GREAT PUBLIC MEETING.
The Public Meeting for the purpose of taking steps to petition Parliament, against the imposition on New Ulster of any part of the New. Zealand Company's Claim was held, according to previous announcement, on Saturday last, in the open space in Queen-street, where a platform had been erected 'for the" purpose nearly opposite the Court House. Large numbers both of the town and country settlers collected on the occasion. Shortly after twelve o'clock the Chair was taken by His Worship the Mayor of Auckland, who in opening the proceedings by reading the Requisition to him to convene the Meeting. IJ is Worship tbe Ma\or slid — That this was the first Public fleeting held since we had received the Chnrter of Incorporation, and he fi-lt souy iliac it hnd been his duty to convene them in order that they might lift up their voice against a measure manifestly unjust, and which, if carried, would prova diB,istious in its consequences not to this boiough alone, but ro New Zea- | land. Half the globe separated us fiom Britain, still we lejoiced in the rights nnd privileges of British subjects, and were met for the exercise of one of those rights — the light of petition. They wished to bo dehvprod not only fiom that burden nlreidy, he iearorl, imposed upon the Land Fund ; but, moieover, to ward off that which is tlueatened in making that but then chargeable also upon the General Revenue of tie country. He said he would only be trespassing upon the ground allotted to gentlemen who were to follow, did he go to greater length into the subject. It only remained for him to add that the sole object of that d.iy's meeting was to petition the Imperial Parliament that what is commonly called ''the New Zealand Company's D. j bt" should not be imposed upon the Colony, and he 1' It assuied that the speakers, in thoir remarks, would confine themselves to this subjeot. He aKo felt assured that the meeting would conduct itbelf in an orderly and proper manner, so that all might take notice that we not only knew our rights, but how to asseit them. Mr. Wilimm Connell then came forward to move the /iist resolution, and said — Mr. Msyor, the resolution which I am about to propose to the consideration of this meeting, embraces severiil topics worthy of our * careful attention. The first and most prominent, is the light in which we are to view the New Zealand Company. The resolution asserts tbat it was a ti.iding Company, and it needs but few aiguments to prove the tiuth of this statement. The Company was associated, and its capital subsciibed for the purchase of lands fiom the aboriginal natives of New Zealand, and the sale of the same lands to Butish colonists, — buying from the natives at a low price, and selling to the settlers at » high price, was to be the means of the Company's advancement, and the natuial inference from this fact is, that as the company would have pocketed the gains had their speculation proved t-ucces-ful, 60, according to all fair and meicantde usage they should bear the losses arising from its want of success. But perhaps some plea may be uiged why this Company should be made an exception to this simple and general rule. Their speculation was to be carried on by means of emigration ; hundreds and thousands were to be induced to adopt New Zealand as their country, and the New Zealand Company's settlements as their future borne. Perhaps it can be shown tbat when entering upon tbe high and grave responsibilities which are involved in n speculation such as this; this Company wisely foiesaw, and carefully guarded against the dangers nnd difficulties to which their settlers might be exposed. Perhaps thpy exercised due precaution in effecting purchases of land to extinguish the title of eveiy native owner, and secure the free and unquestioned possession of all lands upon which they were about to locate settlers. But, Sir, did they do this? did they exercise this care, and employ this caution ? or on the contrary, is it not notorious tbat almost every tract of land alleged to h.ive been purchased by this Company had to be again purchased by government from native owneis, whose rights bad been wholly neglected and overlooked by tbe ngents of tbe Company. 1 need scarcely name the facts familial to us all, that the Hutt valley bad to be purcbabed over again, that Wanganui had to be purchased over again ; that Taranaki had to be purchased over again; nor allude to tbe fearful occurienws in the valley of the VVairau, which resulted upon the attempts of this rapacious Company to possess themselves of lands which they had never fully and fanly purchased ; occurrences, which in all their appalling features of bloodshed and massacre, may justly be laid at the door of the New Zealand Company. How was it then that the care and circumspection, the want of which placed in peril tbe lives and property of the settlers, and what appeared of infinitely moie importance in the eyes of tbe Company, perilled the success of their promising speculation. How was it that tins care was neglected? The facts were these, tbe company was proceeding in its colonization schemes, not only without the sanction but against tbp wishes of tbe Government. The Government was prepaiingto declare New Zealand a British-colony, and to proclaim the Queeu's right of pre-emption over the native lands, and between these parties- a race ensued which was won by the employed of the Company. They effected, or pretended to effect their purchases in New Zealand beioie tbe issue of Captain Ilobson's proclamation, and when we consider the buny which characterized these transactions, and the vagueness of the terms employed (their purchases being bounded as they describe them, by parallels of latitude), it is obvious to common senso that in nine cases out of ten their agents could neither have sutihtied, nor even ascertained the real owners of the soil ; aud it seems impossible to acquit the Company of the grave charge oi hurrying ouf ship after ship lodd of emigrants to a country in the whole length and breadth of which they could not be certain of a valid title to q single square yard of Und, I well remember the
tin 1 m-pi.'s. ion of a gpntli'n> •'> wim 1 ili v n wiii -.'m*{> ;il \\ 1 l!lll>'t')fl, Oil OCCUM 'li Ol 11 *ll -'til li.l- C(> mill the; nat i\ t swl en uuml en of then m hostile gut-" vsetol {i.i^"<iiijr u[» tlie beit-h, t'>i«« gi'i^en'n bi'in > intimately I ik>( cited" iv f'lc cottiictls cf tin 1 pipmpai .i-u'iit of tliu j New Zt'alt'iul (,'iMiijiiiu;, , aid •jtiKs. tjue.uljs loi 1 wer.i! I jp/u-iono oi tlii'i p.n.l o'nuis. " '11-.1 1-. oo'iiifisr. b.ii ! he, j ai.-l it in i> O!> wll en.c now l. !>\ m I \>-\ , toi come it j nu!>t soo'i» r or la f n. We mu> t'uiiquci ti. v->u -> * people nn I Cht<ljiiil) ourselvi-. neie In fouv ul amis." Ami 1 do in ni} eo-i-ei( j nce believe, fc-u.il'it d wa-. i!ie eh h'lfiate plan ot this Company — l».\ lln.iwni" .i numlvi of e-t i^tants into the c<'iintij — to Oftnj -1 tin' lluus'i Government to latify then iKii.viclion, ami by tuo :wd of a niihJa-y /bice put them in po^,. O sion ol the vistv ist tiacls of tliuir pretended purchase. 1 i>m oi'opnion, after the long experience the colony ha> Lad of ill • opt r.it.otis of tliibC'onipuii) , that iheju<l(V" en(( "M" PSMt I n\ il>p Attorney -(Jt-neial in a speech addie^-sed to (lie Legist ifive Council of the Colon), m September li/sr, n .imply borne out, thut tLe-ir Culoni/.ition " lias (eiiilol n»niitr to upLold tlif citijr.Kti'i of t he irilion noi the rights of the ahongiml owners of I lie sod ; nor to promote the interests 1 of tie settle tier the wellaio of the Colony at Luge." ll' fen ing to a further clause in tins Uiaolution which sijsthat weaienot piepaml to deny, that some portion of this. chiuiP may be equitably ch.vueahle, not upon the General Revenue, but upon ttie / an.l Fund of the Vrovnue of New Mu inter, 1 in ty lemmk tlut the people ol Wellington have expii>s-;ed th.? same, andnro wdln q to give the d inn? of the Company ovt>iy corsuler.ition, to which, m common honesty, they me entitled. But, Mi. Mayor, when this is done sou may rest assured that the amount will fail fai short of die Hums now c'a'nied. Whutner l.ird ihey Juve ui'dy ahd fairly purchased and Imp givtM up to Government should be paid for out of the land fund — not, liowevH, ntaiiv arbittaiy price settled in Ltndon b> a deitcious ]ugglo between the Conip-my and the Government — but at the pi ice which the aaine lands would h.ne co .t Uie Goveijinipnt if the Niw Z<-.1 md Company had not interfered. But our fello\v-«e'tleis in the South me fully competent to deal with this qucsuon, and it is onlj to a&tuiu them of oui symp itl \ and aid, m their endeavours to throw ofl' tins buiden, which if admirable in principle, is oppiessivdy unjust in amount, that the subject has been introduced. Other top-cs, Sir of weighty moment are embi.ice<l in this Resolution, left-inn,? to tie rights of our Colonial Legislature, winch are trespassed upon in tins matter, and to the principles of the Ui itish Constitution which aie so grossly violated. These gr.ive subjects I leave in abler hands, that will succeed me, but I cannot foibear calling 1 join attention to one aspect of tins, question which aftVcts me with feelings of deep legrtt. Now Zealand, Sn , is tlie youngest oftt.pi ing of the Parent State, and wo look up to Gra.it Britain forstipport and encouragement in a 1 our honest endeavour* to establish here a prosperous and hippy community; but ilia against the acts and intentions of this very Parent that we are non r compelled to remonstrate, because of th. it- manifest injustice. And, Mr. Mnyoi, feelmsj as I do the warmest attachments to the Ins.titufions of Great Untain — to those Institutions under which sb-'lns risen togrratness and wealth without para'lel, — 1 cannot shut my eyes to a companion between her tieatmVnt of her Colonies and that of a \ounger but a giedt and ri-ing 1 people. — I would iib-k (nnd it is a question winch should be deeply pondered by Uiiti^h Statesmen) — What is the reason that when a Brnish Colony glows strong enough, it seeks to dissolio it 3 connection with tho P.uent State, while in hLo circumstances tlie Colonies of Ameiica seek to lender that connection moie intimate and more permanent? The one sei ks for Sepalaticuj the otbsr Jcr Aunoxatton I &h.i!l, Sir, conclude by moving 1 the adoption of the Ile&rL ttcn. Tli.it in the judgment ot tins meeting, the pnrmiv .ml moit 1< gitimrtti* po.Jit ot view in winch tlie Nuh Zi'.ilaml Company should be uganktl, is that of an oidin.uy Joint block (.'omp.iny; and tliat thuiufoie this nicdiui; has ic.Kincd with mipiise and deep icyiit that Her Majesty's. Go\eiii<i.ciit weie induced (o • concm in so ttn)iistifiable a scheme foi the benelit ot the Conipiny as that contemplated in .i nieasme intioduted by Mi. Hawes at nearly the close of the last Session ot i'ailidiucnt, bj which— had the oiigin.il intention been cauiLil into clftct- an t enoimoiis sum claimed by the Company as compms.iiiun foi us losses would have been ch.ugtd on the Genual lte\«nne ot the Colony ns well as on its Land Fund ; tint — in addition to the other objectionable fcitmcs of the procodnie, iniciltun<; in an unconstitutional niaiinu with the lights ol the C'oloin it Le.