PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE WAITARA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 367, 29 October 1863, Page 3

PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE WAITARA.

Minute addressed to ms excellency BY MINISTERS ON THE PROPOSED ABANDONMENT OF THE WAITARA PURCHASE. Ministers have carefully considered the Governoi’’s minute of April 22nd. They wish, in t-lm first place, respectfully to observe, that in their minute of the 20th instant, they did not intend to argue a case on behalf of the European Colonists against any of her Majesty’s subjects of the native race, but simply to call the Governor’s attention to the state in which the natives of Taranaki had existed for many years previous to the Waitara purchase, and which renders some decisive interference by Government imperative. Ministers trust that nothing in their minute would countenance the imputation that they intended to justify the desire on the part of any one (if such desire, as his Excellency believes, exists) that war should be made for the acquisition of native territory.

His Excellency’s present advisers have always believed that the real quarrel leween the Government and the natives concerned in the late insurrection, was not whether the title to a particular piece of land was good or bail, —but whether any natives, in case of a dispute between them and the Government, might resort to arms to resist the course the Government pursued. The colony, as a whole, never cared for the purchase of Waitara—only a few have any interest in it. 1 ad the colonists at any time believed that the war was being canned on to obtain land, Ministers are firmly persuaded that the judgment of the Assembly and the whole voice of the settlers would have been against its prosecution. The views which the Governor attributes to some of the Taranaki settlers (the whole body of whom do not constitute one fiftieth part of the European population of the colony) have never found an advocate in the Assembly and would be rejected throughout New Zealand. It is quite true that Ministers believed, and even with the new facts which have recently'transpired relating to the purchase, they see no reason to abandon the belief, that the war at the Waitara was the natural result of a previous combination among mauy powerful tribes, to prevent the further alienation of land to the Crown, and thus to oppose a barrier to the further spread of colonisation. But against a combination even for that object the colony would not have desired to see force employed, so long as i s effects were confined to the property of the combining natives. Ihe Assembly believed in 18G0, that the time had come when dissentient natives ought to be protected by the Queen’s Government, from the.oppression which was threatened by a rival authority, and that it was to uphold that rival authority at all risks that the Avar was joined in by the Waikato tribes, who were disputing—not the validity of Teira’s title ; —but the authority and jurisdiction of the Crown.

With respect to several statements of the natives as to the origin of the war, recapitulated by the Governor, blisters are desirous that they should not be understood as acquiescing in their truth, merely because, they abstain from a refutation of them.

j\iblisters now understand the Governor to have come to the following conclusions-: .

I. That it is hopeless to look for any success in the attempt to induce the natives generally to submit the ease of the Waitara laud purchase to a mere investigation of title. - 11. That so deep-rooted a feeling exists on this subject in the minds of the natives, that the whole race would engage in a general and simultaneous war upon the several European settlements of the Northern Island, if any further war should be engaged in by Government on account of the Waitara question.

111. That the new facts which have lately transpired relating to the Waitara purchase-—viz., firstly, that an agreement existed among the members of the tribe that the pas south of the Waitara should be occupied as places of security for the tribe, which agreement had never by general consent been put an end to ; secondly, that a large number of natives were living in pas within the block sold, and had been living there for twelve years ; and thirdly, that Te Teira intended to make a reserve of these pas, which intention he never communicated to Governor Brown, —that these facts are such as to show that the Waitara purchase ought not to have been prosecuted. IV. That under these circumstances, a small instalment only of the -purchasemoney having been paid, the purchase ought not to be abandoned. 1. With respect to the first of the above paragraphs, Ministers do not understand that the Governor is necessarily precluded from the more extended investigation desired by the natives. For their own part they can have no objection to investigation—the amplest and most searching that can be made. But this is set aside by the conclusions the Governor has come to, stated in the paragraphs that follow.

