The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-18 00:00:00

the purposes of cultivation, and reserving but the remaining
ss. for the outlay of capital and as a remuneration for their
labours. The consequence of this was, that capitalists were
induced to embark their property in New Zealand. Roads
were opened in very considerable numbers in the neighbour-
hood of Auckland, and a college for the dissemination of edu-
cation and a bishopric was established at Nelson with the happiest
• effect. Emigrants of a better class were induced to leave this
country, and to go out to the new colony, because the com-
pany had shown, by their actions, that the propagation of the
great public objects for which they had been associated was
their first and permanent principle, and therefore, he re-
peated, it was that many persons belonging to the very best
classes in England had withdrawn their property from this
country to embark it in New Zealand. He had read a book
of Mr. Wakefield's, which gave a most interesting account of
the progress of the colony from the first settlement, to the
period when he found it inhabited by persons of a superior
class from Britain, who lived in the greatest harmony with
the natives, of whom there were one or two in every house,
acting faithfully and gratefully as servants.—( Hear, hear. )
He (Mr. Buller) thought, if a statesman had wisely re-
garded the state of things described in that book, he would have
done all in his power to assist the progress--( Hear, hear)—
He would have said to the colonists, " Go on in your happy
course and you shall not have to complain of any want of
assistance upon my part ;" and he thought that if any angel
could have carried Lord Stanley over the ocean, and enabled
him to look down with his own eyes upon all that was passing,
the Noble Lord would not have allowed official jealousy to in-
terfere with prosperity--( Hear, hear)—and certainly would
have done anything rather than excite the passions and
encourage the barbarous cupidity of the natives.—(Hear.)
When his Noble Friend (Lord J. Russell) determined that it
was right to take possession of New Zealand for the British
Crown. he recognised no right in the savage except to the
ground which the latter actually occupied, and accordingly to
the civilised man no right derived from the savage which the
savage himself had not previously possessed. But his Noble
Friend modified that view by making an allowance in favour of
those who had actually paid for the lands they possessed, and
who had turned those lands to a useful account for civilisation.
He therefore came to the resolution of giving to the settlers the
land which had been allotted to them under native titles, at the rate
of es. per acre. The agreement of 1840, fully entitled the New
Zealand Company to the confirmation of all their rights.—
(Hear, hear.) The Hon. and Learned Member then went
into a detailed account of the inquiries under Mr. Pennington,
and the negotiations between the Company and Mr. Vernon
Smith. He read also the communications of Governor Hudson
with Government ; and upon the whole he contended that the
Yew Zealand Company hag a right to hold themselves exempted
from the subsequent inquiries of Mr. Spain. Upon the faith
of the agreement of 1840, they had, by the desire of the Go-
vernment, trebled their capital, and had sent out a large num-
ber of emigrants (nearly 2,000) of the first class, under the
express sanction of the Commissioners of Emigration.—( Hear,
bear.) The consequence of the departure from the agreement
had produced great misery and danger to the natives and to the
colony. If Lord Stanley had got over that spirit of pugnacity
which had damaged every department of the public service
with which he had been connected—if he had been contented
with resisting only wherever his dislikes were fixed—without
desiring to crush—he might have spared himself from wit-
nessing the distress and ruin, which must add to his official
difficulties. If Lord Stanley had answered the first letter of the
New Zealand Company in a conciliatory spirit these evil con-
sequences might have been prevented. The latter agreement
of the Government was incompatible with the former. They
made a grant of land which it was not in their power
to grant to the New Zealand Company, and
it was not intimated to the Company that Lord
Stanley had made a grant of land which it was not in his
po;ver to give. They entered into an agreement in May,
1843, by which it was stipulated that the Government should
give them a conditional title to all the land which would he
selected by their agents. The effect of that grant was to he
their getting immediate possession, and a prima facie title for
those lands, leaving it to the natives to oust them afterwards,
if they could. That agreement was accepted, and the company
were contented; but they did not receive immediate possession.
