The New Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 664, 25 August 1852, Page 2

The New Zealander.

Hi 1 just and fear nut: J>t nil the emto thou nim'it at, lie thy Country')), Thy tioi>'s, ni)il I'ruth'h.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25, 1852.

The outline of tho Constitution for Now Zealand, as brought forward by Sir John Pakington intheliouso of Commons, which appeared in our last, may be fairly prosumed to bo correct so far as it goes, if it were only from such internal evidence as is supplied by the accordance of the provisions respecting the franchise and the powers of the Provincial Councils, with those of the Ordinance undor which the elections now pending in the colony arc about to take place. • But however accurate it may be in the statement of tho leading features of tho measure, it is confessedly a more summary, leaving all the details to bo learned from reports which have not readied un. Under these circumstances it can scarcely be expected that wo should pronounce any very definite opinion on tho merits of tho plan. Indeed, although it would bo easy to speculate and argue on the subject, we think it more prudent to refrain from any decisive judgment for the following (as they seem to us) good and sufficient reasons : — • First, as has been intimated, wo aro in possession of no moro than a vory meagro and sketchy outline of. the measure, — the most prominent points being indeed given with distinctness, but tho fillings-up, which may materially modify the character of the whole, being all but entirely absent. Now, it is obvious that details which mny not have attracted the attention of the writer of tho correspondence which wo have copiod, or which, if ho noticed them, may havo been necessarily omitted from so condensed an opitome ns he intended to present, may greatly affect tho working of tho measure in its operation in the colony, or moro particularly in our own Province. It is difficult to conceivo that there should not bo some important provisions of which ho makes no montion. To take one instance as an example : we aro told that all the members of the Lower Chamber of the Central Legislature arc to bo elected ; now, ' supposing tho very possiblo case that no officer or member of the Executive Government is elected by the constituencies, how is tho business o v f tho Govcrmont to bo conducted ?— -who is to be charged with, or responsible for, the many explanatory and other statements which tho representatives of the people may require from tho Executive, or for tho support and management in their several stngos of legislation of tho measures which tho Government may originato % We cannot think that this necessity lias been overlooked. Perhaps wo may find that it has been provided for by some such arrangement as that embodied in Lord Grey's Capo Constitution of last year, viz. that officers of the Government (for tho Cape, the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, and tho Auditor wore specified) shall have the right of sitting and speaking, but not of voting, in tho House. This .of course is only a supposition^ now, but we cito tho instance as illustrative of tho remark that so much of important detail is yet unknown hero, that we can form but an imperfect idea of tho light in which tho Act might bo regarded if we had it before us in its entirety. Again, even if tho Bill as introduced by Sir John Pakington were in our hands, togothor with his speech in bringing it forward, we still should havo only what was projected by Ministers, — not what was finally passoct into law after tho various stages of Parliamentary discussion had been gone through. Tho Correspondent of tho Melbourne Argus has stated that "the Mill was well received" in the Houso of Commons, — that " its suggestions were approved of by New Zealand colonists now in England,"— and that "it had gained Sir John Pakington credit and applause for liberality ;" but all this is far from proving that it did not undergo subsequent and oven essential alterations. Much, we apprehend, would depend on tho point (on which we of course cannot go beyond conjecture) — how far tho measuro accorded with tho scheme Lord Grey had previously contemplated. Jf in this, as in some.other measures, tho present Government adopted in substunco tho plans laid down by their predecessors in office, then tho Bill would probably pass without much of cither delay or change; but if there were any wido deviation from the course marked out by the ex-autocrat

of tho Colonial Department, our experience of his Lordship's obstinacy, pride, and Bclf-will would lead to anticipate that he would meet it with vehement opposition. It is plain, therefore, that in any argument we might now employ either for or against particular enactments, wo should run the risk of cxponding our strength in dealing with shadows — praising or censuring things which before now huve been swept out of existence Onco more, it is to be borne in mind that no immediately practical result coiiVJ follow from any opinion we might now onV. If our views could have been brought before Parliament while tho Bill was yet in ptygrcss, thcro would be every motivo to a^ rigid examination of its provisions, and a strenuous urging of any improvements which wore deemed desirable. But the great probability is that, before this date, tho measure has in some form received tho Royal assent, and that thereforo all we could now say upon it, would bo utterly powerless in moulding its shape. Such being tho facts we shall be excused for at least postponing comments on tho Bill, until wo shall have more complete information. A point of immediate concern, howover, is the bearing it may have—supposing it to havo become law — on tho Provincial Council, for which tho olections are to take place next week. It is quite evident that tho ultimate effect of the measure (assuming it to have passed in the form before us) must bo to substitute for that Council another, differing not only in tho number of members but in the essence of its constitution, as being wholly elective, whilo the existing Ordinance ma ntains tho nominee element. It is very possible that the Council to bo now chosen may nevor assemble : — it is even within the range of possibility that a despatch may at this hour bo on its way from Wellington announcing that the Governor-in-Ohicf had lucon informed of tho disallowance of the Ordinance, and was therefore under tho necessity of stopping all proceedings founded upon it. Tho view of some such probability as this influenced Mr. Bartley's committee in advising that gontlomari's withdrawal from tho present contest, notwithstanding their conviction that, had he gone to the Poll, (however the lateness of his entrance on tho field might have affected tho numerical result), he would have received an amount of support from the intelligent, moderate, thoughtful, and therefore really respectable, portion of tho community, of which any candidate might bo proud. At tho same time there is also of courso tho possibility that the new Act may not come into operation until next year, and that, in the interval, the Provincial Council may moot for tho despatch of business (such as the passing of the Estimates for 1£53) which could bo postponed without considerablo inconvenienco and dcrangemont of public affairs.

