THE NEW ZEALAND LAND POLICY OF BISHOP SELWYN.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 307, 28 September 1860, Page 3

THE NEW ZEALAND LAND POLICY OF BISHOP SELWYN.

To the Editor of the Sydney Empire.

I claim on behalf of the New Zealanders—

1. An investigation of all questions relating to their title to land before a regular tribunal, with tlie_ usual safegmuds against partiality or error, via., evidence on oath, arguments of counsel, and right of appeal. 2. That military force shall not be employed till the civil power shall have been tried, arid shull have .been found insufficient to carry out the judgment of the court. 3. That, inasmuch as this colony was avowedly formed, not for the acquisition of territory for the English race, but for the protection of the New Zealauders, this primary object shall not be sacrificed to the segrandisement of the English provinces.'— His Lordship the Bishop of New Zealand to the Colonial Secretary.—Auckland, 2^th April, IS6O.

Bir—The:'claims' as above, which the Bishop of New Zealand has put forth 'on behalf of the New Zealanders' are quoted by you in your able leader of the 14th instant, and you think them to be'both just and even opportune.' As you have thus endorsed those 'claims' put forth by such a high authority, which I nevertheless believe to be calculated to mislead people at a distance, I ask permission to occupy a. small space in your journal with an examination of them.

1. The Bishop claims the establishment of a regular forensic tribunal before which all questions relating to their title to land should be investigated. Who is there in New. Zealand that would object to the establishment of such a court ? Certainly, not his Excellency the Governor, nor his present responsible ministers, for they have been, most anxious for years to establish such a tribunal. All the white population of the country would be delighted to see such a court, and especially to see the natives submitting to its decisions. No one knows better than the Bishop that the only difficulty in the way is presented by the natives themselves. Would William Kingi have submitted himself and his shadowy claims to the jurisdiction of such a court? He knows nothing at all of the Maori who would assert this. The Bishop himself canhot possibly believe that he would. It is notorious that William Kingi has not the ghost of a. claim to the land about the sale of which the present war has arisen. Take the following from the despatch of the District Commissioner at Taranaki, dated 'New Plymouth, December 4th, 1859 :/—..

William King'avowed his determination to oppose the sale, without advancing any reason for doing so; upon which I put a series of questions to hiro, which I called upon the Rev. Mr. Whiteley to witness.

Does the land belong to Teira andpurty? Yes, the land is theirs, but I will not let them sell it.

Why will you oppose their selling that which is their own ? Because I donot wish for the land to be disturbed; and although they have floated it, I will not let it go to sea.

The present difficulty at Taranaki is a singularly unfortunate one on which to advance the claim for legal discussion and examination. The award of Mr. Commissioner Spain in 1844-45, in which he decides against William Kingi and the Ngatiawa's claim to the land, was made after precisely such a trial as the Bishop, with his usual zeal and warmth, now demands on behalf of the. natives. But did the natives respect the decision of Mr. Spain ? Did they not by their turbulence frighten poor Captain Eitzroy, the then Governor, out of his propriety, and induced him to set aside the award of the court? And have they not ever since laughed at the simplicity of the pakeha settlers in giving up their farms and houses without a struggle? And after fifteen years'experience of the advantages of bounce and swagger, he would be a simpleton indeed who would think they would voluntarily submit to an adverse decision.

2. Jhe claim of the Bishop ' that military force shall not be employed till the _civil power shall have been tried,' &c, is of a character similar to the foregoing. It is a position which no one in or out of New Zealand would be disposed to argue against. But persons at a distance may be led to think that the Government we're in great haste to employ military force against, William Kingi and party. Why, sir, the very contrary to this is the truth. The history of that unfortunate New Plymouth settlement for the last sixteen years is strong proof of the exceeding clemency and forbearance with which the clamorous and turbulent natives of Taranaki have-been treated. Governor Eitzroy, in 1844, gave back to them the lands which Mr. Commissioner Spain had adjudged' to have been fairly and equitably alienated, for fear ol having to ' employ military force;' and so plunging into war. Sir George Grey, in 1847, threatened William Kingi on Mount Eliot, Taranaki, that if he attempted to settle on the south bank of the Waitara, the scene of the present strife, he would bring his-ships of war and blow William Kingi's canoes' out of the water and destroy his pahs, &c. . He did not fulfil his threat for fear of a native war, when William Kingi, in 1848, openly defied him and dared him, by bringing up from Cook's Straits all his goods, canoes, and 500 men, women, and children,, and settled upon the forbidden land. '■-• '■■": " '■■'■-

