The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-19 00:00:00

infu. eil but little to its; pint oi
which should have pie-eminently di-tingui•hed
I3usby's plan was then a conteoerai ion of native clii44, Sufi,
a system was absurd, because the English would hariaiiritovait,--
retained their Governor under the guise of a native ruts..., Kat;
Zealand never wits an indeoeneeney. The Pritish CeNrl4ll,lll7,
invariably asserted its supremacy 'here. The CompanylM (1--NAI.-f
but exercised the right to vi loch all Eoglisho en were eroi,.ieo
of colonising an uoinhabited and dependant S ate. lhe
Church 11iissionary society had beer. the first to oppose this in-
disputoble right. °nosed as it had alw s h en to colonisation
general v. And why ? Bacause they hail become la. ge
sessors of land, and, as interested porn, a, they ought not to
have interfered with a Company which had ate et: ti e first to in-
trodoce British sovereignty into the island.. Siarti ioteife-rnce
was unvi ise aod rofortunate. !f such was tee sta t)r
the Government were not to be thanked for inter:e:ieg
they had been driven to it, it. was their own its-
terest, and, after resisting and refusing all demands, they
had been at length compelled to interpose. When the Bight
lion. Baronet had said that a State larger than Great Britain,
yet containing rot more than 100,000 persons, was so fitly
occupied as rot to have any waste lands, he could surely not be
serious. The colony comprised an extent of 7,-4,0011,000 of
acres, of which the New Zealand Company originally possessed
themselves of 20,000,000 aores. That right they had, how-
ever. waived, when the Government asserted the sovereignty
of the island, and established its rule there. It therefore must
be admitted by the Hight Hon. Gentleman the Under- a'eere-
tary of State, that the waste lands were either native right, or
vested in the Crown.
Mr. HOPE—No no.
Mr. HAWES—Oh ! If the lion. Member denied that the
title was vested in the Crown, the whole conduct of the Go-
vernment was manifestly unjustifiable. Some years agb, when
supporting a measure which comprehended the whole gist of
the propo-itions row advanced, he ( Mr. (lanes) totally diffar-
ing in politics, as he ever had, from the Hon. Member, divided
in a minority, and he found on reference to the Par'ienacritary
Votes on that occasion the names of H. Baring. G. W. Hope,
and W. E. Gladstone—the question which those Members, in
unison with him, supported, being the self-same HS that now
propounded by his Friend the Hon. Member for Liskeard. In
1842 a similar vote was given by the Han. Member, but in
1845 he chose to forget that conduct, and showed a
vacillation of which he could not have believed him capabla.
That was the information he bad received, and which he had
endeavoured to obtain from authentic sources. To this mo-
ment the affairs of the Company hail been left divided and in
crinfasion, and they had not received one sing'e farthing under
the agreement up to the present hour. Ile was induced to
ask, what authority had interpi sed the difficulty which had lid
to the present state of affairs in that colony? If the object of
the Government was a single one, why had it not put things
in order? He was persuaded that the whole of the bad ma-
nagement of New Zealand was, more or less, to be ascr.bed to
the home Government. It followed from the system of colo-
nial legislation. They had too much to attend to, and they
evinced a coldness to listen with interest to the concerns of
parties in the colonies. That was a great fault, but oothing
else could be expected from the present system of colonial ma-
nagement. The home Government were hope. fectly ac-
quainted with colonial usages and wants, and it was impossible
that any other result could happen than what had already oc-
curred in New Zealand. He was one of those who some time
ago associated with other gentlemen, generally to promote co-
lonisation, and they intended to promote a superintendence over
the affairs of the colony, considering that that was a
point to which their attention could he directed
with advantage.—(Hear, hear.) They made application to the
Government of the day for the legislative sanction to form
them-elves into an independent as,ociation, but were refused
because they were not a joint-stock company. The present
New Zealand Company were actually forced to become specu-
lators in the land, and it was the Government who comp. l'ed
them to it. They bad proposed to the Government to become
an incorporated company, with large and liberal views, similar to
those which had been founded in America years ago, and
which had flourished ever since. The colony of New Zealand
would never submit for a moment to the injustice of the Go-
ment at home if they possessed power to detend and assert
their rights. As an instance of how colonies flourished when
they were placed beyond the immediate reach and control of
the home Government was the possessions in the Fast