It is obviously taken for granted, both by the candidates for scats in the Provincial Council, and by the electors generally, that thb 'moral and political influence wliicli-tho members of tho Council may be able to exorcise, will extend far beyond the limits by ■which the Law dofincs their actual power of legislation; — in other words, that although they will not be able' to make laws respecting some of tho most important matters affecting the interests of the Province, yet there is no question of public moment on which they will not bo free to pronounce an opinion,andprivilegcdtomako representations, which will command an amount of deferential attontion in the quarters whenco alone effective legislation can issue, such as no mere private expression of [ the mind of tho community could obtain in ! anything like the same degree. This is a sufficient reason for tho desiro of electors to bo informed of the views entertained on such feubjects by those who seek their suffrages, and a justification of tho discussion of them through tho Press in especial connection with the pending elections. Amongst those topics none is more present to every mind t)ian tho LAND QUESTION, involving, as it confessedly does, to a t pre-eminent extont the welfare and progross of the Province. It is very gratifying to observe tho all but unanimous agreement in tho conclusion' that Cheap LancT is not only desirablo, but absolutely indispensable to tho prosperity of the country. Th rough the Provinco at large, tho demand for Cheap Land is echoed and ro-cchood ; and if there be horo and thcro a fow crotchotty or interested individuals who oppose tho general view, their numbor is so small, and thoir prospects of gaining accessions to their ranks so hopeless, as to render thoir opposition a very inconsiderable matter. The vast majority are undoubtedly agreed in seeking for tho. reduction of the upset prico to the lowest sum at which land can bo brought into the market, after paying tho original purchasemoney, and tho really necessary expenses, such as surveying, &c. It is greatly to bo regretted that this centro of agreement should bo complicated by the association with it in some quartersof a demand for tho repeal of the Native Land Purchaso Ordinance, and for a permission to private purchasers to traffic m land directly with tho Natives, instead of maintaining the Crown's existing right of preemption. One of tho city candidates, Mr. Brown, has issued a long and laboured address to tho electors, in which this element of discord is made to occupy a largo and prominent place; and ho attempts to support his viow of the " vital and immodiato importanco" of rescinding tho Ordinance, ■ and leaving the Natives to sell at their pleasure either to the settlers or to the Government, not only ,by tho general arguments which have been urgod (and, as we bclievo,rcfuted) 'many times ovcr,but also and especially by ono statement, which seems so widely mischievous in its tendency, as well as so incorrect in its substance, that we feel bound to notico and protest against it. Mr. Jirown says, — " However desirable it may be that the government should be the solo purchasers,— however greatly the colonists might prefer to buy from the government instead of from tho natives,- — it becomes indispensable toconccde tho rights of tho latter in order to conciliate the tribes and insuro thuir good will, mid secure at the same time tho co-operation of the settlers in the Government arrangements. "Tina right belongs in justico to the natives. Its evasion has been effected by the breach of a

