Resioent Magistrates' Ordinance. Copy of a Despatch from Governor Grey to Earl Grey. Government House, Auckland, December 15, 1847. (Received June 1, 1848.)

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 382, 31 March 1849, Page 3

Resioent Magistrates' Ordinance. Copy of a Despatch from Governor Grey to Earl Grey. Government House, Auckland, December 15, 1847. (Received June 1, 1848.)

My Lord, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, No. 72, of the Bth June last, informing me, in reference to an ordinance \vhich_ I passed with the advice and consent of my Legislalative Council, No. 16, Sess. 7, intituled "An ordinance to provide for th*e establishment of Resident Magistrates' Courts, and to make special provision for the Administration of Justice in certain cases," that if I should report it as my deliberate opinion that it would be advisable for her Majesty to confirm that ordinance, notwithstanding the altered constitution of the colony, your Lordship would be prepared to advise her Majesty to amend the Royal instructions, and to confirm the ordinance to which I am alluding. In reply, I have the honor, in the first place, to enclose for your Lordship's informa'.ion the returns named in the margin, illustrating the working of the Resident Magistrate's Court in the town of Auckland, in cases which have arisen between natives, or between natives and Europeans, and I then beg to offer the following general remarks upon this subject: — The general line of policy 1 have endeavoured to adopt in reference to the subject of legislation for the mixed races inhabiting this country has been to convince the natives that their traditional customs had, in reference to their own present state, and that of the country generally, become obsolete and useless, and that it would be to their own advantage to adopt our laws, and to resort to our tribunals. With this view, I felt that it would, perhaps, be better uot to require our Courts in any way to recognise the barbarous customs of the native race, as I feared that, if they were required to do so, a mixed class of laws might grow into existence, which, ul imately becoming mixed up with the tenure of property, the customs of trade, and the prejudices of the people, might be found difficult to dispense v/ith or abolish, although very serious inconveniences might result from them. I, therefore, have hitherto, in as little as possible, noticed or interfered with the native laws or customs, as exercised amongst themselves, and the result is that they are rapidly becoming obsolete and forgotten. In reference again to the administration of our own laws as regards the native population, I have endeavoured to make it as little obtrusive as possible ; but I have, at the same time, attempted to make the provisions of those laws iutendad to be applicable to the mixed races so large, that they would embrace all cases likely to occur ; and by encouraging commerce and agriculture amongst the natives, and by awakening in them a taste for luxuries, and for articles of convenience, I have striven to create an indirect necessity for their resorting to our Courts, and recognizing our laws. How far these attempts have been successful in the vicinity of Auckland, your Lordship will be able to judge from the enclosed returns. The success of the experiment has certainly exceeded my own expectations, and when it is remembered that what has taken place in the town of Auckland has been at the same time going on in many other parts of the Islands, I think it must be admitted that the nati- es have resorted to our Courts more readily, and have availed themselves of | our laws more extensively than would have been anticipated in a country which has only been so recently ocupied as a British possession. Your Lordship will find that, in as far as regards the native population alone, or cases

in which natives and Europeans were concerned, the following number of cases have been disposed of in the Resident's Magistrate's Court at Auckland in little more than 12 months :—: — Civil Cases. Number of case 9 disposed of. J Maories only concerned 2 Maories and Europeans concerned . .120 Criminal Cases. Maories only concerned 3 Maories and Europeans concerned 86 211 Making a total of two hundred and eleven cases in one Court, whilst the actual amount recovered in the same Court by natives from Europeans in the same period of time is upwards of four hundred and ninety pouads (£490). I think further that an examination of the nature of the cases heard and decided will show the aptitude of the Resident Magistrate-,' Ordinance to the state of society in this colony, and will prove from the facility it gives both races of enforcing obligations and recovering debts, that it must have afforded a great impetus to the now rapidly increasing trade of the country. The enclosed copy of a despatch from Lieutenant-Governor Eyre will also exhibit to your Lordship the indirect effect that the introduction of our laws into the ordinary transactions of life is producing amongst the natives, who, in the instance recorded by Mr. Eyre, have, for the first time since our occupation of the country, brought in a native prisoner, who was supposed to have murdered another Maori, and have given him up to the ciril power for trial in the ordinary manner. I beg to state to your Lordship that the whole of the measures I have adopted in the hope of finally adjusting the difficulties which prevailed in this country, formed portions of a general plan, the whole of the parts of which are in a great measure dependent one upon the other; perhaps the most important principles of the whole scheme are embodied in the Resident Magistrates' Ordinance, and I fear that if it were disallowed, serious inconveniencies might again arise. If therefore after a consideration of the arguments used in this despatch, and after examining the enclosed documents, your Lordship should still think fit to adhere to your expressed intention of recommending her Majesty to amend the Royal instructions, and to confirm the Resident Magistrates' Ordinance, I think that a great benefit would be conferred upon this colony. As a proof that the native population*generally fully appreciate the steps which have been taken for introducing our laws amongst them, and that at least a large portion, if not the whole of the European population coincide in these feelings, I would state the rather interesting fact, that a knowledge of what has been done, has spread to some of the other islands of the Pacific, and that since I directed the preparation of the enclosed returns for your Lordship's information, I have received a message from the principal chief, and the subordinate chiefs of the Friendly Islands, earnestly requesting me, if Great Britain would not form more immediate relations with them, at least to visit their islands, for the purpose of assisting them in framing a code of la us based upon the English law, and suited to their present state. I have, &c, (Signed) G. Grey. The Right Hon. Earl Grey, &c, &c, &c.