Extract from the Appendix to the 18th Report of the New Zealand Company.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 57, 8 November 1845, Page 1 (Supplement)

Extract from the Appendix to the 18th Report of the New Zealand Company.

Lord Ingestre to Lord Stanley. New Zealand House, sth May, 1845. My Lord, — In consequeuce of a communication made to the Directors of the New Zealand Company by Mr. Charles Buller, they have appointed a committee of their body, " with full authority to conduct and conclude any arrangement which they may deem most expedient." On behalf of this committee I hare the honor to inform your Lordship that Mr. Buller has laid before us copies of two letters, the last of which is dated the 26th April, addressed to jour Lordship by him, and containing the outline of a plan for the settlement of the affairs of New Zealand. On full consideration of the plan contained in these letters, we are prepared to adopt its principles as calculated to secure a satisfactory solution of present difficulties, to sa\e the colony from great disasters, and to ensure its immediate and steady progress. We think that on the principles proposed, the operations of forming the new Company and conducting its affairs might be honorably and usefully undertaken ; and we should cheerfully recommend to the New Zealand Company to accept the conditions imposed on them by the plan. To bring such a measure, however, into practical shape, would require considerable discussion of details, and probably no litiJe co-opera-tion with your Lordship, in determining the best mode of obviating such difficulties as may arise in the course of the discussion. To attempt to do this through the medium of wriiten ccrrespondence would be a very ineffectual and dilatory mode of proceeding, and I need hardly remind your Lordship that it is of the utmost importance to b^th the Company and the settlers—that it is in truth fssentia) to the success of any arrangement— that as little time as possible should be taken in coming to a decision in this matter. We have thought it bes>t, therefore, to transmit the plan to }our Lordship officially, pretty nearly in the same form as thai in which it is given in Mr. Buller's second letter; and if it should be unobjectional to your Lord•hip, we are inclined io leave the matter entirely in Mr. Buller's hands, in order that he may communu-afe with your Lordship on our part and that of the Company. I have the honor t<> be, &c, Ingestre, Chairman. The Right Hon. Lord Stanley, &c. &c.

Suggestions for the consideration of Lord Stanley, submitted on behalf of the New Zealand Company. The state of affairs in the colony of New Zealand, is such as to require the adoption of very strenuous efforts for the purpose of saving the colony, and all those who have embarked their fortunes in its colonisation. The Petition of the merchants of London is an indication of the very general sense the public entertain of the value of New Zealand. Events, too, have occurred within the last three or four years that have enhanced that value. The opening of our trade with China, and the proceedings of France and the United States, have rendered it important to us to have such a station in the Pacific as New Zealand alone can supply. Public opinion would justify a bold couise under the altered state of circumstances ; and it will hold none guiltless who shall carry on a controversy about the past, instead of agreeing to prevent the ruin of such a colony. It is vain to think of effecting that object by any half measures ; all that has happened proves that there is some fundamental error in the system which has been pursued : and no remedy that does not go deep enough to cure that, is worth trying. It seems to us that the two main evils in the system hitherto pursued towa. ds New Zealand have been, first — the conflict between the Missionary system and that of the New Zealand Company ; and secondly, the erroneous constitution of the Company. It is impossible to reconcile the Missionary system with that of the Company. In every respect they go on opposite principles. The avowed object of the Missionaries has been to prevent colonisation ; to preserve the nationality of the New Zealanders ; to keep them apart from European contact ; and to maintain their exclusive property iv the whole soil of the Islands. Our system, on the contrary, was to treat the 'soil as unappropriated wherever it was not in some way occupied ; to vindicate to the Crown the ownership of all th« unoccupied expanse ; to encourage the

