The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-04 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER.

NEW ZEALAND.—(CONCLUDED.)
" The error in policy which your Committee have
pointed out as having in our opinion been fallen into
by the officers who have held the government of New
Zealand, in not asserting the right of the Crown to
all the unoccupied soil of these islands, is very
closely connected with another, to which we also feel
it necessary to advert. It appears to us that there
has been a want of vigour and decision in the general
tone of the proceedings adopted towards the natives;
measures have not been taken, as we think they
ought, for making the original inhabitants under-
stand that they are now to be considered as British
subjects, and must therefore abstain from all conduct
inconsistent with that character. The local authori-
ties may have been guided by a desire to treat the
natives of the soil with the most scrupulous justice,
and with the greatest consideration ; but we are not
the less persuaded that, not only in what has been
done with regard to the ownership of land, but also in
showing too much respect for native customs, they
have been led to pursue a line of policy which in its
consequences must be injurious to the true interests
of those, out of consideration to whom it has been
adopted. We agree in the opinion expressed by one
of the witnesses we have examined (Mr. Earp), that
the rude inhabitants of N.ew Zealand ought to be
treated in many respects like children, and that in
dealing with them, firmness is no less necessary than
kindness. In the first instance there was on the part
of the natives a disposition to defer with almost super-
stitious reverence to the authority of the Govern-
ment ; and had this authority been firmly and judi-
ciously exercised to suppress intestine war, and all
savage and barbarous customs, and to enforce between
different tribes and between individuals the great
principles of justice and respect for property, no
serious resistance would probably ever have been at-
tempted. But from an over-sensitive fear of in-
fringing upon native rights, the authority which, had
it been decidedly assumed, would, there is every
reason to believe, have been willingly submitted to,
has been lost, and the consequence his been, that
murder and cannibalism have been allowed to be com-
mitted unpunished, and that very serious hostilities
have broken out between different tribes, while the
right of the British Government to interfere has been
repudiated by the more powerful party, and the want
of the promised protection loudly complained of by the
weakest. Your Committee are persuaded that an en-
lightened humanity and a regard for the real welfare
of the native tribes require that British power and
authority should be resolutely exerted to put a stop
to such a state of things, to maintain internal peace,
and to prevent native customs and usages from being
acted upon in a manner inconsistent with good order
and morality, and with the progress of civilisation.
We would beg to refer to the report of Captain Grey,
the Governor of South Australia, on the best means
of promoting the civilisation of the aboriginal inhabi-
tants of Australia, which was transmitted by Lord J.
Russell to Captain Hobson, for his guidance, as con-
taining an able exposition of the policy which ought to
be pursued upon this important and difficult subject.
" It is necessary to observe that the policy we
recommend requires for its safe adoption, in the pre-
sent state of affairs, that the Governor of New Zea-
land should have at his disposal more power than he
now possesses of enforcing obedience to his authority.
We see no reason to apprehend a successful attempt
by the natives to overturn by force the power of the
Government ; we concur with Major Bunbury, in
thinking that the jealousy and rivalry of different
tribes amongst themselves would prevent their acting
with any effect against the European population,' and
we have no doubt that civilisation and intelligence, in
the event of a struggle, would maintain their ac-
customed superiority; still we consider that it is of
the utmost importance, in order to avert the calami-
ties which must ensue from even an attempt at resist-
ance to the authority of the Governor, that he should
be armed with so obviously superior a power as to
prevent any such attempt from being made. Addi-
tional means of enforcing obedience to lawful autho-
rity are required, not merely against the natives, but
against the lower class of emigrants, an account of
whose insubordinate proceedings at Nelson, which
from the want of force could not be properly put
down, will be found in the Appendix.
" Adverting to the scattered situation of the settle.
ments which have been formed, and to the importance
of their all being not only promptly protected when-
ever an emergency may arise, but also frequently
visited by the Governor in person, we conceive that
by far the most useful addition which could be made
to the force at his disposal would be that which would
be afforded by placing an armed steamer of moderate
size under his orders. In addition to this, we think
that a militia composed of the settlers should be
organised, from which we would by no means ex-
clude such of the natives as should so far have
adopted the habits of civilised life as to be fit to bear
arms in the same ranks with Europeans ; we need
also hardly observe that such a force should always
be kept under the complete control of the Governor,
and that he should always have such a proportion of
regular troops under his command as not to be en-
tirely dependent upon the militia for support. We
are further disposed to believe that advantage might
result from endeavouring to create a permanent
native force under European officers, but in which
their own chiefs might also, perhaps, hold commands ;
such a force would probably afford, not only a cheap
addition to the military power of the Governor, but
also a valuable instrument for gradually training the
natives to habits of order and subordination.