^i-1.1-tiue.—'lhat while this iiivttiug may nut be piepaud to dmj lint thu '' L md Fund" of tlie "Piounce of New Mu..stci" may be oil liveable with so much ot tlie Coinpanj's claim as icpasenii the tan v due ol tln'ii Assets, takm and I>ll I by the ( io\mi foi the benefit of the SUtleis ot that Pmunte, it (an hue no hesitation in 'lecUring its conviction that to stdillo the (lenei.il Revenue ot New Zealand with the losses menu id by Tiaduii Aiiociation in its meirantile speculation — and to do this without consulting the Colonial l.cgi&latnrf oi the Settle) s -would be an net diainctueally opposed to tl'e pimciplas ot the British Coiutitution, and to the imniutablc principles of justice. Mr. Nlwman lose to iecutid the lesolution. lie said that after the v<ry able expoMiion of the Company's* ])ioceedmi;fa thai bad been givi n by the geotleman who introduced tha resolution to the niLetinjr, it was not requisite for him to pursue the s-ame topic. It was lofi for him to make a f u w rmaiks upon the unconstitutional chaiacter of the contemplated imposition. Hi' had often been -amused at the chnnge of feeling and sentiment which a few ypars' i evidence in the co oniei almost always ] rodured in the minds of the colonists respecting the doings and s-ajings of the Home Cov.-rn-meu . In England we were not admitted behind t l ie scenes, and we formed our no'ions of the measures of the Government from what w e heard, and not horn what we witnessed. The Ministry were sunoun.led, like tbo Great Mogul, with a cus tain— -we only saw their proceedings through the medium of the press, and through tliiit medium we me led to think, and are ready to believe, tjiat the Home nuthoiities regard thp colonists with the tenderest solicitude ; that they watch over their interests w.th unwearied care ; that they regard them as lender offspring, lequiring nil their sympathies. Cut after wo had resided in the Colonies a few yeais, and had become the actual suljects of all this sympathy and solicitude, what did we think about it then I Did we feel that we were in reahly thus regarded? No! Acts of injustice and oppression meet us at every step, and our sentiments become altogether changed, and though we still love our mother couutiy and her institutions, it is with a diminished and qualified affection ; and, for the future we will adopt for our motto, — Eveilnstmg uniou with England, but only upon principles of justice and constitutional rights. We will step upon the constitution ot England, and theie remain — upon the constitutional maxim, no taxation without representation, and we will add to our motto, We will have nothing to do with the ( olonial Office. This measure emanates from the Colonial Ofhce, and we will not have it. It is opposed to our con-titutional lights, and we will not have it. We will send it back. Of cours» the phrase must be used in a qualified sense. He meant we would not if we could help it. But great as was the blow which this measure was calculated to give, he did not despair, or think that the colony would not recover its effect?. You may get a stiong man dowD,and keep him clown, by superior power, for a time, but only let the pressure be removed and be will rise again. And ao would we; we shall yet surmount this injury, and lecover our position. We have, ns a colony, bad many such blows, under the influence of which we staggered for a time. He lecollected the htunning effects of the blow that was given by the first Land Sale, when, in consequence of the large number of bidders, and the 3inall quantity of land put up, the capital of the first colonists was neaily all transferred from their pockets to the Government chest, to the amount of .£20,000. How tho colonists regarded e&sh other with blank and downcast looks, fearing that they should never recover the effects of this blow. But they did recover it, and soon began to evince symptoms of returning vigour. Then came another blow, in the repudiation ef the titles of the preemption purchasers, and though he did not mean to enter into this subject, us it was foreign to the pieaent purpose, he could not but allude to it as one amongst muny other diawbacks over which they had triumphed, and he was happy to say that although we were again to be exposed to new trials and/iesh diawbacks, we had still a piinciple of life not easy to bfi destroyed — we were stiong, even though we might possibly be reductd almost to the last agony. Having sustained these heavy blows before, and having suivived them all, he believed that we should yet sue>tain and survive this last and heaviest blow, and become a vigorous, healthy, indomitable nation. He had much pleasure in seconding thfi resolution. Mr. Abraham : The Meeting might be assured there was some reason why he came forward thus caily in the proceedings of the Meeting. One passage in the resolution suggested a doubt as to the entire exemption of the Land fund of New Minister from tins claim, and as it was known that he (Mr. A.) was interested in one of the Southern Settlements, and hud some knowledge of the Company's doings whilst in existence, he had been requested to address himself to this topic. They must till have been pleased with tho manly and honourable declaration made at the meeting recently held at Wellington, as to the non-habdity of this Piovince to any part of the debt; find he believed that every one in the South would scorn the idea that one sixpence of tin-, charge, which, if imposed on the colony at all, bhould be borne by the settlers in the North. He (Mr. A.) would contend that the debt, as it was called, was no charge on the revenue, or even general land fund of the South, although it might be a charge upon the clear assets of the Company (if any) proved to have been purchased with thoir own montea ; and that as to the North, (tig
cli.uge w.w nece < unly altogether uut of tlio question, 'i In- i)fc j.s ty ii>) iiui up eting was occasioned by Loid Oit-v's Di •-[) tcli, rocen'J) received, wherein —although hi- plans bad been defeated, ih inks to the Honoinble Mr. (il.i !-{<)i'p ! —he still maintained th-ir propuetv, hum pre^si (I ilii'ii- «doj) ion by the Local L'jjislatiura^ bee u-so li'j>li!y beiehciul to ilip interests of the colony ; suid pi tiic ihxi |il.Uf, cm .iccoi'iH of the justice ol the charge. Luid Gwy appeared lo consult r thot we did nor Iwovv ivlnt \v,h for ih. It was snmen hat aii.usinn, and it r. minded him (Mi. A.) of the young !*c.i]ie^i.iLe, w Lo, id iej.ly to paienial remonstrance, rn'ar^t'l u;)''ii th riijvHiitii^ts of the National Debt, and insisted that " a siftc of indebtedness was a very good flung" —a &"iute of ij>i\it comfort and peisoniil waunth! \\l\ teter viriue there might be in such clt t'j)i>'<-, mill h'>*e\ti'liitjL' the colonists might o!>j ct to u w lit-n c f ih. ii o\\ n cut tind make, ai d the wool of their o at growth, depend upon it they were not so sheepish a-, to be jfecrd in the way piopo.sed by Lord CJit". lie nto! not My more ns to the great fivour piojioscd 10 be cuiferu'd on them —but would piocced at once to the aliened fairness and ju-dice of the proposed aainibl char»c«, winch Lorvl Gioy baaed upon, fiiat, the E\|,tD'iituie of the c,i|)it;il of the Company m foi.uing the Settk merits; and, secondly, the Pail anuntaiy advance (4236,000), as well 83 the annual grants of w J-icb the colony had h.icl the hem fir. It was itupoi'ant to investigate the real focts of the case. They n.igl.t be taunted wuh " Rcpudi.itiou"— the fact ot an open .ur meeting turned against them, and their lesolntions might hp treated ni earned by a mob and ekmoui V'es. '1 hey might be told by actrtuin part 3 in Engl.w d who bc^Mi'lgod every farthing 1 voted for the columns —who wi-giudged a guaid of honour —he would not say t\r I lie bauds of Missionaries —for they hbeuted, .is it I ad been well said, "under the moral panoply ot their l.oly vocation and the Fatherly care of tLat Uifcu' I'oiDU, i'j n bo.»c service they \v»>re engaged" — but a g'i; rd of honour for that flag which nowhere t'nou^hoi.t K< i M.iji sly's dominion!} waved with «> nnich ret.l cu-dit—Mich cuduiing honour and truegloiy to the Untioli n line and people, as it did over thi-se Imm,id- — the centie of Christian Missions, —they mi^ht be told h\ t!ii- party .that the proposal to touch the pocl.ets of the celonistH was-at the loot of nil the oiiposition. Ho tiuatid, before be sat flown, to satisfy tlie m> e'ing aiul thet-e economists that —not only "according (o ihe piii.ciplos of Justice, but accoiding to Cocker — the gieat object of their idolatry, the charge of this debt, as pioposed, was wholly unjustifiable. Of course they ail kntsv that tins so-called debt was the price of the Company's lands fixed by Act of Parliament as repies. j:U)ng their capital, and agreed to be surrendered to the Ciowu, subject to then contract and liabilities, at the jnii*e of os. per acre; and the question really was, whethpi this price ought, under all tbe circumstances, to be paid or borne by the Crown or the Imperial Goveniinent, or the settlers of this colony ? If lands of the amount actually pmchused witb the monies of the Company, and free of all claim, had become vested in the Ciow n, and were about to be appropriated for tii.- bt-neiit of the colonist*, theie would be little difficult), as tha land would amply repay tbe deb', i3ut thi» not be.ng to, it bi-came nece««aiy tb.it the meeting should understand how the amount of this debt w.is m'ide up, and the circumstances under which the loans were advanced. He was not going to wui'e through all the disputes with the ColoniaUOtfice which eitei.ded o*ti a period of (several yeais. It was sufficient to say that, under the agreement with LtrJ John Itussell (15.h Aovember, 18K)-), a Grown grant was to be waned to the Company of as many aores ot land as mk u!d bn ec-ual to four times the number of pounds starling which they should be found to have expended in the operations of colonization. Of coui3e the Company pioeeeded to swell the amount with every conceivable item —all the barrels of flour, tierces ot beef, baircls of poik, liaid biscuits, stores, slops, and the like,-shipped and consuii-ed aboard iheir some 30 emigi ant ship 4*, and elsewhere —and the freight of*these weie al! iluiy chionicled, making on this account alone an amount exceeding £1(50,000. Tiue, this was done by anan^ement wi h the Government, and as between thorn and the Company night be fair enough, at hast according to the l.tti> ddmissions of wrong doing on the part ot the Government; but the r-nl importance and beiiing of the fact, as between the Com | any and the cjloni^ls, was veiy ififferent, and would be seen at once when tt wa* recollected that thu coat of this emigration was actually paid to the Company by their puicbasers in addition to fie cost of the land. Indeed, nearly the whole of the Hems forming the amount of the proposed charge may be said to have been so paid by the purcha«ers or settlers, t;ow sought to be subjected to a perpetual tax in lespect of this tbeir own outlay. A consideiation of the stipulated appropriation of the proceeds of sales would shew this at a glance-—take NeUon for example —the iucrea-ied price for the land being paid esc^ie^ly to cover the Company's expendituie now bou^hito he re-impo&ed as a debt— N i i .soy. Fund for Emigration aiid bupply of Lubour: — Purchaseis Passage 3s. 4d. in £1 \ or lo J per cent { 10s. in j£ 1, or 60 Labour <s;>. Bd. in £l, or 33J- pei /" pet c nt. cent * Fund for Civil uses:— Founding and main- | taining the settle- }■ 3t> 4d. in mpnt .' 