The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 2, 1845.

WHAT IS TO BE THE FUTURE
MODE OF GOVERNING NE W ZEALAND.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sul,—ln the year 1813 two ships were despatched
from Greenwich Dockyards to Quebec, loaded with
staves to supply water-casks to the British flotilla on
the lakes. On the arrival of the vessels in Canada
the staves were pronounced to be useless, because the
navy floated on water of the purest quality.
To an eye-witness and attentive observer of pass-
ing occurrences in New Zealand, during the last
three years, the intelligence of Downing-street and
the knowledge of Parliament (as displayed in the
late debate) appears little better, if any, than the
wisdom which prompted Lord Liverpool's Adminis-
tration to send out water-casks across the Atlantic
for the use of our tars on Lake Superior.
The knowledge of a disease is said to be half its
remedy. But no hope is there of this country's ar-
riving at a knowledge of the disease of New Zealand,
because nineteen out of twenty of all those who have
hitherto spoken out on the subject have either sup-
pressed the truth or perverted the facts. He that has
had moral courage to expose the truth has not been
believed, and, therefore, has been silenced, because
there has been full nineteen voices to one against him.
In deceiving the public the New Zealand Com-
pany took the lead, and has kept a-head ;of all com-
petitors. Through the means of an all-powerful
press the praises of New Zealand were sounded
throughout the length and breadth of the land, induc-
ing a belief, amongst all classes, that the soil and climate
of that territory were such as to render it every thing
that could be desired by an English emigrant.

The climate, I grant, is most favourable to vegeta-
tion, in sheltered spots, rain falling on at least half the
number of days in the year. But the soil is in ge-
neral much—very much—inferior to the soil of Eng-
land. I have seen potatoes planted in fresh broken
up soil, which, when ripe, produced a crop no larger
than marbles. This was on land situated two
miles above Auckland, on the Waitemala, and there
are some three hundred acres between the same spot
and Auckland, of the like quality of land. In the
narrow gullies intersecting this land, every quarter
to half a mile, the soil is in the opposite extreme of
richness and fertility ; and when cleared and cleaned
of fern and other roots, its produce is very large for
I the first crop, half as large for the second, a quarter
for the third, and for the fourth the occupier will be
lucky if he get the quantity of his seed again.
What, so soon exhausted! Soil whose wild state
of natural ve:zetation astonished the eyes of the be-
holder ? Even so. No sooner are the fern and other
roots (which intersect and bind the soil together, like
a rope mat), removed, than the rains and the winds
begin and persevere in washing and blowing its fer-
tility away, and then it becomes poor and " hungry,"
and crying aloud for manure. The settlers. in New
Zealand, who one and all wish to sell their lands, and
can only hope to do so by " picking up" newly-arrived
immigrants, and the New Zealand Company having
land orders for sale, will say the facts are not so.
But I maintain they are, and my knowledge is derived
from close personal observation at and around Auck.
land. Moreover, a grub is at times most destructive;
for, to my knowledge, the grubs cleared away 13 out
of 14 acres of Mr. Joseph Hargreave's wheat, on the
Tamaki, in December last, just as the plant was
bursting into ear; and had the same crop been but a
month later, the locusts, which always devour a
second crop, would have assuredly cleared it away in
the like manner.

I have no interest to bias my judgment ; but being
one of the many hundreds misled and deceived by the
New Zealand Company's publications, it is a duty I
owe to my " neighbours," in the Scriptural sense of the
word, to warn them against the mass of error and
false prejudice which pervades even Parliament itself,
on the subject of New Zealand. I defy any one to
understand New Zealand without going and living
there for some time himself. The Company should,
one and all, be compelled to immigrate and remain
there during the rest of their lives, and then would
their worst enemies be satisfied with their heavy but
righteous punishment.
The treaty of Waitangi is most unaccountably as-
sumed to be still binding on the New Zealand Chiefs
on the one side, and on the British Government on
the other. As well might it be assumed, that be-
cause a parish "A" consent to a proposed railroad,
all other parishes represented by the rest of the let-
ters of the alphabet, although they never before heard
of such contemplated railroad, are yet bound by the
consent of " A." The native chiefs, who entered
into the treaty of Waitangi, were a few only of the
chiefs whose respective territorial sway extend over
less than a half of the northern island, that is, over
not one-sixth part of the New Zealand territory.
The rest of the chiefs were never asked, and never
heard of such treaty being in negotiation ! They
probably would have heard of the treaty, had it not
been suddenly put an end to, cut to shreds, and cast
to the wind, by the prompt and decisive proclamation
of British sovereignty at Akaroa, on the middle island,
six hours before the French (who were crossed and
jostled) were about to land, and do the same in favour
of their own flag. To assume the validity of the
treaty of Waitangi, entered into by a few, as binding
on the many, and that, moreover, after the proclama-
tion of sovereignty at Akaroa, is a puerility unworthy
the wisdom of any junior clerk in the Colonial-office.
The treaty of Waitangi, resting at best on a basis of
sand, was kicked down, before half erected, by the
British Government itself.