solemn Treaty. But wore it otherwise, and were the authorities ever so desirous of continuing to liold it in abeyance, this can only be done for a very limited tune longer. It has already become a source of discontent. The Natives are well aware that the odious prohibition has checked the progress of the colony ; has kept very many of them in poverty and misery by preventing the Europeans Irom locating amongst them to supply their wants, and to call forth their industrial energies." By the " Solemn Treaty" here alleged to be violated, we presume the Treaty of Waitangi is meant. Will Mr. Brown tell the electors how this Treaty has been broken by the Crown's retention of the right of pre-emption, seemg 1 that it was a \ formal stipulation in that Treaty that the Crown should hold this very right ? The same Article of the Treaty which recognised and guaranteed the rights of the Natives to " the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates,** contained also these words, — " But the Chiefs of the United Tribes, and the individual Chiefs, yield to Her Majesty the exclusive right of pre-emption over such lands as the proprietors thereof may be dispo«ed to alienate, at such prices as may be agreed upon between the respective proprietors and persons appointed by Her Majesty to treat with them on that behalf." Thus, while the Treaty, on the one hand, secured to the Tribes the right of property in their lands,— and thus erected a just and, we trust, an immutable barrier against such schemes of spoliation as some colonizing 1 speculators have at various times striven to «arry out, — it, on the other, secured to the Crown as sacredly a right to be the sole purchaser of the land, — the intention being that the Crown should act not only as guardian of the Natives, but as trustee of the whole community, acquiring the lan d for the benefit of all, and turning it to the best account for both Natives and Settlers. We confess ourselves wholly at a loss to •comprehend how the exercise of a right of pre-emption expressly stipulated in the Treaty can be construed into a " breach" of that Treaty. A point less theoretical, however, is Mr. Brown's assertion that it is "indispensable" to put an end to the system which makes the Crown the sole purchaser; and that it is so in order * ( to conciliate the tribes, and secure their good will." If this have any definite meaning, it must be that the Natives aro •actuated by a hostile spirit, which can only be pacified by the adoption of the writer's views. That such is the meaning seems evident from the subsequent statement as to the prevalence of " discontent" amongst them, and the assertion that the authorities will be unable, however desirous they may be, to continue the existing plan of purchase beyond " a very limited time longer." Are we then really on the verge of another Maori war, unless the Government give themselves up to the guidance of Mr. "William Brown 1 We do not believe it. We are not without means of learning the dispositions of the Native tribes throughout the country generally, and we are most fully convinced that the prevailing •disposition amongst them is not one of 4i discontent" and disloyalty, but that there never was a period since the establishment of the colony in which there was less danger of their attempting to break out against the Government and the settlers. In past days there were localities in which disaffected Europeans instilled notions of fancied wrongs into the minds of the Natives around them ; and we can -easily conceive still that the portion of Mr. Brown's address on which we are •commenting, — if it were read to halfinstructed Maories by some mischief-maker who would enlarge upon their alleged *' poverty and misery because of this "" odious prohibition,' — might generate a vague feeling of discontent ;--but we emphatically and earnestly deny that there is any «pirit extensively abroad such as would render it "indispensable" to take immediate steps to " conciliate" the natives. The tendency of such representations as these is bad, very bad, bad altogether,— whether we consider their effect on the Native mind, or on timid colonists who may suppose them trustworthy, or on intending -emigrants who may well be terrified from a land in which a Native out-break is thus ominously threatened. If indeed the system which Mr. Brown advocates were to be revived, it might soon place the Natives in a position to make war, which the Arms Ordinances now prevent their attaining, by making it worth while for reckless speculators to smuggle quantities of firearms along the coast, — to be exchanged for land, in reality and substance, although perhaps not formally or nominally. No, no; let the question of purchasing land be argued on its real merits ; but let no man insinuate such charges as this against the Native population and cast such a shade over the colony, unless he be prepared to substantiate his allegations by some better evidence than assertion or opinion. It is trifling too lightly with a deeply serious matter. We have not space to enter upon the the reasons why we maintain that unrestricted dealing for land between the Native owners and European buyers would not, at least at present, be for the general good. But we have lately referred to the subject, and may soon do so again. It is fair to observe, however, that Air. Brown himself admits that Government Kegulations would be necessary, although he does not furnish any information respecting the nature of these rules. Had he done so, it is not unlikely that we should have found —either that they involved impracticable arrangements, or that they would be more troublesome and tedious to the purchaser than the present system by which he obtains easily and atonce a secure Crown title to his lands. To return for a moment to the point from which we set out. Cheap Land is the great object which we all have in view ; there is every reason to believe that botli the Colonial Government and the Imperial Authorities aro disposed to take the necessity of granting it into their favourable and immediate consideration ; if there be now " a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether" for this grand object, we have good hope of its being attained at no distant day. What really useful end, wo ask, would be lost, if we could secure an opening

of the country by the large purchase of land by the Government,* and the offer of the land at a merely sufficient — (we mean a sufficiently low)— upset price \ In connection with such a plan, we might look for additional facilities ; — say an arrangement by which even small sections of land desired by individual settlers should be purchased by the government from the Natives, and brought at once into the market,-— a proposal which wo should think would not be refused, provided those sections were in parts of the country where the Government could protect the settler — a condition which prudence and propriety would dictate as necessary. Our conclusion is, that such influence as the Provincial Council may possess should be exerted for the attainment of Cheap Land : but exerted without embarrassing, — and, as a most probable consequence, indefinitely retarding - the accomplishment of the great object, by linking it \\ ith projects which are sure to encounter opposition both in the colony and at home. Impracticable men, however sincere they may be, generally hinder, more than they promote, purposes of public utility.

