TARANAKI.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 337, 23 January 1856, Page 5

TARANAKI.

Public Mkkti.vg.—l hb Sui'im.y ov Lahoub To TIIK I'uiiVINCK. A public mooting oalle.i by \\, v Siiperintenuciuii) cmntilijincL' with v requisition published |«i <>ur c.ilumns, wms Ik;!.I on Satimlay. the l;*)iii instant, „t t) u . 1,,| ; , m ScJi.mil. kindly It-iu for that purpose l.y the Uev. H. (Jovett. * On the million of Mr. Hittsr, the Supeiiiuen«e«i, wltu was i>reseiu t ; WA« rt-quostcd to take ibc chair, . " '

His Honor having read the requisition, and notice convening the meeting, said he was unacquainted with' the proposition to be brought before them, and that he would call upon some of the rerjuisitiouisiH to state the object for which the present meeting had been called.

Mr. Adams said, he had signed the requisition forwarded to Mis Honor at the request of Dr. Kingdon, but beyond stating the general objects that gentleman had not made him acquainted wiih his views.

The Chairman considered that the most convenientcoiir.se would be for Dr. Kingdon at once to favour the meeting with an explanation of bis views on the subject.

Dr. Kino don said he hoped that other gentlemen might, have propositions lo lay beiorethe meeting ; and then proceeded to read a paper of considerable length advocating a limited admission of convict labour into ihe settlement, of which the following' is a brief, hut will we believe be found correct, abridgement. Following on an exordium of some length on the necessity of obtaining additional labour in the rural business of the Prof in cc, he slated ihe almost universal opinion that the introduction of more farm labourers must be preceded by the acquisition of mure land, and thai ihat appeared, for the present, to be out of the question ; mean- , while, scarcely a tithe of the land possessed was in proper cultivation, and this arose principally from the high price of labour and the difficulty of procuring it at any price. With labour at a moderate -price the land we possess might be quickly made more productive and of increased value. The present high price of produce, il was true, made it ju<t possible for some 10 pay the present w.ige.s with profit, but no reliance could be placed on the state of the markets, and while the high juices lasted there was no reliance lobe placed on a supply of Maori labour. The settlement required a permanent and abundant supply of laijoor at, h/iy, four Shillings for a d ay of nine or ten hours. The scheme he had to propose was—an application to the Home Government fora supply of convict labour to be drawn from the western agricultural counties of England; and that an agent should be sent over to negotiate the business with the Government. That only those who had not been convicted o! grave offences should he chosen, and thai, certificates of their gimd behaviour subsequent U' conviction should first be obtained of the Ordinary ol' the gaol. They would be selected with discrimination from those only \vhi> had been sentenced to siiort terms of punishment, and would lie altogether different from an indiscriminate collection of criminals. The process here would be merely a reformatory, or prohuiimial one, and the settlement would not only get a supply of labour, but also'gain strength in the event of serious disturbances with the natives. Our space will not allow us !to go into the minutiae of management of the convicts suggested by .L*r. Kingdon, but its most important and certainly to us least agreeable feature was their distribution and location in the resiliences of the employers. Mr. Adams inquired as to the probability of their bein;' received as inmates.

Dr. Kkngdon replied that he knew many who would l>e willing to receive criminals t>! the class he had described, ihe preliminary ol lu.tiuic nance and other arrangements settled.

The Ciiaiuman iuviteil the ou>er ivqaisuinnists present i<> put. the meeting1 in po^ession ol their view-, luu mi one co :>in«j forward lie requested Di. Kiugdon to jiioiio.se a resolution mi tlie scheme lie had laiii before them, which was done as follows :—

"That ibe proposition made by Dr. Kin^don for siipplx ux<z ihe waul ol laimiir in this Puitiuiu; is approved of by (he present nieeiins;. ' Tiu- res.iliuinu was seconded, />r« J'nrtna, b\ Mr. S«!.m,ky, there appearing a tlesire u> di>eu*:> Dv. Kiuudon's selieiDe. when