settlement of European colonists; and to turn to account tho»e peculiar facilities which the aboriginal rare of New Zealanders Seem to possess for intermixture and amalgamation with the European population. These two systems are essentially antagonist. You cannot attempt to act upon both without vacillation or inconsistency, or so as to give either a fair chance. Neither ever has had a fair trial ; both deserve one ; both might have it in hew Zealand, did you confine each to its appropriate field. The conflict of these two systems has been aggravated in New Zealand by the vacillations in the policy ot Government under different Ministers. The Treaty of Waitangi went on what we have called the Missionary principle. Lord John Russell adopted what may be called the colonising principle in his Agreement and other proceedings with the Company. The second great fault in the system is tfie erroneous constitution of the Company, The Company, on its incorporation, acquired either too gre .t or too little power. The Crown devolved on it the function of colonizing New Zealand, that is, of filling it with inhabitants. Now this in a new colony is the main function of Government. Every thing else hinges on it. You must make every other consideration of policy (with reference, at least, to white people) subordinate to it ; and you ought to delegate all the powers of Government to those to whom you turn over the business of colonisation. This our ancestors perceived when th^y gave those Proprietary Charters in which every English colony o' the present United States had its origin. From the first, the London and Plymouth Companies, Lord Baltimore, Lord Delaware, Perm, and the Propnetors of Carolina and Georgia, had the whole power of the Crown delegated to them. It is but fair to add, that it is the fault of the New Zealand Company itself, that this system was not adopted in its own case. Lord Glenelg offered it a Proprietary Charter in 1838, which it rejected. It must be admitted, too, that the constitution of the New Zealand Company is not such as to fit it for proprietary privileges or the functions of Government. For these purposes it would have been necessary to constitute the Company on a much greater scale, with a far larger capital, /'ar more numerous proprietary, and perhaps with some direct s>hare given to the Government. Let us see whether it is possible to suggest a plan which shall avoid these two great capital defects in the present system. It would not be wise to attempt any arrangement that would not substantially conciliate the interests and feelings of the principal parties concerned. Nor is it possible for the Crown to abandon its existing engagements, or take a course inconsistent with the leading principles of its past policy. The geographical circumstances of New Zealand present us with the means of satisfactorily reconciling the interests of the natives, the colonists, the Missionaries, and the Company ; and of putting matters on an entirely new and sound footing, without compromising the honor of the Government. The chief scene of the Missionary labours has been the Northern Peninsula of the Northern Island. A great proportion ol the native population is theie — Auckland is there : with the tribes with which the Colonial Government has come in contact. The chiefs whose independence we acknowledged are entirely included in that district ; and there alone can the Treaty of Waiiangi have any legd force, because there alone can it be asserted that the title of the Crown was founded on cession thereby. On the other hand, this district, from the number of natives, the extensive appropriations made by Missionaries, and the comparative scarcity of available land, does not present a very attractive field for colonisation. It contains, however, the positions most desirable for the purposes of a naval station commanding the Pacific. And it is not unimportant to remark, that it is the sole repository of that Kauri timber which is so valuable to our Navy. The Northern Peninsula should be made a separate Government. Whether it could be directly placed under the Missionaries we cannot pretend to determine. But, at any late, the Religious Societies should be assured that it should be kept strictly under their system ; that European colonisation should not be encouraged in it ; and that the Missionaries should be allowed to retain their influence over the natives, whose interests should be the main care of the Government. The remainder of the Northern island, and the whole of the Middle and Southern, should be formed into another Government, and be the field of European colonisation. We should suggest the reverting to Lord Glenelg's proposal of 1838, and entrusting the government ot this portion of the colony to a Company incorporated with a Proprietary Charter. This Company sh6uld be' required to raise a'subscribed capftal of a million ; and the present Company should be merged into it. That the capital could b« easily raised we

have not the slightest dou'.'t ; nor that the first men, as well in the city as in the country at large, would always take a great pride in becoming its Directors. The Mother country woull be freed from all expense and responsibility for the new colony. The large capital of the Company would be a security against such resu ts as unfortunately occurred in South Australia. Your Lordship will be better abL to judge of the effects and practicability of these principles Ironi the following heads of a Charter of Government to the new province, which we propose should be erected in New Zealand.

1. — New Province of Victoria. 1. A new province under this designation should be formed of the Middle and Southern Islands, together with that part of the Northern Island which would be included between the sea and a line drawn from Kidnappers' Head in Hawke's B ty on the East coast, running straight west till it meets the Rau Hme Range, then along that Range to the Mountain of Rangitoto, and thence down the River of Mokau to the Port of Mokau on the west coast. The colored map already sent to your Lordship gives the territory so marked out. Your Lordship will see that it is pretty nearly conterminous with the Company's original claim. We have calculated from Dr. Deiffenbach's book, the number of natives that would be included in thi-. territory, — that appearing to be the work showing most research on this subject. Di. Deiffenbach gives an estimate of the population and position of the various tribes, from which we may group them in the following manner :—: — North of Auckland 25,800 On the Waikato and its tributaries. . . . 24,000 Tribes of the Eas>t Coasr, from the mouth of the Thames to Hawke's Bay .. 57,800 On Cook's Strait, and in ihe Middle and Southern Islands 7,29!) Total 114,890 The new province would comprise only those included in the last head. Mr. Jerningham Wakefield gives a somewhat higher estimate of this head ; he gives it at 8,000, without including those in the southern portion of the Middle Island and the Southern Island. Allowing 1,000 lor these, it would not bring the whole native population of the entire new p.ovince to more than 9,000. This is less than that of the white people within the same limits. 2. The new province must bear its proportion of the present debt of New Zealand.