And in Feb, 1844, they were made acqainted with a secret
correspondence which seemed not merely to deprive them
of all possession, but to render the agreement worth-
less—because it was of importance to the execution of
that agreement that the agents of the Government
should select the lands which were to be granted, and to
which effect Captain Fitzroy received instructions, which
he did not obey. The company then moved for a committee
and they got a distinct answer that Lord Stanley meant
that the grant should be an unconditional grant of
land. They had the committee, and five gentlemen were
taken from his side of the House, and ten from the
other side. The under-secretary objected to the names on his
own side, and struck out three of them, and substituted for
those three the names of gentlemen of whom it was but just to
say, that they had alwa; s vote.l steadily with him.—(Laueh-
ter.) Nevertheless, to such a Committee Lord Stanley and
the Company agreed to leave the question. Considering the
composition of the Committee he thought that the House
would be very much inclined to pay respect to their opinion on
any question of public interest, and particularly en any matter
of controversy with respect to private right that might be referred
to their decision. In the first officer of the Committee the Go-
vernment were angry with them (the Opposition) because they
did not agree with the decision of that Committee. It was a
difficult thing fur a man to know his position in such a case.
He thought a man might feel a great deal of difficulty ; but in
any circumstances in which a man had the sole power of de-
cid:ng en a matter of personal controversy, he thought that no
man could be too ready to give his candid opinion ; and he was
of opinion that a man ought to be bound by his decision. Lord
Stanley agreed to refer the matter to a Committee, and when
the decision of the Committee was given against him he refused
to be bound by the decision of those whom he himself appointed.
The Company were to have a conditional grant, as well as im-
mediate possession, which was not given. What, then,
was to he done with the grant ? Were they not
right in saying that Captain Fitzroy had been misled
by Lord Stanley, when, since the time of that agree-
ment, there was not one instance of an attempt to execute it,
when it ought to be carried into effect at least in a week? A
wretched quibble was made that there would be a formal de
mand made upon the agents. Was it necessary, when a man
made a promise, that a formal demand should be made ? Cap-
tain Fitzroy had induced fresh payments to be made to the na-
tives, which was by no means a part of the bargain.—( Hear.)
Hie refused to confirm the commissions of award, which was
perfectly wrong. For thirteen months that agreement had
remained without any attempt to carry it into effect. The
agreement was a delusion, a snare, and an injury to the New
Zealand Company. The agreement had been entered into
without any intention whatever to carry it into effect. Thus
Lord Stanley had repudiated the agreement of a former Mi-
nister and broken his own. He sacrificed 300,0001. of the
capital of the New Zealand Company, and they still re-
mained without a single acre of land. By that means Lord
Stanley exhausted their capital and put an end to its operation.
That was their cruel treatment to a Company against whom
the Government never brought a charge. What was that,
however, to the misery and ruin which occurred to the
unhappy emigrants who were kept from access to the lands
which they purchased at a high price in England. Lord Stan-
ley might at least have written to the Governor to take some
little care that those people should be allowed access to their
lands. They were, however, denied access to their lands ;
and they few fresh tribes coming and establishing themselves
in places which they had never visited before. The emigrants
had their houses pulled down, and their lives put in danger ;
and when they applied for re cress the answer was that no re-
dress should be given. There was one systematic refusal of
redress to those people who were suffering under those griev-
ances. The Government merle a proclamation, that if any
savage set up a claim the emigrants should be turned out. In
consequence of these and other transactions on the part of the
Government, all the public works had been stopped, and a
still greater evil was, that an immense mass of labourers were
thrown out of employment. The last news was that Captain
Fitzroy, by his own financial mismanagement, had determined
that nothing should be done towards cheapening the Government
of New Zealand. He had gone to several places refusing
to establish the the title to land, and promised to bring the
inhabitants to Auckland, where he w suld rectify the agree-
ment which they were not satisfied with. He then tried to
force them. It was on these accounts that hardly a ship came
back to this country without some poor labourer who went
out for work to New Zealand, and, being disappointed, came
back to a union workhouse in this country. At the same time
the Government did nothing for the natives—they totally dis-
regarded their real interests. Fur five months, without the in-
terference of any British law whatever, had 1,500 Europeans
been living in intercourse with the natives, and not the slightest
casualty or dispute had ever occurred between them.—( Hear.)
