Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 76, 14 November 1846, Page 4

Original Correspondence.

To the Editor of The New-Zealander. Sir, — Strike hi?h, said the soldier, who was being flogged on the nether part of his back, by the drummer Upon the compliance of the drummer, the unhappj cuJprit soon begged him to strikelow. Whereupon, tin executioner ot the military law sagaciously observed, that, as he believed, whether he struck high or lowj provided that he struck at all, lie could not please,. he must exercise his discretion in the management of his unpleasant duty. You do too liltle, says the permanent pait of the Executive Council of New Zealand to one Governor, and to another, you do too much. You are too communicative, s>ays the same body to one Governor, and to another, you are too close. Finally comes Captain Grey, who tells them, that, as he believes whether he says or docs little or much, provided that he says or does any thing at all, hecannot please them, he must exercise his discretion in the performance ol the duties assigned to him, and for the due performance of which he is responsible to his Royal mistress, assuring them at the same lime that he calculates with confidence upon their zealous co-operation. In vain is every argument employed, and every stratagem resorted to, lor ttie purpose of inducing him to abandou his desperate resolution. Foiled in artifices so often practised with success, they pursue him, like Sirens, witu charm - ing descriptions of the ease of body and tranquillity of mind, which they themselves, during a peuod of six years, enjoyed in the midst of infusion and disorder, by simply eatins; their cakes in silence, and leaving every taing else to the care of providence, lie tells them, that he has been specially deputed to remedy the past and present evils ot the Colony, to prevent their recurrence, and to lead by the hand a weaic and struggling community a little forward in its proper patn, and that none of these objects can be accomplished without careful thinking, firmness, and untiring- energy. The remedial part of Captain Grey's mission has, with one exception, been fu'ly accomplished within the period of a year from the daie of his arrival amongst us, aad to the satisfaction of every thinking man in the community. The dispatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, approving of his measures with regard to the debentures, is now before the public, and tiiere are ample grounds for believing, that similar documents with respect to his policy, whether remedial or prospective, towards the native population, will soon reach us. His measures with respect to the new land-claims in the northern district, have undoubtedly not given satisfaction to the persons who are immediately interested in them, nor could it have been expected, that any measure lor the adjustment of these claims, framed with a due regard to the rights and interests of others, would have satisfied the claimants themselves. Upon the other hand, the vast majority of the British population in these islauds, who, tho' not immediately, are nevertheless most intimately concerned in these measures, seem to be more pleased with the land-claims' bill, than would seem to be consistent with a decent regard to the disappointed hopes, and even the rights of the claimants. The judgment of an impartial and well-informed spectator upon the whole subject, while it would certainly differ from that of either of the parties interested, would probably differ somewhat also from that of His Excellency the Governor. To admit the claims in question to their full extent, would be obviously a monstrous injustice to the southern settlers, and to tne purchasers at Crown Sales in the northern district. Indeed, such a measure would really amount to a kind of confiscation of nearly all the settled land in the Colony. It would also materially retard the progress of Crown Sales, and thus strike for some time at the root of that portion of tlie public revenue, from which, in the natural course of things, provision should be derived for the most pressing exigencies, and the most important wants and requirements of the settleis and the natives. Nor must we omit to observe, that every deviation from the purely legal method of acquiring titles to land, by producing ruinousjfluctuatious in its> price, and filling the minds of the bettlers with feelings of uncertainty and disgust, not only damps their energy, and shakes the Colony itself tor several years to its very centre, but is directly calculated to cheek in ase ious degiee the influx of emigiants, upon which more than upon any other cause, increase in the value of land and the progress oi the Colony depends. Vtoni its very foundation, the Colony of New Zealand has (For continuation set Supplement. J

