THE NATIVE LAND PURCHASE ORDINANCE.—EMIGRATION.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 645, 19 June 1852, Page 2

THE NATIVE LAND PURCHASE ORDINANCE.—EMIGRATION.

[We Lave been requested to give insertion in our columns to the following communication, which has been forwarded by Alderman Powditeh, to His Excellency the Governor-in- Chief.] To His Excellency Sir Geokge Grey, X.C.8., Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand^ SfC. Your Excellency, — From^the circumstance of my making, immediately, an uncertain absence from Nevr Zealand, I have been induced to bring under your Excellency's notice my suggestions on the New Zealand Land Purchase Ordinance, which has lately been forced upon my attention by the contact I have been thrown into with public opinion ; and as no doubt that address has appeared in print before your Excellency, I think I need not now remodel that address, as it contains the sentiments, as stated, of a large number of persons, although I must now adopt them as my single production. But, from their not having received that public discussion that was intended, I beg permission to offer some further remarks in support thereof ; and I think the importance of the subject will be deemed a sufficient apology for my intrusion and the length of my correspondence. Your Excellency, holding the prominent station of chief mler in these islands, from whom all measures of a political nature are supposed to emanate, and whoso opinions, not only from the means which yourjstation affords of obtaining the best information, but from the experience gained by long residence, must have at all limes the gieatest weight wilh those whose duty it is

to regulate the colonial Governments in the court of the Biitish pmpire, may make it seem a presumption in so humble an individual intruding on your notice his sentiments on any such subject, iiut so far from feeling this the case in my own mind, I rather consider these circumstances as encouraging any statements of opinion affecting the political welfare of tins coi/ntry vhich are set forth with that respect which is due to your rank, station, and character ; and therefore I feel assured your Excellency will demand no apology for such intrusion from me. It is generally believed that your Excellency has been a close observer of the character of the aboiiginal population wherever you have been, and that great reliance id justly placed on your observations, especially on the aboriginal portion of this country; and, consequently, to dissent in any manner from measures instituted by you, is entering with the greatest temerity on ground peculiarly held by your Excellency on the most commanding and most positive position. Nevertheless, we are not to forget that all measures are originated by existing circumstances, and that such are also, from change of ciicumstances, disrobed of their peculiar claim : and yet some such measures , from no apparent or understood urgency, may still continue in force ; and also, that some such measures may have originated at an e.uly stage from preconceived opinions, founded on a general experience, which a more mature acquaintance with the people to "whom it is applied, may not wai rant an expectation of those lelativp ndvant.iges or necessities as the circumstances woald seem to require. Under such considerations do I believe to be the Native Land Purchase Ordinance, passed under the direction of Your Excellency's rule, so far as relates to the close restriction bearing in the right of the aboriginal race, (Pieamble: All lands "alienated without sanction of the Crown by any person of the native race to any peison not of the same race, by virtue, &c, vest in the Crown as demesne lands thereof.") It cnntiot but be known to your Excellency that I have, at the suggestion of several individuals, presumed to introduce to public notice an address to your Excellency on the repeal of that Ordinance, with a view of eliciting a public expression of opinion as to its con« tinuance, forming a serious impediment to the development of the resources and the progress of this Province bf New Ulster. Not that lam at all desiring to entertain any doubt or disputation on the Crown pre-emp-tion; on the contrary, the address itself will not only show the principles recognised, but as desirable to be maintained in all transfers from the aboriginal or European subjects — but that I am seeking, by an amendment of that Ordinance, to enable the aboriginal to obtain a fair share of competition in the public market, and by a fixed scule of recognised moderate fees to facilitate the occupation of such lands by British emigrants, either for permanent culture or tempoiaiy occupanc3 r with shpep and cattle, &c, which cannot be done successfully under the present limited system of purchase; and that the limited feed afforded them (rom the wild lands is an obstacle only to be overcome by a much more extensive pasturage than would be needed in improved «rass lands. As vaiious arguments are set forth in that address, I shall urge few points at present on your Excellency's attention. But with regaid to the native race, I may be allowed to quote from your Excellency's and Eail Grpy's correspondence. In March, 1847, your Excellency writes—" That the natives ate making rapid and unexpected strides in the arts of civilised life; and the funds supplied them will materially assist their advancement, while each successive year's experience renders it probable that each payment will be more judiciously expended." And again, in May — "It must be borne in mind that the great majority of the native population can read and ■write their own language fluently. They are a people quite equal in natural sense and ability to the mass of the European population. They own many horses and cattle — have in some instances considerable sums of money — and altogether possessed of great amounts of wealth and property, of the value of which they are fully awarp. There is no nation more sensitive on the subject of money matters or the disposal of their property, or less likely to sit down quietly under what they regard as injustice. A great changp has taken place, and a feeling of class or race is rnpidly springing up, and has been greatly fomented by designing Europeans endeavouring to obtain their lands at a merely nominal value." On this last paragraph I must ask your Excellency if there is on record any purchase actually made by British subjects, bonajide settlers, so low as the amount regwlatrd for Government purchases, Id. to ijd.