TO THE DIRECTOR'S OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY. Military Defence.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 83, 2 January 1847, Page 3

TO THE DIRECTOR'S OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

Military Defence.

[From the " Wellington Independent, No\ . 25.] Gentlemen, —We are desirous of closing the observations we have thought fit to address to you, and shall therefore but briefly advert to some of the remaiuing matters in your 20th Report, ami Supplementary letter. The tone of the whole Report proves that you had no real intention to dissolve the Company, but lv pvd from a change of ministry, or some other event, to obtain such concessions as would place the Government of this colony in your hands. You saw a prospect of the change which has happened in ihe ministry. Eail Grey has taken office as Secretary of State for the Colonies, and it is expected Mr. Charles Buller will take office under him. Having now to deal with gentlemen devoted to your interests, you may believe that your " public object" will be attained. You will again he disappointed, and the extent of your failure will be jtibt in proportion to the degree of confidence which may be placed in your statements, and the influence they may have on the measures of the new ministry. The information you possess is not to be depeuded on. The press winch you patronize deceives you. One instance of this, for jour greater satisfaction, we will shortly notice. Some time since, the government su.veyor de-* livered in a report upon the native reserves. A copy of this report Avas officially delivered to your principal Agent, and to no other person unconnected with the Government. Shortly after, im article appeared in your paper, the object of which was to r-hew the total unworthmess and wilful incorrectness, of that report. After describing four or five of the sections, rejected as unavailable, and pointing out their supposed advantages, the article concludes with an ex uno disCe omnes assurance that the sections sj described are fair exatnpl<?6 of the reiuaiuing rejected sections. Turn to ihe able letter, to yourselves, of the land purchasers resident in this settlement, Which is signed by the writer of that article, where in page 26 this statement occurs :— " In a report recently submitted to Government, on the native reserves, by the Government Surveyor, he says, « That of the 4300 acres reserved for the Natives iA the district of Poit Nicholson, only 1530" acres can be considered at all available for cultivation." We believe that the Surveyor appointed by the Company to go over this estimate, reported that 1700 of 1800 acies were fit for native cultivation." From which you will see that so far from the sections described in the article referred to being fair examples of those which had born rejected as ! unavailable, they wore in fact those only upon which, there exis.ed any difference of opinion between the Government and the Company's surveyors. With such informants, we could almost excuse jou of wilful mi .-representation, had you not boasted of your superior information. It is probable you will now press the British Government to adopt or sanction a proprietary Govern • metit. That it was reluctantly abandoned is stated in the letter :»- " Inasmuch as, by the rule lnid down, I am precluded from reverifng to the plan which we suggested in Apiil last, I will only say of it, that its adoption would have beeu agreeab'e to ihe genius of the English people (who, said Montesquieu, ha\e alone combined commerce with empire,) t.i very successful practice in the best days ot colonisation, and to the opinions of the most enlightened peisuus who have recently attended to this subject. Abandoning, with great reluctance, the plan of a Charter of government, which would have pla-ed ii the hands of the Company all the powers requisite tor good colonisition, and thereby enabled them to raise ample funds for every purpose, I am driven to the only alternative— that of abolishing the Compa-iy altogether." In direct opposition to the experience of those American colonies which wera founded with Proprietary Governments, in direct opposition to our experience of your tender regard for our in e'rcis, you put forward a scheme as lor our benefit, wh.cn would put into your hands the Government of the cjlotiy, with powers to " raise ample funds for eveiy purpose." We hope the British Government will never be so madly unjust as lo intrust you with ihe power to tax theunlottuiiatesettltMS, who alter being misled b/ the fianctiou givi'n to your proceedings by th u Government, have been moit uuwiliingly conpelleJ by bitter and dearly purchased expencriee, to see the folly and danger of placing confidence in yon. We have a claim to the protection of that Government, which would bp miserably answered by handing us over to the caie of a jobbing Corporation, whose great anxieties seem to be that the ll Company's dividend be limited not to ten per cent, absolutely, but to an average of ten per cent, per annum, iv the ajfgregile upon any gh'en number of jear^,*" and that ' the mimimum price of lands to be sold by the New Zealaud Company, be fixed at 255. an acre instead ot 20s. It would be difficult to find a more full yet compendious display of ignorance and presumption, tlta-ii you have made in jour suggestions' for military defence, which we give tha"t the sellers uiay &'cc auA portion of a scheme lo benefit the colt/fty 1 , winch, you describe as " agreeable to the genius of tlie English people.''

