Untitled

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 62, 13 December 1845, Page 3

On the motion for goifig "into Committee of Supply, Mr. Charles Buller drew attention to the present state of New Zealand. He recounted the events connected with the destruction of Kororarika, in the Bay of Islands ; awarded Heki his due meed of praise for the chivalrous conduct he had exhibited in his warfare, and pictured the dangerous condition of the settlers from the excited feelings of the natives, flushed by the plunder, upwards of £40,000, they had acquired, and Animated by their easy victory .> The settlement of Wellington, with from 4000 to 6000 colonists, who had taken out with them property to the extent of £2,000,000, was surrounded by at leapt 8,000 natives, who were kept in check by only 50 soldiers — the rest bring drawn off to protect Auckland, tie threw the responsibility of this state ot things on the Government: for Lord Stanley had brought about that calamity, a war of races. It was no satisfaction that Captain Fitzroy was recalled, unless they had the positive assurance of a change in the system. In the recent debate, Sir Robert Peel had promised so exceedingly fair, that several members of the House had blamed him for proceeding to a division against a Government so evidently disposed to what is right. Lord Stanley had, however, dashed all these pleasing anticipations, by reiterating in the House of Lords that all the difficulties of New Zealand had arisen from the conflict of the claims of the Company, with the condition" entered into with the natives by the Ireaty of Waitaugi— which- Treaty he declared the determination of the Government religiously to fulfil, though perfectly conscious that this " religious" observance was coupled with the proposition uf a land-tax, the real object of which was the confiscation of the land of the natives. He would not call this conduct "thim-ble-rigging," but it was analogous to the old trick of "ring-dropping." not unfamiliar to the readers of " Roderick Random." Entering into detail on the differences between the New Zealand Company and the Government, or rather Lord Stanley, he contended that the spirit which still animated the Colonial office was inimical to the peace, prosperity, and security of a colony so important as the one in question ; and after urging- that he could not possibly have any party object in view, he concluded by moving "That this house regards with regret and apprehension the state of affairs in New Zealand: and those feelings are greatly aggravated 'by- the -want of any sufficient evidence of a change in the policy which has led to such disastrous results."' Mr. Hope (Under Secretary for the Colonies) went into ihe minute particulars, in order to show that Lord Stanley was not open to the charge of deceit or.unfair dealing in his intercourse with the directors of the New Zealand Company, and read extracts from letters, to show j that the arrival of troops from Sydney had inspired confidence at Auckland, a portion of these reinforcements having been despatched for the protection of Wellington. The most recent in-'| teiligence led them to believe that a general combination of the native tribes was exceedingly j improbable. He contended that the instructions of Lord John Russell, when he was in the Colonial Office, recognised the native title to their lands, which was subsequently carried out by the Treaty of Waitangi, and the object of Lord Stanley, who could- not possibly have any | hostility towards the Company, was to maintain go.od faith with the natives, and from this he was not to be driven in order to adopt a policy of confiscation and spoliation. Mr. Roebuck pointed out that Britain had foregone its rights over New Zealand, acquired by discovery, and had, both by tacit assent and actual declaiation, vested voluntarily the sovereignty over the country in its chiefs. In this independent and foreign country the New Zealand Company had acquired land in the same way as if they had done so in France, and when this country subsequently took the sovereignty, we had no right to look into the Company's titles. Our sending out Captain Hobson with consular powers was in itself a recognition of the sovereign authority. He would not say whether or not this recognition was a wise act ; but out of jt came the treaty of Waitangi, the procuring I mean* of which it was easy to understand, when it was recollected what savages were, and that for rum, powder, muskets, and blankets, they would assign anything. He traced the origin of j the pretended concern for the natives, by which the treaty was obtained and maintained, to selfish and interested motives. Having emancipated the blacks, there was found to be a mass of agitating power disposable; and it was a fact that it was' gravely discussed to what it should be directed, a home or a colonial object. The aborigines were selected; a member of that House was allowed to ride His hobby, and get a committee, the report of which, fished up and acted on was the cause of all their difficulties. But the missionaries profited, by it, for the missionary influence ruled the Colonial office, and no good would be effected untl they wholly changed the system by which the colonies are controlled He asked if the Government could seriously hold up the treaty of Waitangi in the face, of the civilized world *s any thing else than waste paper ? It was his opinion that the New Zealand savages were doomed to disappear, like the North America Indians, before r the advances of the white man ; all that we can do is to protect them from injustice. A land-tax was a paltry, pitiful, thimble rigging scheme, the result of which must be annual forfeitures, until the whole land effected to be secured by the treaty of Waitangi fell into our hands. He called upon them at once to annul it;. to vest the whole of the waste Ja&d* of New Zealand in the Crown, and compensate* the natives by securing' them in all

that r tr ill necessary for their comfortable subsistence. . ..,".-, , The Attorney- General went over the legal details of the question in' order to- show -that the New Zealancr Company, acting in a purely commercial spirit, had originally, moved at tbfirown risk, in defiance of the Government, and had not established a valid title to the lands- which they had acquited, and this was the origin of the •trife between it and the Government, which was bound to protect the natives, f Mr. Labouchere defended the Colonial Government nf the Whig Administration, as also the character of Mr. Stephen, whom he' praised for his intelligence, acuteness', and' integrity. He would uphold the treaty of Waitangr, in its equitable construction : but there wßs a higher question involved, that of the means "to be taken for the safety of a great and important colony. Sir R. H. Inglis and Mr. Aglionby having addressed the House, after some explanation the debate was adjourned.