THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION — AND MR. GODLEY. (From the "Wellington Spectator,")

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 668, 8 September 1852, Page 4

THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION — AND MR. GODLEY. (From the " Wellington Spectator,")

The correspondence between the Colonial Office and the Cantcibury Association, in reference to the founding of the Settlement, shows beyond a doubt that Earl drey was induced to .«ivc his support to the scheme, solely on account of that very prominent part of the design which had reference to the establishment and maintenance of ecclesiastical and educational institutions. It "\vos this attractive feature also that induced the hierarchy of England to countenance the colonizing scheme. Having won over such powerful support, the toorhing members of the Association commenced canvassing for land purchasers, who were entrapped by the promises made with regard to the establishment of the above institutions. We have frequently pointed out the fact that these promises have never been, nor are they ever likely to be performed, and yet it is incomprehensible to us how the Canterbury settlers can so quietly submit to the gross, undeniable fraud inflicted on them by the working members of the Association. Not only have the land purchasers been grieviously injured, but those prelates and clergy of our church, who have given their support to the scheme for the ! reasons we have already stated, have been intentionally deceived ; the confidence they reposed in the working members, that these pledges would be redeemed, has been openly betrayed. In the charter granted by her Majesty incorporating the Association, we find the name of the Archbishop of Dublin dragged forward, apparently with the design of giving solidity to the scheme ; whereas the names of those who have inflicted the injury are mentioned as "others of our loving subjects." The charter also seems to have been granted on the express understanding that, among other things, the Association were to appropriate two-sixths of their funds to ecclesiastical and educational purposes ; — they have not done this, — we believe they never intend to do it, and from the nonfulfilmcnt of this part of the agreement we assert that ,the charter has become a dead letter. On a previous occasion we showed in plain terms that there were neither schools nor churches in the Canterbury settlement, that the promised i stipends were not paid to the clergymen ; and we may further state that several of the clergy have eitlier left the settlement, or are compelled to draw an existence from the soil, and are thereby prevented from giving that earnest, undivided attention to the " cure of souls" which they most sincerely desire to give. There was also j much talk about creating the Canterbury district into a bishop's see. — this was a mere bubble which for a time seemed to expand, and assisted towards filling the Association's coffers, by deluding with the bright but evanescent colours it reflected ; but it soon bnrst. Certainly every effort has been made to keep the scheme going — even an attempt to raise the wind by borrowing money under the sanction of Parliament, — but this was vigorously resisted by her Majesty's Government, who detected the hollowness and instability of the scheme of the Association. In making the application to have a money clause inserted in the bill proposed by them to Parliament, the Association got a reply from Earl Grey which completely destined their hopes of being able much longer to continue their delusion. His Lordship stated that "no intimation was given to him that it was the contemplation of the projectors of this enterprise to adopt the very questionable expedient, which is now declared to be essential to its success, of relying largely on borrowed money for the means of conducting it. Indeed, raising a loan formed no part, as far as he could trace, of the original scheme of the Association, except to this extent only, that £26,000 was to be advanced by the New Zealand Company for first expenses." In trying to obtain Earl Grey's sanction to a loan, the Association went on the same tack they did when first asking for the support of Government. Religion and education were their chief concern. So much of the borrowed money was to be devoted to religious and educational purposes, — but the Colonial Minister had been caught onee — and, profiting by experience, was too wary to be entrapped a second time. Their only object, in fact, in going to Parliament was to obtain its sanction to negociate a loan — but this sanction was more properly refused. — The Duke of Newcastle was not allpowerful, and the bill passed — "shorn of its money clauses" — and from that day the hopes of the Association vanished. Since then they have been rapidly but quietly preparing for a final break up, — they have been employed in " setting their house in order" previous to their dissolution, — and Mr. Godley, as the Resident Agent, performs his part in preparing for the retreat. The unfortunate land purchasers Avho have been so fearfully duped, are to be put into a state of " coma" by the sensitive Ugh minded Agent, they are to be rendered forgetful of the gross injuries inflicted on them — they are not to murmur against the misdeeds of Mr. Godley and his coadjutors in England ; they are quietly to submit to the misappropriation of their funds paid in trust to the Association — funds misappropriated by a body of men organized for the ostensible purpose of planting a Church of England settlement in New Zealand, where every moral precept was to be practised. Verily an excellent example has been set by this body of exemplary men, we mean the working men of the Association. No step can be taken by the local Government, "but Mr. Godley endeavours to withdraw the attention of the Canterbury land purchasers from their own grievances against the Association, by attempting in his own unscrupulous way to shew that it presses hardly on the settlers ; that it is an encroachment on their privileges as Englishmen, and tends towards an absolute form of Government. In carrying on a factious agitation against the Government, he hopes to " kill two birds with one stone," — that his misdeeds will be overlooked by the land purchasers, while at the same time he may possibly ingratiate himself with the people. It is difficult to ascertain what is the true state of feeling among the settlers generally with reference to the subjects alluded to, as the Canterbury press is completely under Mr. Godley's control ; his journals are employed in misrepresenting the acts of the local Government, and In trying to create the greatest possible amount of discontent against Sir George Grey ; any timid remonstrance that may be made against the Association by a settler more bold than the rest, is sure to be ridiculed. One gentleman of some influence, Mr. Brittan would be heard. No doubt what he said proved xmpalatable to the Agent ; it certainly fully confirms what we have always advanced in reference to Mr. Godley's factious opposition to the Government. " Notwithstanding much laboured effort to get up an artificial excitement, the great body of the community cared little if anything about the movement; they were very well satisfied to allow matters to go on as they were ; they considered the general interests of the settlement were sufficiently well looked after, and they were not disposed to join any society for the mere purpose of political agitation, when they were suffering from no very great present hardships, or present political grievances. This is plain speaking, and shows how much more would be said were the Canterbury press not controlled by the Association's Agent. Watching as we have done, the whole of Mr. Godley's proceedings, from the day on which he first landed at Wellington up to the present time, we are driven to the conclusion that nothing can be more unfair, more ungenerous,— we may even go further and add — more dishonest than \\\i entire public conduct. And we say this, whethci we look to the part he has taken with regard te the injuries inflicted on the Canterbury settler; by the non-fulfilment of the engagements

entered into by the Association, or the hostility he has uniformly shown to Sir George Grey's Government. To do the Association justice, we believe they have disapproved in the strongest manner of Mr. Godley's conduct towards Sir George Grey's Government, as exhibited on his first arrival in the colony ; and we further know, from good authority, that their confidence in him as a practical man of business and ability Avas altogether destroyed, and that had there been even the slightest* probability of their operations being continued for any time, his resignation would have been most willingly accepted. Within a very short period he will have to resign his functions as Agent ; a retrospective glance at his colonial career will be to him a cheerless one ; — ambitious hopes blighted, — jiround him men defrauded of that which they have paid for — men seduced from England by promises never intended to be fulfilled, promises made under the colour and cloak of religion. No wonder that Mr. Godley makes every effort to divert the attention of those men from the injuries they have sustained — that he uses every effort to do away with the idea that £3 per acre is too high a price to pay for land. They were assured most solemnly that they would derive a benefit, boyond the mere land, in proportion to the amount they paid. What Circean charm, we avoulcl ask, can Mr. Godley have thrown around the Canterbury land purchasers to keep them spellbound — silent — in subjection, whilst suffering under such grievous injuries \