New Zealand.

A careful study of the colonial history of the British Empire would suggest many grave and strange reflections. For a period of more than three centuries we have been a colonizing nation; yet, until Sir William Molesworth and various political writers who may be said to have been connected with the party in politics and literature that looked up to that gentleman as its leader, forced the question upon public attention, the most profound ignorance prevailed amongst our statesmen in reference to colonization upon systematic principles. It was not alone the Tudors and Stuarts who neglected this great question, but even the present family, until a recent period, are liable to the same charge; and the obstinate pertinacy of the third George, in oppressing the finest colonial dependency ever possessed by any nation in modern times, lost it to Britain, and completely divided the Anglo-Saxon race, thereby materially weakening the influence it would have had as one great united power. Now, colonization has come to be considered one of the great social and political questions of the day; in those great trans-Pacific colonies which have recently been planted, our statesmen have treated their compatriots who have settled in them with frank and candid consideration; and Australia and New Zealand are upon the whole contented under British rule, and promise to become a colonial dominion scarcely second to that so foolishly lost by the ministers of George III. Indeed, the countries named are already far more important than America at the period she declared herself independent. The whole exports of that country at the period named were under a million, while those of one of our Australian colonies alone (Victoria) amount to fifteen millions. In 1790 Boston, the metropolitan city of the American colonies, numbered no more than 18,000 citizens, while Melbourne with its suburbs contains above 100,000 inhabitants, or considerably more than five times the number that the city of the pilgrim fathers could boast at the revolution. We shall very soon have many great and populous communities starting into existence over the whole of Australia and the adjoining islands of Tasmania and New Zealand. The Imperial authorities have now wisely allowed the colonists a fair share of self-government, and the indomitable perseverance and energy of the Anglo-Saxon are fast covering those great lauds with the appliances of civilized life. The South Seas, long silent and solitary, are now traversed by busy merchantmen, carrying away the treasures of those new but wealthy communities recently planted in Australia and California.

Many persons are disposed to think that the serious disturbances amongst the New Zealand natives will seriously impede the progress of the new settlements in the south. They have page 329 naturally excited considerable attention amongst those who take an interest in colonization; and they also deeply concern the large class of persons who have Mends or relations settled in Australia and New Zealand. These troubles have originated in the peculiar circumstances under which New Zealand was taken possession of and colonized by Britain, and are of a peculiar character, such as never has been experienced, and, in fact, could never occur in Australia or any of our other colonies.

Previous to any effort at colonization in New Zealand, at the period when there had been a threat to seize it for France, we acknowledged its independence under the chiefs of the tribes. The latter merely looked up to Britain as the parent of their little state, and its protector from all attempts upon its independence. The Committee of the House of Commons, which sat in 1836, perceived the difficulties of colonizing under such circumstances, and reported that the increase of national power and wealth promised by the acquisition of New Zealand would be a most inadequate compensation for the injury which must be reflected upon the kingdom by embarking in a measure essentially unjust, and but too certainly fraught with calamity to an inoffensive people, whose title to the soil and general title was not only indisputable, but had been solemnly recognized by the British nation. In 1839, however, our Government was induced to send Captain Hobson to the country in the two-fold character of Consul and Lieu-tenant-Governor. Many Englishmen had, by this time, purchased large tracts of land of the natives; such sales as had been made at an unduly low rate were declared void; and a commissioner was sent to the country to ascertain what amount of land was held in New Zealand by British subjects under grants from natives; how far such grants were lawfully acquired and ought to be respected, and what might have been the price or other valuable consideration given for them. It was ultimately to be decided by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, how far the claimants, or any of them, might be entitled to confirmatory grants, and on what terms such confirmations ought to be made.

Had the New Zealanders been a poor, ignorant race, like the aborigines of Australia, they would soon have been driven to the wall in the bustle of settling the new colonies there; but the Maories were found to be alive to their interests, and they have defended their supposed rights inch by inch with the British settlers. They have never even hesitated to resort to arms in cases where they deemed themselves aggrieved. The majority of the Maories have viewed with extreme dissatisfaction the increase of European population; and, although the authorities have strictly adhered to the principle of purchasing every foot of ground from the legitimate owners before allowing it to be used for the purposes of colonization, yet the native chiefs have felt keenly the alienation of so vast a portion of the lands of their ancestors. Many of the larger tracts of land had been disposed of before the Maories had begun to realize the fact that it would be occupied by a race superior to them in civilization. They were well disposed to the British so long as they were but a few scattered settlers dependent upon them; but they had never conceived it possible that the time would come when they would cease to be the dominant race. The growing jealousy of the European people has exhibited itself upon various occasions, the ostensible cause of quarrel being the right of the purchasers to the land which had been bought from time to time. The Land Commissioners, having found that many of the purchases made by private persons from Maories had been obtained by improper representations and for inadequate prices, declared them void; and great doubts existed for many years about the legality of all the titles to the land, not excepting that of the New Zealand Company which encouraged the native chiefs to maintain claims over territory that had been fairly sold.