* Having repeatedly and strongly urged (as we still urge) that the Government should spare jio effort and no reasonable outlay in the extensive purchase of Native Lands, for the purposes of the colonists, it is but justice to slate that we believe they are not negli gent of the important objrct. Recently, amongst other pui chases, a large tract of land has been bought in the neighbourhood of Hawkes Bay, involving, we believe, a cost of about £2000 in purchase money, surveying, &c. Of this sum, a portion amounting to £1000 has bepn pnid from the Land Fund of the Province of New Ulster for that section of the newly acquired tract which lies within, the not only present boundaries of the Province, but witbin its piobable boundaries notwithstanding any arrangements likeljr to arise out of the division into Provinces now to be anticipated. This we suppose to be the money which it has been said has been " smuggled from the poor folks of the North to carry on his (Governor Grey's) war of wasteful extravagance in the South :" at all events so far as we can learn, there lias been no other money to which the imputations broached on the subject can by any latitude of interpretation be construed to apply. We are aware that the sum has been stated as two thousand pounds, but we have here only the old story of the three black crows over again.

We believe that we shall »act in accordance with the wishes of a considerable number of electors by reprinting the following question from a series which it was lately suggested in our columns should bo proposed to candidates, and by urging on all who have still disengaged votes, to satisfy the?nselves clearly as to the views entertained on this vital question by any candidate on whoso behalf their support may now be solicited. We believe that both Mr. Whitakor and Captain Salmon have answered a substantially identical inquiry in a manner calculated to satisfy the minds of the friends of Religious Education :— On the vitally important subject of Education, — Do you hold as an essential and immutable principle that the foundation of knowledge should be laid in the truths of Revealed Religion ? Do you generally approve of the existing Oi'dinnnce, — which recognises that principle, and, as the most suitable mode of giving it operation in this colony, apportions the grant for the education of aboriginal, half-caste, and destitute young persons in aid of the Schools in connexion with the several Christian Missionary Bodies, by whose efforts the Natives have been brought out of their former darkness into the measure of light in which the present colonists have found them ! Would you accordingly sustain that Ordinance, requiring, however, that the clause which provides for a regular Inspection o£ the Schools shall bo faithfully carried out by coinpetetit and responsible Inspectors appointed as provided by the Ordinance \ Since the above was in type, we have received a communication declaring Mr. O'NciU's views on this subject. It will be found in another column.

Br private communications received by the John Wesley, we have accounts of a serious disturbance in the Friendly Islands, which may be characterised as a civil war, or still more properly a rebellion of a portion ofhispeople against the benevolent and intelligent King George, whose unremitting exertions for the welfare of his subjects merited a very different return. For a considerable time there have been disaffected persons, inclined on all occasions to resist his authority ; and it would seem that he treated them with an amount of clemency and forbearance which has only resulted in their collecting their strength until they have attained a position in which they think they can set him at defiance. They have occupied two fortresses — one at Bea, the other at Ilouma — both provided with arms and ammunition, and the former of which was deemed (fin- a Tonga fortification) remarkably strong. After indulging for some time in threats to take the reins of Government out of the hands of the Tuikana/cabolu (the "Governor-General'"or"Emperor"),theyatlength, on the 20£h of February last, made an attack on a number of women, who were only saved by the circumstance that one of them happened to be sister to the Chief of Bea, by whose influence the assailants, though very reluctantly, spared their lives. Meanwhile, the rebels were reinforced by criminals flying from the punishment of their offences to the fortresses of the rebels, where they found ready shelter and welcome. Skirmishes subsequently took place in which the King lost several of his best and most valiant men in one battle ten were killed and thirteen wounded, Joel, the King's brother, and his son Josiah being amongst the wounded. The mode of suppressing the rebellion which George was pursuing when the John Wesley left, was to build a wall around the forts, s"o as to cut them on" from all supplies, and starve the rebels into submission,— a course which the humane King preferred, from his anxiety as far as possible to avoid the shedding of more blood. Nearly all the able bodied men of Ilabai and Vavou were collected at this work, and every hope was entertained that the scheme would issue successfully. The Wesleyan Mission had lost a long-tried and most valuable Missionary, the Rev. William Webb, who had been labouring in the Islands since 1 840. He died at Ilabai of an inflammatory attack, after a very short illness. Ilia widow and orphan children have arrived here in the John Wesley,

Auckland Land Association.— -Oh Mondayevening a numerously attended meeting of the Shareholders of this Association was held at the Mechanics Institute, at which stops were taken to proceed with the project at once and on a scale of extended utility. Prc&s of matter obliges us to postpone a fuller notice till Saturday.