NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, April 28, 1852.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 703, 28 April 1852, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, April 28, 1852.

In pur last number we offered to our readers a few remarks on Mr. Godley’s unjustifiable conduct, in endeavouring to withdraw the attention of the Canterbury settlers from the non-fulfilment of all those engagements made with them on the part of the Association, by representing the head of the local Government as the author of all their grievances, and of the very evils entailed qn them by the bad faith of the Association. We then stated that from the Association the Canterbury settlers had received no assistance since their arrival in the colony, and that everything done for them had been effected by the Government. On the founding of the settlement certain responsible duties, as a matter of course, devolved upon Sir George Grey, as the head of the Government, and in the performance of them he suffered no delays to intervene ; the requisite machinery with which to raise a revenue was introduced, the usual precautions for the protection of life and property were adopted, a Resident Magistrate’s Court was established, a police force organized, a Colonial Surgeon appointed, and a hospital for the reception of pauper patients opened, a gaol was built, Mr. Godley, the Association’s Agent, was made the chief officer of the Government, his recommendations in reference to the filling of subordinate appointments were attended to

by Sir George Grey, from whom he received every assistance; nothing, in fact, was left undone to render the system of Government complete, so far as was consistent with a due regard to economy, and in keeping with that form of Government which prevailed throughout the rest of New Zealand.

Sir George Grey did not rest satisfied with merely carrying out these obligations ; but he also earnestly endeavoured to assist the Association in fulfilling a portion of its contracts with the land purchasers. To Mr. Godley he advanced, on his own responsibility, <£2400 from the public monies to enable that gentleman to continue the operations on the line of road from Lyttelton to the plains ; again we find that the ob ject of his Excellency’s recent visit to Canterbury (when, as is alleged by Mr. Godley through his organ the Lyttelton Times, he“ arrived, remained, and departed amidst a sad and ominous silence,”) was to make Still further efforts to assist in the completion of that road, on the opening of which may be said to depend the very existence of the settlement. By his acts Sir George Grey sufficiently testifies the great interest he feels in the welfare of the Canterbury settlers, and yet Mr. Godley does not hesitate to represent him as a public enemy, one that must be opposed as hostile to the settlers indi vidually, desiring rather to impede their efforts than to promote their success. But they are not so easily hoodwinked, for in the last report of their Council to the society of land purchasers we find ample testimony of their appreciation of Sir George Grey’s conduct in the following words:—

“Your Council are gratified in being able to inform the Society that the hope which they entertained of obtaining the co-operation of the Government to a work of such great importance (the road) was not unfounded. His Excellency Sir George Grey has manifested the Warmest interest in the undertaking, and has expressed his readiness to cooperate, as far as he is able, in any well devised scheme for carrying it into effect.”

Although opposed to the scheme of the Canterbury Association, fully sensible of its imperfections, and expressing in the most open manner his opinions in refer ence to it, Sir George Grey has ever, as we have shewn, —whether in matters relating to the Government or to the Association—displayed the most lively interest in the prosperity of those who have been deluded by the attractive features placed prominently before them by the promoters of the scheme. It is now time to ask what have the Land Purchasers received at the hands of the Association? Can Mr. Godley say that they have had value received for their money —all they were promised, all they were entitled to expect, —and that they have nothing more to look for from the Association ? To induce men to come forward and invest money in the scheme no means were left untried by the Association in England. Mr. Cholmondley, himself a Canterbury pilgrim, has informed us in his recent celebrated letter to Mr. Godley, that “ the thing gathered shape, a site for a colony was chosen, noblemen were canvassed, rooms hired, clerks engaged, an Act of Parliament sketched out passed and repassed with emendations, land orders were sold ships were chartered, promises and engagements made, the best platform orator in England was at once retained under the title of Bishop Designate, religious speculation grew hot and zealous.”—And who set the stone rolling? We are told on the very good authority of Mr. Simeon, late Member of Parliament, that to Mr. Godley must be attributed “ the whole schieme with its present prosperity and future success.’’ It necessarily follows, we presume, that the ill success must also be attributed to him. We are likewise informed by Mr. Cholmondley that “ an extensive system of what is commonly called ‘touting’ had been and was being practised in the Colonists’ Rooms in London; ” from other sources we also learn that the unwary were beguiled by artfully prepared speeches. They were told that the “ settlement will be provided with a good college, good schools, churches, a Bishop and clergy, all those moral necessaries in short, which promiscuous emigration of all sects, though of one class, make it utterly impossible to provide adequately.’’ They were told that though land was said to be sold at .£'3 per acre, they really only gave ten shillings, the balance being spent for their own good in other purposes—ten shillings an acre was set aside