1 or I(^i P er ceilt ' f 9- Bd. in £l Public Objects, Steam, Is. 4d. in £1 oi 4 or <234 P er or 6} per cent J ceiitl Fund for Religious and Educational uses :—: — Religious Endow- ? Is. in £l, or) monts, &c S 5 per cent. V 2s. in j£l, or 10 A College, Is. in £1, or 5 per cent J P er cent« Vendor's Fund ........ .3s. 4d. in jtl, or 16} per cent Hut ho must proceed with shewing how tire total amount of debt was at length ascertained. In August, 1846, the Company renewed their applications to Go- \ eminent for a loan, representing the expenditure of £200,000 of paid up capital, together with the sums received for land sales, and ? 6,500 bonowed.on the security of their remaining unpaid capital, tbe whole amounting to between £500,()jOO and i,600,000, with further liabilities of »bout £60,000, and offered to recommence operations if this were effected. In October of that year a fixed settlement of the long standing disputes wns at length come to—a loon ot £100,000 agreed to, and the amount of the Company's claim ascertained. But how ? It would Foircely be credited. No vouchers being produced for about one half of the amount, it stoud thus :—: — Acies.
Lest he should be supposed to misrepresent this extraordiuaiy pioceeding, he would read to the meeting a passage from Lord Stanley's letter:—" With regard to all the other items and particulars of claim above-men-tioned, w Inch have not yet been pioved, I am directed to stale that Lord Stanley is aware of the great impoitance, uncbr the existing circumstances of the Company and of the colony, of bringing to a prompt and final settlement the various questions which ftotn time to time have arisen upon the terms and construction of the several agreements between the Company and the Government. His Lordship perceives also that several of the claims involve particulars, the actual extent or amount ot which it would be difficult to ascertain with conectueos, or even to estimate with any degree of precision, whilst it is at the same time most desirable that these duins should no longer remain open and subject of future discussion. Lord Stanley, therefore, deems himself justified in advising Her Majesty to close the examination now in progress, and to assume the amount of 1,300,000 acres, as that which the Company should bo empowered to acquire, either by grant from the Ciown or by purchase lrom the natives, and the acquisition of which Her Majesty's Government will be prepared to facilitate, in satis'action of all claims, &c." But this did not conclude the whole maitt'i foi tbe important question by whom additional payments were to be made to the Natives to obtain land to complete this enormous amount of acreage was lefi out, " io be dealt with from time to time as it arose and could be ascertained." 1 his arrangement was carried out by Act of Parliament, and the first loan to the Company (jL t00,000) was then made. The Company renewed its operations, but the jear 184? found them again soliciting a»sistauce i'rom the Government, and reuwng the old dispute about payments to the Natives. This time they were more successful, for it resulted in their obtaining a further, loan of £136,000, an admission of wrongs done, and the passing of tbe Act 10 and 11 Vic, c. 112, whereby their debt, i.e., die puce of their lands, if given up to the Crown at the end of three yeaig, was lo be charged upon the surplus produce of. the sale of demesne lands in the co,lony, being the cb.tt.rgo now iought to be extended to
the genual icv< nues, and which they nut* met them to denntinc . 'llns brought him to tin- rcc'iitl tjuf - lion — the cucums Qiifi'S under wbuh the Governinei>t loans were made. r l hfr^e would be apparent tioin the letter of Mr. Stephens (tl.e Un^'er S-cieUry for th.t Colonies), of tbe O.li Way, 1847, which formtd the Im--w of th° arrangement, and a p^s^a^e from which hu would read to the meHirg — "The ptopo*td :urange-mi-nt contunj-lalps o!.-o the contingent y cl the Company's finding itself, at the end of ihe thno }car>, unuhlo to continue its operatioiib on Us own le&omced. In Mich ca»e it is clear thai the expHtiim-nt of enabling 1 the Company, by lempoiary advance, to repair ilie dntnugp dune to it by past proceeding* of the Government, will have altogether failed, and it will, then, not be just to Ciill upon (he Company to lepny any pait of the advances made dining th.it period lor the puiposo of proriding w\ nt mil hare proved to be an utterly mndequate redress for paM injuues. it will also then be clear tliat the lo*s suttnined by (he Company during the suspension of its operations since 104J has been of a Kiott serious exten*. I'nder Siich circumstances, I.oid Grey sees no course open to Her Majesty's Government, wish a due regard to justice, except toiemit to the Company the whole of the •idvance-* made to it, in order to telieve it fiom the dilfiuthi-'S in which tbe ads of tin 1 Government will have {.-retitly contributed to place it," — I'utUumeiitiny Pope)),, June, 11M7, p. 102. So then — ;Let-e loans were ma le to the Company in satisfaction of the wrings admitted to bate b.-en (Lno to ihem by the linpenal Government, flow then could the_y form nny ground for the stt p nowadvora ed b my l_,oid Grej 1— a wrong 1 to the Company wna au injury also to the settleis in <i higher degree, and l e^ded repjiraUon instead ol the infliction ol a furtbtr injuij. It wns ns reasonable a proposition as if one man, again- 1 «hnm dumnges h d been rt cover jd lor tin assault, should insist 'that therefore the other or a thir.i party ought to pay a debt which he did not owe him. 'Hie fact was, the Company, an>l the Company alone bad the hi ncllt of these loarm, and therewith paid their own s-ilaije*, exptnscs, old debts anl dividends. He held in his hand the account of the expenditure, whereby it appeared that o.ily £47,(,00 w.iS spent in emigration, £11,000 in surv^s, in land, aul iJIIOO in public woiLs ! At all events, the Province of New UlbtiT dtiival no benefit, the w hole amount being expanded in England nnd the Southern Settlements, uiid principally in the Middle Island. The loaui might therefore be th own out of the question — they were made as cornpensi'ion to the Co npany, and used as sueh — they formed no ground for claim against the settlers in the Soufhmuih less agais^t the North. As regards the debt itself, tbe objections might he summed up thus — 1. The debt has never b<*on piove'l. 2. Tbe bettlers have aheady paid the Company for all the services and operations which they have heaped together to form tbe debt, 'he same being stipulated for in the price of their land*. 3. Hundreds of settlors (himself among the number) had never up to this hour received possession of their lands, the price of which, together with the other services, was included in the amount of the a'leged debt. And it «iw now coolly proposed, ia compensation for their loss of inlet est and past injun s, it was coolly proposed to tax them upon the amount of such, their ow n expeiuhtuie ! 4. Ihe settleis had already been ta\ed,or at lea*i money diverted from them, in older to buy these 1 nth from the Natives which tbe Compauy affected to give up. ,?. The exi-tence of tbe Kinds wa-3 ull moonshine — they had already been, or would be, absorbed in satisfying the just claims of the settlors upon tl.e Company, and if any remained, they were moat likely purchased with the settlers own monies. Why, m the anangement for adjusting the land claims at Wellmgibn, Nelson, &c, the Company had been obliged to offer to give up then private estate, and to allow the last instalment (jt256",0G0j of-the last loan to bo appropriated to the pui chase ofmoie land to-satisfy their contract*, and numbers still remained uns.iti>>n"ed. "But the real 'ruth was — the debt was the debt of the Imperial Government, nnd could form no claim against either Province, unless the handed over some estate (a-sets of the Coir pan}) clear of all contracts and liabilities, to be applied for tbe benefit of the •ettlers. '1 he Company were a mere " Inati uroertt of the Sate for colonizing Kaw Ze land." It was an Irnreridl experiment—a natiotnl scheme of colonization. It had always been so regarded by Ministers ot State. In tbe New Z aland debate of 184.), the late Sir Robert Peel spoke of the Company m " a useful instrument of Government" — " a great commercial Company, acting on enlightened principlts, and aiding the Executive Government in devising the best and most extended means of emigration"— he enlarged upon these Islands as "a profitable ft'ejd for employment to the superabundant population of the country," and declared that England's sole interest \yas "jn the commercial and social piospenty of the colony. The only possible ground of count etion that could exist depending upon its being profitable." Mi. Hawc*, the present Under Secretary of the Colonial Olhce, designated the Company as " a powerful instrument of good colonial Gove.nraent in the hands of a wi!>e Government at home." Sir Robert Inglis also, as a "purely commercial Company." And Lord Gr. y himself, when notifying the arrangement of 1817 to Governor Giey, represented that " by it Her Majesty's Government .