ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 90, 9 June 1843, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist. Post Office, Petre, May 20, 1843. Sir, —An opinion seems to prevail ainongst the mercantile community of New -Zealand, that consignees’ letters —that is, letters delivered'to the captain of a vessel concerning the, goods shipped with him—are not liable to postage. Permit me in your paper to state, that to an enquiry .on the subject, the PostmasterGeneral was pleased to reply, that “ the Ordinance does not exempt consignees’ letters. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, SAMUEL KING, Honorary Postmaster. To : the Editor'of the New Zealand Colonist . Wanganui, '2oth May, 1843, the concluding sentence of my letter, -published in your paper of the 12th instant; I intimated "the intention of saying something in my next on the subject of the-purchase of this district, regarding, ns we all do here, that the mode adopted forged the grand liiik 'of the chain which has relentlessly tethered our industry, for these last two years, in the swamp of utter unprofitableness, and endless expense. By way of exordium to this, Und tb others ‘in petto, and for the sake-of contrast, I hope you will permit me to advert shortly to the history of a man Who merits a much move distinguished niche in the temple of colonial fame, than any who went before or have come after hiin ; for I may boldly affirm that there is not, in the annals of colonisation, a name that stands so conspicuously in the foreground as that of the unpretending Friend or Quaker William Penn. All other founders or jobbers of states or colonies, want more or less the grand virtue that distinguished him J nay, with only bne or ,two exceptions, truth, I fear, warrants us to classify 'them as aggrandizers, warlike adventurers, and enslaving invaders and destroyers; as wild visionaries ; as commercial projectors, and swindlers ; find as specious, but venal, unacknowledging, modifiers, and copyists of the just, benign, and success-crowned plan of William Penn. When he went „to establish the' State which still bearshis name, he did ntit go without his warrant. The province was assigned to him by royal charter, not as a ■courtly donation, but as payment of a debt which the Government owed to his family. As the territory ..so •obtained was under the assumed sovereignty of Britain, he had only, in accordance with the practice of his predecessors, to go and delude by baubles and promises, or to force possession by driving back, or exterminating the cumbring aborigines, and thus, per fas et nefas, to become the lord paramount of the soil. Fortunately for those he went amongst, Penn was actuated by better principles. “ He knew,” says one of his biographers, “ that the country was already in the occupation of tribes, who inherited it from ancestors by a-term of possession which probably was unequalled by any thing which the inhabitants of Europe had to shew for their territoriestherefore, he regarded the royal charter merely as securing him against any other British claimaut, and not as an authority for native disinheritance. So far from this, he paid the aborigines for the territory; he also made them many presents, and in his articles of agreement he voluntarily stipulated, and solemnly pledged that they should not be molested in the country -they had alienated, but reside among the English, and, under the law .of meum tuum, have the same liberty to cultivate, ffie ground, and provide sustenance for their families; which the English had. One paragraph more, and I shall have done with. Penn. He did not go about to purchase ini the easy,, unceremonious, but coup-de-main fashion, which wo have seen and heard of in our day. He was a plain man of business, and knew how to' gP about it. He sent com.

Unssioners to America a year before himself, and these men had not only to propose, and deliberately arrange terms with the aborigines, but had to prepare the way in other respects for the new inhabitants. Finally, he went himself, and, impressed with the consciousness that his business concerned all, be requested to meet the tribes, sachems and people, in full convocation, and when so Assembled, he addressed them in the language of honest intention, stated his views and purposes, read to them, article by article, the conditions of the purchase, and, personally, paid to them the price agreed upon. Thus, by fair open dealing, and thorough mutual understanding, he brought the bargain to so unambiguous a conclusion, that for so long as he and his successors retained the chief power in the government of the State —and that was for a period of at least seventy years—ejection was never threatened, the murmur of discontent was never heard, and concord was never violated. And now, Sir, for Wanganui. What was the ceremony observed there ? Did the Agent of the New Zealand Company take the trouble to visit the domain before he purchased it ? Did he see more than two or three of the multitude of the native proprietors before or at the time of the purchase ? Did he adopt any form or ceremony, or personally attend, at the ratification ? Did the vendors get equitable shares of the property sent by the Company's Agent to Wapgamii as payment ? To answer and comment on all these queries would extend this communication beyond due bounds; I shall, therefore, at present, confine myself to a few circumstances regarding the last; and the fact is notorious that the property which was sent hither to pay for the territory, instead of being delivered formally by the Company’s Agent’s Agent to the several individual proprietors, was landed on the river bank, and there left to be distributed by the natives themselves. As should have been anticipated, might and right went to loggerheads, and right, as is usual in such cases, went to the wall. In other words, scramble superseded fair distribution, and the Company’s barter became the native’s booty. One of the chiefs, who it seems was backed by a numerous tail , but who it is alledged had no great claim, from the extent of land he had exchanged, got the best share ; another got, what to this day he considers enough; but the majority got very little, some only a blanket or two, or some such valueless consideration, and others, it is said, got nothing at all. The fact is unquestionable, that two considerable chiefs were absent, who neither signed the deed, nor received any part of the payment, yet their properties were surveyed, sectioned off, and given out to us as Company’s land, in despite of all they could say, though not of all they could do, more than eighteen months ago, and without other attempt, on the part of the Company’s Agent, to rectify the injustice, than by occasional promise that “ utu” would be paid, but which, up to this date, has not been realized ! By such delays the confidence of these men has been sadly warped, and all the evils that have overtaken us are to be traced to this account, and to their influential agency among their fellows — “ Hoc font’e derivata clades In patriam populumque fluxit.” Unfortunately we have been made the proximate sufferers, for, until very recently, the natives had always identified us with the Company, or, rather, they regarded us as the creatures of its Agent; for, I do believe, they are, almost to a man, as ignorant cf the existence of the former, as we learned Thebans are of the inhabitants of Jupiter. •, . j., But 1 find I am transgressing bounds, so reserve what remains till another opportunity, I am, Sir, Your most obedient servant, CRISO.