To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. August 18, 1845.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 46, 23 August 1845, Page 3

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. August 18, 1845.

Si*,— l was much struck some time ago by what was said by the Governor, as to the usefulness of his chief protector, Mr. George Clarke, and the value of the protector system altogether. Probably you will be of the same opinion with myself, that we who are settled in Port Nicholson have very little knowledge of the benefits of that system. I say nothing of the chief protector, because I do not know anything of him. exceptins that he is a grave, middle aged gentleman, w ith a large and promising family, and has been receiving a large share of public money. I was glad to hear that he had been of use, but I should have liked it better if he had been paid by the Governor, who has discovered his value, instead of being paid by the settlers, who have never been able to find it out. Still I think, that properly applied, the system of protectors might be made very useful, but then it is not the natives that want to be protected but we the settlers. lam living up the Hutt. I have boughtland ■»nd paid for it, but I can only clear where the na'ives choose to allow, and never know when I am putting in a crop whether I shall be allowed to reap it, or whether if I build a new house, and mine is getting very shaky, I shall be able to live in it. I must work or starve, but it is not pleasant to know % that I may be turned out U't'the edge of the tomahawk, at a moments notice, by a number of gentlemen without breeches, and with tattoed faces and reverses, who tell me plainly, and prove it every day, that they care nothing for Queen, Governor, or Protector. These gentleman have piotectors, but I, who am always in fear of my property, and sometimes of my life, have not only no protector but no protection. There are soldiers, but they do very little, and magistrates, but do nothing; and a superintendent, but he has no power, and a Governor, but he lives at Auckland; and what, among them all, I can neither call my land, nor my house, and it is something if I can call my soul my own. I pay taxes, and I want protection, but the government cannot or will not piotect me, and I may not protect myself. So, as the present plan does nothing for me, I should like to see a new one tried. It need not cost more, and I do not think it could do less than the present system. The government plan would not be a bad one if the natives wanted protection. They employ white men to protect maories. I would, turn it inside out, and employ maories to protect white men. Who would be the proper protectors is more than I can say, but let the pay of a protector be divided between two o" three native chiefs, paid quarterly, and on the condition that it is to be stopped if any white man is injured until they make him amends. I have read somewhere of a Chinese Emperor who paid his doctor only when he was well, and stopped his pay as soon as his digestion was out of order. The story says that he was not often ill. So I would pay these maori protectors their salary so long as the natives were quiet, and stop their quarters' money whenever there was a disturbance. I think we should have some chance of quiet. If you think this plan possible, I should like you to print this letter. Eritonga.

A PUBLIC MEETING of the Inhabitants of the Settlement, which was moat numer- _ ously and respectably attended, was held on Wednesday evening at the Saloon of the Aurora Tavern, to take into consideration the Draft of a Petition proposed to be sent to Parliament by the Settlers of Cook's Straits. On the motion of W.Fitzheebert, Esq., Charles Clifford, Esq., took the Chair. The Chairman said the meetinghad beencalled for the purpose of taking into consideration the draft of a petition from the settlers in Cook's Straits to the Imperial Parliament, stating their grievances, and praying for redress. He looked upon this meeting as the most important of the many important ones thai have been held in this settlement. They have frequently had memorials, petitions, and addresses from Wellington, from Nelson, from Taranaki, and from Wanganui, but this was the first time they h»d met for the purpose of considering a joint petition from the settlers of Cook's StTaits,

I and he hailed the circumstance as a harbinger of better times. Hitherto, to m~ ke use of an old fable, they had been like the bundle of sticks untied : each settlement had taken its own course, and he feared in many instances petty jealousies had prevented union, but they had learnt wisdom in the school of adversity, they had now taken the advice of the old man to his sons, had bound themselves together, and their united representations going home to back the able report of the Committee of the I House of Commons, would carry a weight with them that would defy the misrepresentations of their enemies (hear.) The chairman regretted that the great length of the petition precluded his reading it to the n eeting, but suggestions would be made, which, if agreed to, would enable every one to become acquainted with its merits. It had been most ably drawn up by a Nelson settler, Mr. Domett, and gave a history of themisgovernment of the colony from its commencement, under Captain Hobson, to the present time. It embraces every topic on which discussions have been raised, and in a most clear and lucid manner puts forward all their grievances, and shews < that the settlers only wanted to have the report of the Committee of the House of Commons carried