DESPATCH OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1716, 20 August 1862, Page 4

DESPATCH OF THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE.

Downing-street, 26th May, 1862. Slit, —I have had under my consideration your despatches, noted in the margin, informing me of" the language which you have held to your Ministry, of the plans which you propose to yourself and them, and of the course which you desire the Home Government to pursue in reference to the management of Native affairs, and the cost of the war in New Zealand. 1. In the first place, you inform me that you propose hereafter to conduct Native affairs, like all other matters, with the advice of your Executive Council, and you deprecate any attempt to SJt up either the Governor, or any special body, between the Natives and the General Assembly as a protective power. 2. You propose to establish a machinery for the government and improvement of the Natives, which you suppose will eventually cost about fifty thousand ounds a-year. Half of this sum yon state* is already provided oy the Colonial Legislature, and you have led the local Government to expect that the other half will be virtually supplied by the Imperial Government in the shape of a reduction from the Colonial contribution of five pounds a head to the expense of the Imperial force stationed in New Zealand. 3. You propose the maintenance for some years of a large military force, partly as a standing exhibition of strength and determination, partly in order to afford to the out-settlers that protection and sense of security which is essential to enable them profitably to occupy their farms. 4. You suggest that roads should be made by the troops (still supported, I presume, at the expense of the Imperial Treasury), in conjunction with Natives, and 5. You propose that military men should be employed as Commissioners in the Native districts, continuing while so employed to receive Imperial pay and allowances. With regard to the increasing debt due from the Colony to the British Treasury, you state that to exact payment would be to ruin the Colony, and you transmit a memorandum drawn up by the Colonial Treasurer, proposing the following course, " not to attempt to meet these demands, or to provide for this excessive expenditure at present, but to wait till th« existing difficulty is removed, to ascertain with accuracy what proportion of the expenses the Imperial Government would, after due deliberation and a full knowledge of the facts o f the case, charge the Colony with, and then to apply for a guaranteed loan of the requisite amount." Now I must in the first place observe that I see in the papers before mo no adequate apprehension, on the part of the New Zealand Government, of the obligation under which the colonists themselves lie to exert themselves in their own defence, and to submit to those sacrifices which are necessary from persons whose lives and property are in danger. Mr. Header Wood states that the annual revenue of the Colony (independently of the land revenue) is two hundred and seventy-two thousand pounds; he mentions that ninety thousand pounds of that sum are paid to Provincial Governments, and he observes that the land fund is Provincial revenue, and expended in colonisation and public works; but it does not appear to occur to him that the revenue itself might bo increased by the imposition of fresh taxation—that the portion of that revenue which is so applied as to relieve municipalities from the necessity of imposing local taxes might be applied in whole, "or in part, to the more pressing needs of the Colony, and that the portion of that revenue which is devoted to pubile works and colonisation may, in times of disaster, and particularly in time of civil war, which is disaster, be diverted to the permanent object of averting absolute ruin. No doubt, in steps like these, the Colony would be making sacrifices. But this is exactly what the British Government has. a right to expect from them. Those who arc expending half a million a-year in the defence of the colonists aud their property (a very appreciable item among those which fix on the British tax-payer the burthen of an income tax) are entitled to expect from these colonists that, instead of having recourse to the momentary relief of a loan, exhausted it would seem almost before it was raised, they should by some immediate, general, and lasting sacrifice of the kind which I have indicated, give some pledge of their readiness to take their share, as far as their means will allow, in the defence of their country. A)V\, |R

