CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY AND THE GOVERNMENT. (Concluded from our last.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume II, Issue 65, 3 January 1846, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY AND THE GOVERNMENT. (Concluded from our last.)

The Company reply in the following terms. New Zealand House, August 8, 1845. My Lord, — On the part of the Court of Directors of the Yew Zealand Company, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship's reply of yesterday 's date to the letter addressed to you by Lord Inge3tre on the 24th ult. In that letter, after expressly guarding ourselves against any supposition that we had abandoned the views we have so frequently expressed as to the true policy to be adopted in reference to New Zealand, we submitted as the best practical course, under existing circumstances, certain suggestions affecting the future institutions of the colony, and the titles to land, based on the principles which we undet stood to have been laid down by your lordship. These suggestions have been discussed in repeated interviews between the Colonial Department and a deputation of our directors, and the letter with which we are now favoured is of course received as a communication of your lordship's views as the result of those discussions. From the principle on which our propositions were founded, and the moderation with whie^i we had endeavoured to frame them, we had undoubtedly indulged a hope that they would at once have received the unqualified sanction of your lordship. It is consequently not without disappointment that we perceive the important modifications introduced into some of our suggestions, and the more so as we feel ourselves thereby precluded from that expression of entire satisfaction which it would have been doubly gratifying to us to have been enabled to offer | from the frank cordiality which has marked the I recent personal discussions, and the considerate tone of jour lordship's present communication. Following the order in which the questions therein adverted to are treated, we accept with satisfaction the assurance of your lordship as to the instructions to be given to the Governor of New Zealand, for putting the company in possession of titles to such of their lands as have been awarded by Mr. Commissioner Spain in his judicial charactei, or as an authorised arbi- i trator, and for aiding and co-operating with the company's agent, for bringing to a prompt conclusion the negotiation with the natives, for the purchase or extinction of their rights. I | As tending to obviate delay in the resumption I of our colonising operations, if enabled to do so by the pecuniary aid of the Government, the immediate grant of the whole 400,000 acres at Otago, subject to the future reconveyance of the Crown of any portion unselected by the company, is an important and a valuable arrangement, for the concession of which we feel our acknowledgments to be due, as also for the permission

of extension of our purchases in the Wairarapa Valley. With respect to the removal of restriction as to figure and continuity of blocks, adverted to in the succeeding paragraph, we consent to the limitation suggested by your lordship on our selections in Wairarapa Valley, and agree that they shall either he continuous or in as small a number of blocks as circumstances will permit, and that no such block shall contain less than 20,000 acres. We did not advert to the form of blocks conceiving that point to have been conceded as to all selections on the recorded testimony of the impracticability of its application in such a colony as New Zealand, and we calculate confidently on your lordship's confirmation of this impression, from the obvious tendency of the maintenance of such a regulation to produce future and useless differences. "Your lordship's consent to grant immediately to the company for a limited period the preemptive right of the Crown in the lands comprised within those portions of the Northern and Middle Islands, usually known as the company's districts, coupled with the arrangements respecting Wairarapa and Otago, appears to offer a reasonable prospect of the company soon finding themselves in possession of as large an amount of available land as they will be likely for some "time to require ; and gratified at the determination intimated by your lordship to waive, in the company's favour, any,doubt you may have entertained of their right to reimbursement in land, at the rate of ss. per acre, of the monies they may advance in bringing up native claims, we readily consent to the limitation suggested by your lordship that the governor, or proper officer of the Government, shall concur in -the reasonableness of the terms of such purchase. On the next point it is necessary that we should trouble your lordship with a word of explanation. The desire that measures should be taken for examining into the native titles in the Middle Island did not, we believe, originate with the company, as your lordship appears to suppose. By reference to Lord Ingestre's letter it will be perceived that the proposition of the company was that an unconditional grant should be made of any lands selected by them in the Middle Island, on the ground that the treaty of Waitangi was admitted not to extend to that island ; when, as a substitute for this course, the adoption of that already pressed on Governor Grey's attention, of ascertaining and registering native titles, was named as calculated to facilitate the company's acquisition of lands, the deputation concurred in that arrangement, and expressed a wish that it might be commenced in the Middle Island, where, from the scantiness of the population, and the lands being generally unappro-^ priated, it appeared to them to be least open to objection. With regard to the withdrawal of the proclamations permitting purchases from the natives on payment of 10s., or one penny per acre and the peremptory prohibition of such purchases in future, after the opinions stated to us in the recent conferences, we cannot with propriety persist in our request. But we are still un - able to dismiss all apprehension of injurious consequences from such purchases being sanctioned,- although we feel that, in the existing state of relations between your lordship and the company, it would be ungracious in us further to press our objections; it only, therefore, remains for us to express our hope that tne anticipations of your lordship may be realised, and that the further communications addressed to Captain Grey, in connexion with the other circumstances referred to by your lordship, may prove sufficient for the removal of all cause of apprehension. In the importance attached by your lordship to that earliest possible selection of their lands by the company, our interests are entirely concurrent with your lordship's wishes, and we shall consider it our duty to do all in our power to expedite an object so desirable. That this may be materially facilitated by the despatch of a properly qualified person to assist in the selection and purchase of land from the natives cannot admit of a doubt ; and, confiding in the selection of an individual of character and station commensurate with the importance of the trust, and unconnected with all party, we hail the proposition both as a ibeasure of great practical utility, and a pledge- of that cordiality of operation which, for the sake of the public interest, we most earnestly desire. On the subject of a final adjustment of the company's claims to land, we recognise in your lordship's intimation of readiness to entertain any proposal on the part of the company for simplifying the investigation of our claim, and settling without further delay the gross totaf quantity of land to which we are entitled in respect of our expenditure, a valuable suggestion for the avoidance of future controversy, and we meet it accordingly by an immediate communication of our views. But -as the question not only involves many details, but i 3 also unavoidably connected with other claims, irrespective of those directly consequent on expenditure, we have thought it right to embody them in a separate letter of this date, to which we beg to refer your lordship. We are now brought to the consideration of the remaining portion of your lordship's communication, that which refers to the legislative and municipal institutions to be established in New Zealand. With respect to municipal institutions, we are fully aware that there is a difficulty in at present defining with precision the extent of authority to be confided to the municipalities ; but from the tenour of your lordship's sentiments, and the expressions of Sir Robert Peel, when referring to this subject in the House of Commons, we are induced to believe that it is the intention of jour lordship to grant to those bodies powers equal or analagous to those described in our letter of the 24th ultimo. As to the militia, however, on which point your lordship refers us to the ordinance recently passed in the colony, it is right that we should urge on your consideration thattheprovisionsof that ordinance are not sufficient either to satisfy the expectations of the colonists, or to meet what we conceive to be your lordship's intentions. The powers conveyed by that enactment \ are permissive only. It is not sufficient that the governor should have authority to embody a 'militia. It is indispensible that each of the mv-