2. Ministers cannot dispute the opin-' ion that an attempt on the part of the Government to settle the Waitara question by foi’ce of arms, would probably re suit in a general I'ising of the natives and an attack upon all the European settlements of the Northern Island. 3. Ministers admit the fact that a lai’ge number of natives having been re sident for many years upon a part of the block of land offered for sale at Waitara, under the tribal agreement above stated, and the fact of a reserve of some part, to cover the places thus occupied, having been for but never made, justify the conclusion that such a purchase should not have been completed until satisfactory arrangements on these points had been made with the natives. Cer tainly, if the circumstances were to occur over again, his Excellency's present advisers could not recommend that any offer of sale, leaving such points of difference undetermined, should be entertained. A 1 though the facts alluded to do not in any wav effect Te Teira’s abstract right to the ownership of the land, it is quite clear that some of them are such as would have prevented the former Government, had it been aware of them, from completing the purchase. Ministers conclude, with his Exce lency, that the. Government.was not aware of them. The facts themselves appear indisputable, having been voluntarily communicated by Te Teira himself to the Native Minister.

4. Is then the purchase to be abandoned 1 Admitting the facts above stated, it certainly appears to V misters consistent with justice that all claim to the site of the pas, and all the land intended to have been reserved, should be relinquished by the Government, and the purchase, to that extent at least, abandoned. On the other hand, the relinquishment of the purchase of the rest of the land undoubtedly implies the abandonment of one of the principal objects for which the war was undertaken, viz. : the maintenance of the principle that one native should not by force prevent another man from selling land belonging to the latter. Williams King’s pretensions to prevent Te Teira selling his own land would virtually be admitted, unless it be decided that Te Teira has no individual proprietary right to any right to any land at all within the block. But the Native Minister declaros that, with the exception of the tribal occupation of the pas, notliiug has occurred to shake his conviction that the proprietary rights of the sellers to the greater part of the block wonldbe proved by an investigation to the valid, Ministers do not think it would be right to abandon the principle just stated. They believe that the Duke of Newcastle was right when in his despatch to Governor Browne, of the 27th of November, 1860, he expressed his opinion that William King had undoubtedly assumed towards Government the position of a chief using his influence to further usurpation of a land league, which attempted to prevent persons, over whom they had no legitimate authority, from alienating their lands. And they concur with his Grace in thiuking that all such attempts should be inflexibly resisted. But if Teira’s own land, with respect to which Kingi had no legitimate influence over him, be now given back, will not an attempt precisely of that kind, which should be resisted, have been really if not formally acquiesced in by Government. Again, without some further arrangements (which, however, may be made), the abandonment of the purchase might be held to involve, as a consequence, the possible abandonment of Te Teira and his party, the sellers of the land, who fought on the side of the Government during the war, to the chances of a renewal of the native dispute about the ownership of this land, and of the miserable state .of danger and continual hostilities in which tliey were living before the war, should Wiremu Kingi or his followers attempt any retaliation upon their late foes. Te Teira would apparently be placed by this measure, without an investigation, in the worst position in which he could

be placed, as far as regards his title to liis own land, even by an investigation the result of which should prove unfavorable to his claims. To Ministers, with tlieir views of the past and present circumstances of the case, there appears to be this amount of real or possible injustice involved in the abandonment of the whole of the purchase.

Considered as a matter of expediency, the proposal has many forcible reasons in its favour. The Governor, if Ministers do not mistake the purport of his minute, has come to the decision that, the purchase being unjust, and one winch could not be investigated or carried on without a general war, he himself could not compel by force either its investigation or completion. In the face of this decision of the Governor, it is certain that no war for these objects would be sanctioned or entered into by the Imperial Government. And it is equally certain that a war carried on by the colony, unaided, would be attended with many disastrous results. Now are ministers prepared to assert that the maintenance of this purchase is a cause for the sake of which they should, at all hazards, plunge the colony into opposition to the Governor, to the Imperial Government, and into a war of races with the natives. It appears to Ministers that the-prepon-derance of motives, based upon expediency, is greatly in favour of the Governor’s proposal. At the saute they cannot overlook the fact, that there is at least considerable probability that the abandonment hy Government of a position so long adhered to may be looked upon by the natives as a mere concession- to dogged resistance, if not to intimidation. And in such case, though existing irritations

might be allayed for a time, the difficulty of overcoming or dealing with any future opposition of the Natives to Government, on account of the King movement, for instance, would be very much increased.

