DR. MARTIN'S EVIDENCE RESPECTING THE CAPABILITIES OF NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 286, 24 February 1849, Page 5

DR. MARTIN'S EVIDENCE RESPECTING THE CAPABILITIES OF NEW ZEALAND.

To the Editor of the Bright m Herald. Sir, — In my last communication I piomiscd I would direct attention to the Colony of New Z aland, and othei parts of the vast teiiitory of Austiaiia. Samuel McDonald Mmtin, Esq., M. D , was examined befoie the Committee of the House of Lords last year on Colonization from Ireland. In answers to questions put to him, ho stated " he had resided in the Colony of New Zealand, and had filled the office of one of the Legislative Council there. Hcconsideied the Colony highly adapted for the settlement of an agricultural population ; better for this class than the province of Sydney. He considered New South Wales a very badly watered countiy, and it is also subject to droughts. New Zealand is one of the best watered countries in the world, and lias an abundant supply of moisture for the growth of crops. The land is, generally speaking, productive. I have seen gram pio^ duced, and the quality is very good, both the wheat and the barley, but especially the barley. 1 think that alt the English agricultural products might be groun there, and some, perhaps, which might not grow in England. I think European fl >x might be grown theie with very great advantage. Indian corn — the yin« might be cultivated t<> a veiy gieal extent — and maizo is grown theic, and hops might also be cultivated largely. The European population of New Zealand would be from 10,000 to 12,0U0 in all these tttemei.ts. ] think, if the colonization and the government of the country had been propeily managed it might have been a very thriving colony ; but several «re it mistakes wee committed by all paities connected with the mauageivcut of New Zealand. Passing by t!u ii o mistakes which have been made in previous thne>, do you think that the Colony presents a scope for J£uiopt\ui (.'initiation? — I hive no doubt that Jt docs ; mid I think that, willi the new Constttw tion which It fur, -teceived, ami undci the mdnngcaient of the nobleman at the bead of the Colonial (Mli< c at pieseur, thuie is every hope that New Zealand will speedily udvance to be a very important Colony. Is the extent of Crown land 10 New Zealand very considerable ? The Crown or waste lends iv IScvv Zealand aie a very complicated subject — pcihapsiuther diflicult to understand. Nearly all the Kind in JSc.v Zealand il.i 1 . claimed by some of the abongina) lubes, our Government setting lorth a chum to the right ot pi coemption obtained bytieaty. I have no doubt that an arrangement might easily be made with the natives, bused upon principles of iquily, giving some'hmg like its presort value.

