THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 573, 29 January 1851, Page 4

THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

[From the Times.] The fate of the New Zealand Company will not surprise any one who has studied the history of English colonisation. Every company which has hitherto attempted to perform the duties of a government in a colony, and to attain mercantile profit at the same time, has failed. The objects sought are incompatible. The machinery that is requisite to the one end militates against the other, and the failure of such a company, as a mercantile speculation, is inevitable from the commencement. Unfortunately, the people of this country are not generally well read in their own colonial history. The same schemes are consequently often repeated. The same devices are at somewhat distant periods paraded before a gullible public; the same infatuation, and the same disappointment, invariably succeed. The New Zealand Company, with its history, serves but to illustrate a truth which woeful experience has long since satisfactorily established.

Some time before the New Zealand Company was formed, the world was suddenly startled by a declaration that a new system of colonisation had been discovered. We were told that a profound consideration of the history of all colonies, whether of Greece, Spain, or of England, had led to one inevitable conclusion—a conclusion, indeed, opposed to all the experience which in other matters men have attained —that the great mischief and difficulty was dispersion— the great object to be attained, therefore, the concentration— or rather crowding together, of the population of a colony. It was added that for this purpose of keeping the colonists within due bounds, a machinery was requisite ; and that this machinery, which was to supersede the prudence, forethought, and enerov of individuals, was the united wisdom of a mercantile joint-stock company. In order to illustrate this great discovery a system was adopted which had for its main purpose to decry all other plans and devices, and more especially that plan of government which has for its exponent the Colonial Office. The failures, mistakes, shortcomings, and downright evildoings of the Colonial Office were collected together and made into a homily for the daily study of the young colonist; and so soon as he was thoroughly master of its contents, he was asked to come at once to the conclusion that because our Government colonial system was fraught with errors, the new plan was without speck or blemish. A practical result was to follow all this teaching, and a company to act upon the new doctrines was thereupon established. The first attempt was made in South Australia—but herein the Colonial Office interfered, and a new field was sought for and obtained. New Zealand was at that lime an independent country. England neglected, France had not sought it. The adventurers of the New Zealand Company determined to occupy what no European nation seemed willing to seize. The daring emigrants, as they dropped down the river, signed, in imitation of the celebrated pilgrims in the ‘Mayflower,’ a declaration of union and obedience, and fearlessly cast themselves upon the waters in search of a new home, and with the determination of founding a new state. But the long arms of English power quickly seized them. France showed symptoms of taking possession, and, thereupon, after sundry not very dignified or rational proceedings, England declared herself the possessor of New Zealand. In the meantime, the first settlers had arrived. They took possession of lands nuiiai vhe agent of the New Zealand Company asserted he had bought from the natives. Many interests were however at work to cross the views of the company. Into the workings of these opposing interests we will not now inquire. But so soon as England declared herself the Sovereign of New Zealand, the fate of the company was, in reality, sealed. Those, however, by whom it was planned, could hOl thus easily forego their expectations. They believed the theory which they had begun by announcing, and they hoped by what, in reality, was nothing more, nothing less, than a system of land-jobbing, to continue for themselves a corporate existence. Land, said they, is of value in proportion to its scarcity ; make then a factitious scarcity, confine the settlers within a magic circle, framed out of a high price of land. Let no one get beyond this circle excent bv means of purchase, and demand for ‘every acre an exorbitant sum. Do not listen to those who say that an inexhaustible supply of rich land is the one great source of wealth in | a new community; that which compensates

in some measure for the long hoarded an,] I multiplied capital of ancient states. All this is but idle and fallacious asset. I tion ; make land in a colony as dear as it j 3 in England —make it in New Zealand as dif. ; ficult of attainment as it is in Old Englands, ; and as if by magic you will see arise all th e [ multiplied arts and conveniences of the o |,l ! country. The Company is the means 0 [ [ working this miracle. Give us the ] an( ] [ cheap, if possible let us have it for nothings • this was, in fact, the meaning of the sup. posed purchase from the aborigines—-and We : will undertake to sell it only at a high p t i Ce I to the settlers who go out to seek their f Or . I tunes in this happy island thus subject to ot» L rule. But, asked they, to whom this modest I proposal was preferred, what is to be done?, with the money thus obtained ? Why should I not the money of the emigrant be left i n | own possession, and under the guidance of hj s I own prudence and skill? What is there i 5 g this particular case that takes it out of ib e | common rule —that every man is the best I judge as respects the mode of g own capital? The answer was ready. Tht r' great want of the emigrant in a new country B is labour. But such is the fascination of land e that no labourer will remain to receive wage;; if he can procure a piece of land for him. | self. The grand business of our company then will be to force men, whether they like it or not, to be recipients of wages ; and we will dot. this, first, by putting so high a price upon the; land that none but a comparatively rich mancan buy it ; and next, a certain specified por-i tion of the money derived from our land sales we will employ in shipping labourers from; England ; and, as in England the great evil is over population, we will take out just those I couples who, if they remained there, would | tend to increase the population, already too; great. Summing up the theory in a phrase, ' they expressed their dogma thus—‘A high upset price for land, and a portion of the pro-1 ceeds of the land sales to be employed in sending from England selected couples of; Emigrants,’ and on this basis a commercial > company was founded. But in this curious f medley of cupidity and vain philosophy the ; fact was overlooked that the emigrants would j be like the man who felt the shoe pinch— j that by their actual experience they would j know the evils and the necessities of their po- ' sition, and would thus have their ingenuity ' sharpened while devising means for their relief. They who framed this grand scheffi# wished to supersede the prudence*and enetg of the people—to treat them as children, and make them believe that the Company was to stand to them in the relation of parentsand instructors. But unluckily, while the Company was thus attempting to watch over the concerns of the colonists, it failed to provide for and manage its own. The rulers of the; Company may have founded settlements, but j they have ruined the Company —thus adding I a fresh example to the long list of instances’ already existing to prove the utter impossibility of making the business of Government a good mercantile speculation. The land ofa colony is, in fact, the roost important part of the capital of the colony. The management! of this fund ,u " 1 Wl mto lUUU VUgtJV W MV ill VMM UUUUO Ml E Government; and the sooner that Government; becomes responsible to the people of the co-? lony, the more certain and rapid will be the, advance of the colony itself. To place a Com-: pany between the Government and the people; is to insure failure and misrule. Discontent; will of necessity follow ; and a check to the success of the colony will as certainly be the; consequence of this illjudged attempt. Such;, has been the history, in fact, of the New Zealand Company. There have been in its short • career many errors on the part of the Colonial Office as well as of the Company. Tbest errors have certainly aggravated the evils attendant on the scheme which gave it existence. But the great inherent vice of that scheme no prudence could have cured. It was; sure in a few years to produce its natural suits, and, whether now or a few years hencL can make little difference, failure was certain-;; The sooner then that every trace of the Conn; pany disappears the better will it be for the; true interests of the important colony whicH has been the scene of its labours. UntraiH melled by extraneous aid, or a pretended fos-| tering care, the colony will quickly learn W| go alone, and will soon prove itself a legil'j mate off-shoot of that great parent stocM which has converted the howling wildernessj of North America into a happy dwelling pla ce | for millions of educated men.