II. — Government of the New Province. 1. — All powers of Government within this province should be conceded to a Company, to be called the " Victoria Company," as by the Charters of Pennsylvania and Maryland. This would include, of course, no power of making treaties. 2. The settlers, however, should of course be ensured the protection of Representative Institutions. For at least one year the Company might have the power of making laws and imposing taxes. After that they should, in the language of the o.d Proprietary Charters, have those powers with the consent of the freeholders of the province, or their representatives. During the first yeai the Company wou'd have to determine the constitution of the representative body. 3. The laws of England should be in force until altered by such authority. The new laws must not be repugnant to the laws of England. 4. The Company should have power to make incorporations ; and be required to incorporate into towns and counties all districts surveyed by it.

111. — Stipulations in behalf of the Natives. Small as the number of natives within the new province would be, it is most desirable that precautions should be taken to prevent their being iv any way ill-used. No Govefriraent can effectually accomplish this ; for unless you raise up the most constant feeling of kindliness towards them in the Enropean population, it is impossible to prevent their being degraded and annihilated by their new neighbours. The best security for this good will, besides She natural good feelings bl our countrymen, is to be found in their strong interest in getting the natives to become peaceable neighbours and fellow laborers. But the following provisions would probably meet the views of those who would require more direct securities. 1. — The Treaty of Waitangi should be declared to be in force throughout such parts of the new province as lie in the Northern Island. 2. To prevent, however, all fraud or delay in the settling the questions which arise under the second article of the Treaty, we should suggest that the Company should lorthwith pay over to Her Majesty's Government the sum of £ , for the purchase of the ten itorial rights of the natives. 3. A Commissioner should be appointed to complete such purchase without delay ; and at

the end of three years those rights should be declared to be extinguished. The* Commissioner should be a man of really high character and position ; and should be paid a handsome salary. A man of sense, with a right will to effect this object, would have no difficulty in doing it within the time. And for that period the Company could carry on its settlements in the Middle Island, or on land which has begn secured either by recent arrangements with Captain Fiizroy, or by awards which might forthwith be ratifie I. 4. No land occupied by the uatives at the time of the Treaty of Waitangi should be included in such purchase. In all surveys by the Company, the native occupations should be set out. 5. The natives should be allowed to sell such occupations only to the Company ; and all lands not in such occupation, and not held under a grant from the Crown or the Company, should be regarded as vested in the Company until alienated by it. 6. In all surveys by the Company, opeeleventh to be set apart for native reserved. 7. A Protector of natives might he appointed by er Majesty, with power to acti'or them in civil or criminal proceedings, and to he heard in their behalf by the Legislature. He should report to the Secretary of State, transmitting his reports through such officer in New Zealand as the Company sho Id direct, in order to give that officer an opportunity of seeing his statements. 8. The natives should have all the rights, privleges, and franchises, of British subjects. 9. All the expen^o of carrying out this arrangement should be borne by the Company.

IV. — Constitution of the Company. 1. A new Company should be formed, with the usual clauses regulating its internal government, naming the first Di.ectors, &c. 2. The capital should be raised to 1,000, 000/. ; not that we think &o large an amount would ever be requiied, but that we wish to give Her Majesty's G>vcrnment an effectual security against the Compai y becoming bankrupt and tl rowing its liabilities on the Mother country. But oily half this amount, including the 200,000/. alieady paid up, should be required to be paid up by the nale of the Charter ; as it is desirable not to have a dividend payable on more than is absolutely wanted. 3. The stock, property, liabilities, and shareholders of the present Company should merge in the new one. 4. Mr. Buller has proposed that the Company's dividend should be limited, like that of the East InJia Company, to ten per cent. This seems to us unobjectionable, provided that the ten per cent, can extend over an average of years. But any surplus should be invested in a sinking-fund, to replace the capital stock. 5. The Company should be prohibited trading or banking; but might have such powers of lending money, &c, as tlie present Company has. V. — Lands and Emigration.

