NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

New Zealander, Volume 1, Issue 2, 14 June 1845, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

The New Zealand Company appear to liave made a complete mess of it. In fart, nothing else could have been anticipated, hy a sensible man, at the beginning of their proceedings. It is in vain now to attempt to irituiimte the government, and to attribute to its fault thebtate of confusion into winch the Colony lias been plunged. Lord John llussel laid down Him proper principles upon which such, a colony ought to be organized and governed. If iho company has got itself into embarrassments by the neglect and contempt of those piinciples, they have themselves to blame, font is totally useless for them to attempt to fasten upon the Government a charge of evasion or unfairness in its dealings in regard to their charter, to the quantity of land which is convened, or the nature of the title by w hich it is held. It is true that at the beginning of this settlement, the Government imiy have had some doubt as to the justice or policy of claiming the sovereignty of New Zealand for the British crown ; but it had no alternative than to despatch Governor Hobson with a naval force, for the purpose of proclaiming British supremacy in those islands. It seems that a French squadron was dispatched with Brest to New Zealand, laden with cannon and ammunition, furnished by an ordonmmee of the? King of the French, from the public stores, for the purpose of founding a Fiench colony in New Zealand, and of vlndi ating the title purchased from the natives, by the Baron de Thierry, u French adventmer, who wished to get a claim for hi* countrymen of the same kind as that which Admiral Thorn's e.torted from Queen Pomare, of Tahiti. The consequence of such a colony would have been a conflict of races like that which exists in St. Domingo, between thu Spanish and the French portions, or like tha which prevailed in the Canadian and British possessions-, it certainly was the English, who, both by purchase and settlement, had already established themselves before the arrival of Governor Hobson. The Fiench colonists finding the ground pre-occupied, were furred to bet ike themselves elsewhere, leaving the British undisputed masters of the field. Of the British emigrants, some hold their -lands by a title from the chiefs, some from the crown, and some from the company. The nature of all these respective lights being confused, and no man knowing whether his title is valid or invalid, ablate ot. things has been created, which has led to giea-" dissatisfaction and difficulty. One most lauientf able feature in the case, is the hostility of the natives— an hostility, which in one instance, led to the massacieof Captain Wakefield and his companions at Cloudy Bay. The Company and the Colonists in their grasping desire to seize the lauds of the natives, have set their rights, in tuo many instances, at complete defiance. They have contended, contrary to the f^ict, that the New Zealanders had no notion of the right of property, and that they held all their lands in common, with the exception of the particular spots which were immediately under cultivation, in the vicinity of their huts. It is staled, on the other hand, that eyery inch of grouudis occupied, and that the natives have a correct and well denned idea of property. If this be the case, there can be no possible justice in the pi ices paid by the colonists for their lands,— as for instance, u few hatchets, or other objects of savage cupidity, amounting in value to about fifty pounds sterling, given in exchange for eight million of a res. Governor Fitzroy, as the protector of the New Zealand duels, has been instructed to carry out the principles formerly laid down by Lord John Russell for the government of the colony, aud by his attentive administration of justice, and his due regard for the rights of the aborigines, has earned for himself the support of the government and people of England, and the unmitigated hostility of the Neiv Zealand Compauy, and a great portion of the colonists. The result is a mass of complaints, and recrimination, which passes under the name of the New Zealand Compam's Report, and a chaos of confusion in the commercial transactions of the colony, which distract and tear its society to pieces, coupled with a thirst for vengeance on the natives, which, if arms were put into the hands of the colonists, would probably betray itself into a wholesale extermination of the New Zealand aboiigines. Such a state of things call for, and will, no doubt, obtain a remedy at the hands of the government, if an immediate self reform dc not take place. — Atlas, Deer. 14.

North-West Passage — We learn that it is contemplated by Government to send out another expedition to the Arctic regions, with the view of discovering the, or a, north-west passage between the Atlantic and Pacific ; and the Council of the Royal Society having been solicited to give their opinion as to the desirableness of such an expedition, having stated, that independent of the great object to be attained, the benefits that would accrue to the sciences of geography and terrestrial magnetism, render such an expedition peculiarly desirable. It appears that the "Erebus" and the "Terror/ 5 which were recently employed at the South Pole, under the command of Sir James Ross, have returned in such good order as to be ready to be made immediately available -for employment on any similar service.