ADDRESS OF THE MAGISTRATES, CIVIL AND MILITARY OFFICERS, AND INHABITANTS OF NELSON, NEW ZEALAND, TO THE RT. Hon. THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 73, 29 July 1843, Page 291

ADDRESS OF THE MAGISTRATES, CIVIL AND MILITARY OFFICERS, AND INHABITANTS OF NELSON, NEW ZEALAND, TO THE RT. Hon. THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

My Lord — We, the undersigned magistrates, civil and military officers, and inhabitants of Nelson, beg respectfully to call your lordship's earnest attention to the peculiar position of her Majesty's subjects in this settlement. We are induced to appeal directly to your lordship on the present occasion, because a lamentable event has occurred at the Wairoo, which' exemplifies in a manner not- to be overlooked or forgotten the inability of the Executive in this settlement to enforce the law, as well as the necessity of making that law known and respected by the native population of these islands. - • - Her Majesty's representative, the police magistrate of this district, together with other magistrates and gentlemen, officers in her Majesty's naval or military service (twenty-two in all), have been massacred by an armed b'iwy of natives, after an unsuccessful attempt to execute a warrant against two of their chiefs. With the origin of this affray — with the justice or injustice of the case — it is not our business' to - concern ourselves ; it is enough to remark that it arose primarily out of an attempt T>n the 'part of the New Zealand Company's agents to survey a tract of uninhabited land, to which' some chiefs from the Northern Island laid claim. Whether the Company's agents were justified or not in this attempt, we do not need to inquire; nor is it our province to determine: we may be allowed, however, to press upon your lordship's attention the fact that, bad/ not the decision of land claims been so long protracted (or rather entirely neglected, nc commissioners for that pnrjiose having even yet arrived here, though two years have ehifMed since the coming of the first immigrants to this

