WILLIAM WEBSTER

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 4, 26 March 1945, Page 12

WILLIAM WEBSTER

■ I A ir a UU II W| "l 4 M KhK

WHEN adam smith, founder of the Vy science of political economy, asserted that “ The engrossing of

uncultivated land was the greatest obstruction to its improvement,” he pointed out at the same time that although the practice had been more restrained in the English colonies than in any other, it had by no means been prevented altogether. It certainly had not. The colonizing of Australia was a case in point —a case which set reformers such as Gibbon Wakefield striving to get some formula adopted by which the new world settlements, those of New Zealand in particular, might be spared the evils of unlimited aggregation of land by individuals.

For many reasons the problem was not an easy one to solve. Viewed from one aspect alone, there was a certain fascination, quite apart from the mere making of money, in becoming the proprietor of a great estate, which appealed irresistably to adventurers of all kinds. Among all nations from time immemorial the owning of land has been closely bound up with the aristocratic principle. Broad acres confer on their proprietors a respectability that cannot be so easily earned by wealth invested in other securities.

It is therefore scarcely to be wondered at that many of the new arrivals in the sparsely populated, freshly discovered countries of the Pacific had visions of themselves as founders of a new landed aristocracy based on the European model.

These visions, although inimical to the best principle of colonization, had nothing even faintly immoral about them in the eyes of our grandfathers, who saw more virtue than we do in the making of a fortune. Even to-day, when ideas on

the subject have changed, one is willing to extend a measure of sympathy to the adventurer wishing to become a bona fide landowner, but one has nothing to say in favour of a land grabber like William Webster, a man with no idea other than that of enriching himself by speculation. Webster made his appearance on the New Zealand coast in the year 1835, soon after which he established a tradingstation at Coromandel, where he claimed to have bought land from the Maoris. Later on he established a shipyard, where he built small vessels fit for entering shallow bays and sailing up rivers. In course of time he formed other tradingstations, and sometimes found it convenient to buy the land on which they were situated, but for the most part he seems only to have bought what was necessary for his purpose. In 1839, however, when rumours of British annexation were in the air, he began to speculate on the grand scale until at the time of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi he claimed to have acquired 250,000 acres from the Maoris.

Naturally he was much disturbed by Governor Hobson’s Proclamation to the effect that no purchase of land would be looked upon as valid until confirmed by the Crown, especially as he was heavily in debt to certain merchants of Sydney, whose claims he hoped to settle by making over to them some of the land he had bought in New Zealand.

..' Now, Webster was a citizen of the British Empire, but at this crisis in his affairs he seems to have conceived the idea of extricating himself from his difficulties by becoming an American

citizen. What steps, if any, he took towards changing his nationality are not

known, but in November, 1840, he wrote to the American Consul in Sydney, claiming to have bought 500,000 acres, for which he had paid 78,000 dollars, and expressing a fear that the British Government would take it all unless the United States Government would take the matter in hand. “ They have not taken any of my lands as yet,” he added, “ but I expect they will take all from me, and every other American, unless our Government will take it in hand to stop it.”

At the same time he sought to ingratiate himself with the authorities of his newly adopted country by offering to sell them the Great Barrier Island (which he claimed to have bought) for a very small sum.

Having thus set matters in train, he concluded that his presence in New Zealand, or, for that matter, in Australia, would be a hindrance to his plans. He went to Sydney, where he chartered a bark called the “ Planter,” intending to take a cargo to England, whence he hoped to proceed to America and ask the United States Government to support his land claims ; but his Sydney creditors, getting word of his intentions, had him imprisoned for debt.

On regaining his freedom early in 1841 he decided to make the best of a bad job and prefer his land claims before the New Zealand Commissioners. On receiving his letter announcing this intention, Willoughby Shortland, the Colonial Secretary, was puzzled by an allusion it contained to the American Consul at Sydney. Was the claimant a British or American subject ? Shortland wrote forthwith to inquire, explaining to Webster at the same time that he could not be both ; that if he chose to be the latter he must relinquish all the rights of a British subject, such as the ownership of a British vessel which he was understood to possess.

Till now Webster had not viewed the situation in this light. He found the question regarding his nationality so awkward that he did not answer it at all, but merely wrote saying that he was willing to take his chance with the others. The reply, however, was taken to mean

that he would take his chance with the other British subjects ; and as Webster appeared in person to give evidence before the New Zealand Land Commissioners there seemed to be no doubt whatever that his meaning had been correctly interpreted.