riicipalities should be invested with a right to demand the enrolment, subject to the general regulations of the Militia Act. This will be ■especially the case at Otago, where, in conse quence of theintimation that no military force can be promised for the protection of settlers, none would proceed unless assured of permission to organize themselves as a military body for their own defence. On the last point adverted to by your lordship, that of imparting to the Legislative Council a more representative character than at present, it cannot be denied that in the admission therein of representatives delegated by the respective municipalities, the great principle is conceded. But it must be equally obvious that for all purposes of practical utility the concession must be nugatory, so long as its operation is limited by the condition that the representative portion of the Council is not in any case to constitute a majority. This restriction we understood in the conferences was to have been declared as temporary only,' and the words " at present," which it was suggested should be introduced, have probably been accidentally omitted. It cannot, however, under the force of public opinion, be of long continuance, and we have only to hope that the prudence and intelligence of the municipal representatives may speedily prove that the true course of the Executive Government of a British colony is so to mould its policy in harmony with the popular conviction as to render unnecessary those inconsistent precautions which would seek to reconcile the semblance of , popular representation with the actual exercise of absolute power. We have now consecutively reviewed the various points brought under your lordship's consideration in our application of the 24th ultimo, and referred to in your reply. We have commented on them with a freedom which we trust is not unbecoming our position, and which we have felt to be due to that of your lordsbip. We hope we have been successful in the endeavour to avoid all controversial expressions, and if any of our remarks should seem to bear such a character, we beg your lordship to believe that it has arisen solely from our desire to avoid future misunderstanding. We would fain hope that controversy between the Government and the company has now ceased. We acknowledge the conciliatory spirit of your lordship's letter, and we desire to reciprocate it. Powerless at pre • sent, through financial pressure, we tender with sincerity to your lordship, when that pressure shall be removed (and without this, as we have already stated, all other arrangements must to us be nugatory), that which we believe it is in our power to afford, useful practical aid in the important but difficult task of colonising one of the most valuable possessions of the British Crown. In this interesting work we are actuated by no sordid views, and animated by no ambitious spirit. We seek only, in subordination to Her Majesty's Government, to act as instruments for advancing the well-being of the colonists and the prosperity of New Zealand, confident that we shall thus best promote the interests of our shareholders, which duty requires that we should not disregard. 1 have, &c, GEORGE FRED. YOUNG, Chairman. The Right Hon. Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, &c.

