ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 53, 11 October 1845, Page 3

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

We beg to direct the attention of our readers to the valuable suggestions contained in the following letter. The subject is a most important one, and has been very ably treated by our correspondent. In our next number we shall publish a statement of the native population from the Nets Zcalander, and an excellent article from the last Nelson Examiner referring to the same subject as the following letter, which add additional weight to the arguments advanced by our correspondent. To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Sir, — As we are daily expecting the arrival of a new Governor in whose hands, it must be presumed, full, ample, and almost dictatorial powers will be placed by the Home Government; it has occurred to me, that the present is the proper time to offer for consideration, suggestions as to how and what means and measures wtuldbe most likely to adjust all differences, overcome all difficulties, and place the colony in that prosperous and commanding position fox which, from its own resources, its capabilities, and the energy of its settlers it is so well adapted. Many theories and methods will doubtless suggest themselves to different people, and among them some may be found worthy of attention. As your paper, being a settler's paper, and by the resolutions of the Committee, is open to all approved communications, I will not apologize for offering my mite towards a general budget on this subject. The coming of a new Governor will be of little use unless he come invested with the fullest powers, for into such a Gordian knot have the various questions and differences in the colony been worked, that I do not see any mode of undoing it but that adopted of old— summarily cutting it. AH the nice and subtle questions, all misunderstood arrangements shonld be put aside and buried in oblivion, and as if the islands were only now for the first time taken possession of, a new fabric should be built up. It may possibly be necessary for the good and effectual government of - the natives, that a modified code of British laws only should be applicable to them, but I am convinced that it is utterly impossible to govern both races under a system of exceptional laws such as at present exist on our Ordinance book. Viewing the unequal location of the two races, particularly of the native, and the consequent great preponderance of waste land in on* part

of the island^, over the other, it appears to me, that two divisions of the colony may he made with great and good effect. The system, then, that I would suggest would he, to divide the colony into two departments — and by a line very nearly the present boundary line between north and south Ulster — but so as to include New Plymonth in the southern department. The northern should be the Maori and the southern should be the European department. All colonization in the northern should for the present be suspended, and continued in the southern. Auckland should be placed on a footing somewhat resembling a factory, and all lands around it, now in the hands of Europeans be retained as attached to it. Manakau and Wangaroa might also be made factories. The northern department and natives may be governed in the manner suggested by Mr. Busby in his dispatch to the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales in June, 1837, or in such other mode as, in the present state of the population, may appear expedient; or it may be placed in the same relative position to the southerndepartment aslrelandstands to England. But let the southern department of the colony be to all intents and purposes a British settlement, free from all exceptions and ex elusions. Lands may be reserved in the south for any natives who, becoming sufficiently intelligent, may desire to amalgamate with Europeans, and submit to wholesome restrictions, to become partakers of the benefits of a civilized community. Auckland may be the residence of a Superintendent, and Wellington the seat of Government. This suggestion, coming as it does, from a Cook's Straits settler, is open, of course, to all the charges of selfishness, self-in-terest, &c, &c, but the grounds on which the suggestion recommends itself are so numerous, and appear so demonstrably sound, that when weighed by a dispassionate judge, I doubt not it will be relieved from the inputation of such narrow minded motives. The scheme suggested, while it will permit colonization to be carried on with every advantage to the islands, to the Europeans, and natives, will enable the Government and missionaries, if they think fit, to continue their great experiment in civilization, and, if possible, work out their desired and an • ticipated result. By far the greatest part of the native population is resident in the proposed northern department. Take the census of the native population laid before the Legislative ' Council last session, and it will be seen that, above a line drawn from Mount Egmont to Poverty Bay, on the East Coast, which wi)l divide thenortliern island, orNewUlster, almost equally, there are about 82,000 natives, while, in the southern part of the northern island, the whole of New Munster and of Stewart's Island, or New Leinster, the native population is only 22,00 '. A great part of that number belong to the neighbourhood of Mount Egmont, to which some are preparing to return ;* and in the extreme south the few natives resident there are amalgamated with the Europeans. It requires no reasoning, Sir, to shew, that if colonization be detrimental tothe natives, itmustbemuch more in the North, where 82.000 of them are located on 15,6J0,000 acres of land, than in the South, where onefourth the number are scattered over five times that quantity of land; more particuluil) when one especial missionary argument agam-a Colonization is, that the natives will not have sufficient land fur their children. The European census of the two divisions will be found inversely to the census of the natives, if it may be so termed ; for while at and about Auckland, there arc 2,000; in the Cook's Straits settlements there is nearly 10,000 Europeans; and in other parts of New Munster ant) in Stewart's Island, there is a large and thriving European population. Then, Sir, as regards waste land, which ought to be at the disposal of Government for colonization purposes. It is evideni, from the above statement, that the quantity in the Southern department is immeasurably greater than in the Nonhern. There is likewise, if the New Zealand Company be excepted, much less land claimed by Europeans in the former than in the latter; and nearly the entire of New Munster and New Leinster, and likewise the Chathams, will he available to the Government, without prejudicing either native or settler. To reduce it to numbers : In the Northern department, containing nearly 15,600,000 acres of land, there are 82,000 natives, the chief of whom reside in the neighbourhood of Auckland. In the Southern, there are, at the utmost, only about 22,000 natives on an area of 62,278,000 acres, exclusive of the Chatham Islands. Now, in which of the divisions will there be a greater quantity of land at the disposal of Government for the purposes of colonization, without interfering with the interests, present or future, of the natives? It may be urged, however, that the pos session by the New Zealand Company of so large a portion of land as it claims about the capital would be an obstacle. But if Government should desire more land in that locality, I cannot conceive that there would be any serious impediment to an arrangement, for exchanging all, or a portion, of the lands yet unsold by the Company in New Ulster, for other land in New Munster or elsewhere; and such an arrangement might place in the hands of Government the whole of the splendid valley of Wairarapa, and a great portion of Cook's Straits, including the northern bank of the Manawatu river. The above idea is cursorily and roughly thrown out; other and abler hands, if any should think it feasible, may work it into shape and detail. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, X. October 10, 1845. 1

* The Waikanae natiye* who in the return to council are estimated at 3950.