settlement), this melancholy occurrence might never have taken place. In asserting this undeniable, factjWe wish to cast no blame upon the Colonitf government, which may not have been etnpowered to employ a greater number of commissioners ; nor on the gentlemen already emKbyed, the laborious and complicated nature o£raet£|Sk they had to perform being possibly ,tmit§* sufficient to account for their detention elsewbjete.' And we do not presume to decide upon tn^propriety or impropriety, the expediency or^wexpediency, of the interference of the magistrals on the late melancholy occasion: ' They were acnhg in her Majesty's name, in the enforcement of tfee law; and there were among them' men of great prudence, the highest character, and considerable^ experience in the con- ' duct of affairs; and we "must observe that the Force taken with them war jiot intended " for hostile employment, but for the moral effect their presence might produce." The immediate cause of the affray was the accidental discharge 6f a mulpket, no orders having been given to '„ fire. 'We trust confidently to your lordship's ' discernment and impartiality for a full appreciation of the difficulty and delicacy of the cir- ' cumßtanees in which these gentlemen we're placed, and for ample justice being done to their memory. But we do respectfully, yet firmly, protest to your lordship that whatever the cause df this disastrous affair, whosesoever the blame, we, the ithabitants of Nelson, in coming opt under the auspices, or in accepting the offers of a company acting openly under the Governmemtd sanction, and chartered by it for the express 'purpose of colonizing these islands, have ddn6 .nothing to deprive us of our right to protection' from the Government we contribute to BUppbrt; and fr6m' her Majesty, to whom we acknowledge allegiance: and this protection ( cahnbf exist 'but hi hame until the authority of the law be everywhere asserted, its dictates everywhere subnfitted to, its penalties every•vyi^re inflicted, as well upon the native as the 'English 1 population of this colony. Npw.it is almost superfluous to declare to your lordship tHat the means for such an assertion' and enfotciement of th 6 laws hare never yfet "existed at\d are not to be found at present 'in v £he. colony; and that; in consequence, the "whole cciurse hitherto pursued by the Govern.xhent, the tone' hitherto adopted towards the native population, has been' one of conciliation, .persuasion, almost Reference; their chiefs have -ever been . treated, with as equals, coaxed intp 'acquiescence in acts' of authority advantageous to thecaselves, "rather than overawed and attracted'"by t^e display of superior power, directed by superior justice and intelligence, able and ready; ali^e to punish and protect, to exact •perform'anc'e'bf dpties" as well as to confer privileges: , 'And your lordship will forgive us for reminding you, that all experience proves that savage nations netfer yet, for any length of time, 'Vieided obedience to the laws of strangers, unless' backed by pdwerthey knew and feared, but na\{e ever been prone to mistake leniency and forbearance . for weakness and timidity. How, when the we ( alcneßs is real — the forbears£n.ce'tne''nec^Bsarydictate Of prudence? And tn'at this is the case in the present instance the, nadv§s cannot but discover, for the soldiers, at Auckland are utterly inadequate for the arrest 6? powerful' dhiefs in the midst of their namerous well-armed"and warlike tribes. The corf"sejqUfent impunity which; for' the present, iimst appear to attend the' actors in the' late shocking massacre cannot but embolden them tp the jper.petration of more extensive' (there'^ould not be "more flagrant) crimes ; and, in k\tchr a case, with a handful of tr6ops'nve hundred .miles off, what protection is there for the scattered and unarmed population of this settlement ? ' ' But, even without such increase of aildacity and contempt for the law on the part of the natives, with the most pacific intentions on the part' of those intrusted with the execution of the laws," it is. clear that we. have no security again6t a coUision between them, since accident '(as' in %the- present .instajbtce) may r at any time lead., to an appeal.tb.'/orce;- • Nothing, then, remajns but either an entire relinquishment bf all attempts at Qnfqre^ng^bje.liw, or the esiablbhment of such' a force an may render* ft irrepi^tible. , r; ;•..-.-/ '-1,;,*., ' : ' '. Xo&Ti lprdship will perceive that we hare all ,ajqng;,t^kep itfpr. granted that the natives > are a^qnafetejtb thellavp '^£ -Eqgland'. wlnw In 'tbVabr sence of qjhe'r. established or recognised laws, -,wp dqnoj; o^rwisaunde^tand the meaning of jdeclariflgt her Nlaje^fy^a werejgnty.ove^'^se, i^lan4§. .Russell's imtf jiptiapp , .tqjt^e lat^ Governor flobsQn,^h^is throqghout! ,W3^& ia ' c^ea^mtamatedj.,, A,nd wga^hejr fflP* sso,/ajS^We,,aft al^rj^TO^puJd, remain ,f£r $he ( po)pmß|B but the total,^balidqajn^ntqf the country or the adoption of a system of .liation, whifi^it will- scarcely, be doubted r^ust ■eftd in t^he e^|ermbation of the natjye popula,-

i earnestly, request from yyour -lprjl^p, susi a,^nayal pnd nu^arj force,' a> Wffl JiG: realty sufficient for the general enforcement of the lawia^ B'evera).'.set.tiemep^s of -this colony; ?'T.be i)atiye«,",saysj .opv^npr HobsOnio j^e'l^arqueas xm Kormairtflf, ,so long agoaa the.?Otk jßeWuary^lMO^ "Jl km^ perfectly. well,, iyjl. resist al| a»ards«f the land commtesienero that may bp to them, and that it will, Require a strong Executive, ;suppor ted ;by a military force ta-cariylsdcb .decisions intp effect." "In the same .despat<A, hfi jtsseris that a pqhce force and^jnilitit f.-ViU _«gt6,upei»£se4fhe neJce«Bity..of a. ,r«y'([yf .JV^ ttry , force, to be^lways laya^labfe to repress dispnpr , and- discourage resistance of, the law/,' / , - 'Hej^rltt^gonjcurHng ittth^se opinions; so. ter-i oriblj confirmed, py recent events,, and earnemy .jicqueating, the .apjontion of $he xaeans" recqn}- ' mended, ,~ , ■• , -We pa^e the honour, &c. ' IfL - ■■ t-r [Her«^^T,t^4Bn»turei.] : ' "'