The East hidia Con.pany was a chartered association under an
Act of Parliament, and the colony over which they had juris-
diction was notorious for having enjoyed a long and almost
uninterrupted course of prosperity. He did not know a single
instance of a colony in which the Government had interfered
which was not brought into distress and danger and ultimately
to ruin. What was the cause of the present distress in New
Zealand? Similar causes led to similar results, and
the constant interference on the part of the Govern-
talent was the primary cause. It was impossible
properly to govern people at so great a distance, of whose
wants and necessities nothing or but little was known. la was
proposed to send out a new Governor to New Zealand, unfet-
tered by instructions from home. He was glad to hear it, for
instructions to New Zealand Governrrs had led to a vast deal
of laborious trifling. lie was not, however, pleased with a
Governor being placed under the control of the Colonial-office,
and he was sure the country would never be satisfied with such
an appointment. He believed that New Zealand presented an
opportunity for establishing a municipal institution, and thus
laying the basis of a constitutional government, which, when left
to itself, would realize a greater amount of property than could be
looked forward to front any other source. The best had rot yet
been done—the proper course bad not yet been taken. If the posi-
tion of these extensive islands in the southern seas was looked
at, the establishment of an independent Government there
would lay the foundation of a powerful empire. Ile trusted
that something more than a mere vote being come to on the
resolutions which had been proposed would be realised. He
considered that the ceuntry was now in a better position to dis-
cuss the great question of Colonial Government than it had
everbefore been. Theclaims of New Zealand for an independent
Government would gradually fall with more strength upon the
Legislature, until eventually they would be forced to adopt one
of two courses, either an independent Governor must be ap-
pointed, or a system of representation similar to the British
House of Commons must be constituted.—( Hear.) A spirit
was springing up in different colonies, which would lead them
to demand a greater share of independent Government than
they now possessed; and he should be happy to see the time
arrive, when the emancipation of these colonies from home in-
terference was accomplished. It had been suggested that from
time to time all the statistics and other information connected
with the colonies should be obtained, so that a digested report
might be had of all the circumstances going on in these places.
He was afraid, however, that the Colonial-office already had
more business to attend to than it could well perform, and was
satisfied that the sooner it was relieved of some of it, the better
would it be for the interest and welfare of those colonies.
Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS said he had read all the volumi-
neus papers which had been presented to the House on the
affairs of New Zealand, and he therefore rose to address the
House with a due sense of the importance of the subject before
it. He should not, however, occupy their time in re'errir.g to
documents to bear out his views, as they had bees quoted at
great length by the Under Secretary for the Home Depart-
ment (Mr. Hope), by the Hon. Member for Liskeard (Mr.
C. Huller), and by other Hon. Members. The subject of
New Zealand had occupied his attention for many years, and he
spoke with peculiar interest respecting it, as he had the
honour to command the troops serving in that colony.
No Member of that House, or any subject of the realm, could
attach higher importance to a properly managed system of
emigration than he did. It was because he was this opinion,
and because he had the interests of that colony, which was a
fruitful one, at heart, that he deprecated and condemned that
rash, that unauthorised, that ill-conducted lawless scheme of
colonisation which had been attempted in that colony by the
New Zealand Company, and the failure of which had been the
cause of all that had happened, and all that might happen, of
a serious nature, in that colony. In support of this opinion he
quoted a passage in the report of the Committee last year on
New Zealand affairs, which stated that the Company were
guilty of impropriety and irregularity in sending nut persona
to the colony in the way they had done. For the words
" impropriety " and " irregularity" he would substitute " rash"
and " lawless." It was the duty of Lord Gltinelg to have
stepped, and cf Lord Normanby to have adopted strong- mea-
sures to have prevented any colonisation without the Queen's
authority; and had he (Sir H. Douglas) been there he would
have sent those who attempted to carry out so objectionable a
system to New South Wales.—(A laugh.)
Lord J. RUSSELL—That would have been against the law.