The first Land Commission awarded Webster 7,540 acres, all of which he at once sold for 20s. an acre ; but shortly afterwards an Ordinance came into force forbidding any grant to be made of more than 2,560 acres. Webster’s grant was accordingly reduced, and the people to whom he had sold his land as fast as he acquired it were left with nothing for their money.

By this time Governor Fitzroy had succeeded Governor Hobson. Fitzroy felt sorry for Webster —so sorry, indeed, that on this occasion, as on many others, he allowed his better instincts to get the better of him. By his order, the whole question of the awards was referred to a second commission, by which Webster was awarded 17,655 acres —12,655 to allow him to fulfil his obligations and 5,000 for himself —all of which he sold within four months. It is worthy of note that even at the end of these transactions he was still in debt to the Sydney merchants.

Fresh difficulties now arose. When Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, heard of Fitzroy’s generosity he wrote condemning the augmented grants of land, but his letter was not received in New Zealand until three years after the grants had been made, and, incidentally, eighteen months after Fitzroy had been replaced. The situation was without remedy. Webster, having sold all his land, could not be expected to restore it. Worse still, it was now discovered that in many cases he had not fulfilled the conditions of sale with the Maori vendors, who refused to deliver up the land to the unfortunates who had bought it from him. In order to put them in possession, the discrepancies had to be made up by a grateful country. By this time Webster had seen fit to make himself scarce.

The years rolled by until in 1856 a Land Claims Settlement Act was passed by the New Zealand Parliament for the

purpose of clearing up the muddle that still existed. Yet another Commission was appointed, and Webster’s affairs figured largely in its deliberations, when it was discovered that the 17,655 acres awarded him, on being properly surveyed, turned out to be no more than 11,506. Once again a grateful country had to step into the breach, and the difference between the two acreages was made up out of the Crown estate.

The Commission’s work lasted several years, during which time Webster got word of its proceedings and decided that the hour had arrived to strike again. In 1858 he asked the United States Government to sponsor a claim on Her Majesty’s Government for 6,500,000 dollars “ for loss and damage and indemnity for lands purchased from chiefs of New Zealand from 1835 to 1840 . . . sequestered and taken from him by the British authorities.” Neither then, nor later when he applied again in 1869, would the United States Government consent to take up his cause, but Webster never gave up hope. When in England in 1874 he placed his claim in the hands of a London lawyer named Duncan who reopened his case with the Colonial Office, but Duncan soon realized what kind of a man he had to deal with. “ I regret,” he afterwards wrote, “ that, deceived by his specious manner and plausible story —as no doubt many others have been —I should have caused the Colonial Office of Her Majesty’s Government the trouble of investigating his claims anew.”

How Webster employed his time or earned his living during all these years I do not know, nor have I come across any personal description of him, but one may attempt some reconstruction of his character from the facts in official documents. The Webster type is no rare phenomenon. The man with a grievance grown into an obsession, insisting, like the Ancient Mariner, on telling his story to strangers in a hurry, boring his friends to tears with the latest news of that wonderful invention which no one will accept, that famous manuscript which all publishers refuse, that just claim which

no Court will recognize—have we not all met this kind of person some time in our lives ?

One may also assume that after a lifetime’s practice Webster was an adept at the work to which he had devoted so much time and energy. He had become an expert claimer, and this fact may explain why the United States Government, after so many refusals, at length took up his case in 1887. Possibly the national prejudice was aroused by his assertion that the claim had always failed hitherto on account of his persistent refusal, in the face of all temptation, to relinquish his American citizenship. To his former claims had now been added a sum of more than half a million sterling representing interest on the capital due to him since 1840 at 4 per cent, per annum —the total mounted up to a truly noble figure. He affirmed that although his possessions in New Zealand prior to the Treaty of Waitangi had been worth £i ,000,000, yet he had never received an acre of land out of all his vast purchases. In a certain manner of speaking this was true. The Senate, duly impressed, requested the President to take up the matter with Her Majesty’s Government.

The rest of the story is a tale of the writing of many letters — the destruction of paper on a vast scale. Official correspondence crossed the Atlantic, then the Pacific, then went backwards and forwards for many years across the two oceans just referred to. Webster got nothing more. One is inclined to speculate on the mental attitude he adopted towards his own claims. Had he come in the course of time to persuade himself that they were just ? Did he ever really expect them to be granted at last ? Or had he come to look upon the making of fantastic demands as a sort of art worthy of a lifetime’s devotion ? There is no answer to the question. All that is known is that he, an obscure and probably quite unworthy individual, troubled two great nations for many years by his fabrications, his perversions, his importunities. His life and his land claims appear to have expired simultaneously in the year 1895.