspondea had roused public attention to this matter—to set himself right with his fellowcitizens ? Why does he now ask the printers and publishers of the New Zealander to appease his sense of wounded honor, by giving up to him the name of a person who has nothing to do with him, or with this foul charge ? \V hy does he not apply for the fullest information that can be given to him to the Honorable Major Richardson, one of the present Ministry, and the Commissioner of Customs for New Zealand ? It was Major Richardson and not we—not our correspondent—who made this charge; and what does Major Richardson say, when asked as to the truth or falsehood of the statement made by R. G H. He says “ the subject was introduced to his notice by this paragraph, and he at once wrote to the Hawke’s Bay Times to ascertain the truth of the report, and in reply he received a very full answer, giving all tne information, which was simply to the effect that during the interval of the Arms Act not being in operation, there was a firm who did trade in arms and ammunition to the natives. The firm alluded to was that of Combes and Daldy, of Auckland, who used to supply these materials of war to the natives in exchange for wheat.” There is no beating the bush here. The charge is fully sheeted home, and what is the reply of Mr Walter Combes ? He asks for the name of a newspaper correspondent? and not procuring that he proceeds to the monthly meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, at which there are five members present, and he there answers certain questions put by the most juvenile member of the Chamber, and hands in a written document —nit a circumstantial denial of the atrocious charge made against his firm— not a statement made betore Heaven and bis countrymen that be is not guilty ; that “ he is not a dog to do “ this thingbut a letter from the publishers of the New Zealander. Save one only, no member of the Chamber said one word to exculpate from tbe charge of having been accessory to the waste of blood and treasure, for the last five years in this colony, a man who has been thirty years a colonist. We can feel in such a case for the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. But we have one word more to say before we leave Messrs Combes and Daldy on the pre-

feat occasiou. We say that word to our two contemporaries, the Daily Southern Gros and New Zealand Herald. We ask them In the name and on behalf of the journalists of this colony, why are they in this matter, which so nearly concerns the safety and the honor of our community—>why are they “as dumb dogs before the people ?”