without remark that passage in the Colonial Trea»i*J financial statement of the 23rd July, 1861 hvSSf he characterises as "most unfairly charged C!olony" demands properly made against the Cota Government by the Commissariat, nor the very animadversions.made in the Colonial the conduct of the Commissariat Officer in brrari forward these claims in the simple discharge o fr duty. ** Little, however, as I am satisfied with the conw ofyour despatch in these respects, I am earnS desirous to afford the Colony in a time of undoubtM trial the utmost assistance which can be eh*n with any justice to this country. I therefore proceed to communicate to you as explicitly as is now do*. sible, the decision of Her Majesty's Government ram the questions which you have raised. ™ I am ready to sanction the important step you W, already taken in placing the management of the native under the control of the Assembly. Ido so partly k reliance on your own capacity to perceive, and vZ desire to do, what is best for those in whose welfare l know you are so much interested. But I do it ako because I cannot disguise from myself that the en<3b. vour to keep the management of the natives under the • control of the Home Government has failed. It can ■ only be mischievous to retain a shadow of responsibilitv when the beneficial exercise of power has become impossible. I cannot hold out to you ary hopes that a lara military force will for any length of time be kept m New Zealand. It is for the colonists themselves to nm. vide such a military police force as will protect uW out-settlcrs. It is not worth while to the Colonrto furnish such protection, it would seem to follow that it is not worth while to retain those out-settlements. Yon must, therefore, expect, though not an immediate yet a speedy aud'considerable diminution of the force'now employed. I doubt whether, under present military regulations an officer can be detached from his regiment to save' as Commissioner in a native district, but in case this should prove practicable her Majesty's Government can only assent to such an arrangement on the understand, ing that the whole pay of the officer shall be defraud by the Colony. I can hold out no prospect that this country will consent to bear any part of the expense of the local militia and volunteers; all existing and future liabilities on this score must be defrayed by the Colony. This sum appears to have amounted on the 29th of October last, to one hundred and ninety-tbree thousand one hundred and eighty pounds. The agreement so lately entered into by the Colonial Government for the contribution of five pounds per man to the cost of the troops stationed in the Colony must also be fulfilled up to the close of the year 1861.' But in consideration of the present difficulties of the Colony, and in compliance with your advice, Her Majesty's Government will be prepared, under the following conditions, to reckon as military contribntion all sums shown to be expended in a manner approved « by you on native government, or other purely natiye objects, in excess of twenty-six thousand pounds, wiich I understand to be the amount now paid from the Colonial revenue towards those objects. The conditions subject to which I am able to anthorise this concession are the following:— * 1. The amount furnished by the Colonial Government shall not be less than twenty-six thousand pounds, and that furnished by the Imperial Government must not exceed the amount of Military contribution due from the Colonial to the Imperial Govern. ment, calculated at the rate of five pounds a head for every soldier employed. 2. No other Imperial funds are to be employed, not any advances procured from the Treasury chest tr. wards paying the expenses of the scheme. 3. An account of these expenses must be furnished to the controller of the Treasury Chest for the infoimadon . of Her Majesty's Government and of Parliament, shewing the amount and application of this Imperial contribution. 4. The present arrangement is to last for three years, that is to say, from the Ist January, 1862, to the 31st December, 1864, when it is to be hoped mat the Colony may be in a position to provide for the well-being and government of the Natives, so far as the institutions which you propose to introduce shall not have become self-supporting by means of local taxation, a result which you will keep steadily in view —and the importance of which I cannot too earnestly impress upon you. 5. In giving up for a limited period the claim of this country to a portion of the present military contribution, no pledge is to be implied as to thecontinnance • of that contribution as a permanent arrangement; but it is clearly to be understood that the aid to hi required from New Zealand for military protection shall I remain subject to any general measures which Parlia- ' ment or Her Majesty's Government may adopt with regard to the maintenance of Imperial troops in the I Colonies. ' You will not foil, I trust, to recognise in these concessions the desire of Her Majesty's Government to eo-operate, in a spirit of liberality and confidence, with yourself and the Colony in the important and hopeful attempt which you and your Ministers are noivmaking to introduce such civilising institutions among the Native tribes as may, under the blessing of Providence, save both races o*f Her Majesty's subjects in New Zealand from the miseries of civil war, and the Imperial and Colonial Governments from the heavy bnrdens which it entails. I have, kc, Newcastle.

Downing-street, 17th May, 1662. Sib,—l have the honor to acknowledge tbe receipt of vour Despatch, No. 12, of February Bth, forwarding a Copy of a Correspondence which had passed between Commodore Sevmour and yourself, respecting the sudden withdrawal by his orders of the naval force stationed at New Zealand, with a view to its concentration at Sydney, in anticipation of war being proetaneo between this country and the Federal States of *ortfl America, and enclosing a Memorandum on th ? f which had been drawn up by your Responsible Advisers. . I see no reason to doubt that Captain Seymour exercised a wise discretion in placing himself in & Potion to act with effect for the protection of Win commerce, or otherwise, the moment that he snoon learn that war had been absolutely declared. Ihe Imperial Government have hitherto the Colonists of New Zealand in their conflict with HW natives, or, rather, has as yet taken upon comparatively trifling assistance from the Colonists, mt expense and responsibility of canjingpn tnatcouujSo lon-, however, as the inhabitants of bew ZeaJM rely for their defence upon aid furnished by theMomer Country, they must remain subject to the «gß| that that aid may be suddenly withdrawn or diminished in consequence of Imperial exigencies. The disposition of Her Majesty's GovcinmaJ" withdraw that aid would of course be materiauj , creased if it appeared that the effect of gm«**V to diminish the inclination of the Colonists Jg» sacrifices for their own protection, and I have in my Despatch of the 26th ultimo, No. SfrJ occasion to express my surprise at learning: iron Secretary of State for War that the annual tpgg Militia Force, as required by local ordinance, nas^ dlS lfyour Sponsible Advisers and yourself arerj* of opinion, as would seem to be the case, that aid is not worth having, if it is to be withdraw *» the interests of the Empire are at stake, Her M-P 1 . Government will readily give instructions for tM moval of any amount of military or naval force w«*» the colonists feel that they can dispense with. You state in your despatch that moor has informed you that the Board of' A*JW have issued an order which will «ftctaaDy f**2* Naval Brigade from again serving on SWOT Zealand. I collect, however, from a fcWIJ have received from their Lordships, tnat tneir against the habitual employment of this torce extend to cases of great emergency, but tan may still be employed on land on urgent;app Jfor aid being addressed to the naval mand by yourself or by the Commandcr-m-Onw-Ihare.&c, Gevemor Sir George Grey, &c, &c, &c. Downing-street, 20th May, «** £ Sib.-I have to acknowledge the i-sce ¥*g£t despatch, No. 23, of the Bth March, >" au , o to your previous despatch No. 12, calling a J the inconvenience attending the sudden from the New Zealand station to yo o Majesty's vessels, with the exception ottne r _ suggest whether it would not be P ro F r nieTns should be provided during *»K"£J!3 state of tho Colony, by which the move at any time from point to pomi, « presence mav be required. uC h the I have to observe in reply that, noweror t0 Commanders of Her Majesty s *W™% Co icoies. facilitate the movements of Govcrnas <» their power to do so must often depenu stances independent of the events ot t m ikned ot the only certain way of obviating l ' c '' int ciian« ? which you complain would be by tnc a vessel at the cost of the Colony. IhRVC ' &C N Ewasiiis. Governor Sir George Grey, &C, &C, &c. .