New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, October 19, 1844.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 2, 19 October 1844, Page 7

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK'S STRAITS GUARDIAN. Saturday, October 19, 1844.

We can hardly conceive any means so ill adapted to its professed end, as those which the Local Government, with the sanction of the Colonial Office, have hitherto employed in their treatment of the natives of New Zealand. The professed end in view is "christianizing and civilizing the Maories. The meaus employed, however, have, certainly, not made any Christians, and for one that has been civilized, ten thousand have been made hostile to the white man. This has taken place wherever the Government with its Protectors and Missionaries have interfered, and wherever the Maories have been let alone a contrary result may be observed. Where are the natives the most civilized, the most friendly to, and, as it were, incorporated with the Europeans? In the Middle Island, and especially at Otago, where neither the Government Protectors nor Missionaries have been till lately. Where are the natives, although aping some of the forms of Christianity, the least civilized or rather the most estranged from white men ? Wherever the Government and the Missionaries have interfered with them in the Northern Island. The cause of this effect is in the system pursued by the Government towards the natives, which is founded on a gross fallacy ; on the idea that, because the Maories are men in stature, they are men in intellectual acquirements. They are indeed, men, but only as regards the passions. They are children in intellect, and yet they have been treated as if they were all intellect and had no passions. In pursuance of this preposterous notion, the proceedings of the Government and the Missionaries, wjth a few exceptions, towaids the natives have been such as to instill into their minds ideas of their own importance, and of the relative inferiority of the colonists, that have produced the most disastrous effects. From viewing the Maories as a civilized race ready to perform the duties, and therefore entitled to the rights of British subjects, arose the calamity at the Wairau, afld the present almost insuperable difficulty of acquiring and possessing land. We all know, however, that the natives do not understand, even if they were willing to perform those duties, although they can, supported by the Government, under the guise of maintaining their rights, inflict most grievous injury on the colonists. For example, if a settler wants to possess land he will, probably, find more difficulty in accomplishing his object respecting a single acre, than he would in England respecting an estate of ten thousand a year. Although purchasing from savages, amongst whom it is rare to meet with one who can even guess at his own age, he must, to use a conveyancer's language, " extinguish the title " of this, that, and the other Maori claimant, with all che formality of the office of a master in Chancery, and and with almost a certain prospect, that, after he has paid his money, cleared his land, built his house, and sown his seed, some " Bill with the long nose," or "Bobby" with the big head," will insult, annoy, and worry him— if not drive him from the place. In spite, however, of this state of things the white men will settle. The energy, perseverance, and indomitable spirit of the Anglo Saxon race will impell them to contend with and surmount every obstacle, and, as sure as the sun shines, sooner or later all Maori opposition must disappear. By what process and at what time this consumation will be arrived at, no man* can foresee. So long as the Local Government adhere to its present system of exalting the natives and depressing the colonists, and so long as the Government at home will defray the expence of doing so, Maori opposition will make the progrtss of colonisation most miserably slow. We feel assured, however, that the day must come when, probably, in the time of some successor of the present Governor, this system will give place to a better one. The discovery that the present system by stoppiug colonisation, ira- 1 pedes civilisation, and prevents the'Maories 'from learning the forms of Christianity, will

be made. The Local Government will then, provided there be a Governor able to understand the subject, stand out in its due proportions. It will keep the Maories in their proper place, that is, in a nursery, whence they may be gradually taken and made, to a certain extent useful to the colonists, and it will bid the white man assume his place as the peac. - ful conqueror of the forest, the contented cultivator of the soil, and the only real benefactor of the Maori race. Before such a change shall be brought I about, however, we may have to pass through a fiery ordeal in which the patience and courage of the settlers will be severely tried. At the time of the arrival of the present Governor the proceedings of the Local Government had placed the colonists in the most hostile position possible, without being in a state of actual warfare. Since then the conduct of Captain Fitzroy at Waikani, where (in the language of a petition to both Houses of Parliament, just sent to England,) he " set at nought the forms and spirit of justice, assumed a power not possessed by the Crown itself, by abrogating at his pleasure the law and ill its tribunals for inquiring respecting the commission of murder, and inflicting punishment on murderers;" at Taranaki where he placed the Maori slaves on a level with English landowners, and at the Bay of Islands where he bartered the honor of Great Briatain for ten muskets, has perplexed, disappointed, and exasperated every cojo-aist,'as well as every one anxious for the benefit of the Maories by means of the progress and prosperity of the colony. If the Government adhere to its policy of sacrificing the colonists to some fanciful notion of preserving the Maories, both colonists and natives must languish, and the day, which we trust we shall not see, may arrive, when long hoarded injures are redressed, and the doom of the Maori race is sealed in blood. On the contrary let the Government adopt the wise policy of making the progress of the colony its first object, and thus Christianize and civilize the natives as well as lay the foundation of a thriving nation.