-nteriained tho hope that they might obtain, in aid of systematic rolonization, the i n j rgy, ability, and experience of n body of gentlemen associated together, &c." — to secuio results which the Government oould not obtain by itself. The scheme of colonisation f the Wakefield system) was, in fact, for the bene'it of England alone— it contemplated a voyage ftom England, aud the price insisted on for the land included not o ly the purchaser a own passpge money, but the cost of removing to tha Antipodes some of England's "superabundant population." It kept a vast portion of the country appropriated for the special benefit of the English community in which the emigrants from New South Wales and other pirts of the world, ercept perhaps li.dia or Ce^, - lon, could not share with equal profit and advantag . A st-ttler of the North could not go down to New Munster to buy lands there, without thus paying for what he had possibly already paid — his own passa o a money, and the cost of some English emigration. Jit* said nothing as to the fairness or unfairness of this viewed apatt from the present question. England had a righ* to provide in what way «>ho pleased for her owu colonization ; but if her Government were the real cclonizers, and if, in order to obtain greater advantages, they associated themselves ni<h gentlemen who mismanaged their affairs, who was to blame, and who should bear the lo»s ? Who? — but they who would have talfeu all the profit. He must be allowed to say that the present proceeding was not creditable to the English Government — it was painful to see a great nation attempting to foist upon others, and that a Binall community — its youngest i.fT&pring — the amount of a debt which they themselves were bound by every consideration to discharge. If, as he said before, the Crown were about to hand, over to the Colonial Legislature certain e&Utes, being clenr asset* of the Company, to be nt their absolute disposal for the benefit of either Province, it would be a different matter, and no' dotibt the Colonial Legislature would take care that their full value down to the lowest farthing was voted out of the colonial resourci s, and repaid il desired ; but, as the ea t stood, the claim was unjust, and for the reasons he had given, he bad great pleasure in supporting the lesolution. The resolution was carried unanimously. Aldermau JNlason then rose and moved the second resolution. He said that during a residence of iwelve years in this Provipce, he had many times beencalle-1 upon to take 8n active part in the political movements of the day, but never had he been called upon to take part in more important proceedings than those for which they were now assembled, nor had he ever witnessed so largo — so unanimous — and so respectable a meeting of the inhabitants of Auckland. He was not surprised that tLe gross injustice of imposing any claim that could be advanced by the New Zealand Company, upon the resouices and revenues of tins Province, should call t'oith such a demonstration on tlie pnrt of an injured pub.ic. He would ask in what way had we been benefitted by tbe operations of the Company? Had any advantage either directly, or indirectly been derived fiom thesa schemes 1 i\ o ! But on the conn ary we had beeen retaided and thwarted in a variety of ways. We bad been attacked and maligned by the Directors >nJ their unscrupulous Agents in every possible way that could be devised — and ingenuity had been taxed to prejudice tho interests of the people of this Piovince, and impede the progress of tins Settlement in particular. But ho would not occupy the time o( the meeting as there wera others to come after him who were be ler acquainted with the subject, and would content himself with moving That whatever nny be the conclusion arr'v.d at respecting te justice of cliaigin^ a poition ot the Company's claim oa the boulhein Setlkuu'iilf, ihtie cannot be even the shadow of an eqiuiable reason Ibi imposing any pail ol it, howovui fuct.onal, on the Northern Settlement*. Tin* '•pheii: o1o 1 the Comp.tnj's operations was, by aiungcniunt with the Govi-inment, Ihm.id to the I'ioviiice of New iMimstei, and the Settlement ot i\ew I'lj month. Not only have the Noilhein Settlements derived no advantage, ducctly oi inditoctly, from (he Company'i schemes, but, ou the contiaij.they have beeu the constant objects of open or insidious aiuck tiom the Coinp.uo 'a Unectois, agiiit* ami advocates, thiou<;h the Puss; tiom ttluuli, amongst oihn e\ila, it has reunited (I.at many ot the Company's settleis ha\e conic out to the colony with stiong prejudices ngaiu«t the Noitlieiu Settlement! and then inhabitants, lending to usulc and footer lechngi of jeuloii*) and suspicion, which thu Meeting came (ly
<leplt>i t»>=, <'csh ine. as »l (lol's tli.it the most aiiue.ilili rliihuii Mlulllll hUUlsl ))LlSM!in till! SP\tM.ll fct tlll'llll 111-, .111(1 Itg.lldlllg \V)'l> sini-tit 'ympatliy the siiftciini}-. M'lilHl tilt' colonists ill the South ha\e endmed, and .tie still uulming thiou^li (he tnilhli >niiebi .md cupidity ot thu Comp my Tli it lhi» inciting log-tids :t ;i3 the conclusion ol common ii'tKC ami common ji.micj, thai thi> Noitl.tm Settlements thoitld nol bcdiMil in .my lonn loi the los.ji.s ol an association tiom which lliej lia\c im'ivud onlj repioach and input. On bt halt of the natives aKo, she ii.eitint; would recoid its Vepi-Lul and <>niphattc<tl protest against any .iiiaiigcmi'iits winch wontcisiiboidiintc tlitu inteicbts (as the pio posed ohaige ot the Conipmj s Claim on the gentral levenuo obviottbly wcrnldj to llic nitoi ub ot tin 1 Company. It is tljeieloic the (k'libeiate judgment ot this inviting that a tespccttiil but indent ippeaJ be made to the Impel utl Legislating, pi.i)iii{; not only that any fiituie .ittciTipt to laddie the Niw Ztalaml <fonipaii>'s claim 01 any p.ut ot it, upon the yctici,tl levtmio ot tills piouncc, 7nay be jejettid, but also that, it the toinis of the Act \ and n ViUona, c. 111, alii-ady leudeis the Laud Fund 111 New Ulbtci lubleto the cltaige, a snppleineut.it> mcrme may be adopted itliaMiiß this piovincc fiom all such liability, which was imposed without any it lei ence to, 01 communication will), the settle) s>, and without I lie attention ot the Colon) having bi en in .111} way called to the matter. JMi.T. S. fr'onsiwm was called upon to second the resolution.—fie would not take up the time of the meeting by the hachnied exordium of allusions*to his incompet»>ncy to do justice to the subject, or his regret— sinceie nnd "unfeigned though it was— that the duty of seconding; the important n solution had not been entrusted to one who had raoieof the gift llian lip had, especially as by so doing, lit- should not only br> ■ uilty of an oftence against good taste, but in all piobtibihty be po&tponins a giatiiication which the Meeting, in common with himii'lf, was doubtless anticipating. A glance lotttid the platlbim would be sufficient to convince tbe meeting that it was occupied by gentlemen who, instead of succeeding him, should 'ha*e had the p'ecedence ; and although they had, with chaiacteristtc modesty, maruiged to get "themselved served up— like ti iftVs at the end of an entertainment— they might lest assured that the appetite of the meeting would not be so satiated with bis common-places, but that the audience would be ready to receive and devour, with peculiar gusto, thp speeches they had yet to deliver. The resolution asserted a principle, and then adduced various reasons in support of it : it a-seited the principle that there could not be even the sli.ulow of a reason for imposing any part, however fractional, of the Company's claim, upon the Revenues of lltis Province— but at the same time indirectly admitted that there night be a claim, to a certain extent, upon the Revenues of New Munster. PfOW, although he was cognizant -n itli the preparation ef the resolutions, having formed one of the sub-com-xntttoe appointed by the preliminary meeting to draw them- up, yet he would tvmark, in passing, that upon further consideration lie almost regietted that it contained any allusion to the position of the Southern colonists. In this matter ye have ne'hiiiir. in common with our fellow colonists of the South ; and perhaps it would have been better to have omitted any allusion to their position. They aie — notwithstanding their injustice towards us in various instances, and on several occasions which need not be pnruculaily refeired to — 89 a body, too honorable and high-minded to reject any valid claim that may be biought against them ; and the meeting, therefore, may safely leave the consideration of tliia matter in their hands. Tie had said, we have nothing in common in this matter with the Southern colonists, and the a-sertion was true in more senses than one ; for while it should be especially remembered th.it we have a common interest in all that appei tains to our moral and social welfare, as scions from one parent stem, yet it must be admitted that our local interests are distinct. Our intei course is so seldom and uncertain, that fiom this cause alone we can necessarily have but few sympathies in unison. Leaving out of sight the intercouise which springs out of and depends upou the arrival and departure of vessels chartered in England to touch at all the settlements in rotation, and the-offici.il excuisions of the ships of war nnd the Government packet, we may salely assett that our intprcomniprcial inteicourse has b^en less frequent than with foieign states. But besides the infrequency of our intercourfe, there are other causes in opeution which necessarily make our iuteresls distinct and separate. We h.ive been educated in diffeient schools — have imbibed diffeient-principles,and ore the advocates -of different iheories. 'J hey may be characterised as the Protectionists — wo as the Free-traders of colonial polity; rand although we should be leady at all times to render them assistance if invited to do so — in repelling an attack upon their interests, we were not, perhaps, at liberty to enter uninvited into the contest, and volunteer our opinion upon a question pending between .them and the founders of the system under which they enteied the field of co onizition. But in recording our opinion upon the imposition of the Company's claim upon oui own revenues, we stand upon different ground, and are called upon in this matter, to speak out in terms that cannot be in i.s taken— to lift up our voices in strenuous, unanimous find unceasing remonstrance' against such an act of flagrant injustice. Were we, us a community, to pass over the possibility of such fin imposition unchallenged, wa should deservedly forfeit our claim to intelligent patriotism and honest punciple. Doubtless, if oui ruWs can so far forget the obligations of their position— if they are bont upon pursuing a measure so injurious to -the-interests of a large proportion of the population of the colony over which they preside — if they would obstiuct the channels of our commercial enterprise by such an imposition, and squander our resources, piofessedly it may be for ihe purpose of discharging their obligations, but in reality for the purpose of providing a costly sacrifice at the -shrine of a defunct trading' association — a ' requiescat in pace' to the shades of the dictators of Broad street buildings : then assuredly we should express our dissatisfaction in no equivocal terms and utter our coir plaints with no faltering voice. It would be well if the Statesmen of England weie in the habit of calculating with more anxiety than they appear to do, the probable effect of their measures upon the feeling of the colonists. Englishmen of the middle classes are proverbially lovers of their counlrv and her institutions—(hear, hear.) Loyalty to their Sovereign and respect for her Ministers are the natural elements of their character. 