Before we consider the present un-fortunate disturbances, it may be inter- page 330 esting to glance at previous outbreaks amongst the New Zealanders during our occupation of the country.

A lamentable tragedy occurred in June, 1843, at Cloudy Bay, in Cook's Straits. It arose out of a disputed claim to land on either side of Cook's Strait, and we fear the New Zealand Company were quite as much to blame as the natives in raising and exciting the collision. A party of surveyors were sent to Wairow to portion the land out into allotments. They erected a couple of rush huts on the ground. Two native chiefs, Ranparaha, and his son-in-law, Rangihaiata, burnt them down, in consequence of the dispute then pending. The natives, how-over, wished the matter in question refer-red to Mr. Spain, the Land Commissioner of the country, whose conscientious decision shad inspired them with' great confidence. Unfortunately, however, instead of waiting for the arrival of Mr. Commissioner Spain, Mr. Thompson, a civil servant of the Government, who held the post of Judge of the County Court and Prosecutor of the Aborigines, at the solicitation of Captain Wakefield, the chief agent of the New Zealand Company at Nelson, issued an order to apprehend the two chiefs. The British party, numbering forty-six persons, under the command of Captain Wakefield and Captain England, of H.M. 12th regiment, advanced upon the native encampment to enforce Mr. Thompson's order. The nature of the warrant having been explained to the natives by moans of an interpreter, the chiefs set their party at defiance, and Thompson, who was, it appeared, a very excitable man, ordered an advance. The chiefs were posted upon a highly advantageous position, near the source of the Wairow, and the British had to pass a rivulet in their front in a canoe, under a heavy fire. They were thrown into confusion, but were rallied by Captains England and Wakefield, and made a stand on the brow of a hill close by, where they were attacked by the chiefs and dispersed. Some escaped, and others put forth a flag of truce and surrendered to Ranparaha. The latter were butchered in cold blood. In this collision, there fell Captain Wakefield, the agent of the Company; Captain England, 12th regiment; Mr. Thompson, Local Judge; Mr. Howard, the Company's storekeeper; Mr. Packett, merchant; Mr. Cotterel, surveyor; and about twenty other British emigrants. There were eleven of the party who fortunately reached a small vessel and got out of reach of the natives. It has been urged, with what degree of truth we do not know, that the wife of Rangihaiata, and daughter of Ranparaha, had been killed by a random ball, and that this circumstance had irritated those two chiefs, and excited them to perpetrate the coldblooded massacre of those who had surrendered. There appears to be little doubt that the proceedings of the Company's servants were most injudicious, and it has been generally supposed that they expected to intimidate the natives into giving up the land without any appeal to Mr. Commissioner Spain, which they did not by any means desire.

In the year 1845 Honi, Heki, and various other chiefs began to be very troublesome to the settlers; and a severe collision took place on the 11th March, the natives attacking Kororarika, in the Bay of Islands, the oldest town in the colony, which they completely destroyed, driving out the military and a party of sailors and marines of H.M.S. Hazard after a brave resistance by the latter, who had the misfortune to have their commander severely wounded early in the action. This disaster was chiefly caused by the behaviour of the military officer in charge of the block house; who, on hearing guns fired, quitted that fortification, the key of the position of the Europeans, to proceed towards the spot from whence the sound proceeded; and thus this most important post fell into the hands of the natives. In this encounter there were thirteen Europeans killed and eighteen wounded; of the New Zealanders fifty were killed and a large number wounded. At a public meeting held in Auckland a resolution was passed by acclamation, giving Com- page 331 mander Robertson and the men of the Hazard the greatest credit for their gallantry in defending the place at such dreadful odds. Indeed, they did not abandon the town until the magazine in the stockade blew up and the ammunition failed, when the order was given for the troops and inhabitants to embark. The native chief who commanded on this occasion, Ehara, murdered nine English people who fell into his hands after the embarkation had been effected.

Much alarm was caused by the annihilation of our settlement at the Bay of Islands—not so much to be deplored for the sacrifice and the destruction of property as for the loss of prestige that had now for the first time really fallen on the British power; and great fears were entertained that the excited aborigines would everywhere rise and massacre our defenceless fellow-countrymen, scattered up and down from the North to the South Cape. It was deemed necessary to enrol the white inhabitants and drill them daily. It was known that Heki had fortified a new pah which he had six guns to defend, while in his rear was an interminable forest to fall back upon if driven from his stockade; the natives throughout the country were quietly waiting the result of the attack of the British on the prime mover in this insurrection, and ready, if Heki were successful, to rise everywhere and expel the colonists from the country. The stronghold of this predatory chief was attacked on the 1st July, and our troops were repulsed with heavy loss, one-third of them having fallen before the order to retreat was given. The British had no guns that could be of service; and, although they repeatedly pulled down portions of the outer stockade or pah, yet there was an inner stockade lined with men firing through loopholes which resisted all their efforts. Having obtained some guns and ammunition from the Hazard, our troops conveyed them to the top of a hill which commanded the pah, which was then abandoned by the natives in the night.