At a late Public Meeting of the inhabitants of Wellington a deputation was appointed to wait on Captain Fitzroy, to ascertain his Excellency's intentions respecting the settlerapnt of the Land Claims, and whether the same advantages are to be extended to Port Nicholson, which have recently been conferred on the Bay of Islands by making it a free port. It may not be amiss to employ the interval previous to his Excellency's arrival by adding a few observations to those we made last week, in the consideration of some of the questions connected with these two important snbjects. And first of the Land Claims. All must remember his. Excellency's stating, at the first levee held by him in this district, most distinctly and without any qualification, his intention of settling them. This settlement was to be immediate and final. His words were most precise, "He would settle the Land Claims if it were in the power of man, and that before leaving Port Nicholson," adding, " that if the Company's Agent refused to make the payments necessary for its final adjustment, be (the Governor) would make them on the part of the Governmerit,~and that the question ought to have been settled two years ago." We hold that his Excellency cannot be too often reminded of this positive pledge so publicly given, and which- he -has so openly neglected and violated. If it be asked why this question still remains unsettled when the Commissioner has made his award for this district, when the amount of compensation has been determined and tendered, and declared by Captain Fitzroy himself to be more' than adequate, and the unwillingness of the natives to accede to the arrangement, be assigned as the chief impediment to its final Adjustment we can in reply only state it to be our conviction that this unwillingness on their part, has been greatly increased by Captain Fitzroy 's conduct towards them. Whatever offences the New Zealanders commit,- however violent their conduct towards the settler, it is passed over as a trifling indiscretion, and they are held practically not to be amenable to the law. His Excellency's philanthropy appears to resemble that of the person spoken of in the Spectator, which was

so excessive that the hardest thing he was known to say, was in speaking of the Emperor Nerq, who he observed " it must be confessed was a great wag." It was in this spirit his Excellency treated those wags Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, and assuming for the occasion an authority greater than that of the Crown, he pardoned before trial those who had been guilty of murder, and exposed the inhabitants of this district to a repetition of these eccentricities, from the impunity extended to them. It was in this spirit that he treated that icag Heki, in the late disturbance at the Bay of Islands, who had robbed and ill-treated the white settlers, insulted their wives, and trampling with contempt on the British Flag, called on his confederates to imitate the example which had been set them at Wairau. After a great preparation had been made to punish these excesses, after an overwhelming force had been brought together, sufficient to overpower any resistance that could be offered by the natives of these Islands, after ships had been collected and troops assembled, who :—: — — like the king of France's men Marched up the hill and then, marched down again. His Excellency, as far as we can learn from the published versions of this affair, did not even see the principal offender Heki, who did not evon condescend to appear before him, but contented himself with writing a short note to his " Friend the Governor," stating in effect that he was born a wag, and that his Excellency must not be surpised if he should hereafter be guilty of similar eccentricities. We remember his Excellency was pleased to taunt the last Deputation with the superior civilization and quiet conduct of the natives to the North compared to those of this District, though it must be confessed the reproach was somewhat ill-timed, as very soon after, Mrs. Fitzroy prepared to leave Auckland in all haste, terrified at a serious and alarming disturbance, which had occurred among these very natives who were the subjects of his Excellency's panegyric. We do not knovr whether, after the recent outbreak at the Bay of Islands, the head quarters of the Missionaries, his Excellency will be disposed to institute any fresh comparisons ; at ail events we apprehend they will not be to the disadvantage of the settlers here, to whose moderation and forbearance alone our comparative tranquility must be attributed. But while we thus suffer from his Excellences neglect, we do not receive much better treatment from his Representative in this district. Michael Cassio said "he hoped to be saved, but the lieutenant was to be saved before the ancient ; " so our Superintendent, with that delicate sense of honor which we are assured on high authority is instultive to Government officials, is determined not to exceed his superior in office in his efforts to enforce the law and protect the settler. If his Excellency does nothing, his Honor does less than nothing ; if his Excellency will not repress the violence or correct the excesses of the natives, his Honor will not interfere with them in any way. We have only to refer to the Memorial of the settlers on the Hutt, printed in our last number, and substantiated by sworn depositions of the outrages committed by the natives in that district, to ask if these- things could, occur under a well ordered administration of the law, where adequate protection to property was afforded, or if his Honor concerned himself in aught regarding his important office beyond the receipt of its salary. But that we may not be supposed to indulge in mere empty declamation, we will cite two recent examples, out of many that might be brought forward by those who would take the trouble to collect them, of the manner in which the law is administered in this District, and which we think will fully justify the preceding remarks. It is sufficient to state that both cases occurred within five minutes walk of the Superintendent's residence, and we will leave the facts to speak for themselves. A native committed an open robbery in Mr. Lyon's store, on Lambton-quay, in broad day, and on being taken into custody was as openly rescued by his fellow countrymen. The Grand Jury returned a true bill against the native, but no steps that we are aware of have been taken by the Government authorities to bring the thief to his trial, or punish.