out, instead of being set aside by the Colonial office (hear.) The chairman in conclusion begged that those who addressed the meeting would confine themselves as much as possible to the subject before them. Dr. Featherston in proposing the first resolution, said that he knew full well that five years of constant, unceasing agitation — of agitation which apparently had as yet produced no beneficial result, must have sickened, wearied, and disgusted not a few of those around him ; and when he remembered the number of petitions and memorials they had sent — the statements of grievances they had again and again laid before the Home and Local Governments, he could imagine that some of those, whose advice had ever been for them to do nothing but to remain quiescent, would denounce it as foolish and imprudent in him to urge them still to persist in the agitation in which they had been so long engaged — still to continue the contest which for five years they had maintained with the Government, but that he, knowing the energy and perseverance they had exhibited during this trying period, felt confident that the settlers in Cook's Straits were never more unanimous in their determination to use every means in their power to overthrow that policy which had been attended with such fatal results, and to rid themselves of him who ■had "made 1 this colony" a scefie of anarchy and' blooodshed ; and that he was prepared to maintain that however gloomy the views of some might be, however desponding they might all occasionally feel, yet that there never was a period in their existence as a colony, where there was a better prospect of success attending their efforts, or of a speedy termination to those evils from which they had so long and grievously suffered. When they saw the interest which was now taken in New Zealand by the public at horne — when they found the whole press exerting its all powerful influence in their behalf, venting its indignation at the injustice of which they had been the victims, advocating the views they had so constantly maintained, condemning far more strongly than they had ever done, the proceedings of the local government, and of Captain Fitzroy especially — when they found night after night the most talented and influential members in the House of Commons coming forward unasked, unsolicited, as the warm and zealous advocates of their interests — foreseeing and fc retelling the inevitable resultsof the course pursued by their infatuated Governor ; — whan they saw such men as Mr. Buller and Lord Howick, of all men the most conversant with colonial affairs, accusing the Ministry of a gross neglect of its duty in not having long ago sent ont Captain Fitzroy's keeper and successor — denouncing in terms of the bitterest indignation his unholy alliance with the murderers of their friends and relations ; (cheers) — when they saw Lord J. Russell, after describing the fertility and vast resources of these islands, and their great value to Great Britain, expressing his warm and heartfelt sympathy for the sufferings of the settlers, and then praying and beseeching the ministry to avert by wise and rigorous measures the disasters impending over them : — when they found even the supporters of the ministry protesting against 'being supposed either to uphold Captain Fitzroy or to justify his proceedings. — Sir R. Peel himself declaring his disapproval and disallowance of the only measure of Captain Fitzroy's government with which he was officially acquainted; when they considered all this, he, (Dr. F.) would ask, whether they were not more than ever bound to persevere in the course they had hitherto pursued — whether they were not more than ever called upon by every motive of selfinterest, of duty to their fellow colonists, and of gratitude to those by whom their cause had been so warmly espoused, to seize every opportunity to send to their friends at home a full and explicit account of the acts of Captain •Fitzroy's Government, and of the painful man-

raer in which their predictions were being fulfilled ; (hear) he would ask whether after having obtained permission for a fair and impartial hearing of their case before the highest tribunal, it would not be an act of the greatest folly and madness for them now to refuse to avail themselves of such a privilege (cheers.) But this was not the only inducement to them to persevere, nor the only reason to anticipate that the struggle was drawing to a satisfactory close ; Captain Fitzroy had himself materially assisted them, for if it were true that by their petitions and memorials they had awakened an interest in New Zealand affairs, greater than was ever yet attached to so infant a colony, it was still more true that that interest had been kept up and increased by the mad pranks of Captain Fitzroy, — and he (Dr. F) did nothesitate to avow his conviction that Captain Fitzroy would in the end be found to have advanced the interests of the colony beyond their most sanguine expectations, though undoubtedly at a sacrifice of life and property too yainfvl to contemplate : — for if Captain Fitzroy had had a little more sense — a little' less infatuation, or even if there had been a little more method in his malness, he would, in all probability, have avoided the now certain interiereuce of the Home Government, and might have effected his grand scheme of breaking up the settlements in Cook's Straits, — if he had not been (to use the words of Mr. Buller)" most mischievously and dangerously incompetent," he (Dr. F.) feared that our complaints wou'd have been unheeded, and that the colony would have dragged on a miserable, lingering, existence, until at last it sank from utter inanition. But Captain Fitzroy had done more than merely attract attention to New Zealand — he had placed the Ministry in this dilemma ; if they approve ot his acts one month, they must disapprove of the measures adopted by him the next — if, for instance, they approve of his 10s. Proclamation, and Lord Stanley had in some degree sanctioned it, (though with a strong recommendation that the 10s. fee b^raised), how can they approve of his Penny Proclamation? If they approve of his increasing the customs one day, what will they say, to their total a'. ( olition the next, or their re-esta-blishment a short time afterwards ?