I think the natives have sense euough to discover that it would be for their interest to make over the lands to the Government, receiving a certain price for those lands ; on the other hand, I consider the natives will never consent to have their lands taken without something 1 which they consider an adequate payment for them ; and I think also that the expense of obtaining lands in that way, if the natives lesist, and we are obliged to maintain a very large force there, would, in the end, be much greater than it would have been had wo given the natives something in the way of payment for the lands. There is a degree of intelligence on tlie part of the native population that would make them capable of appreciating the advantage of such an arrangement. The complication of the title, I conceive, fairly applies to tbe three islands : but I believe that the Home Government suppose that the middle island is differently circumstanced from the northern island, and that they base that upon the fact of there being but a smaller number of,, natives on the middle island, and so far, of com so, an arrangement might be more easily carried out as far as the middle inland is concerned* But, from my knowledge of the natives, 1 believe if one of them had 5 0,000 acres, ho would be just as unwilling to part w/th any portion of that land as he would one acre. I believe every inch of land in the middle island is claimed by some native or othei — even if he has never seen the land. lam speak • ing of the southern island. It is called the middle island. There aie three islands. One is called the* No i them Island; another, the Middle Islaud; and ihe other is called Stewart'6 Island. WASTE LANDS. The Government price for the land which it sold was, for country lands, £1 per acre, and for tl.e town luiuls a much higher pi ice. The Government at one tune abandoned the selling of land, from being unable to sell any ; but regulations have been again adopted wuh regard to the sale of those waste lands. Theie is a considerable tract of land which Ihe New Zealand Company says it is entitled to possess, by some agreement with the Government, and which has been the cause of dispute ; but it is now understood that the Company have put themselves completely under the direction ot the Government, and the land cun now be sold only undri the legulalions laid down by ihe Government and not under Xl per . c.c. In respect to the transactions of the Government with the New Zealand Company, it ib stated, in the Eighth Report of {the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, lately published, that Government has made an agreement with the Company, and that neither the Cionn nor the New Zealand Company shall, in any part of New Zealand, sell uny lands not previously soid by them for any sum " less than 20s. an acre, nor expend less than 10s. an acre from the piofC3(ls of such sale in (mh ying out emigrants." From 1542 to 1 46, the disposal of laud in. New Zealand was nguluted by the Australian Land Sa cs Act (5 and G Vie., r. 3(5), In 184G this Act was repealed so i'ar as reluti i to New Zmluid by the 9 and 10 Victoria c. 104, s,c. 11. The object ot the lepeal was to remove the rcstiiction which the Land Sales Act opposed to thesettlinn'nl, by exchange or oilier similar arrangements, of the various and complicated land claimn which had grown up in New Lealand. The general principle, however, of the Land Sales Act was maintained and re-et>tablished by Royal instructions, which instructions aie now in operation, excepting in the southern ptovince. In the year 183!) a Consul wns sent out from this countiy lo ?\ T ew Zt aland, and, upon cession being obtain d fiom the Chiefs of the Sovereignty of such tenitones thereiu as may be possessed by British sub jects, it was provided that those terntoiies should be added to the colony of New bouth Wales as a dependency of that Government, and it was likewise proposed that the officer about to proceed to New Zealand as Consul should be appointed Lieutenant Governor of this dependency, and his expenses wcth to be advanced fiom the funds of the Government of New South Wales, to be afterwartls repaid out of a revenue to l>e raised within the cci'el tsmtory by virtue of Ordinance of | the Governor and Council of New South Wales. I» the month of June, 1841, an Ordinance vas passed by the Lieutemnt Governor and Legislative Council that the 1 iws of Ntw South Wal^s, co far as could be made applicable, should extend and be in force and observed m the colony of New Zealand. And, in a further Ordinance passed in New Zealand m the same month and year by the Governor and Legislative Council or the colony, il It was declared to be expedient to remove certain doubts which had arisen in zefipect of titles of land in New Zealand ; be it there* foie declared, enacted, and ordained, thit all unappropriated lands within the.said colony ot New .Zealand, subject, however, to tbe rightful and necessity oe-cu-pa ion and use thereof by the aboriginal inhabitants ot the suid cilouy, aie and retrain Crown or domain lands ot Her Majesty, her licit*, and successors, and that ihe sale aid aosolute li^hl ot pre-emption from the said aboriginal inhabitants vest in and can only be exercised by lier Myesiy, &c, and that all iitlei to land in the said colony ot Now Zealand vvutch are held or claimed by vit lug of purchases or pretended purchases, (jifts or pietendul gifts, conveyances or picicndod cuiiveganct ?, either mediuleli/ or immedmtely from Chief), or other individuals of the abotiijinai rulers inhabiting the bind colony, and which are not, or may not hereafter be allowed by hei Majesty, aie and the same shall absolutely be mill and void." A j Conimibsion wa3 then established to inquire into the vaiious claims and tit'«'S of individuals and Companies who iet up claims lo tin lands of this coLmj, many of whom could not sub&ttiiuut" their rightlul possession and wore dispossessed, and which baa been some cause ot the mistakes i tlencd to in the evidence above quott d In puiMU'nte of an Act of lu>pciial Failiament, 9 and 10 Vicloua, It tr.i.ki iint.ier pioviai n foi ihe Government of the New Zi'u-aiul Islands, the Qircn lihb been pk'UGetl to ii>sue her Lettess l\tcut for * Me.v Charter for these Provn.cis, biai initiate tiie lwi}<it;>third day ot Decuiobei, leilo» and tnv now made a sepaiate colony liom New South \V.i'"b. 'i. GovcimneiK now couststs of the Gcvi riiui-in-Cl'it-i (or the whole colony anJ <.in K^eculivt 1 Council in each of the nruviuces of New #<;aluud. Thcie isaGeneml

