THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 220, 8 September 1847, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALANDERS.

[From the Sydney Morning Herald, Aug. 10.] In the Royal Instructions which were recently published for regulating the affairs of New Zealand, there was a provision that the native laws and customs (so far of course as not contra, bonos mores Christianos) should be respected in districts not occupied by Europeans or persons of European descent. This implies that in districts which are duly included in the colony, the aboriginal New Zealanders are precisely in the same relation as to rights and obligations to the State as are the white inhabitants. That is, they are so according to the theory on which Earl Grey's scheme of polity for New Zealand is constructed. But it is a very different, as it is an important inquiry : Will they, in the working of that scheme, be practically so ? In a pamphlet just received,* this question is treated in the followiug manner : — The author, assuming that it is desirable and practicable to preserve and elevate to a true civilization the native race of New Zealand, affirms that for these ends it is- necessary, first, that the natives who have hitherto been in possession of one description of rank, authority, or influence, must, on surrendering it, be forthwith put in possession of rank, authority, #or influence, either rpally or apparently equivalent, peculiar to the condition into which it is wished they should" now enter, in exchange ior the former ; and, secondly, that they must, on becoming British citizens, be at the same time received into private social intercourse with Britons, wlrch intercourse should be warmed with hospital ty, and guarded by no small portion of politeness and respectful etiquette. In short, the main object is to leave the natives, whether chiefs or itiferiors, in possession of undirainished self-respect. | Otherwise, as this author thinks, they will, on resigning their lands and power, become turbulent, or decline in moral character, and disappear. These principles we must admit to be sound; and if the author had been equally fortunate in applying them to details as he is in their conception and enunciation, we should have had the pleasure of recognising the solution of a most difficult problem. He proposes that over all parts, where saie residences could be had, there should be dispersed a well instructed machinery of functionaries, zealous in winning the confidence and good will of all the leading minds, . and bearing to them useful though not necessarily expensive presents from her Majesty ; that local rank and titles should be conferred on all influential men, under deeds of an imposing description, and that such of them as are willing should be nominated jointly with whites to all manner of respectable posts ; 4hat somo of the leading men ought to sit in the colonial legislature, others with Europeans as magistrates, others as superintendents "6f 'police, surveyors of land, officers of customs, and the like, in conjunction with' European officials of the corresponding classes, and even if performing only nominal duties ; that a colonial army should be raised, of which the commissioned and non-commissioned service, as well as the rank and file, should contain natives equally with Europeans : that lands should be granted to the chiefs and other natives of weight, in personal property, under title deeds from the Crown : and that no lands should remain as the common property of the tribes ; that industrial and technical schools

•The Universal Destruction of Aboriginal Races by.'jpolpaizing Nations, and eventually of the New Zealandcus % the cause' of this evil and its sure preventive,' addressed to the Right Honorable the Her. Majesty's Secretary of State for tliftXjtnQWfis '* by'AriitQfalot t author of various writing* on Political and- Scientific subjects. — Itfadoa: Sinjth^Eldjr/fc Co M Cprnhill. 1847.

should be established' for the children of Europeans and aboriginals without distinction ; that intermarriage should be encouraged between the two races, by means of grants of lands and public employments ; that, finally, social intercourse should be promoted by the private example of respectable colonists, and also by public festivals, processions, and i sports, — we may add, associations for improvements, and the shows customarily connected with their meetings. In carrying out these recommendations, the author is of opinion, that pomp and barbaric splendour should be studied. He speaks more than once of ornamented title deeds, and sets great store by robes, seals of office, blaj zonry, and other imposing accessories. So far as these can be made to bear a meaning, we are willing, until oral communication with the natives be perfected, to admit their use. But we think that any pageantry not obviously emblematic or useful, would rather retard than advance the progress of civilization. A grave and respectful ceremony betwixt man and man ought, however, in all intercourse, social or official, to be cultivated, Where i mutual intercourse by speech is defective, politesse of demeanour is an excellent succedaI neum. The native races in New Zealand are superior in capabilities of civilization to most savages. Their preservation and civilization is a more hopeful theme.' They are not unhabituated to industry. They are accessible to religious, to moral, and to secular instruction. They are not the hopeless, weak, and irreclaimable victims to British vices. Nothing, indeed, seems requisite for their gradual improvement, except the adoption of means devised in the spirit of the author of this pamphlet, and calculated for retaining them in their self-respect, and in the social position to which their qualities entitle them. The history of Ireland affords an illustration of these views. Ou the accession of the Stuarts its population was turbulent, lazy,immoral, and wretched, with the additional difficulty occasioned .7 a difference of language. Wise measures, analogous to the above described, were then adopted for its pacification, and the promotion of arts, instruction, and social and legal equality ; and for a time with the desired success. But, unhappily, they a ere not persevered in. In subsequent reigns Ireland became a field of jobbery. Justice and instrujtiou were denied to the native race. Hence resulted a world of woes, under which the empire is now suffering.