1 hese sentiments were inculcated at the mother's knee, and were fostered and strengthened by thp father's precept and example; nordops a change of residence necessarily produce a change of principle. The pulse of patriotic feeling does not cease to beat within the bosoms of the sons of Britain w ben they leave the land of their fathers to nchipve for themselves, in one or other of the dependencies of the parent state, that competency which they could not secure at home. The feeling may be, ard doubtlessly frequently ia, modified and affected by local influences, but its essence remains the same ; and although the colonist may unconsciously become encrusted with colonial mannerism, and the native brightness of his principles may be obscured by local habits and local prejudices, }et whatever the exterior man may seem to be, the bidden sentiment of loyalty is the same, and the meeting would respond to the declaration that nothing but a systematic course of oppression and wrong could diminish its force or quench its ferror. If we were to judge of the wishes of her Majesty's Ministers by the tendency of some of the measures they attempt to force upon the colonies, we should conclude thnt they desired to extinguish the attachment of the colonists to the land of their birth, and perhaps there could be no more fatally effective measure devised for producing such a result than the iniquitous imposition of the Company's claim upon tbe revenues of this province. Had the Company been deBerving objects of compassion, we might with some show of justice and propriety have been called upon to sympathise with their misfortunes, and lend our aid to repair th*>ir los>es. But to call upon us to repair the losses of this bankrupt Company is to add insult to injury ; for it must be remembered that the Company, as a body, have ever been our bitterest foes, and though it is our glory to forgive, it is not always our duty to reward our enemies. It is bad enough to contemplate the possibility of being robbed of our material wealth, but the grievance is inexpressibly aggravated when the robbery is to be perpetrated by those who have already attempted to depiiveus of our moie valuable possession He that steals my purse, steals trash - 'T«as mine, 'tis his, and luth been slave to thousand j ; But he that filches from me my good name Robs me of that which not clinches him, But makes me poor indeed. The men who have defamed and calumniated us in almost every conceivable form, who have ridiculed our settlements as mere garrison towns, and described our country as barren, our community as vicious, and one of whose agents baa only recently published a book, every paragraph of which, relative to us, contains a snter, and almost every sentence a lie, would now fill up the measure of their sins by robbing us of our hard-earned gains, and sppk to repair their deserved Josses at our expense. Will Earl Grey g've tbe sanction of his name nnd autboiity to such a deed? Impossible! Can he blame us for exhibiting, as we are now doing, a bold tnd uncompromising opposition to such an act of spoliation ? If you rob a man of his substance acquired by honourable industry. If you grind him to dust with burdens imposed in utter violation of every piinciple of equity, must he" not breathe a single whisper against such cruelty, under whatever pretext it is exercised. And if our rulers extort from us larger sums than are necpsf-ary for the exigencies of the state — if they sacri fice our interests at the shrine of a selfish company, before whom theyhaxe too often bowed with corrupt servility, shall not we give utterance to sentiments — which, in such a caae. it is the magnanimity of vjrtue to
leel, the gloiy of j> iti lonsm to proclaim, lie wouTd beg lease most couluil'.y to second tlie resolution. ftl», J. Wiua avisos basing been called on to support the resolution said — That lie would have slnunk iroin taking a public p.ut id so huhly im| ortant i movement as (lie present, d'd lie not hel tlnit it ssas his duty and the duty ol eveiy man, \\ hobe uildie.&K weie bound up with tin* province, 1o piotest eiiines'.ly and as openly as possible agaiti.it the gieat l.ijusitico that had bei-n nlriady inflicti d, and the « rositer &till that was threatened upon tins | art of N.'\v Zeal ml. The resolution assigned seveial good leasons why New Ulster sliould not bo saddled mill what Eul Guy and the Home Government chose to lecognise as a debt to the New Ze.d.ind Company — n n d one of these tensons was that " not only have the Noithern St-tileraents deuved no advantage dnectly or indnectly from the Company's schemes, but, on the contrary, they have been the constant objects of open or insidious attack from the Company'a Directors, agents, nnd advorates, through the jitess." Now lest it might he said that these accusa'ions, were made against the Company without any foundation to support them, he thought it would be well to call to the recollecuon of those at tho meeting who ha I beeu long resident in the colony, and to lay before otheis who had but lattly co-ne to reside among us, a few instances of the treatment that this Settlement especially had rece.ved at the hands of the Company, lie would confine his remaiks chiefly to this topic in the lesoliuion, and would take tho liberty of reading a few extiacts from early despatches in illustration of it. In oidm to ti.ice the Company's opposition to this settlement we need to cairy our thoughts back to the class of one whose ashes now lay but a short distance from the spot on which the meeting was assembled — one whose lecogmtion of tli£ natural advantages oi this local'ty for ■the seat of tho Government of N^sv Zealand, incurred for him thedispleaiuie of the Directors of the Company, a displeasure that grew into person.il haticd and 1131 13 which he was puisued tp the grave itself. Captain ilobson, upon his appointment, to the Lieutenant- Governorship of thi3 countiy, v\as courted and caused by tlte Company. rlheyr Ihey k,nesv that with htm rested the 'decision of the spot from whence the Government of the islands was to be administered ; but as soon as they chscoveiod that his choice fell upon a locality not within the limits of their Settlements, their hostility lo him knew no bounds. His Excellency wrote to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, announcing bis selection of the seat of Government, in the following terms : — "I further do myself the honour to acquuntyour Loidship, that, after mature consideration, 1 have decided upon forming the seat of Government upon the south shoie of the Waitum.ita, in the distuct of the Thames. In the choice 1 have thus m<ide I ha\e been influenced by a combination of circumstances :-~lst. by its central position ; 2n<lly, by the gieit facility of internal water communication by the Kaipaia, and its branches to the north waid, and the Manakau and Waikato on the southward ; 3rd!y, from the facility and sifety o£ its port, and the proximity of several smaller ports abounding with the most valu hie timber; and, finally, by the fertility of the soil, which is stated by pnrsons capable of appreciating it, to be available foresviy agiicultuial purpose— the lichest and most \aluable land in the northern island being concentrated within a ladius of fifty miles." The agents of the Company in the colony hud alieady commenced hostilities against the Governor for taking up hi-, tempoiary abode at the Day of Islands — but still they did not give up all hope of prevailing with him to pioceed with his btaft' to tho southward, and fix hunsdf permanently at their settlement. At> sofn as it came to be known, hos\ ever, by the Company that the north was still to be favorid 111 this respect, and that Settlements were about to be formed under the wing of tin 1 Government, then the Governor, the northerns, and the noitb svere abused in no very measmed terms, and their own settlement and people extolled conespondingly. Governor Jlohson svas fully alive to the uu wot thy means used at that time b) the Company to dispaiage Auckland, and to puff their own settlements into notice at home. Id writing to the S.'cretaiy of State on the loth of Nov. 1840, he announced his first vis.it to this harbour, and reported that woiks were progressing for the establishment of the town, lecommeiuhng at the same time that the Government should dll ect attention in England to the new capital, and said " I beg lease to call your Lordships' attention to the necessiry for duecting emigration to the proposed capital. The countiy aiound it is, us I have reported, dpcideilly the best in New Zeahnd. ***«#•♦# 'jj )e ,n(, n( ] U stiy with which the New Zealand Company have circulated throughout the United Kingdom, by uit-ans of the press, most exaggerated ('eacnj)tions of the land at Port Nicholson, and veiy inconect statements of the extent of country at their dispo'-a l , has had the effect of deluding the people of England into a belief that the nature ol the s 11, and the facilities for cultivation throughout, present advantages which are nowhere else to be found. * * • It is not my purpose to dispatage Poit NichoUon, or to discouiagc the eflbi's of these wl.o desire to settle there; but I think it quite light to dispel the illusion that has been created by inteiested men for selfish putposes, and to diiect, if possible, the current of immigration to a more genial climate, and a more productive soil." Here, then, was the honest, impniti.il testimony ot a disinterested man. lie formed his judgment of the nature of the country, and of the best position for the establishment of the capital of that country, fiom his own unprejudiced observation, but because be did not choose to give his sanction to the eligibility of the Company's location — a position of the islands very convenient for easy acquisition, bi cause of the tbinntss of native tribes, — and hence no doubt the cause of their own choice of that part of the country— they attacked him on every quarter, and even made undei hand application to the Colonial omce for his lecal, an application that was thrown back to them with Loid Stanley's cutting censure because of its linmanliness ; and his Lordatiij) wrote to Governor Ilobson, approving of his choice, as follosvs : " In referance to your selection of Auckland in preference to Voit Nicholson as the site of the future capital of New Zealand, I am happy to acknosvledgct that the grounds on