1. Mr. Buller lias proposed that no land should be allowed to be sold by the Company for less than twenty shillings the acre. Adopting the following conditions, we think that the limit must be twenty-five shillings. 2. It should be stipulated that fifteen shillings of the price per acre should always be applied to emigration. 3. One-tenth of the .price should always be applied to religious endowments and education. 4. The Company's emigration should be under the superintendence of the Land and Emigration Commissioners. 5. To guard against the possibility of rash or delusive paper sales, it would l be necessary to insert a provision that henceforth* except as regards the amount awarded to the Company by Mr. Peuningt'on, no land should be sold by the Company until actually surveyed. We make the exception only to meet present engagements.

VI. — Military Defence. Our opinion is that very little cost for Military protection would be needed. Tbe Company's government must protect itself against the natives by conciliation, aud the Voluntary efforts of the settlers, A Militia force would be amply .sufficient to repress any internal disorder. The wilder spiiits of the natives might be tamed by incorporation into this force ; and we see no necessity lor troubling the Admiralty lor a war-steamer. We should therefore propose, — 1. That the J Company- should Ijave pdwer to raise troops ami militia, and equip vessels, as in tlie ol<i charters. 2. That if the Company required the presence of any Regular Troops, it should detray tneir whole pay and expenses while stationed in the colo'iiy", or 'employed iv its defence. Of course this stipulation would not apply when Gi eat Britain shall be at wan with any'TcSVeign power. VII. — Checks on the Company. We are bound to devise the most effectual

checks on the powers thus to be vested in the Company. 1. The first would be the most entire publicity for all its proceedings. All Its proceedings, a' % d all letters received or written by it, should be minuted, and on demand laid before the Secretary of State ; and yearly reports of the proceedings of the Company, setting forth all accounts, instruments, rules and regulations, orders, laws and ordinances, appointments of officers, and delegations of powers, should be laid before Parliament within a fortnight of its meeting. 2. But the most effectual check possible would be that, in case of misconduct on the part of the Company, the charter might at any time he revoked by Her Majesty, on the address of both hous.es of Parliament. We would make the power even more effectual, by saying that the charter might not only be revoked, but at any time a'tered in such way. These provisions would so effectually bring the Company linger the control of public opinion, that we might dispense with those minute restrictions with which the Continental Governments are in the habit of nullifying their own delegations of power. It has been the practice of the English Government, when it delegated great powers, as in the case of the East India and Hudson's Bay Companies, to do so completi'ly. So we should say, delegate to this Company entire responsibility as well as power in all the details of its government, reserving to the supreme authority the rieht and power of at any time interfering to abolish or modify the delegated authority, wherever the results shall show abuse. It would be necessary, however, to insert full provisions, to which we see that Mr. Buller has not adverted, for seeming the Company's pecuniary iuterests in case of a revocation or alteration of their charter. New Zealand House, sth May, 1545.

Lord Stanley to Lord Ingestre. Downing Street, May 8 1845. My Lord. — I have the honor to acknowledge the leceipt of the letter ofthf»sth instant, signed by your Lordship on behalf of a committee of the New Zealand Company; and to assure you that the important subjects to which it relates shall receive ihe early and careful consideration of the Government. I iiave the honor to be, &c, Stanley. The Viscount Trurestre, M.P.

Secret Committee. Tuesday, May 20, 1845. 1. — Mr. Buller read to the committee Lord Stanley's letter of yesterday. 2. — The draft of Mr. Buller's reply was read and adopted. Adjourned to four o'clock on Thursday next.

Lord Stanley to Mr. Bulleii. Private. Downing-street, May 19, 1845. Mt dear Sir, — My colleagues and I have, as we undertook, given the fullest and fairest consideration to the piopositions on the pait of the New Zealand Company, made to me officially in Lord Ingestre's letter of the sth instant. Sir Robert Peel's absence from town made it impossible for us to communicate penonalty upon the subject till Saturday; but ail the papers connected with it had been sent down t<> him in the country. I regret to say that the result of the most attentive consideration which xne could give to the proposed scheme, is a conviction on our part that it is not capable of being the basis of a satisfactory arrangement. It will of couise be my duty to communicate this decision officially to the Company; but I was desirous of giving you the earnest intelligence of our views, and if you can arrange with Sir J.imes Graham any hour, not sooner than Thursday at 2 o'clock, on which we may renew our personal communications, 1 shall be happy to see you with him, eith°r here or at my house, and to state to jou generally the objections which we have felt to be com lusive agains>t the projects. 1 know not whether it ma> be practicable to suggest any other, and of course quite diffeient, basis for an arrangement which should relieve the Company, the colony, and I will add the Government from the embariassment of the present state of affairs. I am, &c, Stanley. C. Buller, Esq., M. P.