In fact, they had been living upon such good terms
with each other, the settlers and the natives, that several
European families had two and three of the natives in their
employment, aid others had many more.—( Hear, hear. )
But here the Government stepped in with its laws and its in-
terference, causing a disunion and a fight amongst those who
had heretofore lived upon terms of friendship—all about a
trumpery matter of land, and the consequences would be
such, that they would not be effaced without the most dis-
astrous consequences.—(Hear, hear.) A feud of blood had
been caused that never could be eradicated from the mind of
the white man, for he felt that a wrong had been done him,
and that the black man had been favoured in preference to him,
and the result would be, that neither would be satisfied until he
had achieved the extermination of the other.—( Hear, hear. )
Oh, but then he might be met by Hon. Gentlemen opposite
telling him that this had all been the fault of the New Zea-
land Company themselves, and all owing to their own precipita-
tion ; if so, then let him ask how would that excuse apply to
similar encounters that had taken place in parts of the colony
-where the New Zealand Company had never set a foot?—
(Hear, hear.) Now, just let him call the attention of the
House to what had occurred, not very long ago, in the colony.
At the time he was alluding to, a New Zealand chief, who dis-
played a great deal of intelligence in all matters that he con-
ceived told against our settlers—(Laughter)—came down
amongst some of those settlers, and robbed them of their pro-
perty; and destroyed their houses, and committed all manner of
depredations, whereupon Captain Fitzroy went with a military
fume at hie back, to this chief, who made a sort of apology for
what he had done, which Captain Fitzroy said was a most am-
ple apology—(A laugh)—and thereupon he proceeded to ano-
ther district, and encountered another party of natives, whom
he punished for this depredation by fining them ten muskets—
(laughter)—and then, in order to appease the chief, whom he
feared he had offended, he absolutely abolished the only two
custom. houses existing in the colony.--'Laughter.) The c
'silence of all this lenient treatment to this chief was, that other
•chiefs and natives, emboldened by Captain Fitzroy's treatment
of the first one, made a descent upon another settler, a Mr.
eht
s anti robbed him of valuable property to a very large
amount, and yet they were not punished by Captain Fitzroy.—
Hear, hear.) Notwithstanding all this, and that despatches
had been received at the Colonial-office, stating those facts,
yet Lord Stanley sent out orders to New Zealand subsequently, ordering that the militia that had been raised in that country
should be disbanded, because indeed the natives had been reported to him to have been a little out of
.temper.—(Hear hear, and a laugh.) But even this did not
satisfy this extraordinary chief, for he very soon after came
down again amongst the English settlers, and in the presence
•of thirty soldiers cutr down the British flog-staff.—( Hear.)
This last act of eLssion. at length aroused Captain Fitzroy,
'and he became at in earnest, and sent for soldiers to
Sydney,- and what wout.l3 ult be ? Why, a war be- •
tween the natives and the se lre- as satisfaction fir this out-
rage, all of which might havehablreteeenrs'avi,ided by Captain Fitzroy
having had the firmness to
Hepaurt the chief and some of his
followers in gaol for a week—(
then in order to show that he was s;.illeianr. ) Captain Fitzroy,
those
re-
ward's of 501. for the apprehension of the chaire7sesof
who had committed those robberies, and 101. for thee tribese
hension of the first chief, whom he (Mr. lr vuilerre3
had mentioned, in reply to which that chief said
he conceived that such conduct towards him on the
part of Captain Fitzroy, was treating him like a pig.....pio
( Laughter)—and he followed that up by offering a reward of
1,000 acres of land to any person who would bring him Capt.
Fitzroy's head.—( Great laughter.) This part of the subject
might be laughable, but he begged to tell the House he very
much feared the result would be a conflict, at which the Go-
vernment would shudder, for upon them lay the responsibility.
—(Hear, hear.) The Government would also have to bear
the responsibility of results consequent upon their not havinc,
established in that colony those tree institutions which were
the birthright.' of every Englishman, but instead of those, the
Government had sent out to govern this colony the enlightened
despotism of Captain Fitzroy, and his assistants.—( Hear,
hear.) And yet, notwithstanding all this, the Government bad
paid functiosaries in every department, though it was generally
upposed that the colony would have been able to defray