Another fallacy is, the assuming it to be a fact
that there are waste, or uncultivated, lands to a large
extent in New Zealand, the ownership of which is
unknown. The fact is just the reverse. There is
not a yard of land, no, nor even a blade of grass, that
a native will not come forward to claim, with the
sanction and approval of his neighbouring tribes, on
its being appropriated by a European. The land may
be the subject of dispute between two or more of the
natives, but that only makes the case worse for the
intruder, since each claimant will demand and enforce
payment. A further fallacy is in assuming it pos-
sible to induce the settlers to organise themselves
into a body of militia. The settlers are too good
judges of their precarious position ! They have gone
out to till the land, not to fight ; and living on their
lands, dispersedly throughout a wild country, they
could not leave their homes without inviting the
plunder of their property by the jealous natives, and
probably their own destruction in detail. None but
madmen amongst the agricultural settlers would en-
tertain, for a moment, the idea of organising them-
selves into a militia. The thing is impracticable,
and if practicable, it would be the height of folly.
A further fallacy is the belief in a productive
customs duty. The settlers are now too poor to pay
for customable commodities ; and were it otherwise
there are abundant able and willing people in New
South Wales, who could and would employ the
natives to land goods in their large war canoes, and
then who durst meddle with the warriors ?

I am no admirer of Captain Fitzroy's administra-
tion, but, considering that he came out chock-full of
the wislom of the Colonial-office, which he stuck to
longer and more tenaciously than any other man,
probably, would have done in his senses ; he has.
considering his means, done much more good than
harm in New Zealand, and so far from his recal
being likely t• be disagreeable, there is reason to be-
lieve that his recal, within one month after his ar-
rival in New Zealand, would have been more grate-
ful to his feelings than a Parliamentary grant of
10,0001., so much had he been deceived on accepting
his appointment as to the actual state of the colony.
From Lord Stanley's remarkable dispatch to
Captain Fitzroy, on the subject of the Wairoa mas-
sacre, it is clear that Captain Fitzroy's view of that
affair agreed in anticipation with his Lordship's opi-
nions ; and Captain Fitzroy's listening to the bishop,
clergy, and missionaries' intercession, when they pro-
inised to be answerable for Johnny Heki, at the Bay of
Islands, was in the same key-note of prescribed con-
duct to be observed towards the " darling" natives.
And yet Captain Fitzroy is now made the " scape-
goat" of the Colonial-office.
Let Captain Gray, or any other Governor, do what
he can, New Zealand is lost as a colonial field of emi
gration. Its position is its best recommendation, for
its other advantages have been far, very far over-
rated. Hitherto the British Government in New
Zealand has been entirely based on opinion, and that
opinion being now lost, will never be regained, unless
a pestilence sweep off nine-tenths of the natives, and
so render the remainder controllable. In the mean
time, half a million of money, and twice that sum,
can be easily spent, without making the colony a
desirable field for emigration! A second Algiers it will
prove, and the French (who would have carried mat-
ters in another fa-pion) will point at our government
of New Zealand with derision.

And now, Sir, for my remedy for the evils of
New Zealand. Compensate the settlers for removing
to Van Dieman's Land, and withdraw the Govern
ment, leaving the British flag as an emblem of ex-
clusive protection, and noli me tangere, to fly under
under the sanction of some chief, V. Ivo night he in-
duced, by a fixed gratuity, to protect the resident in
charge of the flag. Let no one suppose that I enter-
tain for a moment an idea of the natives standing
against a body of British troops. They will not do
so. They will fly, their disposition and ferocity
being no more changed by their flight, than would be
the disposition of wolves chaced by bulldog:<, which
could never overtake them. Except along the ser,
shore, and a few inland paths, Now Zealand is tili
but impractieable-to Europeans. The natives would
travel four miles through the tea-scrub whilst our
soldiers would scramble one. The French were
taught that secret when they landed a party of marines
on the Chatham Islands, some five years ago to punish
the New Zealanders resident there, for massacreing
the crew of a French vessel. The New Zealanders
walked away and laughed at the French,
If troops are to be sent from this country, they
should be Rifles ; and then, be it always remembered,
the first native blood that is shed will organise a war ,

of colour, in all probability, which will occasion a call
for military aid in every direction; a call for aid
which, from the nature of the country, cannot be
effectively complied with, were even the whole mili-
tary force in the South Seas placed at the disposal of
the Governor of New Zealand.—l am, Sir, your
obedient servant, and a late resident in New Zealand,
ROBERT D'OYLY.
London, June 28, 1845.