.Mr. lltusi'addressed ihe meeting. Every one, lie Mini, ivh«s iuu.-resied in preser*iiiir the ni;>r.il atmosphere ol (lie seui.-ineiu untainted, lite utitouists of iliis plaoe had left Knfjland olux>>uig il beeau.se of iis exemption from ail cmiviui assoeiaiiou. The waul o( labour w.is, williiuii doubt, vfry irieai ; but he miittnl thai this soiu'ine'uf supj»i\ uiu it wotiid l»t; tiuown in tin: vvind.s. The (Jo\ eminent of llie I'iuvmce had exerted itself tor ihe imroiiiieluni of n tar mure deniable di^criptiou of iahotir; and bhad beat<l thai tlie jirrantjeiin'iiis were no.v completed, and any aIU-mpi to snake tliis a penal settlement even in iiu> sliijhu-st deirive wouid be likely to ini.-rfeve with the nnvodueuoii of free- labour. Emigrants generally had a

strong feeling against a penal colony, and it would be avoided by the people who would be most beneficial to its progress. Mr. Hirst concluded by moving the following amendm*!)' :—

''That the introduction of free labour fruin the Mother Country is preferable to the introduction of forced lal>our as proposed by Dr. Kiugdon."

Ma. Tatton said he entirely agreed with the spirit of the amendment, and with what had fallen from the last speaker. Could he hare anticipated the possibility of this settlement becoming a place for convicts, he should certainly never had chosen it. When J.e came out be rejected an offer of 80 acres and a free passage to Van Dietnan's (/and, for the simple reason that it was a convict settlement, that alone had determined him, and he would not under any circumstances have located himself where there had been any probability that the objection would arise.

Mr. Dkvenish was as much opposed to the introduction of convict labour now, as when ypars ago the settlement to a man bad negatived its introduction. Many of the settlers were contemporary with the discussion of the question at the Cape of Good Hope, and all of them had avoided Van Diemail's Land as a cage of unclean birds, and at that time would have gone the length of opposing their landing. He conceived that no commensurate advantages could be shown ; and that any proposition for obtaining such assistance should be put away as a pest and a nuisance. No one felt more strongly than himself the want a\ labour, but he should contentedly work on without this kind of labour ; for even apart from' other considerations, it was impossible to calculate the evil operation of such an addition to the population on the natives of the surrounding districts.

Mr. Adams observed that the alterations made of recent years in the criminal code in England appeared to have been overlooked in the proposition presented to the meeting. Poaching convictions were growing obsolete, and misguided destroyers of machinery were no ionarer heard of; and supposing the proposition adopted, there w:t- no clinnce of gettinsr out even a fair simple of the whole convict system which frequently furnished many of the agricultural cla>s.

TheCuaiRMAK observing on a remark of Dr. Kindlon's to the effect that although money was voted by tliejProvincial Council forfohuininglabour, nothing appeared to come of it: said that he should be happy to give the meeting any explanation in his power. The money voted by the Council for Immigration and the iutroduction oflabour depended altogether on the revenue receipts. Those receipts wvre calculated prnspeclively, and were of course to a certain extent uncertain, but, they had been enabled to expend the money hitherto voted, and there wa> little doubt that the amount calculated for the ensuing year would be equally available. Under the Provincial system half the money would after a time be returned to the public treasury, ami would form a permanent furni. The amendment of Mr Hirst was then put to the meeting, and nearly every hamt in the room was held up for U. The original proposition having been put. Dr. Kiugdon's was the only hand heid up ior it. Votes of thanks to the chairman and to the R t -v. 11. Govett closed the proceedings. The following items were included iv me otimutes recently voted by the Provincial Council of thi* province : — Public works. £1,000; mooring, £300; Provincial warehouse for Linuiuir gooUS £700 ; o"enin;r new lhir< of ri>ads,£oOO: tor br:d«;e.*, £ 100 : <urvt-\ s, £O*'O ; survevn', £200 ; connecting Onita and I), run roa-is, £ HO; coutmtjfiif.ies, £:>;>o ; iunnignu;in lYoiu Enghiud and Australia, £1,500.