—lf? — If they believe his solemn assutance "that the natives entertain the most kindly and confident feelings towards her Majesty, towards the Local Government, and towards the settlers generally," and if they attribute " those kindly feelings" to Captain Fitzroy's " wise and judicious measures," as he himself has done, how will they Mike the proofs of this affection on the part of the natives, as evinced in the burning and destruction of Kororarika, the defeat of her Majesty's forces, and their cannibal feasts; — in short, unless Sirß. Peel^ras prepared to follow Captain Fitzroy in every somerset that he makes — "to turn about, wheel about, jump Jim Crow" as often as Captain Fitzroy himself, he must recall him — but he (Dr. F.) would lemind them that it was not only Captain Fitzroy's recall, but a complete charge in the policy of the Government that was essential to the safety of the colony — and that they could only expect to effect such a change, by taking every opportunity of showing the disastrous results of the system hitherto pursued, and that they were more especiallybound to send home full statements of the state to which Captain Fitzroy had reduced the colony, inasmuch as Sir R. Peel and Captain Fitzroy's friends and relatives had in the recent debates in the House of Commons distinctly admitted that he was a most irregular correspondent, — that, in fact, they had scarcely ever heard from him sinre his arrival here, — that they knew nothing whatever ot his doings, at least officially — and had even exp tessed some anxiety as to what.had become of him, — but he (Dr. F.) would afford them an opportunity of allaying the anxieties of Captain Fitzroy's friends, and of dispelling the ignorance of the Ministry respecting his Government, by proposing that they ihoulil send home the document he held in his hand, in which a full and particular account was given of his Excellency's proceedings, from the day of his arrival up to the present time (cheers.) After expressing his regret that its length would forbid his reading the whole of the memorial so ably drawn up by Mr. Domett. Dr. F. proceeded to give a summary of its contents, and after reading several extracts, concluded by moving — That this meeting cordially approves of the proposal now made, that the settlers in Cook's Straits should unite in sending a memorial to Parliament, shewing the d'sastrous policy pursued by the Local Government, expressing their uttei want of confidence in Captain Fitzroy, and praying for the application of the remedies proposed by the Select Committee of the House of Commons. Mr. Stokes, in seconding the resolution, said, that after the clear and able outline of the petition presented to the meeting by Dr. Featherston, it would be unnecessary for him to do more than add a few general observations connected with the subject. From its great length, time would not permit the petition to be read to them ; but whoever should carefully peruse the document, could not fail to be convinced that the settlers in the Southern

District had just and reasonable grounds of complaint, that they had suffeied grievous wrongs from the Local Government, and that they were fully entitled to consideration and tedress. The petition was a most able historical narrative of the miserable way in which this colony had been misgoverned, the statements were clear and fully borne out by iacts — these facts were well arranged and most ably reasoned upon, and the conclusions from them were irresistible. The petition reflected the greatest credit on the unwearied patience, the research, the talents of its author. But notwithstanding its great length, he must be permitted to say it was not long enough. The petition extended only to a certain point, but beyond this, facts were constantly occurring to strengthen the statements already made ; like some deep tragedy, every scene added to the interest and increased the sufferings of the actors in it, until it reached its final catastrophe. The history of Captain Fitzroy's misgovernment was a story without an end. Wherever they attempted to stop in recounting the mistakes, the perverseuess, the iafatuation, the imbecility, the injustice of their present ruler, some fresh example occurred outHeroding all that gone before, and giving additional weight to the reasonings and conclusions drawn from previous facts. In proof of this, he referred to the question of the debentures. In additiou to the facts withiu their knowledge, it was distinctly stated in an Auckland paper, supposed at first to be established by Government influence, and to which Captain Fitzroy was reported to have contributed his lucubrations, that the amount of debentures of various denominations issued was not less than £45,000, or three time* the amount allowed by the Ordiuance. There seemed to be such a total absence of method, and proper management in the way in which these debentures were manufactured, and in the manner