-pfc^ acre. Or, if it is not a fact that all actual purchases made by individuals have not been, and inevitably will ever continue to be, infinitely higher than the Government could well afford to pay under the present surveying system. If, then, the native race, five years back, were so BPnsitive on many transactions, and were then to be fairly compared in intelligence with the European population, why could they not be entrusted with the negociation of their own possessions? Have the Governors found them easily deluded in the purchase of their lands? — or is the authorised amount paid per acre by the Crown, namely, Id. to ljd., a fair equivalent — or is it anytlnng^beyond a mere nominal value 1 And has not both the price asked by the native, and the actual price given by the bona fide settler, immeasurably outstripped nil comparison with the put chases made by tbe Crown 1 . Upon what foundation of right can the Crown force the natives to dispose of their lands, or maintain monopoly, by refusing to them the right of a British subject to raise a yearly rental on his property ? —or if such measure is supposed to impede the acquiring the sole right in the soil by the Crown— What advantage is derived therefrom ? Seeing that the professed object is solely to place other European subjects in possession by Crown sale I',1 ', the argument merely of feudal tenure of pre-emption is not sufficiently strong, seeing that that right can be equally well maintained by the fees paid for the confirmation of the sale by the authorised sanction of the legal Government. To the right to this position the native has justly and in due form arrived. His right in the soil by occupation hna been acknowledged by the Imperial Parliament, and recognised by the treaty which secured to them all the like lights and privileges of Her Majpsty's subjects in Great Britain, and as in all treaties with other bodies of people, private, individual, and corporate, propeity is to fee respected: but of what value is such a consideration if the governing power can at any time shut the market for both use and transfer at its will or pleasure. In such case, the pretensions of such rights is ridiculous. But his Lordship Earl Grey says—" Under existing circumstances the right of the Crown cannot now be asserted to large tracts of land which particular tribes (corporate property) have been taught to call their own. And that the Protector of Aborigines is to be directed to inform the registrar of all lands," which, either as tribes or individuals, claim either a proprietary or possessary title ; and that such shall be recognised and conclusively admitted." May we ask— Admitted as what 1 ! Answer — As lands against which the Crown right cannot now he asserted. And His Lordship also directs the French settlers at Akaroa to be naturalized, in order that the lands they occupy may not, like those of natives, on disposal of them, revert to the British Crown ; or, in other words, that the native race are, as respects their lands, aliens, and not possessing all the rights of British subjects ; and thus this flourish is significant of nothing, or lather is no promise of the Crown of Great Britain injsolemn treaty. But the right and power of pre-pmption is not lost, or desired to be questioned, understanding tlint preemption does not forbid a careful and equitable remand to circumstances ; but it simply reserves the discretion of the Supreme power. It does not assert any particular course, but only that there shall he a guiding power. This power we now seek to regulate, protect, and guidp, not annihilate the native right. I shall not, for any reasons, neglect here to observe that the opinion expressed hy Governor Fitzroy, in a published Four Letters on New Zealand affairs, says New Zealand will much sooner become a British Colony by the settling of email farms in the interior of the country, among the native settlements, and I agree with him in that opinion, that by such intermixture both would benefit — the one by native cheap labour, the other by imbibing much more readily European industrial and agricultural arts, and the English language, laws, and customs more readily introduced. I would also call to your mind what you, Sir, no doubt well reraember, lhat the plan intended to bo carried out by Mr. Canning, when Prime Minister (had he lived) for Anglicizing and uniting more firmly all the Colonies to Great Britain, whether obtained by conquest or by ces» sion, was fo give in the fullest manner to each all the privileges of the British Constitution as a base, and the same laws, same language, and game coin. And I may observe that your Excellency has already acknowledged this principle in aiding, by the most positive and philanthropic endeavour*, the spreading of the English Innguage among the aborigines • by so doing you will bear in mind that you have aided in the first revolutions of that engine, the Pies?, which will inevitably teach them in due time to assert their rights in the fullest epnso, and in every respect on equality with the inhabitants of Great Britain.