which sou proceeded appear to me satisfactory." '1 his honorable Company had not then so much influence at the Colonial olHce, as unfortunately for us, it has 'had in later years, and finding th.it its appeals to that office against the Governor weie ineffectual, another mode of operation was resorted to, and agitation in the Colony itself recommended. How this \sas managed an extract from another of Governor Hobsun's despatches will tell — " As respects my osvn position in regard to the settlers generally, your Lordship svill have heaid before this can rejeh you of the hostility I base experienced, at the instigation of the Company's agent--, from the settlers at Poit Nicholson ; where public meetings have been held, and resolutions adopted to petition her Majesty for my removal from the Government, on the giound of partizanship, &c. * * It is quite evident, notwithstanding the extraneous matter introduced into the' Port Nicholson petition that the whole matter resolves itself into the" simple fact that 1 have not studied the exclusive advantage ol the Company by fixing the seat of Government at Port Nicholson. * * Had I been base enough to prefer my own comfort to what 1 believed to be the public benefit, I would have established my=elf at Port Nicholson — where, surrounded by a compact society, all personally identified wiih.the place, 1 might have left it to the Company's agents, or their press, to anssver any censure which might ftosv in upon me from other quarters. Or bad I been still more base, and kept in viesv my pecuniary adsantage, there could have been no scheme devised better calculated to ensure my own foitune and that of my friendp, than presented itself at Port Nicholson; it needed but to have speculated largely in the Company's shares, and having laiied their lalne by the local on of Govei nment, to have sold off my interest, whilst they preserved their artificial value. 1 ' — It may appear very plain, from the following paragraph, that this very honorable Company was not above making such oveitures as His Excellency alludes to. He says :—": — " But, my Lord, I claim no meiit for resisting these temptations; for, had I yielded to them, tho moral debasement would have sunk me to my grave." lie argues, then, from his own consciousness of a sense of duly to his country, his qualifications for the service of making an impartial selection, and sas.s — " In my public capacity I came to this country without bias to any interest whatsoever; I judged from what I saw, and sshat I learned from authentic source , from which I formed a strong conviction that this portion of the 'country united in itself the numerous qualities requisite for the seat of Government of this piomising colony ; and I therefore chose this situation." — Governor Ilobson, as svell ns the great bulk of the Northern settlers, held a very different estimation of the Company's settlers, and the Company itself. Of the former he said — "They are a valuable class of colonists, and it shall be my duty to disabuse their minds of the evil preposFossions instilled into them by the Company's agents and their press : I know I have been held up to these peoplp as their only enemy, and all their disappointments have been attributed to me." — Here, then, we have tome proof before us of the early bistoiy of the New Zealand Company's hostility to the Northern settlement —aa manifested in their bitterness of opposition to the. fiist Governor of the countiy, tho
head and front of whoso ofiVnci? being 1 merely the selection of this distuct for the bfat of Government. Flawing failed in their attempts to procure the vcall of Governor 'lobson, tin>y now went to woi k in all their ci.if mess to have the seal of Government (.hanged fiom Auckland to Wellington. Tins was htill the fjieat object of their aim, and 10 reach it they were Hot over scmpulous. Among othei duluMons ol their piosjiectus it announced tli.it Wellington was to Le the principal city of New Zealand. In Govenloi Ilohson's desjiatcl) hesitates that they attributed to him their inability to fulfil "the pioimse insidiously given m the prospectus of the Company, v\heie the toon of Wellington is q yen as 'their puncipal ci'y,' which was g^iuirillj read and understood as "the pnncipal city." The settlers tecunie clamorous against the Comj/any, accusing them of breach of agreement, and were not so easily induced to believe that the whole of the blame rested with the Governor. For this as well as other obvious leasons the Company kppt to their purpose of a removal of the seat of Government, although they well Knew that the puicbasei-sof land from the Governmenr, in this settlement, had bought those lands believing thsit the sats 'at of Government had been fixed here, and that Government emigiation would be directed to Auckland. But this selfish, avaricious body cared but little, then how they brought about the rum of the settlers in New Ulster ; nor do they now care what the colonists may suffer, so long as they can filch fiom us as much as will covei their losses. '1 lie time had now arnved when, according to their agreement with the Government, their second colony was to he sent out, and they wished to make anangemenU for the locality in which they were to place their new settleis. By an arrangement enteied imo between the Government and the Company in HMO, after completing then settlements at Port NicboUon, Nelson, and JNi'hw Plymouth, they wire still entitled to select upwards of 100,000 acres By n subsequent arrangement with I-oid John Russell the Company was lestncted fiom selecting any of thii land in "any put of th J capital of New Zealand, nor any lands winch, l.y their vicinity to that capital would command a price considerably exceeding tins averagp price of land in the colony" Governor llobson said " 1 he leasons here suggested wo'ild be conclusive against the rtinoval of the .seat of Go\ eminent to Poit Niel'olson. where the whole oj' the site of the town and the whole of the'iieighbounn? available land hat> long since become private pi opcity." But notwithstanding all the odium that had been heaped upon him by the Company, he now stepped foi waid to recommend the Government to allow the Company to Select a site for their second colony in the neighbourhood of Auckland, still acting on the belief that ilun neighbourhood, including the Thames, was by far a moie eligible field for a new Settlement than any position held by the Company at the South. Actuated by a desire to have the futuie settlers of the Company fiom being duped and disappointed with regaid to their land as weie the foimor ones, and anxious to see valid possession of fruitful sections given to them on their arrival in the country, and that they should be saved fiom the evils attendant on the dispersion of settlements, he wiitesto Lord Stanley "The efforts which ha\e, for some time been made by the new Ze.dand Company to depreciate the natural advantages ol this part of New Zealand, and to effect a change ml the site of the seat of Government fiom Auckland to Wellington, suggest to me the piopiiety of addressing your L''id*hip on the present position of that Comp my with reference to the future colonisation of this country. I trust fiom the documents now in youi lordship's possession, showing the site of Auckland to bo on the shores of a harbour safe and commodious, and to Le easy of access and within si* miles of Manukau,ceitninly the best harbour on the whole of the western coast of New Zealand, within fifteen miles of the harbour of Kaipara, into which four considerable navigable rivers discharge themselves; at no great distance fiom Waikain, which waters the fertile and extensive plains of the "Waipa on the wester-i side of the island, and the feitile valley of the Thames on the east; having too in us immediate neighboui hood some hundreds of thousands of acres of level, open, and feitile land ; possessing abundant means of water communication, and being in the centre of the bulk of the native population, now British subjec's, rapidly assuming European habits, and acquit mg a tasto for our mariu'actures — your Loidship will bo sitistied that this neighbourhood has been well chosen for the site of the seat of Government of New Zealand, and that it combines advantages for a large and prosperous Hgiicultuml and commercial settlement, not elsewhere to be found in this Colony." He then went on to show how well this n. ighbouihood was fitted for the New Zeal.ii d Company's next body of bettlers. and said " U ith my present knowledge of New Zealand — having for some tune resided at the Bay of Inlands — having visited Cock's Strait and Bank's Peninsula, — and afier seeing the Company's settlmient funned at Poit Nicholfon— l do not hentate to state my opinion, that the neighbourhood of Auckland combines advantages for a very extensive and piosperous, settlement not to by formed in any other p.nt of tbis Colony. If your Loidship should deem it desirable tl'at tliij j art of New Zealand, should be rapidly and effectually colonized, tl.e opening' of the distnct us a field for the New Zealand Company certainly presents one method by which this object may be attained." This recommendation was favourably leceived by Her Majesty 's Government and Lotd Stanley directed a letter to be written to the Duectois of the Company in'ornung them that such an arrangement might be made. Ilitiieito the Company and its agents in England were most assiduously nidus trious in defaming the Northern Settlements -nothing was hard enough for them to say of Auckland (Specially, which had then began to bo a little better known in England, — not through any means that were ever taken by the sei tiers here to bring this place into notice at home— in this duty we have been as a community very remiss—and our practice in lhis> respect contracts Rtiongly, and favourably too — with that of the New Zt>aland Company, winch has always availed itself of evety style and aitifice of exaggeiated puffery in ouW to keep its settlements befbie v the public view, whilst we with that modesty winch is cLaractonttic of honest reliance on certain biiccess in an honoiable couise of enterpriz", have been content te<send forth to the world merely bare record of the passing events— of the doings of our da)-. But now then came the open and official depreciation of our d strict fiom the pen of the Governor of the Company, in reply to the ofl^ied permission to select land in the vicinity of Auckland. Mr. Somes in writing to Loul Stanley remarks " However gratifying it might be to relieve peisons who .ire more, to be puied than blamed for their impiudence, we do not believe it would be in the powei of the Company, or any other body, so far to get over the uujavourable imprpsMon with respect io Cue prnspects of Auchlund now geneudhf pieoolenl in the public mind, as to induce the public