The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-01 00:00:00

MARCH 1, lB4B.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LOItI),S', Feb. 29.
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat upon the
Woolsack at Five o'clock.
Lord BEAUMONT presented several petitions
from vari,us lodges of Odd Fellows, praying for the
passing of some legislative enactment to place these
societies upon the same footing as other friendly
societies.

had been, who, in undertaking the office entrusted
to him, had made a very considerable pecuniary
sacrifice.—(Hear, hear.) It must not be tbrgotten
that there had been placed at the disposal of Captain
Grey, for the maintenance of order and the protection
of the subject, far greater resources than Captain
Fitzroy had ever enjoyed.--(Hear, hear.) When the
colony was first established, the settlers went upon
the distinct principle that it was to be wholly a self-
supporting colony, which would require no aid, either
in men or money, from the mother country; yet in a
very short time it was found necessary to assign to it,
on the part of the:mother country, an annual aid of
36,0001., an army of from 2,000 to 2,500 soldiers,
and one or two ships of war—another lesson to us
that any new settlement, purporting to rely solely
on its own resources is merely a new deception—that
every new establishment of our countrymen abroad is
inevitably the occasion of an increase in our naval
and military and general expenditure. The aid thus
extended to Captain Grey, however, Captain Fitzroy
had not the advantage of, a circumstance which should
never be lost sight of in considering Captain Fitzroy's
administration.—(Hear, hear.) One great mistake
with reference to New Zealand had been the under-
rating the power, the means, and the civilisation of the
native population; a mistake, however, which every
day's experience was tending to rectify. Let their
Lordships rest assured that in any scheme of govern-
ment for New Zealand the native population must be
fairly embodied.—(Hear, hear.) That population
was as alive to its rights as any one of their Lordships
to his own. No nation required a course of lessons
in political economy to understand the relative posi-
tion of governor and governed—(Hear)—and the New
Zealanders were very far indeed from being among
the least civilised or intellectual of nations. Of the
many natives who had been effectively engaged in
the service of the Royal Engineer department in
the colony, none had been found who could not read,
and but one who could not write, his native language ;
there was no drunkenness among them, and they
almost all put by a portion of their earnings, which
many of them invested in heifers, which they then
put out to pasture.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord
proceeded to contend that the Bill before them was
altogether unnecessary, since the Act of 1846 enabled
her Majesty to alter, add to, or repeal such portions
of the instructions or orders issued under it as should
be found inexpedient. Why, then, not repeal instead
of suspend that portion of the constitution which the
Colonial Governor condemned, and the Noble Secre
tary himself abandoned? Be concurred with his
Noble Friend in the proposition that, more es-
pecially in a settlement like New Zealand, where
the colonists lived in small bodies, separated from
each other in many cases by four or five hun-
dred miles, it was desirable to give each town the
power of managing its own taxation and its own
peculiar concerns ; but as to the fine• wrought scheme
of the towns electing their councillors, and
these their aldermen, and these their mayor,
and mayor, aldermen, and council their re-
presentative, to serve in one of two assemblies, the
two assemblies being under one general assembly, and
the general assembly under two deputy-governors,
and the two deputy-governors under a governor;
this elaborate system, to be applied to a population of
just 16,000 persons, broken up into infinitely small
bodies, separated by infinitely large distances, seemed
to him somewhat of a farce in legislation.—(Hear,
hear.) In point of fact there would be no electors;
every man would be a person elected—an alderman,
at the least. The people had dwelt upon the extreme
impolicy, the absolute danger, of seeking to authorise
a small minority of colonists, dwelling far
apart from each other, to impose taxes and
high handed sway upon the native population,
immensely superior in numbers, powerful, keenly
sensitive of their rights, of proud and independent
spirit. —(Hear, hear.) While ready to dispose of the
occupation of their land, for a moderate consideration
they were thoroughly impressed, and justly so, with
the knowledge that the right to the soil was theirs.—
(Hear, hear.) As to the Bishop of New Zealand, he
would say, that the error with which that most ex-
cellent prelate had been charged was a most natural
error, and certainly one into which he himself had
fallen.— (Hear, hear.) He would only add that he
regarded the Bill as unnecessary; yet, as the Noble
Earl dwelt upon it as a step which required to be
taken, and as it was, at all events, a step in the right
direction, he would not oppose its progress.
The Earl of WALDEGRAVE supported the Bill,
and briefly assigned reasons for so doing; but his
words were scarcely audible in the gallery.
The Earl of ST. GERMANS was satisfied of the
soundness of the principle of what were called " self-
supporting colonies." For fifteen months the colonists
in Cook's Straits had supported themselves, and it
was not until the home Government interfered that
any complaints were made by them. Never was
there presented a more interesting instance of coloni-
zation than the colonization of New Zealand, and
never would there have been a more successful one
had the people been left to themselves. He rejoiced
now to find that the colony was likely to prosper
under the administration of the Noble Earl and the
present excellent Governor. With respect to the
measure before them, lie had some doubts about its
details, and thought the course it proposed to take
was scarcely the best that might have been pursued.
He had" no intention, however, of opposing the mea
sure.

Earl GREY replied, and declared that between
the present Governor of New Zealand and himself
there was not a shadow of a shade of difference.
The Bill was then read a second time.
Their Lordships adjourned at Seven o'clock.