the breach of the peace committed in his rescue. No 4 for an example of another kind ; a nativj: is found in the private apartments attached to Messrs. Johnson and Moore's store, and is turned out by the lad in their employment. The native immediately commences brandishing his tomahawkani threatening violence, when the boy^P^f defence knocks him down. The native then complains to Major Richmond, who refers the matter to the Magistrate, who, after hearing the case, decides that the settler shall either pay a fine, or, in default, be committed to prison and hard labour for defending himself when attacked by a Maori, and he is committed accordingly. When the natives refused to receive the compensation tendered them for this district, and in the recent affair at the Bay of Islands, it was allegeTtbat they acted under the instigation of evil disposed settlers and Europeans. We admit that this may be a viuy convenient way of excusing them and throwing the blame on the white man, but such an allegation should be accompanied with something like proof to ensure its acceptation, it should be supported by some statement of facts' founded on such credible testimony as to leave no room for what otherwise may be considered a pardonable scepticism : at least we are not aware that the natives themselves offer this excuse in extenuation of their conduct. The excuse which is commonly made for the vacillating and timid policy pursued by the Local Government, is the fear of provoking a collision with the natives, and those who seek for protection are reproached with entertaining hostile sentiments which are calculated to lead to a war of extermination. These sentiments we indignantly disclaim, and appeal with confidence to the experience of the last five years, as the best fvidence of the kindly disposition and good feeling of the colonists of this district towards the natives, but we hesitate not to assert that the timid policy now adopted, is that most likely to lead to such a catastrophe by increasing the cajWs of dissension, and -multiplying 4ptxag«s;uiitil *t length the settler is driven tolespair, o<- some act is committed by the natives of sucl a character as to force the Government to measures of severity. The natives, are shrev. 1 observers, they have learned how far they raiy calculate on our forbearance,' aniwould so< i cease from annoying the settler when- tbev found they could no longer do so Vith , impunity ; but it is vain to hope to impress them' with any respect for the law, or love of order, when they perceive the Government afraid to restrain their excesses ; it is idle to expect to improve their condition, or to engage them in the pursuits of industry that- they may obtain the means of gratifying their wants, when they are permitted to'steal what they would otherwise have to work for. But it was not always thus — the earlier settlers can well remember the differeut relations which formerly existed between the two races, these have been gradually weakened and disturbed, until at length thpy are nearly altogether dissolved by the policy of the Local Government. la the mean time we are in a situation altogether unexampled. While other colonies have been fostered in their infancy with a jealous care and lavish expeaditiH-e-by^-their ruletty-jwe-are the objects of secret hostility or open indifference. We do not desire any favour, we only ask for justice — we ask for our lands which were purchased five years ago, which his Excellency himself declares we ought long since to have obtained, — we ask for the opportunity of quietly exercising our industry, and of employing what little capital yet remains to us, — for protection from the Government, for the support of which, we are so heavily taxed — and this i§ denied us.

