Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 311, 23 May 1849, Page 3

Original Correspondence.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Silt,-— A late number of your contemporary'i jour, nal having fallen into my hands, in which some remark* are mnile on Governor Grey's despatches to Rarl Grey respecting ChurcU Missionaries' purchases of land, the fol owing paragraph has particularly arrested my at'enti< n. " Whoever it may be of the missionaiics of other denominations that acquiesce in Governor Grey's s'atement respecting the Church Missionaries, we would remind them that land purchasing lias not been confined exclu-ivi'ly to the Church Miss onaries. They purchaser! from the na'ivei, ere the ct lony was founded ; if report speaks true, others have hem far more successful at l«n-l j ib'iers since the colony ban : been estaMished. Was it any of them who acqu csced ?" I do not wish to pry into the matter so far as to inquire by who n the '' report" Ivis been raised ; Lu f , ! as your contemporary's remarks are calculated to fit a stignpa on parties to whom the charge does not, in any degree whatever, apply, I think he ought, in a 1 candour, to have been more definite in his allegations than appears from the above paragraph. —Yours, &c. f A Missionary.

Miy 12, 1849 [The Church Missionaries have as little leason to feel obliged to the Editor of the f'iof> for his espousal and advocacy of thp can c of ceita'n land claimant* of the ir body, as the " Missionaries of other denominations" now have for his disingenuous attempt to identify them also with the native land question. Our correspondent complains of a deficiency of candour evinced by the Cross in commenting upon the Governoi's despatch; closer observation, however, might have assured him that the instance he complains of is perfect l y consistent with the course the editor has pursued on this tul-jcct throughout. The Governor, in the dtspat h referred to, carefully avoids the implication of the entiie Chu r ch Missionary body, in his accusations against a few who had bought lan I from the natives ; and, at the same time, fully exonerate* " the whole of the Missionaries of every other di nomination' 1 from any participation in these transaction. The Editor of the Cross, on the contrary, reminds " Missionaries of other denominations that land purchasing has not been confined exclusively to the Church Missionaries. Tkeij purchased from the natives ere the colony was founded :" — thus implying that every Church Missionary who was in the county before the establishment of the colony h id become purchasers of land frcn the abo.isjines;— ind tlit 11, "if report, speaks true, others have been far moie succesbful as laud jobbers since the colony has been established." Ot the Church Missionaries it is well known who are, and who aie not, land claimants ; with respect to the other bodies, th-y miy challenge the Editor of 'he Cross (and if he is aide he will not be loath) to point to any individual Missionary, or;o'her Ministtr of leligion in New Zealand, of any other denomination whatever, who his ever purchased, or otherwise negotiated, either on his own or his family's bchal , a singe acre of land from tl c natives ol the country. Unworthy, but unsuccessful, at empts have fn-quen ly been made to destroy missionaiy influence, by pointing the finger of scorn at Chiistian Missionaries themselves ; our correspondent need not feel unea°y concerning this additional futile otler to fix a t-t .ruia upon hi'noelf or any of his brethren who have " a single eye" to their momentous work. The effort! of the devoted zealous missionary to the New Zealand si s have neither been barren nor unfruitful. Tue work of colonization in this country lm been rendered comparatively easy by their preparatory labours ; and their cxer ions are duly appreciated by every rightminded co onist in the land.J '