to take any share, in a settlemei t la' ounng undeT ths discredit of sucll complete failuie." Such were the terms in which the Managers of the Company now wio'e of Auckland. Their organs and then tools throughout the length and breadth of the land had been incessantly engaged in producing the impression on the public mind with which they heie taunt the rival settlement of Auckland, and so ceitain were they of the success of their system of defamation that they un hesitatingly pronounced it a "complete failure." . In the same despatch, Governor Somes g«es on to say that " believing that the proclamation of Auckland as the Capital was founded man error, ~whirh if pei severed in, must be atal to the best interests of the Wtlers at large, the Dnectors cannot but fuel , the strongest lepugnanco to making themselves paities to the propagation of the delusion that a spot at neaily the extremity of a country 800 miles long can, by any factitious mean-, be made the peiman.ut seat of its government." And further, " The Directors of the New Zealand Company feel that they would he betraying every interest intiusted to them, weie they to lend themselves directly or indirectly to any scheme for vamping up the maintenance of Auckland." No, no, but they could feel no such scruples of conscience in lending themselves to any scheme however unworthy to crush Auckland, and at the close of their own caieer by an act of crafty management, attempt to wring fiom the people they had so deeply injured the means of recovering tho losses that the very nature of their o« n dealings and speculation has brought upon them. Can it be on account of such fn ndly offices as these that Auckland is now called on to bear the weight of the Company 'e lesponsibihties? Are the foregoing some of the " advantages" adverted to by LordGiey, as having been "conferml upon the settlers" and id grateful lemetnbranceof w huh, his lordship ■would have them consent to his proposal of " on annual charge on the General revenues of the Colony" by way of " commutation" of the Company's aln ady legalised claim on the laud fund J No, the settleis of this province feel that they owe nothing to the Company, and for the reasons set foith in the resolution they weie now dfti l mined as one man to oppose the unjust infliction of such a monstrous imposition upon them in whatever shape or foim. Another topic in the resolution was woithy of consideialion. The Company's operations were confimd to the Southern Piovince ; they held no land in New Ulster, and consequently had none in it to relinquish when they gave up their lands to the Government according to the ariaugement of 1817. The nmount of demeene lands in New Ulhtu has there-
fore ierei»ed no increase liom the teiMtory given uj: by the Coinpnnv. According to the Royal pis ructions accompanying the Ciiaiter of 18.16, itisairnngid th I tio Treasurer ol each Piovinci? shall keep a separate ac> count of the proceeds of sill Crown lands sold in the Piowaee, ;ind after the charges for Mirvejs, and other, contingent expen-'es <ire deducted, the nett balance is Ie he hi Id in tnist by Her Majesty for deliajmg the co-^1 of the in 1 ! reduction of Ptnigmuta into the respective provinces fiom which the fund has boon domed. Where then was the benefit that was likely to accrue to tl.e Piovince of New Ulster by the" relinquished lands of tl.e New Zealand Company? The proceeds of the sale of those lands would benefit New Munster alone; yet in the very f.-.ce of this fact we find our revenues, thiough a manoeuvre of the officers of the Company and the officials of the Colonial Office, saddled by Act of Parliament with a share of the expense of buy ing out the Company's interest in lands in which we can have no present nor prospective interest, and from which the revenues of our province cannot be enhanced. Was ever such an act of injustice perpetrated on any community before? and that too wiilithe consent cf our rulers, \Vhose duty it was to protect the interests of those colonists who had chosen to purchase lands at the Government settlements, rather than from the Company, in reliance upon the fostering care nnd protection that it was naturally expected the parent slate Would afford the 'settlements of their own establishment. — I\lr. Williamson concluded by expressing his hearty concuirence in the lesolution. The resolution was unanimously adopted. Mr. Alderman O'Niiti. then rose and said— Your Worship and fellow Burgesses, the thud" resolution has been intrusted to m<\ and I have little doubt but it is one that will meet with your warmest approbation. From w hat we have hpaid, it seems quite clear that we should forward our Protest as soon as possible to i he Home authoiites, and keeping that end in view the Committee, appointed at a preliminary meeting, vpry prudently, I think, left it altogether with this meeting to nominate five gentlemen to prepare a Petition to both Houses of Parliament, in accordance with the resolutions you have jus,t heard read ; or shall we neglect doing so and tamely submit to see six or eight thousand pounds annually tiasmitted to replenish the cotters of the still mischievous New Zealand Company. What boon hare the membeis of that Association coli-ft-ned on this province that we should be constrained to repair a loss sustained by land-jobbing ? Why should our enterpnsing settlers have their prospects injured by the abstracting fiom the Colonial Treasury the only money available for road making? It is an incontiovei table fact that the New Zealand Company invariably put forth all its ingenuity and cunning to retard the prosperity of New Ulster. Then let us divest ourselves of all a athy and not passively submit to have entailed on us so iniquitous a claim. At all events let us make an effort and give a long pull and a strong pull and assuredly we will have it swept away. It is a propitious omen to see so many of our early oolonists collected together. It is a pleasing prospect to behold the geneious Englishman, the hardy Caledonian, and the warm-hearted Exile from my own much injured Ei in, using in their might to thwart and lay prostrate the premeditated wrong concocted by a broken down Company and a hot-headed Secretary of State. 1 beg to move That a Committee to consul of five be appointed (o piepaie a Petition in .tccoulame \wth the toiegoing icsolutions, wilh power to a<Ul otlicis to thin number for the puiposc'ot obUuiing sigiialincs Dr. Binnttt, on ris'ng to second the resolution, congiatul.Ued the Chairman and the Meeting that the husinp&s was now drawing to a close without any flagging of the attention and animattd feeling which that 1 irge assembly had manifested throughout the proceedings, notwithstanding the inconvenience many must have expen^ncod standing for so long a timu under the rays of a mid-day summer sun. It was gratifying to obscive the lively inleiest and cordiality of appiobation with which the addresses of the several speakers 'had been received. It was tme that the subject did not require the skill of the logician or the eloquence of the orator to convince or pmu.vle the meeting of the necessity and propriety of the course pioposed io them by the resolutions; still it was wellthat the able and satisfactory statements to which thpy had listened should bs made, affbiding, as they did, conclusive evidence that this Protect against the New Zealand Company's unjust and oppressive claim was j ho mere impulsive or hasty act, but had been well conpidned, and was founded upon facts and reasonings which it would be impossible to disprove, if any, individuals had come to the meeting imperfectly acquainted with the case, they must have had every doubt removed. If theie was still even one who thought that New Ulster should be charged with the minutest poition of the alleged debt, they could give him additional and accumulated evidence to the contrary ; but he did not bclievo there was even one who now entertained any doubts on the matter. Who could question the position that the truecbaiacter of the New Zealand Company was that of a mere commeicial nssoc ation, which, however lofty mi^ht be its pretensions to philantluopy, had as its primary object the trading in lands for purposes of pecuniary profit, and whose conduct from first to last was that of a grasping, lucre-seeking bod \, practically legardless of the wrongs and sufferings which might be inflicted on either the settlers or the nathes, provided its own sordid and selfish schemes could be successfully earned out? Had those schemes prospered to the utmost, the Company would have e-ijoyed the benefit ; now that they had failed, was it right that their loss should be levied on the public purse of the colony? If there weie no other reason for refusing to submit to this, it would be proper to guaid against the precedent which acquiescence in it would establish, and to warn other joint-stock traders who may be disposed to speculate in colonization, th-it, if they were to reap the profit 3 of success, they mutt be prepaied to bear the loss of failure.. ..Again, who could question the position that, whatever may be the conclusion as legarded the Southern Settlements, in which the Company's operations had been conducted, it would he flagrantly unjust to charge even a fiactional portion of the claim on the Northetn Settlements, which had received nothing but reproach and injury from that Body? Weie it necessaiy, much more than had been said might be adduced in evidence of the Company's treatment of the North ; and if he had any regret in connection with the pieceding speeches it was that Mr. Forsaith, who was so competent to do justice to the subject, had not entered moie fully into it. An illustration of the Company's policy and piocedure might be taken from the case of its lite Principal Agent, most recently known to us as the author of a book published and puffed in London — ''The Six Colonies of New Zealand" — in which Auckland, its agricultuie, its commerce, its capabilities and resources, and even the moral character of its inhabitants were recklessly misrepresented and traduced. That gentleman's sayings and doings furnished no bad specimen of tLe Company's general course. At one time he would willingly be thought attached by all the convictions of his judgment and all the affections of his heart to New Zealand as his adopted country. Weie it woith while to go through the files of the Southern newspapers for the purpose, professions on his part might be collected from which it would seem that New Zealand had attractions for him surpassing any to be found in all the world besides ; that it might be thought one of its Kauri forests had more facination for him than the cinnamon groves of Cc) lon, or even Hyde Park with its Crystal Palace could present. At that period he was accumulating propeity in the colony, and was in the receipt of a large salary as the Company's Agent. But the Company's end came, and a day was notified on which the salaries of its Agents, this gentleman's*of course with the others, were to cease. A marvellous change came over the land in his eyes ; its charms so faded befoie his view that (after the arrnngement of a certain "compensation job" of which theSouthem newspapers told curious tales, but into the nature of which they need not then stop to enquire) he did— even though his heait-stiings might be wiung at the pai ting— make up his mind to abandon New Zeabnd, lovely as he had at one time deemed it ;— ho went awaj', taking with him the documents which were necessary to a satist'actoiy adjustment of the claims of the Company's Land Purchasers, thus leaving j those unfortunate victims of the Company's schemes to stiuggle a-, they could through additional embarrassments ;— he hurried post haste to London, and,— arrived there, — lie wiote a book calumniating Auckland both positively, and as compared with the Southern Settlements. Evidence might be piled upon evidence to show the- bad spirit which the Directors, Agents, pamphleteers, and newspaper writers of the Company had manifested tow arda the North. And was it foi this that they were 10 be saddled with an enormous debt for the benefit of that Company ? 