" Your Committee cannot offer these recommenda-
tions, tending to what may be thought a more severe
enforcement of authority over the natives, without,
at the same time, expressing their strong sense of the
dutyincumbent upon the Government of adopting
the most effective measures for their welfare and im-
provement. With this view, we conceive that every
effort should be made to amalgamate the two races;
more particularly, the utmost attention should be paid
to the education and training of the rising generation
of the aborigines ; and whenever their improvement
in intelligence will admit of it, the natives should be
placed in every respect on a footing of perfect
equality with their white fellow-subjects,
.and as soon
as possible, they should be employed in the civil
service of the Government in any situations in which
they can make themselves useful. We also attach
much importance to the adoption of a good system of
making reserves of land for their benefit. These re-
serves ought, in our opinion, to be of moderate size,
and interspersed with the lands destined for the occu-
pation of settlers ; the natives should be encouraged,
themselves, to occupy and to cultivate the land thus
reserved for their benefit, and only those parts of it
for which they might have no immediate occasion
should be allowed to be let on lease to Europeans, the
leases being restricted to a moderate term of years,
and the rents so obtained being considered as ap-
plicable only for their advantage. By this arrange-
ment the natives established upon such reserves being
scattered, a few together, amongst the European
population, would be more likely than under any
other plan which has been suggested, gradually to
adopt the customs and way of life of their civilised
neighbours ; whereas, if the land reserved for them
were in large blocks, and they were collected together
in considerable numbers, the probability is, thatthey
would cling far more pertinaciously to the habits of
savage life, and if so, this interesting people would
too surely melt away before the advancing tide of
European settlement.
"It is an evil of which the experience of other
colonies affords frequent examples, that the progress
of settlement is impeded by land coming into the
possession of persons who endeavour to derive a
profit, not from its improvement, but by suffering it
to lie waste until it acquires value from the labour
and capital expended in the surrounding district ; it,
therefore, appears to us, that means should be taken
to guard against this abuse in New Zealand. This
will, we trust, be to a great extent effected by the
regulations which will prevent property in land from
being acquired otherwise than by purchase; but, as
a further security, we would recommend that some
part of the colonial revenue should be raised by
means of a tax upon land. On the North American
continent, when a tax has been imposed upon land
with the view of checking its being held by persons
not really intending to make use of it, we believe the
tax has generally been laid upon wild land only.
Looking, however, to the difficulty of accurately de-
termining the degree of improvement which should
exempt land from a tax applying only to that which
is designated as wild, and to the facility thus afforded
for evading the burden, it appears to us more ad-
visable that such a tax should be imposed on all
land, whether wild or otherwise. -If the tax were
low (we think it ought not to exceed 2d. an acre) it
would be unfelt as a practical burden on land really
turned to profitable account, while even this small
payment recurring annually, would powerfully tend
to discourage the retention of land by parties deriving
no immediate advantage from it.
" Such a tax ought not of course to apply to land
now occupied by the natives, or to that held as re-

serves for their benefit. The land granted to the
New Zealand Company ought also to be regarded in
a different light from that held by private individuale;,
they have obtained that land in the character or,
agents- for the public in carrying on the work or
colonisation ; so long, therefore, as they adequately
discharge the duties belonging to that character, they
ought not to be subjected to the tax in respect of lend
they hold for this purpose ; at the same time, care
should he taken that no privilege capable of being
abused should be given to them. We would, there'
fore, suggest, that the lands remaining unsold in the
hands of the Company, should be free from the tax, e°,
long as the extent of land so held should not exceed
that which would remain to them supposing that
from the commencement of their operations they had
one year with another sold 1-25th part of the 1511'
assigned to them by the Crown. Should their sales
upon the whole fall short of this, they might fairly
be required to pay the tax upon the difference.
might also be proper to insist, as a condition for
their enjoying the proposed exemption, that a fixed
proportion of the proceeds of their land sales should
be applied to the promotion of emigration.
" Your Committee have now stated very fully their
views upon those parts Gf the subject referred to the°
which have the most important bearing upon td
practical measures which ought now to be adopte
and having in their resolutions adverted to some
those measures which do not seem to require any
particular explanation, had originally intended T 1
have offered some remarks upon the complaints whit
the servants of the Crown in the colony, upon th
On e lide, and those employed by the New Zealand
Company on the other, have mutually made against
each other; but upon further deliberation, it has 013,
peared to us that the unhappy differences which hay'
prevailed are most likely to be allayed by our for'
bearing to pronounce an opinion which must of nei
cessity involve an expression of blame on some, gno°,
all, of those who have taken part in these proceeo
ings ; we therefore have thought it most expedieotti:
abstain altogether from entering further into VI
part of the subject; even as to the unhappy affair nt
Wairau, by which so many valuable lives were lom
we will add nothing to the resolution which we h3ci.e
unanimously adopted, and we will only express vie
earnest hope that all classes of settlers, and 01°t
especially those persons to whom important duties 30
,
the newly-established colony have been entrusted'
either by her Majesty's Government or by the Coo'
pany, will feel that the interest and welfare of all re:l
quires that harmony should be re-established, a°
that this can only be accomplished by mutual for'
bearance and moderation."