C Continued from our fourth pas,e.J been scoorged by irregular claims to land, and it would surely be in the last decree desirable, even for the sake of the unhappy and self-deluded claimants themselves, that an end should, once and for ever, be put to claims of this nature. Though the charge of conspiracy and intimidation would seem to be applied with propriety to some few of the claimants, yet, as there are good groudns for" believing, that such an imputation cannot be fixed upon the great body of them, it would not be just to treat with them upon the supposition that it could. The true principles then, upon which the claims should be decided, are plainly these, that the claimants made their purchases under, and in obedience to a Proclamation issued by a Governor of the Colony, and that the Secretary of State for the Colonies instructed His Excellency the present Governor, not to admit to their full extent, as has been most absurdly contended, but to recognise the purchases. If the adjustment of the claims were to be regulated by these principles exclusively, the claimants would plainly entitled to a measure of justice somewhat more liberal than that contained in the land -claims' hill. In this mode of considering the subject, however, the all-important point of law involved in it, and not yet decided by the proper authorities, has not been taken into account ; and it ought further to be observed, that the question, hasbeejn treated in entire ignorance of £ ly despatches from the Colonial Oflice upon the subject, which may have reached Captain Grey s'neethatof Lord Stanley, which has heen just adverted to. In the mean time, while the bill can do no harm, it may do much good. To such of the claimants as may be pressed by pecuniary difficulties, a debenture chavgeaole upon the local revenue, and bearing interest payable half-yearly, for the total amount of their outlay proved before the Commissioner will be a positive blessing. Others will gladly accept the debenture for the purpose of freeing themselves from the trouble, uncertainty, and disquietude, likely to be attendant upon the flirt ier pursuit of their claims. Finally, some few, who have already occupied their lands, may be willing to acquire a title to them upon the terms laid down in the bill, which are very different from some published descriptions of them. The prospective measures of the Governor — those m<v.sares which he has devised for the purpose of putting the Colony in a right position for future progress, and, in <me instances, for the purpose of leading it a little forward in its proper path, have, wit'n one exception also, been warmly admired by all those persons in the community, who ultimately determine the public opinion. The establishment of the police force, always popular in the southern, was at first very unpopular in the northern district. This difference of opinion has been principally occasioned by the difference of feeling between the two races in these districts. In the south, where only an indifferent understanding exists between the natives and settlers, the utility of tae force, was, in a palpable form, brought home at once to the meanest • understanding. Bqt, in this district, where the two races have always lived upon the best terms, the same force was naturally looked upon as perfectly useless, by all those who did not reflect upon the subject with care. Some, even of the gravest men amongst; us, assaulted this step of the Governor with headlong fury, fiom time to time, up to the last session of the Council. Two of the non-official members with great zeal propounded to that body in a prominent manner the opinions of the people of the northern district, when Hib Excellency for the first time explained his views, And mnst, without doubt, in the mind of every thinking man who was present at the debate, have been considered to have completely overpowered his adversaries. As his views in establishing the police force have never yet been published, a brief sketch of them cannot but be both interesting and useful. As long as the Biltish population in New Zealand was concentrated in towns, tne old constabulary force was sufficient for their protection. But, when suburban settlements began to be everywhere formed, the inadequacy of that force was soon universally felt. During the whole of the year 1844, and part of the year 1845, various attempts to settle in the bush were made in every part of the Colony. In every instance, however, the rash invaders of the wilderness were driven back to the towns, either by acts of pillage, sometimes upon a large, and sometimes upon a small scale, committed upon them by the natives, or, by the fear of these and still worse consequences. Nor were the natives objects of blame to so great an extent as might at first sight be imagined ; for, the moveable effects of a few defenceless strangers living amongst them, were manifestly prizes too tempting for the undisciplined integrity of uncivilized men. Thus, what might have been foreseen without experience, was proved by actual experiment. It was found to be impossible to colonise New Zealand without the aid of a force adapted to the protection of the out-settlers. This situation of things being well known at home, no intending emigrants could by any possibility be induced to come to New .Zealand, and none of the actual settlers could be prevailed upon to go into the bush. The British population must have continued to reside in the towns or their suburbs, they must have continued to be a commercial, and could never have become an agricultural or a pastoral people upon any thing like a respectable scale. In a word, the very idea of a Colony would soon vanish from our minds, and in a few years our very existence must have been