Sir H. DOUGLAS—He repeated that he would have sent
them there until colonisation could be adopted with the
Queen's consent, and until the course they proposed to
adopt was not illegal. He then referred to letters sent
by Lord John Russell and the Marquis of Normanby to
Captain Hobson, recognising the strong claims of the natives,
who had made some progress in the arts of Government, and
recommending measures for the proper management of the af-
fairs of the colony. The Company caused the Government
to /adopt measures for its own protection and for that of the
colonists. The Company proceeded in their undertaking with-
out the authority of the Government, and now called
upon them to break the guarantee which they (the
Government) gave to the inhabitants of New Zealand.
By what right had Sierra Leone been held but by the same
circumstances ? and it was a new principle of colonial law re-
specting native rights which had been promulgated by the Hon.
Member opposite ; a law not to be found in Vaughan or Black-
stone's Commentaries; he denied its authenticity, he suspected
its origin. It had been introduced from the land where the
black man was a slave, and the red mars hunted and tracked like
the wild beast of the forest, end he knew how it had travelled
from those parts. It was carrying out a principle adopted there;
but the tenure of Canada was the reverse of that. He called
upon the New Zealand Company to surrender their charter -
and having thought much on the subject, and studied it much',
he came to the conclusion that no good result in the way of
colonisation wculd be effected, until the Queen's anthority was
made paramount, with a colonial representation.—( Cheers. )
Lord HOWICK said that he concurred so much in the re-
commendation of the Hon. and Gallant Member, as to the ne-
cessity of giving to the colony the benefits of self-government,
that he would not follow the Hon. and Gallant Member
through the earlier parts of his speech. But he must say, that
he had heard with great pleasure the speech of the Hon. Gen-
tleman the Member for Leominster (Mr. Barkley), who had
addressed the House in terms and in a temper which left but
one impression that the House would be greatly benefited by
that Hon. Gentleman taking, in future, an active part sn
their discussions.—(Cheers.) He agreed with that Hon.
Member in thinking that it was not the case of the New Zea-
land Company the House had to consider, but the interest of
the colonies of this country, separately and in the aggregate,
He thought that the conduct of the Government towards New
Zealand was faulty throughout, and ought to be retraced.--
(Cheers.) The Hon. Gentleman the Under-Secretary for
the Colonies had stated that the Noble Lord now at the head
of the Colonial Department was unjustly accused for the faults
of his predecessors. Now he (Lord Howick) denied
that statement. lie was perfectly prepared to show
that the policy of preceding Governments was such
that the Noble Lord's policy was entirely adverse to it._( Hear,
hear.) He did not think that any colonial Government could
be entirely free from error, but that which appeared to him to
be the most free from error was the policy of his Noble Friend,
hist e
Noble
f
Friendor London
great p ( L r
proofs
J.
slt ofahls
junsset Russell,) . The
e) a
Statesmanlikeppo
int
mvdispatcheseenwtsooff
hoi s
Government. Thef
in-
efficient officers.—(Cheers. ) He therefore did not. blame Lord
Stanley for anything more than the appointment of such A gen-
tleman as Calit•in Fitzroy. and that was fault enough.—
(Cheers and laughter ) He would net at hat time of the ri;eht
take up the time of the, House ba det iiling the disastrous con-
sequences of Captain Fitzroy's Government. 'these were suffi-
ciently exposed in the documents read by his Hun. Friend the
Member for Lambeth. He would not now go into a discussion
of thequestion whether the Company or the Gover. ment were
mos to blame. But he thought that the country was indebted
to the Company for having secured those magnificent islands o
the British Crown.--( Hear, }tear.) He was bound also tie say.
that he thought their Man of colonisation showed great
wisdom in its design, and great perseverance, prudence, and
moderation in the mode of carrying it out —( Cheers.) He
was surprised to hear the Hon. and Gallant (Sir Gentleman
H. Douglas) say that the disasters of New Zealand were to be
attributed to the rashness and lavishness of the Company,
whilst the same Gallant Officer in the same breath recom-
mended that the whole of the Company should be of once
transported to New South Wales.—(Ghee!s and laughter.)
The facts were that the management of she Company was
en-
tirely successful until the o
in
fficers oectehry way
the Government mutts eof shita
system to thwart andannoy e
danditteocureretruitheears,ithuea,tiro.n) olnf thtehesentotlretrhaeurnecopmarst
rfwerase ionwainnygrteoptechet,manisti.
management of the Government. There was a
foeC°ttma bPlan and
yl a cdei d tnhoetr emti et
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