in which they were issued, that mistakes of all kinds were made. Debentures had been issued wanting in some instances the date, the number, or the signature of the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, or the Treasurer, and it was believed the Government had no correct means of ascertaining the amount of debentures now in circulation. He then cited the case of Mr. Stuart Freeman as a proof of the careless way in which these things were managed, and as an example of the culpable lenity of Captain Fitzroy towards the delinquencies of a Government official. A comparison had been instituted in the Auckland papers^ between an ordioa*y-rogue— atrtl the Chief Clerk of the Colonial Secretary's Office. Who Mr. T. O'Meara was, he (Mr. S.) would not stay to inquire ; it was enough! to know he had beeu transported for ten years for forging a one-pouud debenture ; and his sentence was considered just and proportioned to his offence. And yet to Mr. Freeman, who was accused of having availed himself of the opportunities of his situation, a situation of trust, to forge and put into circulation two hundred and fifty debentures, Captain Fitzroy was reported to have written a complimentary letter (hear, hear). — In the history of the flagstaff, the petition stopped short at the destruction of Kororarika, and the loss of life and property consequent on that most unfortunate affair. But a fearful tale remained to be told, the details of which were so horrible, that if they were not so well authenticated, they would appear incredible. They threw a terrible light on the real character of the New Zealanders, and proved that however it may please the elect of Exeter Hall to boast of their intelligence and civilization, when once their passions were thoroughly roused, and their appetites whetted for vengeance, there was no cruelty, no atrocity in which they would not indulge (hear). Or if they took the most recent example — the Crown Grants — the anxious expectation of six years. — When these grants were issued, they ihad hoped, and not unreasonably, that all the" disputes and uncertainties connected with these 'claims would have been set at rest foi ever. But from the way in which the grants had been made out, they seemed to lay the foundation for endless litigation. Without referring to the question of purchasers claiming to have prior titles to the Company ; by excluding from the grants not only the land now used by aboriginal natives for vegetable productions, but all that has been used by them since the establishment of the colony, Captain Fitzroy virtually abandoned all that the settlers had been contending for in the Hutt district, and Rangihaieta would accept this concession, as a fresh proof of the weakness and fear of the Government; as a consequen c of Heki's successes. He did not offer these examples as any defect in the petition, but as illustrations of Captain Fitzroy's imbecility and injustice. They served to shew that wherever they may stop, some new freak, some fresh piece of insanity would occur to set calculation at defiance. How different had the settlers found Captain Fitzroy from the beau ideal \ which the flattering representations of h's friends or their own ardent aspirations had" pictured previous to his arrival. Harassed.

by injustice, and hoping for relief from the numerous evils from which they were suffering, they had thought that any change must be for the better. But they had not fathomed the depths of official incompetency and imbecility ; in the lowest depth a deeper still had been presented to their astonished view. On his first landing, Captain Fitzroy had deliberately insulted them ; he had broken every promise he had ever made them, and had never lost an opportunity of injuring them. His official career was drawing to a close ; even now his successor may be on hi 3 way to relieve him, and whenever this desirable event may occur, the colonists may exclaim in the indignant language of the Poet — " Go! 'tis in vain to curse, 'Tis useless to upbraid thee ; Hate cannot make thee worse ( Than shame and guilt have made thee. (Cheers.) The resolution was carried unanimously. Mr. Fitzherbert moved the second resolution by stating that he should scarcely have thought it necessary to offer any observations after the very able manner in which the meetingh ad been addressed, had there not been, he might perhaps be allowed to say, an omission made by the mover and seconder of the first resolution. It might perhaps be conceived, from the exclusive manner in which those gentlemen bad dwelt upon the acts of Captain Fitzroy, that the object of the petition presented to the meeting was confined to the removal of the present Governor. He, however, begged to assure the meeting that they would be very much mistaken if they supposed that the removal of Governor Fiizroy was any other than a very minor consideration. The framer of that petition would not have wasted so much valuable time as was required to fill sixty pages of paper in proving what was quite self-evident both at home and in the colony, viz., the total unfitness of Captain Fitzroy for the office which he at present held (bear). No! Gentlemen, this long petition contains a history of our grievances from the first establishment of the colony to the present time ; and its objects are to obtain redress from the Imperial Parliament of the abuses connected with the system pursued in the Government of this colony. It was the principle of misgovernment against which the settlers of Cook's Straits were now called upon to petition. And he (Mr. F.) strongly recommended the settlers never to