Assembly and eleven representatives from each province The Provisional Assemblies are authorized by tha Charter to make laws, to be styled ordinances, enacted by the Governor or Lieutenant-Go vernor with the advice and consent of the Assembly thereof for each respective province, and all laws by the General Assembly shall be styled ordinances by the Governor-in-Chief of Ne w Zealand. Under this Charter, charts of the New Zealand Islands are to be prepared with all practicable expedition and accuracy, and especially charts of all parts of the said island over which either the aboriginnl natives or the settlors of European birth and origin have established any valid titles, whether of property or of occupancy. In every disirict in which the islands shall bo divided in pursuance of these instructions, shall be kept a registry of lands therein situate, distinguishing, with reference lo such charts, the settled lands in such, district from the unsettled lands therein. At the capital town of each province of Nevr -Zealand thfre shall also be kept a general registry of the sattled lands in that province, with a reference to such chart?. And every possessor of lands in each province is required to have his land legistered within agiven time, and lauds go registered by the time so appointed will be considered rested in the Legislative or Executive Councils, as constituting t ne demesne lands of and in right of the Crown in the islands of New -Zealand. Nona of the Crown lands are to be sold for legs tban twenty ahilliugs per acre in the rural allotments, and all lands are to be put up to sale by public auction, and no i ural allotment to exceed one 6quare mile in extent, bat m.iy be divided for the purpose of alienation by the Govei uor into half a square mile and one quarter of a square mile allotments. There is to be a distinction in lauds supposed to contain valuable minerals, and in case any land is not sold at the public auction, any person may purchase it within three months after it has been so put up for sale for the same upset price for which such land was put up for sale. The geogrupktcul position of these islands extends in length from north to south from 31th lo 48th degrees of south latitude, and in breadth from e».st to west iiotn ihe 196 th to the 179 th degree of east longitude. 'JLhe extreme length is tiom 800 to 900 milei, and Ifes breadth in some paits is 150 miles, and in, one pa it not mote tnan about five miles. The surface of the islands is estimated to be about 100,000 iquare miles, aud about sixty millions of acre* or upwind*, bring a terutory about as laige as Great Britain ; and it is believed, after making allowances f r mountuins, water, &c, that about two thirds ii capable of beneficial cultivation. The aboriginal inhabitants of the islands nre estimated by some of the travellers as about 130,000, and it is stated, in legard to the position of these islands, that their soil, climate, rivers, and harbours are excellent. The average length of voyage to theie islands from thia country is upwards of four months, and sometime* the emigiaut may be subject to very cold and very hot weather during the voyage, and therefore should ba prepared for both in providing a suitable outfit.

Lhtteu riton Mns. Chisholm on Emigration. (From the Melbourne Herald, 15th January.) London, 19th August, 1843. My dear Sir, — I made application on behalf of B—;B — ; 's friend*, but .is they were Irish, I could not obtain them a lice passage from the Commissioners, a* for tlio present they only send orphan children from Ir land —not adults. Volunlnry immigration is increau'ng very fest, and you m,iy all be m\ the look out with regard to your respective colonies. Pray use your influence, in justice nigiug all patties to lay aside all feelings but lliosc which will promote the moral good of the whole, and tins movement iv i ivor of the Australian colonies' will do more stood than you can at present see. I luve gone dinneilussto bed for the « wo pastgdays, being out trying io get paities to lake up ships for Sydney. My luibband is at present shut up preparing some estimates There is latrerly a swatm of small capitalists, having burnsl'ioin £200 to £700, and this movement will give you, Dy the stimulus created, more free immigrants of the labouring class, than you would imagine * * # I wish to impress one fact upon the minds of all parties interested, both at Port Phillip and Sydney, that if you will unite in providing for the people aa fast as they arrive, there will be no lime to bemoan the want of icumijjiants; and let me, without giving offence, wbibper in the ears of all those who would become workers in so blessed a cause " Patience with a newly anived imttiiginntl" Knowing but few persons at Port Phillip, I constantly double the few with letters of introduction. I feel sudly the want of wmu society, to which I can. send partica; if I wet e to send all to you, your time Nould bo seriously infringed upon. 1 l emaiu, &.c, &c , C. Chisholm.