A NEW ZEALAND GREY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 156, 31 December 1853, Page 10

A NEW ZEALAND GREY.

(From the " London Spectator," Angust 6.) From the New Zealand papers and letters received at the end of last week, it appears that the Governorhas issued a proclamation (a document of great length published in the Wellington Independent of 19th March, 1853) arbitrarily altering the price o? land. Heretofore, under the operation of the Australian Lands' Act, land was to be sold in New Zealand at the rate of one pound sterling per acre ; and after the~paftial"fepeKl of that act as respects New Zealand, under the royal regulations^ at an iipset auction price, we believe of one pound ; but Sir George Grey, by Iris own fiat, has reduced the price to ten shillings per acre, or an upset price of five shillings at auction, according to various circumstances, and in some instances according to the option of the purchaser. In regard to anything connected with the sale of land, it is not easy to discover the motive for this change, since it could only have the effect ofthrowing land into the market for speculation. There is no reason to suppose that the price operated as an obstruction to settlement any more in New Zealand than it has proved in South Australia: but it is more than probable that a factitious stimulus to speculation may have that effect, by inducing speculative purchases, and again throwing large tracts into the hands of a very few land sharks, —precisely the obstruction to settlement which was felt in the early days of New Zealand, when law was | first introduced into the chaos, and which is felt in Port Philip at the present moment by the force ofoth°r facilities for land-sharking. There are additional reasons for almost supposing that this is the object of Sir George Grey's novel and arbitrary proclamation. A right of pre-emption may be exercised by holders of homesteads (squatters) ; but they may be forced to exercise it at 10s or ss. by auction, "according to the quality of the land, as the same may be certified by the commissioner of down Lands." A similar provision is made respecting a " run " held by the owner of stock, if the land be " certified as unavailable for agriculture ;" purchasers in unproclaimed districts niiiy employ their own surveyor, to be approved of by Government; if the original owner be outbidden, he may be repaid, out of the surplus, a sum " not. exceeding one shilling per acre;" and, with certain exceptions, land may be paid for in " Government scrip.". Readers who take any interest in this subject need scarcely be assisted in discovering how such regulations maybe converted into an instrument of varied and wholesale jobbing. Such are some of the most glaring features of the proclamation; but a sketch of its history is necessary to make the full extent of the ma]--rvevsiiiioinjppreciaiedi— When the New Zealand Government Bill was under discussion, it was ".proposed to revise the price of land in' New "Zealand ; but the Crown lawyers held that any. alteration in this country would be a breach of

contractNvith the purchasers of land in existing settlements, whose property it would depreciate; but on larger grounds, and on principles now' recognized in the colonial policy, the whole custody and disposal of lands were handed over to the New Zealand colonists by the same statute which provided them with representative government. Under the Act, ]4th and 15th Victoria, for settling the affairs of the New Zealand Company, a provision was inserted enabling the Crown to make " regulations" for the disposal of Crown Lands in '.certain settlements, but with an express proviso that the price should not be altered. In the new Government Act, too, the Crown was authorised to make "regulations ;" but that could not authorise the Governor to rescind laws; and even the regulations were to be under the sign-ma-nutil, which Sir George did not profess to have. Thus, if he was acting on the provision of the Act 14th and 15th Victoria, he was breaking both that statute and the existing regulations 3; if he was acting under the New Zealand Government Act, he was equally violating a statute, but he was also committing a more fragrant violation of fundamental political law. He was trampling upon the new Constitution, and he was doing it in the face of a community peculiarly able to appreciate the outrage. As in the ease of South Australia, a very considerable portion of the New Zealand colonists were guided in their emigration by principle— by the economical and social principles upon which the most promising of the settlements were.founded; and they naturally look to the rationale of such acts. Thus a higher [intelligence combines with a peculiar experience of land-sharVing in New Zealand to make the colonists understand and resist the violation of law as well as policy. It happens, also, that amongst the colonists of New Zealand there is a remarkable portionof men of ."science, letters,.and professional ability, besides not a few who in birth and connections must take precedence of the Governor himself. This is a singularly unsuitable com-; munity for excess of authority by a person in office. On the subject of law, unusually sound - opinions are to be obtained on the spot; and it : is probable that in the proceedings taken at law to arrest the enforcement of the proclamation,. the resisting colonists will be successful. At all events, they fully understand that unprecedented stretch of authority, by which, when the Imperial Legislature had made over t to the General Assembly of the colony the disposal of the wastelands, the Governor steps in, and with a stroke of his pen places the lands beyond the Assembly's jurisdiction. ... .. The motive for this curious breach of publicdecorum is freely canvassed in the colony. All - admit the cleverness of Sir George Grey,—a cleverness of that half-wise sort which is usedchiefly for the advancement of the individual. That he is keenly pushing for promotion is no-; secret in New Zealand. The case of Sir Henry Barkly is only one example of the comparative certainty with which a Governor, faithful to the Colonial Office, yet able to secure popularity;, amongst the colonists, may look for advancel^ ment; and Sir George Grey would not at all? dislike to have something colourably resembling' the testimonials which Mr. Barkly brought home from British Guiana. Now, although' New Zealand is rich in intelligence, it is also fertile, very fertile, in speculators, and " cheap land," always the idol of a colonial mob-—save where it exists—is peculiarly so where speculators and legal difficulties have kept the impatient husbandman from the soil. To have expedited the working of the Constitution Act,, would have been the first business of a truly patriotic Governor ; but how would Sir George —" double G."—have fared in a genuine representative assembly ? That was by no means the " card," so the Constitution Act had languished for months and months officially inert. But "cheap land"—that was a safe device ; not that it could be realized, but it might be proclaimed. • And thus excelling demagogues, in their most brilliant idea, the parting Governor, official Triptolemus, " friend of the settlers;" might set sail amidst the cheers of a devoted people—/ leaving them to settle matters with lawyers and land-sharks, and'to "correspond" with Downingstreet after he had decamped. A man whose conduct is..thus..marked.,_and thus understood,, certainly cannot longer govern the colony with efficiency, or with credit td his Sovereign. Sir George Grey's wish should; be'indulged without delay,—he should be " relieved. I. ,