COURT CIRCULAR.

Her Majei,t) the Queen Dowager, accompanied by the
Duchess Ida and the Princesses Anne and Amelie of
Saxe Weimar, arrived at Marlborough-house in a car-
riage-and-four, at half-past twelve o'clock yesterday
morning, from her residence, Bushy llouse, Bushy-park.
The Queen Dowager and the Duchess Ida of Saxe
Weimar, the Princesses Anne and Amelie, and the
Princes Edward and Armand of Saxe Weimar, arrived
at Buckingham Palace at two o'clock to pay a visit to
the Queen and Prince Albert. The Queen Dowager
and her Illustrious relatives partook of a dejeune with
her Majesty and her Royal Consort and their Majesties
the King and Queen of the Belgians.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Colo-
nel Bouverie, honoured the British Institution in Pall-
Mall with a visit yesterday.
The statement in the evening papers of Monday, of
her Majesty and the Queen of the Belgians having ho-
noured the review on that day with their presence, is
totally incorrect. Her Majesty was not present.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, Prince
Alfred, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice, were
taken their accustomed walks and rides yesterday, in the
royal gardens of Buckingharn Palace.
The Viscountess Jocelyn has succeeeded Lady Port-
man as the Lady in Waiting to the Queen. The Earl
of Morton has succeeded Lord Rivers as the Lord in
Waiting to her Majesty. Admiral Sir Robert Otway
has succeeded Mr. R. Ormsby Gore as the Groom in
Waiting to her Majesty. Camel Buckley has relieved
the Hon. Colonel Grey in the duties of Equerry in
Waiting to the Queen, and Colonel Bouverie has re-
lieved Major-General Sir Edward Bowater in the duties
of Equerry in Waiting to his Royal Highness Prince
Albert.

The Queen and Prince Albert, accompanied by their
Majesties the King and Queen of the Belgians, honoured
the Italian Opera with their presence last evening. The
royal suite included the Viscountess Jocelyn, Baroness
d'Hooghvorst, Earl of Morton, Colonel Buckley, Colonel
Bouverie, and Major de Moerkerke. Her Majesty the
Queen Dowager also honoured the performance of the
Opera with her presence. Her Majesty was accompanied
by the Duchess Ida, the Princesses Anne and Amelie,
and the Princes Edward and Armand of Saxe Weimar,
and was attended by the Marchioness of Ormunde, the
Hon. William Ashley, and Mr. James Hudson. Their
Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
also honoured the Opera with their presence.
The Queen Dowager and the Duchess Ida of Saxe
Weimar, accompanied by the Princesses Anne and
Amelie of Saxe Weimar, visited her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Gloucester, at Gloucester House, and their
Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge,
at Cambridge House, yesterday. Her Majesty and her
Illustrious relatives afterwards visited the Marchioness
of Douglas, at her residence in Connaught-place.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge
and Prince George, attended by Baron Knesebeek,
honoured the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland
with their company, yesterday afternoon, at Sion House.
Mr. Scotland, Chief Justice of Trinidad, had an inter-
view with Lord Stanley yesterday, at the Colonial•office.
Sir Charles Lemon, and Mr. J. H. Vivian, M.P.,
had an interview with Sir George Clerk yesterday, at
the office of the Board of Trade.

The Chairman and Foreign Secretaries of the London
Missionary Society, with the Rev. William Howe, mis-
sionary from Tahiti, had an interview with the Earl of
Aberdeen, yesterday at the Foreign-office.
Mr. Arthur White, Government Secretary for her
Majesty's colony of Trinidad, transacted business yester-
day at the Colonial-office, on his return to that colony.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England had a
meeting yesterday. There were present the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Bishops of Bangor, Chichester, Ely,
Hereford, Lichfield, Norwich, Oxford, and Worcester,
the Earl of Besboroegh, the Right Hon. J. Nichol!, and
the Dean of Westminster.
Mr. Ennis Vivian had an interview with the Earl of
Dalhousie on Monday at the Board of Trade. Lord J.
Stuart transacted business yesterday at the office of the
Board of Trade.

Mr. Anstruther, Colonial Secretary of Ceylon, had an
interview with Lord Stanley yesterday.
The Paymaster of the Forces had an interview with
Sir Robert Peel yesterday.
Dispatches were sent off last evening, from the Colo-
nial office, for the Governors of the West India Colonies,
and also for the Governor of Van Diemen's Land.