The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, NOV. 6, 1847.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 150, 6 November 1847, Page 2

The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, NOV. 6, 1847.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thoti aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, aud Truth's.

There is, perhaps, nothing more surprising to us in New Zealand, than the extraordinary manner in which our own particular requirements, the character and customs of the natives, and our real position with regard to them, are still misunderstood at home. To look at the number of books, good and bad, that have been written on the subject, at the nnmber of viva voce examinations before a House of Common's Committees, at the general curiosity and interest shewn about this " pet colony"— a phrase which always makes us think of the ape that smothered her little one with hugging it — one might suppose that room could no longer exist for a mistake, so far as mere knowledge of facts is concerned. Neveitheless, hardly a mail arrives but brings us intimation of some fresh mistake into which the Home Government has fallen, "gross as a mountain, open, palpable," so much so as to excite astonishment rather than angry feeling on our part. To attribute this to stupidity on their part, even to carelessness or to lack of perseverance in mastering the subject upon which they are supposed to legislate, would be absurd ; there can be no doubt of the special attention paid to this Colony, which engrosses a much larger proportion of their time at the Colonial Office, than its real importance would entitle it to. The only plausible solul'on of the difficulty that we tan find — and even that is only ofkrod as a surmise«-is in the great discrepancy

of the accounts with which they are furnished by ourselves, amongst which nothing short of second sight could enable them to discriminate. For there are no fewer than live different representations of affairs and tilings which travel home from hence, and a sixth, bearing the semblance of good authority, but manufactiued in London, itself; all, perhaps, more or less coloured by the prejudices, and biassed by the peculiar interests and inclinations of those who send them. There is the Government story, of which we have at present no wish to speak ; there is the Missionary story, tolerably consistent upon the whole, though varying a little with the different varieties into which that body is sub-divided ; there is the story of the Northern settlers, which we ourselves have helped to tell j there is the story of the -Southern settlers, of late, but of late only, not so much differing from our own; and, lastly, the story of the Company, " got up," like the face of a faded beauty for a ball room, for the occasion, and afterwards re-moulded, to suit the exigencies of the moment, in the pages of the London organ of their views. Out of such a mass of conflicting evidence — for the statements made are more downrightly opposite than any one who had not examined them could suppose— one may easily suppose a Secretary of State to be puzzled what to choose. Some, when called upon to contribute their share of information, have given utterance to distinct untruths, willingly and wittingly propounded ; others, fancying that they actually saw what they only wished to see, have deceived themselves as well as those who trusted to their local knowledge ; while others again v have talked much nonsense in • simple ignorance, and for the sake of talking ; for no one that has set foot in the Colony can be expected in England to plead ignorance of the slightest detail connected with it, a piece of modesty that would be totally out of character in any man that had travelled sixteen thousand miles from home. And to complete the mystification, another evil is superadded, the different accounts not having the advantage among themselves of equal circulation. It would otherwise be possible, that as white results from a proportionate mixture of all the colours, or as the Mundane egg in the old Mythology, was said to be hatched in Chaos by the goddess Night, that the truth might come forth from the confusion of these discordant elements. One particular account among the five, however, has been always overpoweringly strong, backed by numbers at home, supported by the sturdiest pertinacity of affirmation, and has at last, if we may judge from the style of the Downing-street despatches, thrown all the rest for a while into the shade. The Company's story has carried the day ; indeed, if we look at the peculiar facilities in spreading it which they have always enjoyed, we could have had a right to expect no less. Numerously represented in Parliament, and by men of acknowledged talent ; linked in interest, through their many shareholders, directly or indirectly, with the most influential London merchants ; for a long while, though not so much of late, commanding a more direct communication between their own j settlements and England than we had been able to obtain, and with it the great advantage i of telling their own tale before contradiction could arrive— for even Governments are not entirely free from the weakness of old Menenius, " said to be something imperfect in favouring the first complaint;" — and, likewise, what has been of greater avail to them than would be readily believed, in possession of one London journal exclusively devoted to their interests, (the same which treated us the other day to a paragraph respecting horses bred at Otago, and sold in Sydney for the use of the Indian army !) and in the enjoyment of much favour with many of the rest : success in making good their own representation of the case must have been as good as sure, And all these advantages they have pushed as far as they could be made to go ; seemingly without fear even of detection in untruth. For a Company, which, as Curran once said, " has neither a body to be kicked, or a soul to be damned," is notoriously unscrupulous. A Company will venture upon acts from which auy single one of its shareholders would shrink, for in it all sense of individual responsibility is sunk. " Thou canst not say I did it, J> is the sufficient aad never-failing answer to any personal reproach. Men are too careless of obloquy which they share in common with their neighbours* It is not the thing itself which startles them, but the world's opinion of that thing ; and a little mutual encouragement will give them heart to go far beyond the limits even of conventional propiiety. They are like those animals that hunt in packs, timorous and cautious enough when single, but with courage to pull down any thing when excited by running together. And to this unscrupulousness on their part, must be added much supioeness on our own. We cannot be said to have made any exertion to place ourselves on a level with them in any of those points of advantage which have been observed upon, but have remained content with the immediate enjoyment of Commissariat expenditure, leaving our ultimate interests uncaied for at head-quarters, patiently sub-

