PETITION OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. XPreiented by Joseph Somei, Esq., M. P., April 16. 1845.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 61, 6 December 1845, Page 4

PETITION OF THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. XPreiented by Joseph Somei, Esq., M. P., April 16. 1845.]

To the honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled. The Petition of the New Zealand Company, incorporated by royal letters patent, under the Great Seal of the said United Kingdom, shower.li — 1. That we come before your honourable house to ask redress for wrongs done to ourselves and others while prosecuting the undertaking for which we are incorporated : " the settlement and improvement of the colony of New Zealand and its dependencies." 2. The undertaking first suggested icself to us in the year 1887. We embarked in it from a belief that the work of colonization was consonant to the constitution and ancient policy of this kingdom, beneficial in itself, and honourable to its promoters ; that the islands of New Zealand were especially fitted for its successful prosecution by their geographical position, their climate and soil, and the variety and value of their natural products ; and that it would be possible not only to unite the interests of the aboriginal inhabitants with those of European colonists, but to render such a union productive of reciprocal advantages to both races.; and to effect the whole plan withoutburden to the parent State. 3. The means by which we proposed to realize these objects were the disposal of waste lands upon the system approved by the committee of your honourable house which satin 1836 ; the appropriation of a large proportion of the proceeds of land-sales to emigration and other public objects ; the introduction of moral and industrious colonists in lieu of the lawless influx of runaways and others, which had been for some time going on ; an absolute exclusion of convicts ; and the local interspersion of the two races, in order to their gradual amalgamation as one people. The plan to be administered by a body of selected individuals, invested with the necessary powers, responsible for the due performance of their trust, and unbiassed by the possession of any pecuniary interest therein. For effecting this plan, it appeared to us that the simplest and most beneficial c jurse was both to assert at once the sovereignty of the Crown over the entire country— on the best of all grounds, the right of discovery — and its title to all the unoccupied portions of the soil ; but, as it had been deemed expedient by the Government to recognize New Zealand as a sovereign and independent state, the course we definitively proposed was that of obtaining, on behalf of the Crown, both the proprietorship and the sovereignty by treaty and cessation. I. From the outset, the exclusion of pecuniary speculation formed an essential principle of our plan, as embodied both in the proposals submitted to Lord Melbourne in 1837, and in the bill brought into your honourable house by Mr. Francis Baring in 1838. The formation of a joint-stock association was originally prescribed by the Colonial Minister, Lord Glenelg, as a condition of our obtaining a proprietary charter ; was at first rejected by us as inconsistent with the principle above mentioned ; and was eventually adopted only in consequence of the failure of Mr. Baring's bill. From the outset, also, it was our desire to act always under the auspices of her Majesty's Government, and in concert with it ; we made many unsuccessful endeavours to attain this advantage ; and it was only after repeated re- ,

pulses by auccesair* Minister*— when numerous intending colonists were urgent for oar assistance to enable them to emigrate, and a foreign power was about to despatch a rival ex» pedition — that we resolved to depend on ottr own resources and the. co-operation of our countrymen, and to proceed at length,, unaided by the Government, to carry our plan into execution. As New {Zealand bad been declared by her Majesty's Government to be a sovereign and independent country, we shaped our proceed* ings in accordance with that declaration, both in acquiring lands for the purposes of colonisation in the only equitable way which was then customary or practicable, and in making provi* sion for the maintenance of order in our intended settlements. Accordingly, we sent out our Agent and exploring expedition in May 1839, and the first emigrants to our settlements in the September following. 5. On the departure ot our exploring expedition, the late Captain Hobson was despatched to re-acquire for the Crown the sovereignty which had before been repudiated; and, as has since been declared in the Chamber of Deputies, the effect oi our proceedings was to prevent the establishment of a Freuch penal settlement in the Middle Island, or, in other words, to save New Zealand from the fate of Tahiti. Complete success attended the first efforts of our Agent. Under our instructions he directed his course to Cook's Straits as the most advantageous po-ition, and the one in which he was least likely to interfere with others or be interfered with by them ; lie conciliated the goodwill of the natives, whom he found comparatively few and unacquainted with Europeans ; gave them presents on a liberal scale ; and, after much negotiation and open discussions with them, effected agreements for the cession of considerable tracts oi land on both sides of the Straits, by means oi written instruments, the practical effect of which they undoubtedly understood and regarded as satisfactory. In addition to the presents, a special covenant, till then unknown, was by our desire introduced into every agreement, reserving for the natives a portion equal to a tenth of all lands that we might appropriate to our settlers. These reserves we desired to be selected in exactly the same way with the possessions of the colonists, and to be intermingled among theirs, with a view to their progressive increase in value and the development of common interests and feelings, on the importance of which we laid much stress, and which we enjoined to be cultivated with all possible assiduity. G. The particulars of these cessions, the site, extent, title-deeds, and even the journal of our Agent, recording his proceedings from day to day therein, were all made public. With full opportunity of knowing these particulars, the Secretary of State, Lord John Russell, recognizing our usefulness, entered into an agreement with us in November, 1840, requiring the surrender of every pretension of right as derived from the chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and compensating us by a Crown grant of land bearing a certain proportion to the sums which we had expended in the various operations of colonisation. And, on condition of our enlarging our capital from one hundred thousand to three hundred thousand pounds, his lordship confirmed that agreement by a royal charter of incorporation in the succeeding February. In reliance on these acts, we engaged in colonising operations, under the inspection of the Emigration Commissioners, with increased activity ; and in June, 1 841, and August, 1 842, we further entered into special contracts with Lord John Russell and his successor Lord Stanley respectively, for the purchase, direct from the Crown, of fifty thousand and a hundred thousand acres of • Crown lands, at the standard price of twenty shillings an acre, to be afterwards expended by us on emigration and colonial public works. In pursuance- of the agreement and special contracts, the accountaut appointed to investigate our claim pronounced in our favour awards for seven hundred and sixty-two thousand five hundred and ninety-three (7.62,523) acres of land. But to the present time, though nearly four years have elapsed, we have been unable to obtain from her Majesty's Representative in New Zealand the grant of a single acre. • As this breach of contract constitutes the most important of the injuries for which we now seek redress, we beg the indulgence of your honourable house for Stating the particulars in some detail. (Jo be continued in our next.)