forgotten in Europe. A British regiment would not be permitted to_ perform services of the nature now under consideration, and, even if it were, it would, as any person who takes the trouble of thinking but ever so little on the matter will soon discover, be more likely to retard, or even completely mar, than ta promote, the attainment of the objects really aimed at. A police force then being absolutely necessary for the accomplishment of the proposed objects, the nest point to be determined upon, was the composition of the force. The mere circumstance of the persons to be protected by the force being of two different and very unequally civilised races, would ' at once suggest the propriety, if not the necessity, of a fißixture of the two races in the protecting force, even if such a composition were not farther, and very strongly

too, recommended by other considerations of au important nature, upon which, as they huve been long before the public, it is unnecessary to dwell . Without the establishment of the present police there could have been no emigration from England on a large scale, and no actual colonization in New Zealand. And though roads are necessary for the operations of this force, yet neither roads, nor farmers properly so called, nor stock keepers, can have a real and permanent existence without it. Jt is a measure indispensably preliminary to the colonization of a country, the native inhabitants of which ate half civilised. Finally the establishment of the new police force is a kind of proclamation to the world, that New Zealand is about to become a British colony, and that all true colonists may come to it as soon as they please. The present little force may be looked upon as the germ of one vastly larger, which in the progress of time, will extend its searching operations over the whole of these islands, and which may not inaptly be called the colonising regiment of New Zealand ; tor it will obviously be as useful in promoting colonization as in protecting the settleis, if these two objects can without confusion of thought be considered separately. But it will still be said, that we ought not to be taxed for the support of a force not immediately useful, and in fact having at present nothing to do but to acquire the proper discipline and training. The answer to this objection has been already given. As we can not have a colony without such a force, whatever delay takes place in its establishment, will also take place in the commencemeni'of the colony. But though this answer is full and perfect, the ditiiculty may be perhaps still farther subdued by apt illustration- Every European state supports in ti ne 0/ peace a standing army at an enormous expence and simply because war may come, and because when it does, a disciplined liforce will be indispenbably necessary for the protection jjof the state. A lawyer purchases a library, and a merL' chant fits up premises for business, and yet both of I them may lose their outlay by having no return for it. In every department of human life too, examples continually occur of men being laid under formal obligations to take measures attended with great expense where there is only a bare possibility of success. Now if these things are true, as they undoubtedly are, the objection to the police force which is here considered, i must be judged to be perfectly ridiculous, not only on I account of the prese.it necessity of the force (the com- , mencement of a colony being supposed to be in contemplation) but also on account of the absolute certainty of the benefits to be derived from it, The amount of taxation has been nicely adjusted to that of the new expenses about to be incurred, and it has been ■ wisely imposed upon those ai tides consumed equally by both races. In this way, far the greater portion of the new taxes vyill be paid by the natives, which is not unreasonable, if we take into account the benefits which 1 they must eventually derive from the police force itself as well as from the other measures relating to them whether adopted or contemplated. But, it is said, that this taxation is not in conformity with the principles of free trade. This objection, however, can have no force whatever, unless it is distinctly shewn that the principles of free trade are applicable to this colony. Now, if we consider that we have no land fund, and that the people of this infant colony are manifestly incapable of supporting an income or property tax, it must be allowed, that a more monstrous absurdity never entered into the head of man than the idea of free trade in New Zealand. But what renders the revival of such an idea inconceivably ridiculous, is the fact of its having been already tried, of its having been found insupportable, and of its having been literally hunled from the political stage amidst peals of laughter. I am Sir, Yours, &c. &c. VATEg. [Every man has a right to alter his opinion, and if he does so in consequence of having obtained more light, or greater experience he should be commended rather than condemned for so doing. Our friend the "Seer" now utters predictions totaMy at variance with his former views. A change has come o'er the spirit of his dream. He doubtless can give a good reason for extolling to-day, that which he reprobated yesterday.-— Ed. H. Z.I