BIRTH OF THE COLONY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 3 October 1907, Page 4

BIRTH OF THE COLONY.

petition to tiie late que ex. original discovered in Wellington. c } %>' Herald Correspondent.) ] ":i the 27th I came across a docu- , '" "V ' this juncture, when New ] a l is on the eve of changing its c o' r ' -ion from "Colony to Dominion" :■> :.f particular interest. This docu- f ment is none other than the original pe- ] tition to Queen Victoria urging that n New Zeal and should be made a colony. ( The prayer of the petition is "for the , exclusive British possession of the group I of islands commonly called New Zea- < land," especially as in the case of war i the great and increasing trade with | Australia would be at the mercy of a foreign Power in their neighborhood. , Tk- petition mentions that the islands ■ .were taken possession of in the year 1869 by Captain Cook, and goes on to state that "in 1787, when the British Government determined to colonise the barbarous lands discovered by Captain Cook, a Royal Commission was granted to Captain Phillip, appointing him (in pursuance of the British sovereignty in possession which Captain Cook had established) to be Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief in and over the territory of New South Wales and its dependent?:-, which territory was described in the said commission to extend from Cape York, latitude lldeg 30min, , and inland to the westward as far as 133deg east longitude, comprehending ali the islands adjacent in the Pacific ocean within the latitudes of the above-named capes. The petition then sets out that Captain Phillip, acting under his commission, had appointed New Zealand natives and others to act as justices of the peace in New Zealand to administer the law of England and send persons to New South Wales for trial. It mentions also that settlement had taken place in the Bay of Islands, and that, in consequence of insufficient authority on the »pot, disturbances had taken place and that, in order to put a stop to these evils, an attempt was made in 1835 to place New Zealand under a kind of national Government by means of forming a confederation of chiefs residing at and near the Bay of Islands. Those chiefs were presented with "a flag by an officer of the British Crown who had been appointed to reside there, but that attempt at forming a locaf Government had failed, and law and order was not enforced in New Zealand. The petitioners lay stress upnn the value of the trade of the islands, and proceed to refer to the setting out of the French expedition from France to form a settlement on Banks Peninsula, South Island, which expedition was reported to have "an armament of forty sailors from the French navy and aid of money from tue French Government." "The leaders of the expedition," continues the petition, "are said to have been instructed to report upon the fitness of Banks Peninsula as a place of transportation for French convicts, and, at all events, to reserve for the use of the French Government one-fifth of the territory which they might acquire in this part of the British dominions." The petitioners deprecate in the strongest terms the proposed establishment of a penal colony, and suggest that such a settlement would tend to exterminate the native inhabitants by teaching them only the vices of civilisation." They also mention that the consul of the Bay of Islands had no means of repelling foreign aggressions, and they point out that the territory that might be ceded by the natives to the British consul was to lie governed from and to form part of the colony of New South Wales. They thought that was a very undesirable state of things. The petition, which is about 10 yards long, has affixed to it a very large number of signatures. It appears to have been signed in sheets which were distributed in various parts of Great Britain. To begin with, there are some 9 or 10 yards of London signatures, and among these there are names which are notable even at the present day. For instance, Baring Brothers and Co. and Montefiore Brothers. Sir Moses Montefiore, a celebrated man, it will be remembered, died recently. The first signature on the petition is that of Arthur Willis, Sons and Co. There are also the signatures of several titled people. Following the London signatures come groups of signatures from Halifax, Birmingham, Liverpool, Dover (spelt Dovor), Cornwall, Devonport, and Edin- | burgh. I =====