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Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand

Chapter II

page 7

Chapter II.

The Colonial Gazette and New Zealand Journal—Mr. George Rennie, Jun.—Sketch of His Life—Sir Richard Rennie—The Original Scheme—Criticism upon it—The Directors' Views—Their Relations to the Government.

At this time there were published in London two newspapers devoted to the consideration of colonial interests—the Colonial Gazette and the New Zealand Journal. Both were exceedingly able. The Colonial Gazette, which was issued weekly, was published at the office of the Spectator, a journal which yet flourishes after an existence of seventy years. To the pages of the Spectator Mr. E. G. Wakefield was a constant contributor on matters of reform, national policy, and his special theories, and it was he who saw the great advantages of partitioning off these and kindred subjects from the parent paper. The first number of the Colonial Gazette accordingly appeared in December, 1838. The New Zealand Journal, which was published fortnightly, made its first appearance in February, 1840, and, as the name implies, was specially devoted to New Zealand interests. For three years it was edited by Mr. Henry Samuel Chapman, a barrister of the Middle Temple, who was afterwards appointed a judge of the Supreme Court in the colony, and who died at Dunedin in December, 1881.

In the columns of the Colonial Gazette of the 17th of August, 1842, appeared an important correspondence between the Directors of the New Zealand Company and a gentleman named George Rennie, who proposed the foundation of a further settlement in New Zealand on an entirely new and improved method. He speedily had the satisfaction of finding his suggestions widely if not always favourably discussed. As Mr. Rennie was undoubtedly the originator of that which afterwards became known as the New Edinburgh or Otago scheme, an account of him must prove interesting. He was the son of the well-known agriculturist of the same name, and was born at Phantassie, East Lothian, in 1801. The eminent engineers, John and Sir John Rennie, were respectively his uncle and cousin. Like his father he became a page 8skilful agriculturist, but his special tastes lay in the domain of art. At an early age he proceeded to Rome and there devoted himself to the study of sculpture. A composition of his—"The Greek Archer"—long adorned the Athenæum Club in London. Returning to London he devoted himself to raising the standard and study of art. Through his suggestion to Mr. W. Ewart, M.P., a Parliamentary Committee was in 1836 appointed to inquire into the state of the National Gallery, Royal Institution and other kindred homes of art. Aided by his friend Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., he obtained for the public free admission to various places of national interest, such as St. Paul's, the British Museum, and the National Gallery. A reformer in politics, he was one of those who founded the now celebrated Reform Club. His suggestions relative to several of the London Parks were also valuable. Also one regarding the building of ships in water-tight compartments, which he made to Sir William Symonds, surveyor of the navy. This Sir William was father of the late Captain John Jermyn Symonds of Onehunga, to whom further reference will be made when treating of the purchase of the Otago block. In 1841 he was returned to Parliament as Whig member for Ipswich. He, however, lost his seat in the ensuing year when, as now indicated, he appeared in the new rôle of colonizer and leader of a proposed colonizing expedition. Notwithstanding his toilsome efforts he was not destined to enter or even to view the promised land, though curiously enough his name appears in a Government Gazette of September, 1844, as a magistrate of this territory. In 1847 he was appointed Governor of the Falkland Islands, with a salary of £800 a year. These islands, which are situated off the south-east coast of South America, were taken by the British in 1833 as a protection to the southern whale fishery. Mr. Rennie died at London in 1860 after an illness of four years' duration, which terminated in paralysis.

His son, Sir Richard Rennie, held until three years ago the appointment of Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements. Quite recently he was despatched by the Foreign Office to Constantinople to try some cases pending in the Supreme Consular Court. Last year, at the earnest suggestion of the author, he presented to the citizens of Dunedin a portrait of his father painted by Rochard, a French artist of repute. This now hangs in the City Council Chambers by the side of that of the late Sir William Chambers. Such is a short sketch of this able page 9and versatile man, whose labours in connection with this settlement have hitherto been buried in oblivion.

The special features of his scheme must now be noted. It is not at all unlikely that they were the joint production of himself and Wakefield, who also had political and other associations in the county of Suffolk Hitherto the method adopted by the Company in planting its earliest settlements had been immature, and productive of uncertainty, inconvenience, and even serious discomfort to most of those who had emigrated under its auspices. Whatever the merits of the Wakefield theory of colonization, it is certain that the first attempts to put them in practice were crude and ill-considered. The first settlers, for instance, left their native shores with light hearts and blind faith, but with no knowledge of their final location. This information was not gained until the voyagers arrived at a rendezvous, where they received instructions directing their further movements. Whilst this plan had about it an air of romance and holiday-making, it was found to lack comfort and preparation. And so it happened that people dwelt for months under tents and in the fern awaiting the survey of the lands they were to occupy. Nor was there any special provision of a religious or educational character. Now in his letter to the Directors, which was dated London, 28th July, 1842, Mr. Rennie proposed to cure these and other defects which had previously been such an impediment to progress. Though his plan was afterwards considerably modified, a sketch of its original form must be presented to the reader, especially as it formed so marked a departure from that in vogue.