mitting to be misrepresented and thrust to the wall. It would certainly be- vain to think of commanding parliamentary influence equal to their own, or an equally intimate connexion with the great mercantile body of London ; but, with regard to what remains, it rests only with ourselves to be upon a par with them. It is our firm belief that a little activity on our own parts, a combined movement among those who are principally interested, would have long ago secured to Auckland regularity of direct communication with home. And this much we can take upon ourselves to say, that some, who keep themselves studiously aloof from any but their own immediate concerns, would at once come forward to assist in promoting such an object, so soon as any wish to move in the matter shall be expressed in the town, As usual, however, what is every man's business, is no man's business ; and, only for want of concert, the thing remnins undone. We might likewise succeed in trenching upon the exclusive privilege wl.ich the Company have enjojed too long, of enlisting public sympathy in their favour by means of the New Zealand Journal, and in placing a check upon their power to dole out one-sided information, with the addition of as many apocryphal sfatements as they may find it convenient \o introduce. The very name of the journal is deceptive, affecting to represent the whole of the colony, while it is devoted to one particular portion of it alone, running down the other half without scruple or remorse. We believe that it would be possible to induce one ,of the London journals, by proper application*, to keep a special watch upon us — and no "lore need be asked — to give us a passing notice now and then, to tell our own story for us, by re-prodocing such information as might be afforded by ourselves. It would only remain to consider where such application should preferably be made. Our own opinion is, that one among those professing Conservative principles would shew the greatest willingness to serve us ; and this we say, not on account of our own private leaning to that side of the question, but because the North has peculiar claims upon their attention ; for, although the predominant feeling in this settlement be liberal — a matter almost of course in a colony — it is, and always has been, a very different cast of liberalism from that of the South, where undisguised radicalism is the order of the day* It is by one of them, likewise, that the resolute stand made here, and here alone, by men of all classes, of all principles, of all interests, and of all religious denominations, against Lord Grey's intended spoliation of the Native race, is most likely to be favourably borne in mind, and that support in it most heartily rendered, which, we grieve to say, there is as yet no assurance of our having no future cause to need.

We invite attention to a Letter, which will be found in another part of to-day's paper, addtessed some while since by the Rev. R. Maunsell, of (the Church Missionary Society, to the Governor, concerning Lord Grey's Instructions to the Charter. We ourselves had abandoned the subject, believing that all our endeavours to obtain an open disavowal of the principle on which his Lordship's peculiar views respecting native lands are based, would be ineffectual ; and that no good could be done by continuing to keep the matter so prominently before the public eye. Since, however, those who are in every way better qualified than ourselves to form an opinion upon the policy to be pursued in whatever concerns the native race, are again about to move, we volunteer with pleasure whatever little as* sistance we are able to render, which, by merely conveying the expression of a distinct class of opinions, may throw some additional weight into the scale. We believe, ourselves— and have taken great pains to ascertain — that the " dangerous feeling" of which the writer speaks, is really growing up throughout the country, and that not only outown quiet possession of lands tbat have been fairly bought is endangered, but that the influence of the best and oldest friends to the natives—so often successfully used in the prevention of outbreaks — is beginning to fade away. We sincerely hope that it may still remain to them, to be yet increased many fold ; and think that they can adopt no better mode of preserving it than by making public the part that they hay c taken, the protests and reclamations in which they have joined to a man. It was but little that was asked of Captain Grey, and he may yet see cause to regret that that little was denied,