1 do not feel any necessity to enter fuither on tin* various obsorvitions contained in the Address j but there is one point which could not there be noticed, yet of main importance as affecting the measure propoopd. That point is Emigration, which we must readily .admit is a matter for serious consideration, as affecting the aboriginal population. Indiscriminately pouring a flood of persons — as your Excellency well observes in no way in advance of the native inte leet — would probably not be attended with any good result, nor do I think such are the class of persons desirable for New Zealand ; and however careful by any official person the mother country may perform these duties, and select the individuals to be forwarded, it cannot be expected in expending Colonial funds that satisfaction could be given to the Colonists, both because they are beyond their control, nnd that in their selections tl>py must be guided by general rules, applibable to many colonies not assimilating in their requirements, and the recommendations, forwarded to those boards, of Industrial Operatives, are too often of a questionable character. The persons whom I should recommend as a proper class of emigrants are those, whether operatives or farmers, who may fairly be supposed to be in advance, both in acquired and intellectual knowledge ;and I think that the opening of the interior to the mtioduction of such a class would be attended with the best consequences. We have sufficient labouring class from native labour, and a very small import from Europe would at any time >;lut the demand. With a view to cirry out this project, and give full satisfaction to the colonists, I should propose that the Emigration Committee be a body of persons chosen and residing in the Colony, and responsible to the Colonial Legislature. That the funds for this purpose be placed at their disposal on some such at< the following plan : — That all moneys should be lent, and not given for aid or passages, and to no persons but such as are appioved by the Committee. That persons already settled in the Colony thus desirous of bringing out their friends at home should apply to the Committee for aid, stating the amount required, the names of the paities, their families, occupation, place of residence, general character, moral training and education, or any other question two or moie of the Committee deem needful to enquire. That the applicant become security, under bond, for the loan, and the loan be made at the rate of 4 per cent per annum, subject to a leturn of 1 per cent, if the parties actually settle in the Colony — time in both cases limite'l. That persons arriving from England, whose fund 1 * would lead them to seek atd, and being of the class of | persons before described, may obtain aid to the nmount expended in emigration by them for their families, upon becoming bonajide settlers, and pledging their purchased lands in security for two or tinea years at 3 per cent, per annum. 'J hat as the funds at the disposal of the Emigration Committee would be constantly increasing, a period should be fixed at which the Geueral Legislature should have the power to resume all sums over a limited amount, and would then deteimine, as the wants of the colony would increase, what fuitber amount should accumulate until the next resumption. Thus, o sufficient sum would be raised by the per centnge to defray the expense of offices, and a safe accumulating fund always in hand for the relief and advancement of enterpnsing men and by whom this means would be relieved from the gnpe of the money-lenders of the colony. Your Excellency must know that land being fixed in value on thp American Continent, persons can beforehand detei mine their means and their wauta ; but in J coming to New .Zealand, by a much longer and increasingly expensive passage, emigrants are exposed to greater delays of selection and purchase, and that then be cannot choose either the extent or position of his lands, bur must abide by such quantities and localities only as Government choose to put up, and that also he has to compete, at a much higher and uncertain price, with those who have already overcome the difficulties of a first settling, by which means he is often driven to expend his last penny for a very much smaller piece of land than bis expectations led him to hope for, and, perhaps, his avocations would require ; and your Excellency will, on examination of the sales, readily recognize a very large sprinkling of old spttlers who having been successful find a neceisity to increase their possessions, as your Excellency may test from the fact that hardly any larger lots have been divided, while the smaller lots are continually becoming swallowed up by their larger neighbours. 'ibe consequence^ of this mode of selling, and high price of land, by absorbing all the ready capital of the new emigrant, drive him to the money-lender to pay, perhaps, the extortionate rate of 15 per cent, for tbe means to reduce his waste lands to pasturage or culture, and thus, for years, he is bound down to continue sinking his capital on the soil under a heavy and oppressive tax. The effect of such a fund, managed in the colony in the w-ay I have suggested, would, I think, matena ly lessen the high rate of interest— at all events it would be a great and seasonable relief to the new emigrants, and I also think that emigration, under the same surveillance and management would introduce such a sufficiency of intelligent and superior class of settlers as would be advantageous to the native race, removing every plea for denying to them the full acknowledgement to their title to become British subject", and that their property might be by them freely used or sold without any compiomiae or detriment to the Pre-emp-tion right of the British Crown. I have the honour to be, Your Excellency's most obedient and humble servant, William Fowoiicii. May 29tb, 1852.