An advantageous site having been selected, a preliminary expedition of surveyors, engineers, mechanics and labourers was to be sent out. These were to lay out the town, and connect it with a suitable wharf. A church and schoolhouse were not to be forgotten. Land was to be cleared for an extensive suburban farm, cropped, and stocked with a good breed of cattle. This done, the first body of colonists, consisting of a due proportion of capitalists and labourers, was to be despatched to the new home. Thus they would be spared needless hardship, and placed without delay upon their lands, which could be readily stocked and cropped by purchase from the Company's farm. For this Utopia Mr. Rennie consideres 100,600 acres requisite, divided into 1000 suburban sections of twenty acres each, and 1000 rural sections of eighty acres each. Of the remaining 600 acres for the town, 200 page 10were appropriated to streets, roads, wharves, reserves, &c., and 400 divided into 1600 quarter acres, of which 600 were reserved for sale at an advanced price of £25. The price of an allotment—one town, one suburban, and one rural section—was set down at £125. The sum of £140,000 was thus derived from the complete sale, of which the Company would retain £40,000 for its own expenses and commission, and £100,000 be charged to emigration and public works, such as roads, bridges, &c.

The letter was signed by Mr. Rennie "on behalf of a body of persons who contemplate the formation, under the auspices of the Company, and on the plan herein sketched out, of a settlement in New Zealand, to be situated on the eastern coast of the Middle Island."1 It evoked a great deal of criticism—chiefly adverse. It was contended that there was no necessity whatever for a new settlement, as the earlier ones had but recently been formed, and were by no means populated. But a more weighty, if selfish, objection was raised on the score of the proposed reduction in the price of the land. Many of the original purchasers contended that a manifest injustice would be done them if the lands in the new settlement, carefully selected and partly improved, were sold at a lower price than they, without such advantages, had been called upon to pay. One predicted result was the abandonment and ruin of the older settlements, and cessation in them of all speculation in property. The Colonial Gazette and New Zealand, Journal endorsed these views, and a somewhat bitter controversy ensued, in which Mr. Rennie asserted that neither he nor his friends would think of emigrating unless some such provisions were made as he had indicated.

But, after all, it was with the Directors of the New Zealand Company that the main business of the correspondence lay. These gentlemen, after a fortnight's deliberation, replied on the 12th of August. They accorded a general approval to the scheme, but withheld an expression of opinion upon its details until the enterprise should be more matured—a matter of vital moment—and until the approbation and assistance of the Government should be secured by Mr. Rennie's own influence and effort. This latter proposition evinced much adroitness on the part of the Directors, and referred to a previous difficulty which they had encountered when selecting a site for Nelson. On that occasion Captain Hobson had strongly page 11objected to the wide dispersal of new settlements, and insisted that they should be near his capital, whence they could be more easily governed. Mr. Rennie's suggested site on the eastern coast of the Middle Island involved the reappearance of this old difficulty, and thus it was that the Directors generously deputed to him the task of grappling with it. Their own relations with the Government were of the most strained and precarious kind, and they were thus fully conscious that fresh importunity would not only be viewed as aggressive, but might further jeopardise the favourable settlement of other questions then pending.

Towards a due understanding of much of the sequel a moderately full reference must be made to these difficulties. The New Zealand Company had not been able to make good or legalise its claims to the lands, amounting to some millions of acres, which it professed to have purchased from the natives. So far, in other words, it had failed to procure the Crown title. The Government contended that the Company in the first instance had no right, as subject to British rule, to make such a purchase direct from the natives, and that this was further invalid, inasmuch as an insufficient consideration had been given, and that the bargain had not been made with all the owners of the soil, many tenth and twentieth tribal cousins yet remaining unpaid. Hence the native title had not been extinguished. On behalf of the Company it was urged that full explanation and a fair value had been given to all those who, after most careful inquiry, appeared to be the legitimate owners. It was shown how great was the injustice and hardship done to those who emigrating in good faith under the Company's auspices, found themselves unable to obtain a title to land upon which it appeared they were held as no better than intruders. Eventually the Government consented that a grant of land should be made to the Company, consisting of one acre for every five shillings proved to have been expended by it on the purchase of land, surveys, roadmaking, the conveyance of emigrants, and similar outlays. An accountant, Mr. Pennington, was accordingly appointed to make the necessary calculations and awards, with the result that the Company became entitled to nearly a million acres. But this was conditional on the validity of the original purchase, and the consequent extinction of the native title being proved. To investigate such claims effectually a special commissioner, Mr. Spain, was sent out by the Government to Wellington, the head-page 12quarters of the Company. His investigation, naturally a protracted one, commenced in 1842. At this time, moreover, a correspondence on certain side issues was proceeding between the Colonial Office and the Court of Directors in a manner as studiously polite as it was bitterly acrimonious. Another excellent reason why anything diplomatic should be conducted by Mr. Rennie himself, was that the Colonial Office was no longer filled by Lord John Russell, who had proved himself friendly enough towards the Company, but by a formidable opponent, Lord Stanley, and by two yet more formidable opponents, his permanent under-secretaries, Messrs. James Stephen and Gr. W. Hope. Such was the unpropitious outlook when Mr. Rennie addressed himself to the imposed task.

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1 Vide Colonial Gazette, No. 195, and New Zealand Journal, No. 68.