Ministers have no hesitation, then, in recommending that the Governor should immediately renounce all claim on the part of the Crown to the site of the pas occupied hy Wi Kiugi and his . people, and to all the land intended to have been reserved, —the amount of which, or any additional amount which it would have been reasonable to have reserved on the. same grounds, should be determined by by arrangements immediately to be made.

With respect to the proposal'for abandoning the remainder of the land, it is not one—at least in its present unqualified shape—which seems to Ministers tree from the serious objections above stated. Nevertheless, considering the great complexity of the whole case, the difficulty of the Governor’s position, the critical state of the colony, and the aggravation of all these evils which would he produced by the opposition of the Ministry to any course which the Governor might feel himself compelled to adopt. Ministers consider that they are justified, especially under the ei-istng relations between them and the Governor established with respect to all matters of Native policy, in leaving the decision of this part of the question entirely to his Excellency ; undertaking, on their part, whatever his decision may be, to assist His Excellency to the utmost of their ability in so carrying it into effect, as to make it conducive to the establishment of a permanent peace. Alfred Domett. New Plymouth, 30th Apiil, 1803. Enclosure 2 in Despatch No. 2. Memorandum by his excellency on ministerial minute of 30th APRIL, 1863. The Governor feeling the responsibility which rests on him in relation to the laud under purchase at the Waitara to be very great, thinks it right to offer die following remarks on the ministerial minute of the 30th of April.

Firstly.—ln reference to the statement made by Ministers that the Governor’s opinion was, “ that some of the Taranaki settlers desired that war should be made for the acquisition of territory,” he would state that he did not say that. What he said was, that there was a desire “to induce him to enter into a war with the Native race, or to take land from them with the avowed object of promoting the permanent security of the Province.” In his opinion cases might arise when either of the measures he had named might be necessary. and justifiable acts, without which the- lives and properties of large numbers of the Queen’s subjects con Id nob be secured ; and it would ofteu be a proper question for argument, regarding which opinions might differ, as to whether such a necessity had or had not arisen. But he does not think it would under any circumstances be justifiable to make wav for the mere purpose of acquiring native territory. lie concurs therefore with Ministers in tliinkiug that the judgment of the Assembly would be against such a course.

Secondly.— The Governor would remark that ministers admit, from facts now come to their knowledge, that they conclude that such a purchase as that of the block of land at the Waitara should not have been completed, until satisfactory arrangement on certain most important points had been made with William King’s natives. That if these circumstances should occur over again they could not recommend that any offer of sale, leaving such poiuts of difference undermentioned, should be entertained ; and that some of these are such as would have prevented the former Government, had it been aware of them, from completing the purchase.

.Tinder these circumstances the Governor does not attach any great weight to Hie former views of the Assembly and of the

8.-jivtary of State as to the origin of the war, for they were baaed on imperfect information. ' The Government, it is now evident, was and still is in the same uniuriuiuvte position. It is a very unusual circumstance, in reference to so important subject as turning more than two huntil- dof the Queen’s subjects out of their houses and homes, and deciding that the right of property in these was in another subject, not in themselves, that not a line ni written evidence exists to show the grounds on which the Officer deciding this question came to sucb a conclusion. No rppeal can consequently be made against his ; and it is probable that so light and careless a mode of dealing with rights th-*y value so highly, must create great biuenu-ss in the minds of any race. Moreover from the frequent use made of ihr Queen’s name in the manifesto setting firth the causes of the war—such as, “ the laud was now the Queen’s land,” that W illiam King was “ interfering with the Queen’s rights,” &c., &c., the question be r.ime in the minds of many Europeans, i.iui of loyalty to he Crown, and on which i. uisequently all their better feeling were likely to lead them astray ; whilst to the Natives, what they considered a great wrong appeared to have been done by the Queeu’s direct authority, to which they bad always been previously accustomed to look as their protector from wrong. It seems probable, therefore, that the result might have been to create a great prejudice in their minds against' the Queen’s authority. Thirdly.—The Governor would remark on the' Native Minister’s declaration, ihat t; with the exception of the tribal occupation of the villages, nothing has oct c.rred to shake his conviction that the proprietary rights of the sellers to the greater part of the block would be proved i v anv investigation to be valid ’ ’ —that -she Governor’s situation is one of great o fficulty; lie asks in vain for the Evidence ’.liken at the investigation of the title, and none can be produced for his guidance; in each instance as yet brought under bis notice he has found that the statement made by the natives opposed to the sale of the land were correct, although they bad been previously contradicted by the Government.

