MR. RICHMOND'S SPEECH ON THE WAR.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 298, 28 August 1860, Page 2

MR. RICHMOND'S SPEECH ON THE WAR.

The Hon. Mr. Richmond rose "To move for leave to introduce a bill to enable the Governor, in certain cases, to prevent dealings and communications with aboriginal natives offending against the law:"

He proposed, under the intimation given on a former occasion, to explain the views of the Government in reference to the present state of native affairs. , He, would have, done so ori -the motion,for the address, biit the Government were taken by surprise;. ,The sudden cutting short of the debate was a most unfortunate event; but he would now endeavor to redeem the time. The subject was too large to deal'with at once, and he therefore proposed to divide it, and take separate occasions to enlarge upon each division. He thought that the question of Taylor's title—the Waitaro question—was the most interesting at present, and should enter into that at once, on moving for leave to bring in the bill. He would state the mode in which they proposed to deal with the insurgents on the second reading of the same1 bill. He proposed that, the question of the relations of the responsible ministry with' the Governor "should come off in Committee' on the reading of the second clause ofthe bill. 'In regard to the question of land-purchase from the natives, he would move the, appointment of a select committee, and take the debate on the motion. In the present state of affairs, two Questions arose—the justice ofthe war, and the policy. _ He had intended to have discussed the policy of it on the motion for the address. But no debate having arisen, he should postpone that for" the occasion which he had indicated.

:He would first consider the question- of the justice of the war, for that was an essential part of its policy, and it was that issue which .they now wished to try. He would consider' the grounds upon which the Government undertook to occupy the land at Waitara, and those Were, shortly' expressed, a determination not to suhini| to a Taranaki land leaguer. Now it was clear to all that W. King was aland leaguer, and had taken up a position as such. A matter of fact, of this kind, as certainly difficult of proof, but he could give the House* documentary evidence ori ths subject. : Rawiri's death, in 1854, he (Mr, R.) laid,at William* King's door^ and his bitter •hatred tpwaf^ Ihaia was welikhown. He would ,then proceed to 1855, arid ask what course .W. King thenpursued. Did he' dwell on his claims, anil say," This is my land ? No, he said to Mr. Parris, " Their bellies are full with the money you have offered them, but do. not pay them for you shall not have the land," thereby threatening a kind of escheat-or forfeiture. Again, when the boundaries of iihe land are described, in the letter of the llth of February, 1859, mark what he says—^ You.shall have no more land at. all,"-^speaking again as a land leaguer. He (Mr. R.) would go.no farther, but only say that W.- King had become stronger and more tyrannical, jand that he was now appealing to the old Maori right, of strength/ rHe ; had given the Government a contumacious defiance,, for for he assumed • Teiras right! to sell, and yet; put his veto on the sale. He would be glad to see; somebody bold enough.to stand up aqd say that the Government were wrong in the 'course which they had in consequence adopted. At the same'time however he. might add, that so careful had they been hot to go further than they were entitled to go, that they had actually taken the precaution not to out the inland line of the block,, lest perchance they might include more land "than • had been agreed on. :He believedthat, he might say that the Government were justified in standing upon'the contumacious conduct' of Wm. King, y The Supreme, Court had been spoken, of as. the tribunal before which the question should have - been brought, but this was simply "nonsense, for the Governor and Commissioner constituted the court in which to try a.pritiiafade case; such $s this. was. The Crown was the fountain of all justice,;and his Excellency was^ in consequence, able to sit in judgement on the claim. He (Mr. R.) should certainly prefer seeing a more complete j udicial apparatus tor-deciding such questions, but they must remember that it was the qualms and fears of the Home Government, who knew no-; thing about the matter (hear), which had stood in their way. However, in all former land pur-chase-cases questions had been'tried in the manner proposed in this case, and the refusal to do so now was something new. ['(No.)' • They, the Govern-' ment; had even thought it impossible that the land claimant was concealed under the land-leaguer, and that a snare had been v laid to lead them/into error, as when William of Normandy administered anoath to Harold, and then removing ;the cloth which concealed them,' revealed to hira the holy relics upon which hehad been sworn. ; ; ' He (Mr. R.) would- now ■proceed to the second part of the question under;aiscussion, namely," the, respective rights of- Teira and Wms King. Jt might be satisfactory to the House; although Jit would of course be. necessary to furnish them later with positive proofs on the subject;;to hear what they, the Government, already knew. Tho Nga-, tiawa tjibe consisted of two Mpus r whose pedigrees would be found in the Maori Messenger.; Besides thosedvyellihg in;the Northern Island, there were many hiembei-s of the. tribe dwelling in Queen Charlotte's Sound. Those dwelling. at Taranaki occupied the south side, of the Waitara river. Wm. King is a Ngitikura,'and his father inhabited the north '■ side \ of ;Jthe' river. He, however, and his tribes brossed the.river^n^there^e two plots onits-northemside^which theypiiltivfted^ T'eira; however,:in his'dealing^with the Government,: steered clear of afiy difficulty to' which tbis \ claim of "Wm. King's might have,given rise, bycarefully excluding them frbm.tlie.boundaries of. the land whichihe offered for sale,^^ and a strip pf ahout sixty, acres,'comprising these' cultivations, iwas cut^ off frOm, the rest of - Teira's ikhd. Since that time. Wm; King's' inok—for that was the name by which tliey were recognised at .Taranaki—had encroached further. When : the tribe returned from Wafcahae, a committee was held as tolwhere ■ to erect a pah, and it was finally agreed^ to build it at Waitara.: Acts of ownership, however, over the land, were exercised by Teira ; :l who, on one occasion of Wm. King's: running.a fence across 4 a portion of the land, went out and; with his own hand, cut it down ; besides many others. A good deal.of wheedling was attempted, by Wm. iKjng,, and his (Mr. R.'s)—orVather Majoivßichmondsrnamesake, Ritemona, was sought to'be bribed -by the offer of having a'hduse built-for!hina; a.temptation which he was proof against. And while on this point he (Mr. R.) might say to those who talked of gratitudeito the Maori,' that these; were the men to whom ,oiir gratitude was due.< The meeting rat 'Taraiiaki took place in March. He (Mr. R.) was there, and Teira was .likewise present. Well he (Teira) described with thegre&test

