ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND. [Extracted from the Fifth Report of the Aborigines' Protection Society.]

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 47, 28 January 1843, Page 187

ABORIGINES OF NEW ZEALAND. [Extracted from the Fifth Report of the Aborigines' Protection Society.]

Your Committee have followed with deep interests and anxiety the prospects of the New Zealanders, of whom many communications have been received, some by colonists, whose number now amount to about 10,000, and others by corresponding members of the society. Almost all these communications agree with the accounts previously received as to the excellent disposition of the natives, as to their aptitude to enter into social communities, and to become citizens of one and the same state. Your committee feel convinced, from the impartial and accurate information they have received, that if ever a nation of barbarians could be rescued from their own helpless situation, and from the baneful influence of colonization, und be destined to contradict the fallacious dogma of the necessary extermination of coloured men by European settlement, the New Zealanders are that nation ; a result your committee especially anticipate, from the fact, that the New Zealanders are an agricultural people, and accustomed to fixed habitations. But they are at the same time perfectly aware that this advantage over other barbarous races is of no avail, if a sufficiency of land is not secured to them, on a uniform principle of reserves, alike applicable to the lands of the government, of the New Zealand Company, and of private purchasers. As the most vital point, therefore, in future legislation, must be regarded that of the native territorial rights. No act of the legislature has yet appeared, setting forth the intentions of Government regarding native reserves in the districts purchased by the Local Government of New Zealand. No information has been received how the eleventh part of the lands, set aside for the natives by the New Zealand Company, is administered; whether the natives are satisfied to occupy the allotted reserves instead of their former homes ; whether the remainder had been granted on lease for the benefit of the natives ; and in what manner the income derived from that source is appropriated. The New Zealand Company have expressed their willingness to advance the sum of £5,000 on mortgage of the native reserves, to be applied for the benefit of the natives in the formation of schools ; but it does not appear that trustees of that grant have as yet been appointed — an omission which rests with the Government, and not with the Company. The appointment of Mr. Halswell as a commissioner of native lands, by the New Zealand Company, has not produced the expected beneficial results; for, on the arrival of that gentleman in New Zealand, he was restricted to Port Nicholson, and to a nominal situation, as sub-protector of that district, under the orders of the Government protector, Mr. Clarke. Although your committee give full credit to the intentions of the Colonial Secretary, Lord Stanley, in regard to the natives, they cannot but most earnestly solicit from him positive rules, not only in regard to the native lands; to the rights of the aborigines, so lately the sole possessors of the 6oil, and^ now our adopted fellow citizens ; and to the necessary modifications in the administration of justice; — but also in regard to the application of a certain part of the revenue, for improving the means of instruction of a population of more than 120,000. Although your committee seek not to retard the colonization of New Zealand, yet they cannot regard with complaisance the progress of immigration, unless the rights of the natives are sufficiently defined and guarded.

Strange, if true. — The Semaphore, of Marseilles, gives an account of the arrival in that port of a bold and ingenious sailor, who has constructed a boat formed to fit his own body, when laid at full length, in which he traverses the sea with a swiftness and security rivalling that of fishes. His head and arms alone appear from without, and with the latter, holding a pair of oars, he impels himself along. Provisions are stowed in recesses of the boat, and thus he made voyages from Toulon to Nice and Leghorn, coming to Marseilles by the islands of Hycres. On arriving in port he complied with all the prescribed regulations, entering his own name, Malbec, and that of his vessel, and then darted across the harbour like an arrow. On being examined when on shore, the wonderful vessel was found to be a most perfect piece of mechanism. It is furnished with a small pump similar to that used in wine and beer houses for drawing the liquor from the casks in the cellar, and by means of which any water the boat may make can be easily discharged. Having been deprived of his left leg, M. Malbec has converted its wooden substitute into a mast, upon which he occasionally raises a sail suited for his light bark, and which he can trim with ease, according to the wind and the course he wishes to steer. M. Malbec's visit to Marseilles is said to be for the purpose of having a vessel on his plan constructed of cast iron, with various improvements, among which are to be hollow masts admitting air into the body of the boat, so that, either in foul weather or when requiring sleep, he may lie down on thermattress at the bottom, close the hatchway and apertures for his head and arms, without fear of being suffocated. He has given his vessel the appropriate name of the Duck. — Liverpool Albion. Salt. — So plenty and cheap as salt is in this country, we can scarcely conceive the high value it bears in some others. In some parts of South America, it is worth its weight in gold even at this time. The following extract shows how much it was in request in some remote places in Tartary. The traveller speaks of the province of Cainda, west of Thibet : — " The principal money in this country is gold, unstamped and issued by weight. But their ordinary money consists in solid small loaves of salt, marked with the seal of the prince; aad of this merchants make vast profits in remote places, which have abundance of gold and musk, which the inhabitants are eager to barter for salt, to Use with their meat" — Marco Polo' a Travel* in the Thirteenth Century.