PETITION TO PARLIAMENT AGAINST THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY’S CLAIM ON THE AUCKLAND LAND FUND.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 703, 8 January 1853, Page 2

PETITION TO PARLIAMENT AGAINST THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY’S CLAIM ON THE AUCKLAND LAND FUND.

The Petition of the Undersigned Kleibers of the Provinc'al Council of New Utter Homely Sheweth. — That in tbe yeai T305 -a Joint Slock lompany, called the New Zealand Land Company * waslbrnit-i : m "s_,oncion, with a considerable capital, t solti/for commercial otjects, “ similar precisely to those Wiich for the last twenty years had actuated great umbers of Her Majesty’s subjects in purchasing Lud in New Zealand,” and “ great pains J were taen by those who fanned tbe Company to give it tilt (commercial) character entirely.” Tuat the Company commenced ad carried on their operations in opposition to the vvists, and in defiance of the authority of Her Majesty’s Imenal Government, and in the face of a warring from .ord John Russell, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, that “ Her Majesty’s Government had not f rtognised tbe Society designated the New Zealand Comjiny of London, and could not be held responsiole fonny disappointments in which the members of that or atr similar hotly might be involved, by engaging in suci opsrations as those mention* d in the Prospectus.” That the Agent of the said Comjiny established their first and principal Settlement in Jew Zealand, at Port Nicholson, and founded Wellington That shortly afterwards Capon Hobson, haring acquired for the Crown the Svereignty of New Zealand, founded two Govemenf Townships, the one in the Bay of Llanq, the oldest Settlement in New Zealand, and the other ut tbe Thames, the latter of which, name Auckland, was declared *to be the capital,—confirm! as such hy Her Majesty, and the Land there sold t an enhanced price accordingly, and the proceeds receied by Her Majesty’s Government. That the Settlements of Aucklaii and Wellington are distant $ from each other about 30 miles “an enormous practical distance,” and tbeinever has been any connexion whatever be ween theirexcept that of compelled, to the injury of boil to live under the same Local Government. That other Settlements have fm time to time been formed in connexion with the Ne Zealand Company, but they have been as distinct asVellington from the Government Settlements, and witlhe exception of tbe small Settlement of New Plymou, more distant from Auckland. L That the New Zealand Compy’s Settlements and those founded hy tbe Governmermave ever continued as distinct and separate in tbeir icrests, and progress, as they were in their origin—in ft there is infinitely more commerce, and more frequeiand regular communication between the Settlementsf New Zealand and Her Majesty’s Australian Coloniethan between Auckland and Wellington. That not one single shilling offe Company’s money has been spent in, or even witldvantage to, tbe Government Settlements, and the hare never received any assistance whatever either wards their colonization, or otherwise, from the Nr Zealand Company, but on the contrary, that Comny, its Agents and dependents have unceasingly ns* their utmost endeavours to disparage and injure tlSeltlement of Auckland in particular, and traduce thiaracter of its inhabitants. 'That your Petitioners deenit unnecessary specifically to point out all the numous documents in existence verifying this statemenyat they request attention to a few circumstances asiljßtrwtive' l *®i-ibe and conduct of the Company towtds Auckland, and to show how entirely foreign from>eir Settlements those founded by tbe Government ha l ever been considered and treated. |j 1. At the foundation of Aiicknd Governor Hobson, being about to erect a Govnment House, advertised throughout the Cole/ for workmen, and a few were obtained at Wliugton and. sent to Auckland, The iuhahitan of the former place immediately held a public-eeting to remonstrate, at which a petition for Qernor Hobson’s recall was adopted, and the Nr Zealand Company made the strongest repressions on the subject, and preferred an applicant to the Secretary of State that “ the Commissierg of Colonial Lands and Emigration might beirected to send out to