minuteness the land which he wished to se'* and its boundaries. He said that he had more, but only wished to sell that to which his title was quite clear. Immediately after this offer had been made another was made by_ Hemi Kuku and Hetipi, and at once a confusion alose which he could only compare to what-one might imagine among wild beasts. * Teira declared that he would not allow his land to be entangled with'any other, and then sat down.' He (Mr. R.) might add that hewas greatly struck by tbe tone of authority in which Taylor spoke, and the effect of his worda upon those present: Wm.iKing, however, could not argue the question, or. do more than give a negative reply, which he did in a most impudent i manner, and then he went away. Much had been ,since said about this being the "Native way," and \ that this conduct of King's was no admission of Teira's title; bnt all he (Mr. R.) could say would be, if it was not, what was an admission? ■ Other -admissions too had been made by others, as would be found in a letter from Te Hapurona, one of jhis leading supporters, to the Rev. Mr. Govet. Now he|(Mr. R.) would say'to the house— unless they doubted<the good faith of the Government, let them consider these facts. There might possibly be alatent claim, such as is even known in England, but what kind of rights, he would ask, existed in such claims ? They (the Government) had even actually opened the door for such, but none had been ;urged, although the main claimants . were all there. May be there was what his honor- . able, friend, Mr. Seweil, would call a latent equity, -or the member for the Bay a 'mana;' but as for himself he wished for no such hair-splitting, although it might serve tooccupy the ingenuity of •the member for the Bay.' When Cromwell en- • tered the House and exclaimed " The Lord deliver me from Sir Harry. Vane," he could well •imagine that Sir H. Vane was sitting there in hia i^place, wagging his' beard and brooding over "mana," and in a similar manner he felt inclinedto exclaim "The Lord deliver-me from',the member for the Bay J" (Laughter.) -As for the Govern, ment, they, intended to;go on buying land, minding Te Rangetake, :With reference to .the previous purchases of land at Taranaki he (Mr. R.) must say that the hon. member for Wallace county (Mr. ¥. D. Bell), was one of the first who had acquired land in that province by the purchase of the block which still bore his name, and that to him. a lasting debt of gratitude was due by the settlers. What did W. King say to the purchase of the "Bell Block ? Nothing; and yet now he describes the land with which he interferes by the boundaries of the Bell Block—a European not a Maori line. They (the Government) had, since thattime, bought much land, and never heard of mana, that portentous-invention which seemed to have sprung suddenly into existence. ( The hon. member then read the memorandum of ,the Governor under date 2nd. December, 1844, and the pastoral of the Bishop of New Zealand, which had created a great impression in Taranaki.) "^ell, at that time they had.never heard of tribal rights. The seeds ofthe "mana" doctrine' seem to have been sown since, ahd to have borne fruit, but he considered it himself to be nothing but the law of the strongest; and as to its being an old Maori usage, how could it date from a time before there was any alienation of property iri the country? They (the Government) were not anxious to make out a case; they merely desired to give information. Spain's block was supposed to have been bought, twenty years ago, with the permission of Wm. King, who had come over with Colonel Wakefield for the purpose of negociating the sale, and had actually signed his name to the deedr-an irrefragable proof, one would think, that ho had agreed to the sale of the land at Taranaki; and could there be a better proof ofthe iniquity of his subsequent conduct? However, he would now pass on to the question of authority.. (Hear.) There was, firstly, Mr.Parris, a bold, determined man, and one who was ready to sacrifice his life, not for a dirty 660-acre block, but for the noble purpose of establishing peaceful and beneficial : relations between the two races inhabiting these islands. Then there was Mr. McLean and Mr.'Assistant Secretary Smith; and although there was not much documentary, evidence eraanating from the Land-Purchase Departnient, still, though they might not spbil as much foolscap; as was spoilt in other offices, he • (Mft <R.) was not sure whether that might not 'be an advantage. The Chief Commissioner was to have concluded the purchase.of the land at WaUara, but, unfortunately, was prevented by* a; serious/illness: he proceeded,-, however, ofchthe>lst of April to Nelson, \ and thence to Q,ueen Charlotte's bound and Wellington, to visitabsentee;naUves connected with the land at Taranaki, and subsequently, on May 4 f to the East Coast; He had previously applied for leave of absence for the* •"-- purpose of visiting England, :'. arid^ ' they (the « Government) greatly feared that they should probably lose his services. As it was they; deeply regretted that they Jiad not been able to. benefit by his great influence at Taranaki. :

