The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-13 00:00:00

down t et ellion in her Majesty's colony of New Zealand, yet,
having regard to the treaty of Waitangi, it would rejoice
to hear that the difficult and complicated question of the
title to the block of land at the Waitara is to be the subject
of inquiry befere a special tribunal immediately on the re-
assertion of the; Queen's 'authority," said that the govern-
ment last evening claimed absolute exemption from blame on
the part of the governor of New Zealand, while he thought
the most that could be said was that while possessing the
best intentions passible to act rightly, he had been betrayed
into a fatal error in waging war with those whose rights
ought to be respected. It was well known that the settlers
when they went to buy the land knew that the title to it
was disputed. It was admitted that there was a tribal
right to the land. If the Government had simply contended
that the settlers could make a better use of the land than
the natives of New Zealand, it would boa quite a different
matter; but they overlooked the rights of the natives, and
urged that Governor Brown was right in all his transactions
with the natives, and that Wm. King was wrong in every
instance. If the hon. baronet went to a division he should
vote for the amendment.
Mr. LOWE said the question admitted of a plain state-
ment being made in very few words. The colony was in-
habited by two races, Europeans and Maories. The Euro-
peans possessed the northern part, and the southern was
occupied by the Maories. The rights of the Queen had been
settled by the treaty of Waitangi, and under it she was
enabled to extinguish the native title to the land which was
purchased. It was stipulated that the Queen should have
the right of pre-emption, so that she might be the interme-
diary between the settlers and the natives in land transac-
tions, and thus prevent disputes arising. The Government
I of New Zealand entered into an agreement with certain
persons for a large liece of their land, situate on the river
Waitara, and on concluding the bargain a map was laid at
the feet of the governor symbolical of its covering the land
sold to him. Subsequently the chief, Wm. King, came
forward and said the land ,belonged to those persons, but
that he would not allow them to dispose of it, and the whole
question was whether this chief was justified in the course
he had pursued. The question seemed to him (Mr. Lowe)
to be one of an exceedingly simple solution. The chief
gave no reasons for his conduct; he did not appeal to any
court, tribunal, or authority, but he simply spoke as one
sovereign would to another, " I hold the land in my hand,
and I will not let it go." He also said that they (the sel-
lers) had floated the land, but that he would not let it go
to sea. The chief began by stating that he had no pro-
perty in the land, yet he would not let the settlers purchase
and take possession of it. This was an exceedingly
simple case, and it merely amounted to this : that this
chief, being very strong, and confident in his own
power, defied the English Government, and inter-
vened between the natives, who wished to sell, and the
British Government, who wished to buy. By the simple
exercise of his sole power he would not allow the sale
and purchase to take place. The result of such a course
led to acts of violence, and then war broke out between the
natives and the colonial Government. There was a land
league, with William King at the head of it, organised fir
the purpose of preventing the sale of any more land to the
Government, and he was carrying out that policy in defiance
of the treaty of Waitangi. The chiefs had thrown off their
allegiance to the Queen, and it was absolutely necessary
that the colonial Government should exert the royal autho-
rity by force of arms.
[At this point, there being only about 25 members pre-
sent, an hon. member moved that the house be counted.
Before the glass had run out about 25 other members came
into the house from the lobbies, and there were conse-
quently more than 40 members present when the Speaker
had finished counting.]
Mr. LOWE continued—lt must be admitted that only
one interpretation could be placed upon the conduct of Wm.
King when read by the light of the transactions connected
with it. It was sought to be made out that that chief could
by the exercise of his veto prevent the sale of this land.
But it must be proved strictly that he possessed that right.
Was the right in him, in the tribe, or in ene of the families ?
Next, what was the custom in reference to the disposition of
land ? Did the majority of the tribe sell it, or must they be
unanimous ? Then again, what were the powers of the
chief ? Could he act independently of the tribe or not ?
All these were difficult questions, and must be proved by
those who set up this right to the land, but it could not be
established. It must be remembered that they had to deal
with a semi savage race of people, where right was akin to
might. Still the proof lay upon those who asserted the
right ; but the presumption of right was with those persons
who came forward to sell their land. There was no proof
of any tribal right, no proof that this man, Wm. King, was
the chief of the tribe, no proof that any agreement had been
come to by the tribe or any part of it that he should veto
this sale and purchase, or that he should act as their agent
in the matter. On the other hand, all the presumptions
were in favour of the real owners and the Government of
the colony. Even if Wm. King had been in the right he
had put himself in the wrong. He ought to have appealed
to some competent tribunal, or to the governor. If the
Government acted upon the principles now urged by some
hon. members other horrors and outrages would ensue.