CiOftaNKßSft

"Our opinion is (hat very little cost for military pro tection would lie needed. The Company's Government trniht protect itself against the natives by conciliation, and the volunt iry efforts of the settlers. A militia force would be amply sufficient to repress all internal disorder. The wilder spirits of the natives might be tamed by incorporation into this force, and ■we see no necessity for troubling the Admiralty for a war steamer. We should therefore, propose— 1. That the Company should have power to raise troops and militia, and to equip vessels, as in the o'd charters.— 2. That, if the C(/inpi'ny required the presence ol any regular troops, it should defiay their whole pay and expenses while stationed in the colony, or employed in its defence. Of course this stipu'aiion would not apply ■when Great Britain shall be at war with any foreign power." What escential difference do you perceive between incorporating the wilder spirits of the natives in thf Militia Force, and the employment of one tribe of natives against another, which in concert with the Aborigines Protection Society, you so strongly deprcc :iH' ? The same gross ignorance of the actual condition of the colony is betrayed in the supplementary letter to w'-ich we have referred, which proposes that — " Each settlement should defray the whole cost of its Municipal government. Any help from the mother country would be lmr'ful, by leading the colonists to depend on an uucertain source of public income, and to indulge in a profuse expenditure." What amount of taxation this scheme would involve it is impossible to foresee, but certainly it would lie greater than the wealthiest could pny. Although •we are tod ("At the same time the titles of offices and officers in the Municipalities should be as modest as possible. The title of Governor and Excellency has tnrnetl the head and proved the ruin of mam a good sort of man. Humble titles, moreover, would have the effect of reducing salaries to the minium, and of discouraging: among persons in office those hah ts of parade and extravagance, which keep the bulk of the principal public servants in the Crown colonies in a state bordering on insolvency , besides selling a mischievous example to the colonists." Here we could have wished you had been a little more explicit as to the amount cf money y«u would consider " the minimum." Por-ibly 'jdOOO per annum, with the title of Principal Agent, &<\, would mepi the views of all parties. If it were really possible that your views could be carried into effect, we would entirely protest against the following suggestion, which should operate as a Seaming to all the settlers not hastily to put their signatures to papei«, of which they have not veil considered the content?. By a clever use of the settlers petition, the settlers are actually made to assist in cutting away their own right to \ote in the election of Representatives. "Representation should of course he the basis of such Municipal government; but I have no doubt that a qualification franchise far loss democratic than that of Canada would he found useful. For several reasons, indeed, I should he disposed to make the elective franchise what some would call aristocratical.— The colonists whose petition to the House of Commons Lord Ilowick presented last session, were of this opinion." It is exceedingly difficult to follow you in all your manoeuvres. So little candour— so little honesty— and so little sympathy— so much diplomacy — so much evasion— and so much shuffling, give you an advan« tage we would not have upon the same conditions. It is as hollow as the means used to obtain it, an I can be the foundation of no lasting good. If you have ever visited a race ground, and watched the pea and thimble game, you may ha?e seen a personage ■whom you strongly remind us of. A grave looking man in a seedy black coat, with crape round his hat, is ready to encourage all timid speculator?. He will lift the" thimble and show the pea, while the tablekeeper's back is turned, and even go halves in the bet, putting his own and victims money down together, he will slowly raise the thimble and shew no pea under it. If the victims ciies out that he is cheated, and becomes troublesome, seedy coat bonnets him, while the rest of the gaug clear out his pockets and decamp. You are the man in the seedy black coat. We did for a long time entertain the hope that you would have discovered and would acknowledge the errors you originally started with, that making tint discovery the basis of your new schemes, you wo >Id have struck out souip good plan for protecting the interests of the settlers, aud securing (he property of your shareholders. But we see no trace of suth a plan# We see no prospect of your share-holders ever k'ettin? their property recured to tbrm except by the Government taking the n anagement of it. In any other case the Coinpanvmay possihlv raise new hopes to be disappointed—may deceive a few more persons —may linger on a few more years exhausting its funds in the payment of useless salaries and hindering and annoying the leal government in every possible way ; hut will never succeed iv the hands of those who now manage its affaiis. It would be unjust to rlose these desultory remarks without alluding to the degree of success you have attained, and the credit due to you. Yon have been te means of annexing to Great Britain a colony more fertile, more mild, yet temperate in climate, iv many respects more desirable to reside in, and likely to become in proportrui to its size, more productive, than any other colony of Great Britain. You have by your unceasing agitation drawu public attention to this colony, and so far eusuied good goverunent for the luture, prov ded you do not interlere iv it.— Add to these obligations the dissolution of the Com* pnny, and we may in time forget the errors into which you have led us, and forgive the injuries we hare suffered at your hands.