Memorial to the Duke of Newcastle.

To His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., Her Majesty's Principal Secretary for the Colonies.

Your memorialists regard with the utmost alarm the passage through the Legislature of New Zealand of a Bill confiscating all the lands of rebellious natives, and authorizing the Government to take possession of the lands of loyal natives upon the payment of compensation. As a part of the same scheme, a Bill has been passed empowering the Colonial Government to raise a loan of three millions sterling, to be repaid by the sale of the confiscated territory.

Your memorialists believe that, for its sweeping and indiscriminate character, this measure stands without a parallel in the history of modern legislation; that if it be enforced it will inflict an indelible blot upon the British name; and that, in the language of an honourable gentleman who opposed it, "its inevitable effect will be to drive the natives of the north island into a state of hopeless despair and rebellion."

It is but too obvious from this explanatory statement, as well as from the terms of the Bill itself, that nothing short of the absolute confiscation of all the lands owned by the rebel tribes is contem- page 18 plated by the New-Zealand Government, and that this policy has received the deliberate sanction of the General Assembly.

Your memorialists would remark that no kind of grace is offered to natives who may be willing at once to lay down their arms; that there is no attempt to define the various degrees of guilt, and to apportion the punishment equitably; and that there is a total absence of that clemency which ought ever to be exhibited by a civilized nation in its dealings with a subject race.

There is grave reason to fear that the Confiscation Bill will have an effect the very opposite of that which its supporters anticipate. The many thousands of natives whom it will render homeless wanderers, will scarcely allow themselves to be driven forth without an effort to avert their doom; and against the estimated pro—ceeds of the sale of confiscated territory must be set the probable cost of another war, into which it is more than likely many now loyal tribes will be drawn, from a natural feeling of sympathy with their outcast brethren. In expressing their fear that a policy of confiscation will lead to the indefinite prolongation of hostilities, and the ultimate extermination of the whole of the Maori race inhabiting the north island, your memorialists do but echo the opinion of men of high position in both Houses of the New-Zealand Assembly.

Your memorialists protest against that portion of the Bill which empowers the Government to take the lands of loyal natives (even upon the principle of compensation) as being contrary to the express terms of the treaty of Waitangi, whereby "the Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and tribes of New Zealand, and to the respective families and individuals thereof, the full, exclusive, and undisturbed possession of their lands and estates, forests, fisheries, and properties, which they may collectively or individually possess, so long as it is their wish and desire to retain the same in their possession." Loyal natives having been guilty of no offence against the law, any attempt to forcibly deprive them of their lands is manifestly a violation of the treaty, and an act of usurpation.

Your memorialists would remark, as an additional reason why lenity should be shown to the natives, that while they have been guilty of acts of war, which none of their friends desire to justify or palliate, there has been much in the conduct of the colonists and in the acts of the Colonial Government towards them, especially in connection with the late unfortunate land war in Taranaki, to excite the alarm and arouse the passions of a suspicious and semi—civilized people. The natives, moreover, are entirely unrepresented in the New-Zealand Legislature; and although the treaty of Waitangi nominally invested them with all the rights of British subjects they have been practically treated as a separate and an alien race.

In conclusion, your memorialists humbly pray your Grace to page 19 advise Her Majesty to withhold the royal assent from the Bill confiscating the native lands in the disturbed districts of New Zealand.