Whatever might have been the cause of quarrel, the strug-
gle was now one between the two races for power mud do-
minion. The Maories wished to drive the English into the
sea, while the English hoped to become possessed of their
land. (Hear.) He hoped the house would not agree to any
resolution which would show that they had no confidence
in the governor of the colony.
Mr. ADDERLEY thought the discussion on this amend-
ment promised to be of very little use in its protraction.
According to his view of the discussion, if it proved anything
it proved that this question could not be usefully dealt with
by that house. (Hear, hear.) That was apparent during
the speech of the right hon. gentleman who had just sat
down, and from the present attenuated, he might say
moribund, state of the house. (There were about 25 mem-
bers present.) He thought it would be awaste of time to at-
tempt to come to any satisfactory conclusion en the ques-
tion when it had been found impossible to do so in the
colony itself. If the views of those who desired to censure
the governor were sound, it would be absolutely impossible
to hold land in New Zealand at all. The war was now
raging, and it must be finished before they could usefully
discuss the question. But the chances of its beingcentinued
would be increased by this discussion, if a report of it should
reach the colony before the war was brought to a conclu-
sion. The colony had been allowed to have representative
institutions, and the Parliament of New Zealand would
not allow the House of Commons to decide this important
question for them. Since those institutions had been
granted the native interests had been carefully attended
to; and who were more interested in the welfare and hap-
piness of the natives than the colonists themselves ?
(Hear, hear.) He believed that they might safely entrust
the colonists to maintain good faith with the natives. After
the war was concluded it would be necessary to revise
the law of 1853, and to strike out those clauses in the act
which implicated the English parliament in any way with
questions of this sort, and to leave them to be dealt with
by persons on the spot, who would more easily put an end
to them, and also prevent many disturbances from arisin
Mr. KENNARD regretted that so very few members
were present during this discussion, and also the entire
want of a few words of conciliation from the government in
this case. They were all united in feeling that the rebel-
lion must be put down, but they had hoped the government
would make some declaration that .the treaty of Waitangi
should be adhered to, that all disputed questions should be
clearly settled, and that the law should be made more
simple for the future. The government, however, seemed
determined to press forward the war, and to attend more
to the interests of the colonists than to the natives. He
regretted the tone which the government had adopted upon
this subject, but he did not see any use in continuing the
debate. (Hear, hear.)
Colonel DUNNE said he merely rose to say that Colonel
Brown, the governor of New Zealand, was his personal
friend, and that there was no man living who could be more
trusted than he to deal with the natives in a spirit of fair-
ness and justice. He hoped the house would not pass a vote
of censure upon a man doing his duty in a distant part, and
under very great difficulties.
Mr. DUNLOP did not understand that the resolution
implied a censure upon the governor of New Zealand, but
that it was simply intended to shorten the war, and bring
it to a conclusion by showing the natives that the questions
between them and the settlers should be dealt with fairly
and properly by a judicial tribunal. It was not the wish of
himself and others to exterminate the race of the Maories,
but to lead them to believe that the Government would do
them all the justice their case deserved, and that their
rights in the land would be respected. He should support
the amendment if the house divided. (Hear, hear.)
The house divided—
For going into committee
For the amendment .. 24-14
The Speaker there left the chair.
NAVY ESTIMATES.
£161,157 Admiralty-offiee.
Mr. WILLIAMS requested an explanation of the great
increase in the number of clerks. The salaries of these
actlitional gentlemen amounted to no less than £8,117.
Lord C. PAGET said it was caused by a corresponding
diminution in the number of extra clerks, who had in
reality been regularly employed. On the whole, there was
a reduction in the vote.
The item was then agreed to, as were the following :
£253,422 , coast-guard service, royal naval coast volun-
teers, and royal naval reserve.
£63,851, scientific branch.
£172,947, establishments at home.
£33,640 establishments abroad.
£1,112,126, artificers, &c., at home.
£67,828, artificers, &c., abroad.
£66,000. medical stores.
£90,510, miscellaneous.
£684,016, half-pay.
£486,430, military pensions.
£180,397, civil pensions and allowances.
£247,000, conveyance of troops.
Lord C. PAGET postponed votes 10 and 11 (4,489,477,
naval stores for building and outfitting fleet, steam vessels,
machinery, and ships built by contract; and £46945 for
new works). Ho did so in consequence of a motion which
the hon. member for Sunderland (Mr. Lindsay) proposed to
bring forward on the subject.
The orders were then disposed of, and the house ad-
journed at 9 o'clock,