In a despatch to their Principal Agent, dated January 26, 1843, acquainting him with their determination to reduce their establishments at the different settlements, the Directors say " Although the stoppage of colonization hy the Company renders absolutely necessary this redaction of establishments, that very circumstance enables the Directors to hold out to the Company's servants the prospect of receiving in the shape of land some compensation for the disappointment of the expectations with which

tne y entered into the Company's service. Ahe land lelonging to the Company being no longer, regarded as the means of producing funds for emigration, must now be deemed a fund devoted to the purpose of fulfiling the pecunitry obligations of the Company. Without acknowledging any legal obligations towards the Company's servants in New Zealand, beyond those which are expressed by agreements, the Court is of opinion that regard ought to be had to the disappointment of their expectations, and that out of the land now placed at the disposal of the Company for purposes other than emigration, they ought to receive some compensation for that disappointment." In this opinion we most cordially agree, in the justice of this arrangement, we most heartily concur; but are th«re not other parties, besides the paid officers of the Company, whose expectations have been disappointed ? Have not those, who, in reliance upon the faith and promises of the Company, purchased land five years ago, without having yet been able to obtain possession of it, some claim to the consideration of the Directors ? Have not those, whose misfortunes are mainly attributable (as the Directors themselves admit) to the jealous rivalry, to the the bitter contentions between the Government and the Company, a right to expect some compensation for the losses they have incurred, for the miseries they have so long endured ? We have waded through the voluminous Appendix in the hope and expectation of finding some notice addressed to the settlers similar to the one above recorded. We have found our distresi, our impending ruin, depicted in the most vivid terms; we have found sympathy and commiseration dealt out to us with a most bountiful hand, — we have found high encomiums passed upon our adventurous spirit, upon our undaunted energy and perseverance ; ample acknowledgements paid to the able and efficient manner in which we have supported the Company in their arduous contest with the Government: — but we have not found any .intimation that _the_ Directors Jn tend to suggest or adopt any measures to alleviate our distress, to avert our ruin. We have not found any opinion expressed, that the disappointment of our expectations, that the sacrifices tee have made are deemed by the Directors sufficient to entitle us to compensation out of that land, which they profess to regard as "a iund devoted to the purpose of fulfilling the obligations of the Company." If, however, the Directors are unable or unwilling to suggest measures for our relief; if they deem it just to pass over unnoticed pur claims to compensation, we cannot and dare not remain silent, — for this paper has been established, not for the purpose of bolstering up the New Zealand Company — not for , the purpose of attacking the local Government — out, for the sole object of watching over the interests of the settlers, of representing their opinions, of exposing their grievances, of indicating the remedies required, in short, this is the settlers paper. It is not our intention at present to discuss the different ways in which compensation may be afforded to the settlers ; but as the immediate acquisition of available land is the vital point, is the only means of preventing that destitution which otherwise awaits us. We would urge upon the Company the justice, the expediency of placing at the disposal of the settlers all the land not yet given out in this and the neighbouring districts, so that tKey inay have tbe power of selecting their land in tbe districts which are most available The claims of the settlers to this privilege are such as cannot be advanced by the absentees ; for they have not (like the settlers) severed all the ties of kindred, abandoned their occupations, sacrificed their prospects in the Mother Country,-^tbey have not encountered the privations, the dangers attending the planting of a settlement in a new conntry amidst hostile savages, — they have not for five years been doomed to that inactivity, during which their capital has been almost entirely dissipated, — they have not by their residence and exertions conferred value upon the land. These, we repeat, tire claims which can be urged by the settlers alone. There is therefore no injustice in not granting this privilege to tbe absentees ; there is no spoliation in this scheme. The advantages which would result from the adoption of this suggestion, are neither few nor unimportant, nor would the relief afforded be inconsiderable. Not a few valuable settlers, now on the point of leaving tbe colony, in utter despair of obtaining for years to come, possession of the land they have selected, would be induced to remain.