leave off petitioning in the most persevering and importunate manner until they had obtained redress. This was the first instance of the settlers in Cook's Straits combining together to petition ; but he hoped that it would not be the last (cheers). That a Committee be appointed, for the purpose of going through the draft of the petition now laid before the meeting, and of making any alterations or suggestions they may deem expedient; and that such Committee consist of — Hon. H. Petre, Colonel Wakefield, Mr. Clifford, Dr. Featherston, Mr. Fitzherbert, Mr. Routs, Mr. Chetham, Mr. R. Davis, Mr. Hiokson, Mr. Hort, Mr. M'Donald, Mr. Moore, Mr. Stokes, Mr. Scott, Mr. Wade, Mr. Tame, Major Baker, Mr. Lyon. Seconded by Captaiu Rhodes, and carried unanimously. Mr. Wade, in moving the third resolution, said, that there could be but one feeling as to the debt of gratitude, that the settlers in Cook's Straits were under to Mr. Domett for the great labour he must have bestowed upon the memorial before them, and for the masterly manner in which he had executed his task. He (Mr. W.) need only say that it fully justified the high reputation which Mr. Domett enjoyed both here and in the mother country ; and that it was a document of which any community might well be proud of. Mr. W. then went on to say he hoped the petition would meet with a better fate than one that has been sent from a sister island (Van Diemen's Land), which had been lost sight of for seven years, when at last it was discovered in sweeping out the rubbish of the Colonial Office. The settlers should lose no opportunity of petitioning, and though their efforts might for a time be ineffectual, they would ultimately succeed. Like a small stream inclosed and impeded by high banks, the stream would in the course of time undermine and wear away the obstacles opposed to its course, and its waters would flow uninterruptedly in the channel it had made for itself (cheers). That the warmest thanks of the settlers in Wellington are due to Mr. Domett, for the very able and masterly manner in which he has drawn up the petition now laid before them. The resolution was briefly seconded by Major Baker. Mr. Roots said that before the resolution was put to the meeting, he would, with the permission of the chairman, offer afew remarks. After alluding to the petition and the very great ability displayed in its composition, he said Mr. Wade's anecdote reminded him of an incident that occurred when he was in Canada, when a dispatch of Lord Stanley's was pre-

sented to the House of Assembly, and wa« ordered by them to lie, not on the table, but under the table. (Laughter.) Lord Stanley seemed to choose two kinds of Governors, the capables for difficult and important situations, and the incapables for easy places. If Lord Stanley had intended Captain Fitzroy as a specimen of the former class he never made a greater mistake in his life, but if of the latter, he had shewn great judgment (hear.) After some general remarks on Captain Fitzroy's conduct, he proceeded to observe that the grievances of the settlers were treated with indifference and neglect, but if any charge was made in the House of Commons against the Government, all his friends and relations were ready to excuse the conduct of their honourable friend. The Auckland papers had made many inquiries as to who who wrote the postscript of Col. Despard's despatch, and Capt. Fitzroy had excused it as a pious fraud, but he thought it a pious fib, and he had no doubt the Governor had written many such fibs to the people at Exeter Hall about his maori pets : for he had ever found through life, that whenever a person told a lift, whether a white or a black one, he had always to tell twenty more to make the first good. In j the Hutt question the Governor had received from the Company's Agent a sum of money which had been paid over to the natives to satisfy their demands, and tbe settlers were fully entitled to have the land. But the Governor had taken no steps to put them in possession, and he thought this was little better than swindling. But this would be excused by his friends in England, for Capt. Fitzroy was an honorable man (hear.) He then entered into an examination of Captain Fitzroy's financial arrangements, and observed he had proved himself to be a model of Governors ; he was so economical, so saving. He was penny wise and pound foolish, or, according to the old saying, he saved at the spigot and let out at the bung hole, (laughter.) He was spending at the rate of £80,000 a year ; but then he had*saved the expense of the man on the Petoni road amounting to ls.9d. a day (laughter.) He had continued the crew of the CustomHouse while the Customs were abolished, but as soon as they were laid on again, he saved this expense and discharged tbe crew (cheers.) This beat Joseph Hume hollow, and he recommended Capt. Fitzroy as a model for saving to the Board of Customs at home. Mr. Roots then alluded to the disasters and defeats that had recently occurred at the north, and saiil that the lives of those gallant men who had fallen were an offering by Captain Fitzroy's imbecility on the altar of fanaticism. After some further general observations he concluded by praising the petition, and recommending the settlers to be united in their efforts, and in their endeavours to promote the prosperity of the colony. The resolution was then unanimously carried. It was then moved by Mr. Hickson, seconded by Mr. M'Donald, and unanimously carried — That the cordial thanks of this meeting be given to the chairman for his impartial conduct in the chair ;— after which the meeting broke up.