August $tb, 1345. My Lord, — Having already submitted our views, with one or two exceptions, upon the several points mentioned in the reply to our letter of the 24th of July, with which we have this day been honoured, we proceed to bring separately under your lordship's consideration the on c subject which, for the sake of clearness, has been omitted from our previous communication. Your lordship is pleased to intimate that, as a j further means of avoiding delay in the final ad- j justment of the company's claim to land, and with a view to give us the advantage which may result from our having a definite knowledge of the extent of our resources, you are prepared to entertain any proposal on our part for simpli- . fying the investigation of the account of land to which we are entitled ; and for the recognition without further delay, of our right to a gross total quantity of land in respect of our expenditure to the present time. Receiving this unsolicited intimation as an additional mark of the sincerity of your lordship's desire that all occasion of future controversy may, as far as practicable, be removed, and concurring most cordially in this desire, we have lost no time in causing to be prepared an estimate of our claims to the present date, so far as they can be made up from the accounts in our possession. This paper is now enclosed, and exhibits, as your lordship will perceive, a total of 1,168,094 acres on account of expenditure, exclusive of four items, the amount of which cannot be specified at this moment, and to which we will immediately more particularly advert. From the imperfection of the materials upon which this document is based, and the haste with which it has o£ necessity been drawn up, in order to complete the correspondence prior to the rising of Parliament, we cannot pretend to submit it as strictly accurate. It is not impossible ■that some af the items might be subject of question, and it is obvious, that from the absence of vouchers, we are not in a condition to substantiate each separate payment with the regularity usually demanded by a public accountant, ana heretofore observed in the investigations of Mr. Pennington. But we are satisfied that any questionable points must be few in number, and inconsiderable i n amount. We feel assured that <the expenditure has been bond fide incurred : and and itom the accounts sent home from the colony, \we are perfectly convinced that the statement of account and appropriation of the several .sums may be confidently relied on. Although, therefore, we are not in a position to submit an account in a regular form, or to prefer any distinct suggestion as to the mode in which your lordship's considerate proposal may be most speedily and effectually carried into execution, we have no hesitation in placing our statements in your hands, in the fullest confidence, that if made the basis of such an arrangement as has been indicated, it would eventually be borne out by any examination to which it might be subjected. To the expression of these convictions it is right we should add, that we are ready unreservedly to submit to the strictest scrutiny that

may be thought fitting every document in our possession calculated to throw light on the subject, and with this remark we must leave it to your lordship to determine on the best mode of effecting an object which, if perfected in 'the spirit in which we feel it must have originated, would, beyond all doubt, be productive of the most beneficial results. The four items before alluded to, the amount of which is unstated, are — additional .payments yet to be made to the natives, future < surveys, fees to the^ commissioner of land claims, and losses to which the company has been subjected. We will endeavour to state what is requisite upon each, without recurring to controversy, or awakening any angry feeling. 1. Additional payments to the natives. — Assuming our claims to amount, in round numbers, to 1,200,000 acres, the whole of the cases upon which Mr. Spain has in any way pronounced an award to be completed and concluded in our favour, and 205,000 acres to be found available for our purposes out of the 400,000 purchased at Otago, there will remain a balance of 600,000 acres to be satisfied by lands to be procured from the natives, either under additional payments ov by means of fresh purchases. - In the Northern Island the additional payments recently made, under the directions of Mr. Spain and Mr. George Clarke, appear to have been at the rate of about 6d, an acre; at Otago the purchase was effected at between Id. and 2d. Assuming 4d. as the mean, to obtain 600,000 acres will require just 10,000/. If the plan of Governor Fitzroy, however, with regard to New Plymouth, be ultimately carried out, as detailed in his memorandum of the 2d. December, 1844 (Parliamentaay papers (1845), 369, page 100), a further sum of 3.00 C*. will be involted, being at the rate of Is. an acre. 2. Future Surveys, — For such lands as -we obtain under section 1, of the agreement of No-" veniber, 1840, we are to be allowed credit, under the Bth paragraph of that section, for the interior survey, or subdivision, as well as for the external. For such as we obtain by the special contracts of June, 1841, and August, 1842, under section 3 of the above-named agreement, it has not yet been decided whether we are to be allowed for both the requisite surveys or for the external only. To ourselves an allowance for the interior survey appears to be promised by the second paragraph of that section : the Commissioners of Colonial Lands and Emigration have expres- j sed an opinion that it is precluded by the third paragraph. , We will not recite the arguments by -which our own view of the question appears to us to be established ; but anticipating a favourable construction of it on the part of your lordship^ we will simply remark that the lowest rate at which, in a country so broken and so densely wooded as is (generally) New Zealand, the lowest rate at which lands can be accurately laid out in portions consistent with the system of the company, is from Is. to Is. 6<L an acre. At this rate, 200,000 acres at Otago, and 600,000 to be yet obtained, will require an expenditure of from 40,000*. to 60,000*. 3. Fees to the Commissioner of Land Claims. — The amount of fees chargeable, under the local ordinance (4 Victoria, c. 2) upon awards of 1,200,000 acres, will be between 5,500/. and 6,000*. We -confidently anticipate that your lordship will decide that, under the circumstances, we ought not to be required to pay this sum ; or if paid by us, that we ought to receive an equivalent. 4. Losses, Direct and Contingent, to which the Company has been subjected. — Upon these, and their amount, enormous as it has unquestionably been, we will abstain from adding a single word. But, in connexion with this subject, we beg to draw attention to the letter addressed confidentially to your lordship on the sth instant. Nor can we in candour close this communication without annexing fee accompanying correspondence with Dr. Evans, on the claims of the colonists, which has taken place at the mo* merit of our writing, and for which we most earnestly solicit the serious and most indulgent consideration of Her Majesty's Government. I have the honour, To the Right Hon. Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, &c.