for providing certain conveniences, “ as the making of roads, erecting bridges across rivers and streamlets, and constructing wharves for the landing o f goods ; ” one pound went to the emigration fund, and as to the remaining third no one could object to its appropriation for intending purchasers were tokl that “ the application of this <£T formed the principle —the great characteristic feature of this scheme ” —“ it was entirely appropriated to religion and education.”—This last was the most dazzling of all the promises held out, this it was which clothed the scheme, as it were, in a holy garment, and caused religious speculation to grow “ hot and zealous ” —this it was also that caused right reverend prelates and the clergy of our Church to lend their names and use their influence in support of the scheme. Again and again were the people of England told that the “ most valuable part of all was the scheme for founding a college and schools, erecting churches, and affording all those educational privileges enjoyed in the mother country.” Not satisfied with heralding abroad allurements of this kind, with which many were captivated, the Association in proclaiming the exodus of the first pilgrims overstepped the bounds of truth. —“ We say then with confidence that, as respects numbers and wealth, the body of gentry and capitalists proceeding to Canterbury surpasses those who founded South Australia, Wellington, or Nelson, if it does not surpass all of them put together.” This of course was put forth to induce others to follow.

Again we ask, have the land purchasers had value received for their money ? Have the promises made to them by the Association been performed ? Can Mr. Godley with any appearance of truth assert that they have ? It is now upwards of fifteen months since the first draft of the Pilgrims arrived in the settlement, and yet there is not so much as one church erected in the whole of the Canterbury settlement. In Lyttelton divine service is performed in one of the emigration barracks, at Christchurch in a small school room, — the stipends guaranteed to the clergymen have not been paid, the funds to be applied to church purposes have been misappropriated. Mr. Cholmondeley asks Mr. Godley “how much of the fund set apart for ecclesiastical purposes has been actually spent or invested in the colony in a manner which the colonists approved ofr” Did the colonists approve, we would ask, of the hundreds of pounds squandered away on the “ best platform orator,” Dr. Jackson ? At the expense of the colonists were some of his debts liquidated at home, and his passage to and fro between England and New Zealand paid. Can Mr. Godley assert that all this was to the profit of the colonists ? They have not to this day,nor are they ever likely to have from the Association “a good college, good schools, or churches” which were promised them. They have been fearfully deceived. What would Mr. Godley have said if a body of emigrants had been treated so shamefully by the Government? What would be said of a merchant who had received money in trust to perform certain engagements, and who had deliberately violated the confidence of his employer by misappropriating the money, leaving his engagements unperformed ? And in what position do we find the Association placed? As trustees they were charged with certain funds to be applied to particular purposes, and these funds are not forthcoming. The land purchasers paid down money for the erection of churches and schools, there are neither schools noi churches in the Canterbury settlement, for we cannot call that a school in the sense intended by the Association where baby children receive the first elements of instruction. Mr. Godley perceives in the gathering clouds unfailing indications of the coming storm. It is not likely that the settlers will tamely submit to be robbed of their rights. A warning voice has been uttered by one of themselves; he finds that Sir George Grey’s predictions ate verified; he is not at all anxious “to hide the pelting of this pitiless storm ” which he himself has raised ; he sees therefore the expediency of beating a retreat whilst there is yet time. He has suggested an experiment, it has been tried and has completely failed, but he has taken ample precautions against sustaining himself any pecuniary loss by the failure. The losses fall only on those who having put faith in the promises made by the Association embarked their fortunes in the

scheme ; the projectors of this New Atlantis remain unscathed whilst the unfortunate settlers are their victims.

WE understand that a Memorial to the Governor in Chief is in course of signature at Otago, which has been adopted iby the majority of the settlers including nearly all those of any influence or standing in that settlement; the Memorial is in fact the same as that which has been so very numerously signed in Wellington, and the object which the Otago Memorialists have chiefly in view is to effect an alteration in the management of the Waste Lands of the Crown, which they desire to see under one uniform system throughout the Colony. The Otago scheme has been tried sufficiently long to be proved a complete failure; the Association, as is well known, has for any practical good that it is capable of effecting long ceased to exhibit any symptoms of vitality, and would have been forgotten in the Colony but for the presence of its Agent who receives his salary from the Government, but whose office as far as the Association is concernedis a perfect sinecure; while the high price of land, which is ’ double the upset price of Government land in other parts of the ■colony, amounts to a virtual prohibition of its sale. It can excite no surprise, therefore, that the settlers of Otago should desire to rid themselves of so serious an evil, nor, seeing the complete failure and admitted evils of these companies and associations, that the great majority of the settlers in the Southern settlements should, as with one voice, protest against their continuance, and by the deliberate expression of their opinions on this subjectconfirm and strengthen the representations made by the Legislative Council of the Colony.