NELSON. The New Zealand Company and the Nelson Trust Funds.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 370, 31 October 1849, Page 2

NELSON. The New Zealand Company and the Nelson Trust Funds.

I The plrilosoplrc Bacon, in speakin? of delays, teili u» that occasion often preienteth to vi the handle ol the bottle, and if this is not received, that it afterwards turneth the bell}, which is hard to grasp. We feai that this it not an inappropriate illustration of what ii likely to be oui' own case in relation to our Trust Funds. The New Zealand Company hate almost invlted us to demand of them the :£ J 25 t 0O& they hold on our behalf, but for some reason, which we cannot divine, the Nelson landpurchasers have hitherto kept their hands reiolulely closed 1 againit taking the money ; in doing which they aie not unlikely to let it slip, wholly from beyond their grasp. We have so often, without avail, urged vtpon the landpurchasers the necessity of taking measures to possess themselves of that portion of the Trust Funds which the Company is willing to pay up, that we fear we have not been sufficiently explicit in our statements of the w«y ia which the affair now stands. As tho danger of longer playing with our mouse, unless we* wnh to let it escape altogether from oar claws, is become too evident, we shall once more bring the subject before the notice of the landpurchaien, ia the hopes that they will yet, at the eleventh hour, " make an effort," as Mm. Chick would say, nnd not suffer thin, probably ihe lat>t opportunity of getting 1 the money for many many yeurs, to be lost. There are few of our re«d<rs but «re aware that an arrangement between the Government «nd the New Zealand Company was entered into in May, 184?-, by which the Government advanced to the Company * {urge sum of money on loan for three yean, to enable it to carry on the colonisation of this country. It wa» also part of the agreement, that if the Company, at the expiration of theie three years (that is, in Mey 1850) , should find itsolf unable to procer d satisfactorily with the work it had undertaken, it should hand oveff to the Government all its lands, and be credited: for it at the rate of ss. an acre, while the Government should take upon itself all the Company's liabilities, which it would undeitake to pay out of the future land sales of the colony, devoting Ja certain proportiou of the'purchaie money for that purpose. As part of the money advanced by the Government to the Company, was a sum of £2b,Qo<), the amount at that time estimated by the Company aa their debt due to the Nelson settlement. This sum received of the Government for a specific purpose, the Company has, for reasons which vre shall presently state, never applied, but has invested it in the Funds in the name cf trustees. Should this £25,000, therefore be at the Company's disposal next May, when there is reason to believe that body will be broken up, there can b» little doubt but it will be returned to the GoTernuwnt, and it will be to tbe Government we shall then have to look for our Tiwat Funds, which, with the Company's other debts, will be a " mortgage charge on all tbe Crown lands ot New Zealand, of which the interest and a certain proportion of the princ.pal', shall be the first payment out of any land fund accruing to tLe Crown in New Zealand." A pltaaant prospect, truly, ior tbe .Nelson settlement getting its £50,000 and upwards of Trust Funds, or even the /!2.5,000 which the Company now holds for us. But why does the Company hold it— and why does it not pay it over to those to whom it b. longs ? Aye, why, indeed, but for the reason, that we have tied np the Company's handu^ and thus prevented it from either expending the money for the purposes for which it was subscribed, or placing it under the control of any other body. About tbe time the Company was making their arrangement with the Government, the Nelson iandpur. chasers were proposing a scheme to tb.8 1 Company for th* adjustment of their differences, one of the conditions of which was, that the Company should cease to administer the Trust Funds of tbe se.tfement, and that henceforth they should be placed in charge of a renV dent committee, to be elected jointly by the residaut laudpurcbasers, the absentees, and tbe Company. This proposition was readily acceded to by the CompaHVjt as were the other Resolution* accompanying it which had emanated from the landpurchasers, so that it only remained to elect the Committee, and get the Company to transfer the Trust Funds over to that body. Although the necessity of this step must have been apparent from the time the Company consented to adopt this scheme of settlement proposed by the landpurchasers in July, 1847, it it singular that tbe re. quired Committee has never yet been called into existence. Have the laudpuiclmers asked for a poueir which they are afraid to wield ? Be that as it may, we have now ulmost certain intelligence, on the authority of Mr. E. G. Wakefieid, that the Company is on the eve of disiuption, while there is bareiy time sufficient l«ft touppuint the Committee, and call for tlie money, before tbe Company shall have ceased to exist. Perhaps the reason of this most unaccountable delay maybe attributed to the want of an undemanding with the Company as to tbo amount of tiie funds due to the settlement. The company have admitted a debt to the extent ol .#25,000 j we claim something above £50,000; but ibis difference, large aa it is, neeJ not prevent our taking the leaser sum on)nccount. If we had possession of the «425,000, our claim upon the Company or the Government for the balance would not be a whit weakened ; nor would it be even necissary for the money to be taken out of the Funds, if it should be thought desirable to defer longer its expenditure. We shall not on this occasion discuss the propriety of expending the Trust Funds immediately, either wholly or in part ; our only object it to urge on the "^ landpurchasers the necessity of getting possession of what they can while they hare tbe opportunity, or it may be, when the want of Funds is felt, they will have to wait long before they will be able to get any part of them at all, and then only in such miserable driblet* as will prevent for a much longer period their useful application. At most of ihe landpurchaters will be ia town on Monday next, for tho purpose of convening their compensation scrip into Uud, anoppoituniiy will then occur when they cxn meet and discuss this subject, »nd we hope it will aot be neglected.— NeUon Examiner, Sep. 29.

We are vrry glad to see th it the lundpurctaien are fully imp re hied with the necebsity of taking immediate meaiurci to obtain from the New Zealand Company the Tmit Funds due to the settlement. At a numerous meeting, held in the Institution, on Tuesday lu»t, the whole subject was discussed at considerable length, »t)d a committee appointed to prepare, as early us possible, n scheme for the election of Mint portion of tha Boaid of Management which is to represent the resi. dent purchaser!, and a'so to suggest how the same body is hereafter to be kept up. Ths general feeling ,'ppcared to I) , th«t after the first election of the B -aid, by the original ljndpurchaiers onJy, it would be aclrisable to widen the constituency, and make ft 10 owniToliip of laud, of a certain value, the qualification for future v fcinjf. This, we think, if the qualification is not too high, will be generally aceeptublr ; but the,rj were s< me who huld inure cxuu.sive views, which, 1 corned into edict, would make the trustees an irref ■ OiiHlblc body. As, howovcr »be oouimittee «t-» W!e^ uppoit.ted eeevaoi to iuilino to u liberal, rather thin r

an exclusive formation of the Board of Management, it ii scarcely nece«ary that we should further notice the objectionable plans which we heard mentioned, because we do not believe they will receite any amount of support. We hope the scheme proposed will be «uch as the public generally will approve of.—lbU. Oct. 6.