Several would in all probability choose their sections in the same district. Concentration, and its advantages would thus be obtained ; absenteeism and its evils avoided. And if the scheme was cordially taken up by the Company, and carried out to the full extent to which we believe it mightbe, the absentee proprietors would soon find it prudent to grant more favourable leases than they will ever do, so long as the settlers are at their mercy. There is one other circumstance to which in making this proposal we feel bound to advert. It is an admitted fact that the Company pledged themselves to give the settlers the very best land in their possessions ; it is equally undeniable that in consequence of the inefficient surveying staff at first sent out (inefficient not in talent and activity but in numbers) the country vets not explored, before the settlers were called upon to select ; so that they choose their land in utter ignorance of the existence of those more available districts which have been subsequently discovered. Can the Company then avail themselves of one act of injustice, that of giving out the land before the country was explored, for the purpose of committing a still greater act of injustice, that of keeping to themselves lands better and more available than those given to the settlers ? But are we asking any great boon at the hands of the Company ? No !we are not even asking them to grant terms as favourable as those which the Governor has already offered. Captain Fitzroy offered the Taranaki settlers the same amount of land at Auckland as they were entitled to at Taranaki, with a further grant as "compensation for any loss they might incur in the exchange. If the Company then wish to counteract this crimping system, first attempted by Captain Hobson, and now revived on a much greater scale by Captain Fitzroy ; they will pause before they decline making reasonable concessions to their settlers, — they will hesitate" before they refuse to adopt measures tending to relieve and compensate those who have suffered so seriously from the non-fulfilment on the part of the Company, of obligations contracted five years ago.

In our last number we made remarks on the appropriation of part of the Government Domain which have, we understand from a correspondent, given offence to some readers who jseera tojbe painfully exciteable when the word church is mentioned. We beg leave, therefore to explain, that, in making those remarks we did not mean to make, and in the mind of any dispassionate reader, we did not make any attack on the Episcopal Church. We directed public attention to a flagrant invasion of the rights of property, and pointed out the injustice of breaking through an arrangement on the faith of which many persons might have selected their land. In what was said, there was no attack on the church ; there was no theological or political allusion whatsoever. There was a simple statement that an illegal act had been committed by somebody, in order to obtain a site for the Episcopal Church ; nothing more, and because this statement was headed " Stop Thief" some, whose zeal is greater than their discretion, have said that we applied the words to the Bishop of New i Zealand. The unfairness and absurdity of this charge needs no contradiction. It reminds us, however, of what passed in the Irish House of Commons, where, once upon a time, either Curran or Graitan made a fierce attack on a Bishop for appropriating some land, which the orator maintained belonged to a charitable foundation ; and when called to order by the Speaker for the intemperance of his language, he indignantly exclaimed " What Sir, when I see a man robbing the poor box, may I not cry ' stop thief.' " In the same way we, in the name of all those with whom faith has been broken by this appropriation of the Government Domain; say to whomsoever made it, " Trespassers Beware."

Tho*ndon Chapel. — The above Chapel was opened according to announcement on Sunday last, the 13th instant. Though small, it is neat and commodious, and when completed will be an ornament to that part of the town. The Rev. J. Macfarlane conducted the devotional service of the morning, and Mr. Woodward preached. In the afternoon the Rev. S. Ironside conducted the service and preached, and Mr. Woodward in the evening. It gave us much pleasure to observe, both on that day and on the following evening, the perfect unanimity of feeling that prevails amongst the various ministers, leaving no cause for regret, excepting that there should still be one body of Evangelical Protestants who keep aloor, and refuse to unite with their brethren in their efforts to promote the cause of religion and morality. — Communicated.

Birth. — At Wellington, on Friday, the 18th instant, the lady of Dr. Fitzgerald, of a son. Baptized. — On Sunday, 6th October, in St. Mary's Catholic Chapel, (St. Mary's Mount,) by the Catholic Pastor, John, son of Thomas and Mary Kennedy.

Married. — On the 3rd instant, by the Rev. J. Macfarlane, Mr. Thomas Richie Simpson, formerly of Glasgow, to Flora, daughter of Hugh Cameron, formerly of Ardgour, Invernesshire. On the 10th instant, Mr. Archibald Anderson, formerly of Stirling, merchant, to Hannah, daughter of Joseph Miller, formerly of Bromley, Kent, now of Wellington, Plumber.