Lastly, the Governor would state that the purchase never has been completed, mid if the Government admit that there are such difficulties in the way as ought from, the first to have prevented the completion of the purchase, he thinks that the intention to do so should be at once abandoned, especially as it is admitted that the attempt to complete it would probably result in a general rising of the natives, and in an attack upon the European settlements of the northern island ; several of which the Governor is satisfied are quite unable at present to resist, without terrible loss, an event for which no ; dequ itc p paration has been made iu them by the Government. In abandoning the intention of purchasing the land for the Crown, no necessity would be involved of immediately withdrawing the troops quartered there, or of ceasing to give protection to T eira and his people, or of in r.iiy way relinquishing such sovereign rights as the Queen has over other lauds belonging to her subjects. G. Grey. Taranaki, 4th May, 1863. Copy op a despatch from his excellency SIR GEORGE GREY TO lIIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE. Taranaki, May 27th, 1863. My Lord Duke. —I have the honour to transmit for your Grace’s information a t.-<q>v of a proclamation declaring that the Government would not proceed further with the negotiation for a block of land nt the Waitara, which had been commenced about three years ago. 2. Your Grace will observe that this proclamation was issued upon the 11th, although the terrible murders I have reported took place on the 4th instant. lb.it the Waitara lies to the North of New Plymouth, whilst the tribes who committed the murders live to the south of ibis place, and are of a different tribe to ilic Waitara people. And as the Waitara question was one to which all the Natives of New Zealand are looking, I did not 'think it became a powerful Government like Great Britain, to appear to be deterred by a few murderers from calmly and steadily pursuing a course, which the officers acting here felt that justice and right imperatively pointed at, as that which should be adopted. The Proclamation was therefore issued. It was presented to me by my Responsible Advisers in its present form, with a recommendation that I should sign it in that shape, and 1 [thought it right to comply with their wishes. I have, 4re., &c., G. Grey. His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G. A PROCLAMATION DECLARING THE ABANDONMENT OF THE WAITARA. By His Excellency sir George Grey, Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-chief in and over Her Majesty’s Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies and Vice Admiral of the same, &c., lie*. Whereas an engagement for the purchase of a certain tract of laud at the Waitava, commonly known as Teira’s block, was entered into by the Government of New Zealand in the year One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, but the said purchase has never been completed : And whereas circumstances connected with the said purchase unknown to the Government at the time of the sale of the said .land have lately transpired which make it advisable that the said purchase bhould not be further proceeded with : Now, therefore, the Governor, with the

advice and consent of the Executive Council, doth hereby declare that the purchase of the said block of land is abandoned, and all claims to the same on the part of the Government is henceforth renounced. Given under my hand, at New Plymouth, and issued under the Seal of the Colony of New Zealand this eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. G. Grey. By his Excellency’s command, Alfred Domett. THE COMPOSITION OF THE MINISTRY. POWERS OF MEMBERS PARTY SQUABBLES. The'last thing he would speak of was the composition of the present ministry, and the men in that ministry. The meeting might suppose that members had much more to do with the composition and alteration of the measures passed in the House of Representatives than they really had. The individual members fof the House really did little else than choose the ministry. He was sorry to say it, but it was nevertheless a fact, that the members got up to A uckland, and quarrelled and fought and squabbled as to who were to be ministers, and that question settled tile members left the ministry to prepare and carry through the measures of the session ; and the result was that the bills were flung through wholesale, with little or no consideration from the individual members, who only heard the marginal rubrics gabbled through in a most unintelligible manner by the chairman of committees. In choosing ministers, he was very sorry to say that the qualifications of the men were always made subservient to party considerations, and this had been the practice carried out by both .sides of the House. His feeling was to pick out the best men from both parties, and place competent men in office. One evil was that a member could scarcely oppose ministers on a question on which he might disagree with them lest he should turn them out. Parties were generally so closely balanced, and votes always so regularly given with party, to the neglect of the question itself, that a member was held back from offering opposition, because if even one vote were lost to the ministry out they went. — Mr. Saunders Speech at Nelson.