Mr. Buller to Lord Stanley. 2, Chester Place, May 20, 1845. >Mt dear Lokd, — I have lost no time in eommnnieating to the committee of the New Zealand Company the contents of your note of yesterday. They have, of course, received the information which it conveyed with great disappointment; but they are unwilling to neglect an) chance of an arrangement which may prevent the ruin of the colony. I will, iherefore, endeavour to arrange with Sir James Graham this evening, to call upon you at the hour mentioned — 2 o'clock, on Thursday. I am, &c, C. Buller, Jun.

Secret Committee. Thursday, 2l'd Ma)', 1845. 1. Mr. Buller reported that he had had an interview with Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham, in which they entered into a statement of (he reasons which had induced the Government to come to a conclusion that they could not adopt the plan ptoposed in Lord Ingestre's letter of sth May, but which reasons Mr. Buller did not deem himself at liberty to make public. Lord Stanley stated that be was prepered, nevertheless, to treat

with the Company either on the basis of attempting to settle the questions at issue with respect to New Zealand, leaving the powers of the Company and the Government on their present footing; or on that of the Government huyingj up the interests of the Cor pany, and dissolving that body. Mr. Buller declined expressing any opinion of either plan ; but as the second suggestion contained no stipulatian for the benefit of any one but the Company's shareholders, he stated his opinion that the Directors could make no such proposal without efficient stipulations for the benefit of the colonists. To this Lord Stanley assented. 2. It was resolved :—: — That the Committee deem it would be unadvi«able to make any fresh proposal on either of the bases suggested by Lord Stanley, becau-e they cannot anticipate that such a c >nrse would lead to any satisfactory result, but would inevi tably, in tbeir opinion, prevent the appeal of the Company to Parliament for redress during the present session. With reference to the second suggestion, the Committee c nsider that it would not be consistent witb the honor of the Company to entertain such a proposal, eren if emanating from the Government, unless it should be accompanied by a specific btatement of the guarantees which L<ud Stanley has in view lor securing the good government of the colonists whom the Company has established, and the welfare of the native race. 3. The reply to the foregoing communication to be deferred until the receipt of the official answer to Lord Ingestre's letter of sth May. Adjourned to twelve o'clock on Monday next.

Secret Committee. Monday, 26 h May, 1845. 1. Lord Stanley's reply of 23d May to Lord Ingtstre's letter of sth May was read and considered. 2. A letter was read, dated 23d May, from Dr. Evans, one o! the earliest colonists at Wellington, lately relumed to England. 3. The draft of a reply to Lord Stanley, in accordance with the Committee's resolution of the22d instant, was read, approved and signed by the Chairman. Adjourned to one o'clock on Wednesday next.

Lord Stanley to Lord Ingestre. Downiug-street, May 23, 1845. My Lord.— l have had the honor to receive your lordship's letter ot the sth instant, written on behalf of the New Zealand Company, enclosing the heads of a plan for the adjustment of the difficulties under which the colony of New Zealand is at present laboring. That plan is formed on the basis of constituting a new Company for the government: of the whole of the Middle Island, and of so much of the Northern Island as it might be deemed advisable to include within its limits. It further proposes that the existing Company shall be merged in the Company so to be established, and that the new establishments should be foimed on the model of the old proprietary governments on the North American Continent. I regret to be under the necessity of informing your lordship, that Her Majesty's Government having maturely examined this project, find that the difficulties of proceeding on the basis thus suggested are insuperable. If, however, the New Zealand Company should have any other proposition to offer, founded upon a wholly different principle, for I relieving themselves, the colony, and the Government, from the embarrassment consequent upon the present state of their sffaha, Her Majesty's Government are ready to give their best attention to sitch proposition, and to enter upon a discussion with an earnest desiie to find a satibfactory solution of the existing difficulties, by an amicable arrangement with the New Zealand Company. I have the honor to be, &c, Stanley. The Lord Ingestre, &c, &c.