Sir George Grey quietly submitted to William Kingi shaking his tomahawk in his face, and laying hold of his Excellency's hcrse by the bridle; turning him back to the town, because he did not choose that that the Governor shouid ride over to see Waitara.. This indignity was not resented by her Majesty's representative, and 'military force was not employed,'- lest war should ensue. Felonies and breaches of the peace by natives have again and again been compounded by the Resident Magistrate of New from his ,utter- powerlessness to execute the law; and 'military force 'has ,been, witbneld by the Government for fear of the consequences. If his Evcellency the present Governor could have staved off the present difficulty by any amount of cir /cumlocution, he would have been glad to do so, Already he has obtained both from natives and. Europeans the" sobriquet- of 'Governor Wait-a-bit;* .or,, as the Maori has it, is the • Taihoa Kawana.' When therefore it; is contended that military force shall not be tried until all other means have , called, it is only beating the air so far as

the Government and ihe natives of New Zealand are concerned.

3. The third claim put forth by the. Bishop is as unnecessary and uncalled for as either of the .others. Have any attempts been made by the Taranaki settlers to dispossess the natives of their lands ? What 'aggrandisement' has that unfortunate province secured at the expense of the aborigines ? After 20 long years of patient occupation, the province did not number 3000 souls at the last census, though it is one of the most fruitful and healthy districts in the whole colony; while other two provinces, not in existence until ten or twelve years ago, have as many as 10,000 o! European population in each of them. It is a most cruel playing with the sufferings,of the Taranaki people to ; say, as his lordship does, with characteristic emphasis, that 'this primary object,' viz., 'the protection of the New Zealander, shall not be sacrificed to ■ the aggrandisement of the English provinces.'

\ I maintain, from my personal knowledge, that the protection of our fellow-colonists in Taranaki has been wantonly sacrificed to the aggrandisement of the turbulent and disaffected "William Kingi, and his murderous allies of Taranaki and Ngatiruanui. „ When Governor Fitz Roy, in 1844,^ reversed the decision of Mr. Commissioner Spain, there were dwelling at Mangoraka, seven miles from New Plymouth, some scores of English settlers. They had fenced and were cultivating some hundreds of acres of land. Their homesteads standing in the midst of verdant pastures, and fruitful fields of grain, the result of their own hard-handed toil, were as pleasant a sight to the New Zealand traveller as could well be imagined after the monotony of scores of miles of desert waste of fern and scrub, through which, he had passed to get to Taranaki. The Resident Magistrate of Taranaki, Josiah Flight, Esq., was then living on a beautiful farm at Mangoraka. He had fifty acres of land fenced in, a good ditch, and bank all round, and he was in every way comfortably and happily located. I had the pleasure of dining with him on his farm, and was enchanted with the prospects of the rising English village of Mangoraka. Well, all these settlers were dispossessed by Governor Fitz Roy, and they were compelled to accept of small allotments close to New Plymouth, in compensation (?) for the farms they gave up. Have the natives, for whose benefit these sacrifices were made, ever beneficially occupied Mangoraka ? It is now a desert waste, and has been ever since the English settlers were forcibly removed. The land is worse than in its native wildness, for the thistle and other noxious weeds, the scourge of the farmer, are rapidly spreading over the face of the country. The natives cannot cultivate 'oner-twentieth part of the land. It is perfectly valueless to them. Some of the more intelligent and civilised among them see this. They want to sell portions of their own estates, and thus have the advantage of a market for their produce, which a European village would afford, and also enhance the value of those lands they might wish to retain. Several of their relatives have been murdered by the rebel William King and party, because they offered their own land for sale; and the same chief and party have publicly made known their determination that they will kill any other native who shall dare to offer his land to Government.

The poor unfortunate refugees from Taranaki, whose homes have been destroyed, who have seen many of their neighbours murdered, and who are now, through the war, exiled and destitute, ought perhaps to be heard on the question as well as the Bishop of New Zealand. I believe their united testimony is, that the unhappy war was just and inevitable.

I yield to none in my anxious wish for the'preservation and elevation of that, in many respects, noble race, the New Zealandets. After twenty years of toil and sacrifice among them, I feel strongly in their, behalf. But were L still resident in New Zealand, I should, I think, better show my good will toward them by endeavoring to uphold the hands of the Governor and his responsible Executite in their en-( deavor to maintain British law and authority, than by throwing the shield of mistaken clemency over the robbers and murderers of Taranaki. I am, &c, ■• Samuel Ironside.