'I hey might addiess them in the language of Shakspeare's Jew in the Met chant of Venice;— His tiue indeed that if we appropriated the words, the charactcis must be regarded as transposed, for to the Company lightfully belonged the pait of Shybck ; they, ' like him, however the flesh of the colony's prospeiity might quiver under the knife, would with it'leutless hand cut away the pound of flesh, the utmost atom " iiominaud in the bond:" but taking tho
license of inverting 'he pos.t on of the chaiacteis, the language might well bo applied, — Co to then; you com." to us mc] yau pay "UV would have money.*' i'ou s.iy ; You (lilt did void yo-ir lheu-n upo-i o-n beaid, And foot us, as you sj urn a sti anger cur Over your tin esboi.l : Mo.icy is your suit. What should we say to you 1 Should we not say '' H ith a dog money ?" Is it possible a cur Can — pay this enormous sum which you dewund ? If our nie.ins be limited, our apparent pio>pi'iity so delusive, tur bi-itluiiient altogether so wi etched as you liavo described it, can we meet this mighty demai.d? Of shnll we With Lafed breath, nnd whispering: humbleness Fay " Fmr Sirs, you spit on us on Saturd.iy last ; You spurned us such a day ; smother time You caller! in dog; and for those courtesies We'll pay jou thus much monej'." No, no ! We cbeuah 1.0 revengeful feelings towards the New Zealand Company. If we owed them money we would pny it. But the people of New UKter owe thei) nothinsr, except tbo Clins'nn duty of f, r^ncness for continued and unmciitod injurii I^. And they would pay them no more than that. 1 his tt as a matter on which a happy and entire unanimity pievoded. Men diffenng on vniious other public questions weie agieed here. This resolution would be vsppoited by a gentleman with whom lie (the speaker) did not in every minute paiticular, at ail times, concur; but they weie of one mind lieie. • * • 'J'Jie resolution was the business application of tho proceedings of the day. Some had tLought that it would be well to biing Pc-titions to the Meeting ready for sign.ituie ; but on tho whole, it had been deemed moie expedient that the Meeting, having adopted *ts resolutions, should itself appoint a Commituc to mould tho>e resolutions ie.to the pioper form for presentation to Pailiament. 'I hat Committee, having power to add to its number*, would have no difficulty in securing such co operation tbioughout the Borough as would render the obtaining of signatures an-easy and a speedy work. Thus stamped in all its parts with a thoroughly public cliai actor, the appeal to theju-tice of the Impel ial Legislature now agieed upon could not lad to command attention as a i'vee and full declaration of the mind of die entne community. Mr. David Euun said — The lesolulion to wbieh I have been called to speak requires but little advocacy in its sujipoit. If tbeie wuie any amongst us, at anytime, doubtful of the legitimacy of the New Zealand. Company's claim, the facts, figures, and arguments of previous speakeis have, no doubt, abundantly satisfied them that the demand would be is equitable if preftired against New Yoik as against New Ulster. The New Zealand Company has, to my nppiehension, been this da.\ exhibited as pirates, and tho Coloni il Office as the pations and piomoters of pirncj". And, therefore, should they (the New Zealand Company) be successful in establishing this vL'in, the Colonial Office will be justly chargeable with holding out a bounty to band together all buccamers possessed of parliamentary influence to obtain a colonial charter to mismanaga their own affairs, plunder the co'ony and ailerwaula piefer a claim for compensation both from the mother country and their victims. I heartily suppoitthis resolution, and trust oui petition may prove eifactual. After this resolution had been adopted, the remaining business was tho nomination of the Committee to whom the task of embodying the Resolutions in the form appropriate for presentation to Parliament should bo confided. While this matter was before the Meeting, Mr. SMYrmrs came f-irnaid for the purpose of proposing that Mr. Abraham Uiou'd be one of the Committee. In doiiig so he took occasion to expiess his satisfaction at the statements of tho speakers, v hich had given him information on the subject which, as he had only recently arrived from Ei.glaii'i, was comparatively new to him. He earnestly desired that means should be taken to piocure the publication and circulation in England of the proceedings of the Meeting, as he was convinced that if th" English people were mads duly acquainted with the chaiacter of the New Zealand Company's claim, they would indignantly denounce its injustice, and be no parties to its infliction on the settle) s. Mr. Buckland begged leave to address the in°etin«r. Tie would ask if the gentleman who had just sat down intended to found a lesolutioii upon the remarks he hud made 1 Mr. SuYimcsveplied that lie did not intend to do so; he merely wished to suggest to the gentlemen connected with the Pie>s the propnety ot having an authentic leport ot that clay's proceedings prepared for the public. Mr. Buckland resumed.— Then, Mr. Chairman, I may add that, in my opinion, an authentic report of what we have been doing and hearing to-day, n" sent as an advertisement to the Times, would be as effectual a 9 the petition itself— for it would 'be 'copied into the Provincial paper*, and the people of England would be made generally aware of the injustice that is contemplated towaids us. But, sir, while I heartily concur in the geneial objects of thid meeting 1 do not agree, with much of what 1 have heaid to-day. Wo have heaid from Mr, Connell a good deal about the feeling ihat is enteitaintd at home relative to our position with the mother country— how we are looked upon as the children— the youngest children— the most petted children of the State ; and how the conduct of the Imperial Government is eulogised as being that of a parent — a tender, loving parent. But, sir, those who have had the niisfoi tune, h\e mjseU, to lose a parent in eaily life, know bet er what die meaning of a paient in law is. I i-ny that England may be our mother— but she is our step-mother, and we are but her legal children — her sons-in-law, and she treats us as such. I don't agree with much that has been said to-day. Most of ! the speakers have levelled their shafts against the Company, us if the Company -were chiefly to blame. I i don't consider the Company to blame at all ! I think thpy deseive great credit for managing so cleverly to get their losses made good. Tney weie quite tight in getting back their monpv when they saw a chance. Wo have nothing to do wi'ili them ; our business is wit'i Eail Giey; be is the man against whom we should direct our *iim, for it is he who has allowed the Companj to enrich themselves at our expense. We may talk about the injustice t>f th- act, and declare that wo will not submit to such an imposition, but we are submitting to it; the burden is already crushing down our energies. Are we not already saddled with a debt, and isiiotour life-blood being wrung out, drop by drop, to meet the interest of that debt 1 It is no use to vent our indignation against the Con'pany, and cry out against their claim, while we have such an incubus v,s the Colonial Office, with Earl Giey at its head, grinding us to the very dust. Let m aim at the right inaik. and insist upon the pnvilegeof having the control of our own Revenue, and then we shall be able to say something with eftect about pi) mg debts that we never mcuned. I should like the Petition that is to bo piepared to embrace this idea, and then I think it mil be something more to the purpose than it will be il it only embodies the sense of the resolutions. After several names had been suggested for the Committee to prepare the Petition, it was finally and unanimously agreed that the duty should be entrusted to tho Mayor and the four gentlemen by whom, as a Sub-Committee, tho Resolutions had becu drawn up, viz., Mr. Abraham, Dr. Bennett, Mr. Burn, and Mr. T. S. Forsaith. Mi\ Connell was then called to the Chair, and thanks having been voted by acclamation.to the Mayor for the manner in which he had conducted tho proceedings, tho Meeting scperatcd, having first given three hearty cheers in expression of their cordiality of agreemont in the proceedings of the day.
The Band of the 58th Regiment, by pocmission of His Excellency Lieutenant-Colonel Wynyaul, p.8., will perform the following selection of music, in the Grounds of the old Government House, to-morrow (Thursday) between the hours of 4 and 6, p.m.
PROGRAMME. Overture Op. '' llaydoe" \ i bpv Melange Op. " 1 Due Foscan" Verdi Potpouiri Op. " M.irtlu 1 ' Flow tow Polonaise Kuliner Song.. Op. " Cz'ir and Znuincrnnn" ....Lorlzing Galop The" Review" Julhcu Waltz. ."Schwarabl^tt c Wienenvald" F.ihrbach Grand INlarcb (founded on the Spauisb Constitutional Hymn), .,,, r,..« , Glover
terns as above, vouchers produced ..£"2 18,143 4s. 2d... laid to be proved, but no vouchers.. £3o,4BB 15s. 4d. Neither pioved nor admitted say £'200,000 0?. 0d... equal to u u 762,593 151,955 315,452 I^oo,ooo jivcn in to meet any further possible claims « 100,000 1,300,000
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New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 610, 18 February 1852, Page 2
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15,006GREAT PUBLIC MEETING. New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 610, 18 February 1852, Page 2
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