To show;the House how little novelty there was in the view taken by the Government of this question, he would refer them to the despatch of Sir George Grey to Lord Grey on the subject of Spain's award, and the same Governor's instructions (22 and 23) to the Commissioner, where he lays down his opinion as to the rights of the returned Ngatiawas. How much within that policy had been the proceedings of the Government! And if the House thought that an inquiry into W. King's claim was advisable (here), he (Mr. R.) would remind them that any rights had been merged in rebellion. Any outstanding, claima were merely latent equities, and if anybody there was green enough to talk of substantial justice, h» would tell them that substantial justice could only be compassed by partition. It. was a question of protecting a minority from a majority, and putting an end to the state of beastly communism in which the natives were living. (Hear.) If, at home there was a.dispute amongst the joint' proprietors of any land what would be the justice which would'be dealtout to them; by any [tribunal to which they might appeal ?'.-; It would be a partition : they would be ordered to divide according to their individual claims. But at Taranaki therd was even more than this at stake: it ;was a queßi tion of life and mode of life, and of saving the Maori from the slough in which lie is. immersed* (Hear). v;-.•■:■-■■-.-•-" ■• "!J;;--■:--:""'.;' Even if there were a "scintilla juris," were any there foolish enough to think that the war could be stopped? He had heard it rumoured that there was some .Guy Fawkes lurking'about with some great secret with which to blow up "Kings, Lords and Commons "—some -wonderful mystery which was to destroy themat one blow. r,:lle (Mr. R.) knew nothing of what it was, but as for those who attempted to hinder the prosecution ofthe war by entering into subtle "disputes at the present time, he could only compare thera to a man who, when an amputation "had been commenced, and the Arteries werjg spouting, held back the arm of the surgeon, in order to engageAinK.m * discussion as to whether it would.hot have been possible.to save the limb.'-(Heari hea#.) And now, before concluding, he must turn for a moment to matters more personal to himself. They knew that he was deeply interested" in the wai', and had more than most of them at. stake on it,and he felt deeply what had been said'.' - There were leaders in Israel-for whom he (Mr. R.) had the greatest respect; but he could not help 4ying that there were many who proffered to "speak ia words of anger from Mount Ebal than in words of peace from Mount Gherissim. ' It had been stated that the European generally, and the settlers of Taranaki in particular, were interested in spoliation. He believed that none in that House would ever take such a-view. He would- finally recommend the House, in 'conducting their enquiry, to avoid anything like a microscopic scrutiny lest in weighing out the " mint" and " cummin " of technicalities they, should neglect the heavy weight of ther law. (Tho hon. gentleman.resumed his seat amidst loud cheers.)

Cemetery;— The undermentioned have been formally appointed,,as the Act directs, Trustees of the Richmond Public. Cemetery:—Messrs. Thomas John. Thompson, Jacob Batey, Thomas Butler, John Young,' ancl William Harkness,