At this time Governor Fitzroy was recalled, and his successor tried to soothe the natives. Heki, however, continued for nearly two years to disturb the peace of the country—the affair at Wanganai being the last of these outbreaks. So expensive, however, had been the operations of Government for exterminating this spirit of rebellion against British authority and protecting the English residents, that it was calculated their safety cost the Empire at the rate of 15l. a-head per annum.

The present contest between the British Government and the national or Maori party is clearly to be traced to the jealousy of the latter of the power of the English settlers. The avowed objects of the confederation of native chiefs who acknowledge the Waikato prince, Te Whero Whero (or, as he is more generally named, Potatan) as king of the northern island of New Zealand, are the subversion of the authority of Queen Victoria, and the prohibition of further alienation of territory to the Crown for purposes of colonization. The present Taranki war has been caused by the native king movement, and the real issue is, whether Victoria or Potatan shall be the future sovereign of New Zealand. The settlement of New Plymouth, where the present outbreak has taken place, was founded in 1841, by the Plymouth Company of New Zealand, who had purchased a large tract of land, of the extent of 60,000 acres, from the only natives then resident in the district. These were Waikatos, who had conquered it from another tribe named Ngatiaws, the great majority of whom had been enslaved by the victorious tribe, who now ceded then right to the British. The title of the Company was investigated by Mr. Spain, the Commissioner for the purpose, who reported in favour of the Company's claim; but Governor Fitzroy, instigated by some of the missionaries of the district, refused to confirm their title, holding that the enslaved tribe of Ngatiaws had the real property in the soil. The European population at the settlement were consequently confined to a block of 3,500 acres, which they had purchased from the returned natives, and to a few other page 332 blocks which they were afterwards able to purchase. It was from one of those transactions that the present disturbance arose, and it occurred in this way :—In March, 1859, the governor of the colony, being at New Plymouth, offered to purchase land to extend the settlement, in a proclamation or notice to the effect that he thought the Maories would be wise to sell land they did not require, as it would enhance the value of what they retained; he would buy no man's land without his consent, and he would require an undisputed title. In reply to this notice a Waitara chief offered to sell a block of land. No person disputed his right to sell the property, with the exception of one native, named Paora, who said he would not allow the sale; the land was in his hands, and he would not give it up. This chief, however, did not deny that the right to sell the land belonged to the native who had offered it; but said he would not let him sell it, pretending that his position as a chief gave him power to veto the transaction, and forgetting the conquest of the country by the Waikatos, who had transfered their rights to the Crown in 1842; for, although Governor Fitzroy had refused to act upon this, and reversed the decision of the Land-Court, his act has been deemed an error by all his successors, and by those competent to give an opinion on the question. It is necessary here to mention that, in 1853, there arose a new contest about the land at New Plymouth amongst the Ngatiaws themselves, as to what portions of it belonged to the different chiefs of the tribe. In 1854 a chief, Rawri, was murdered, for offering to sell a portion of land to the government, by Katatore, a leader of the anti-selling land league. This feud has been at work since then, and so much afraid have the natives become of Katatore and of his successor William King that no attempt was made, from this occurrence in 1854 up to 1859, to dispose of land to the government; notwithstanding that there are in that fine province 3,000,000 acres which about 3,000 natives profess to own, only cultivating a few patches here and there along the coast. Backed by the so-named native king party and the native anti-selling land league and some of the missionaries, William King insolently defied the Crown, and, rather than allow another native chief to sell his land, took up arms, and, having been joined by all the disaffected natives, openly resisted the government. It has become a fight for British supremacy in this island; and, surely, our nation could never abandon 90,000 of our compatriots, who have successfully colonized and civilized it. At the period of the outbreak there were said to be 5,000 Maories in arms, and they have been able to set the British authority at defiance for several months. The first severe skirmish arose out of an expedition sent to bring in some British settlers who had clung too long to their homes, and had been cut off by the natives from communication with their friends at head-quarters. The brunt of the engagement was chiefly born by the civilians, and the military took very little share in the struggle. The fight took place at the mouth of the Waireka, amongst the flax gullies, where the Maories were posted at the bottom of the ridge on which their pah was erected, in order to oppose the passing of our men. The soldiers remained at long range, a small party only being detached to support the civilians. So vastly did the Maories outnumber their foe that they swarmed the Waireka gully, enclosing our militia and volunteers on the right and rear; and, the detached party of sixty-five having been recalled, the British were hemmed in on every side, except on the flank toward the beach. Their ammunition having become spent, their position was very critical; but here, as at Kororarika, the blue-jackets saved them from ruin. The men of the Niger came up at the critical moment, headed by Captain Cracroft, and rushed on the natives with cutlass, bayonet, and revolver, and, having carried the pah, extricated the troops, with whom they returned to head-quarters.

The military rendered but little page 333 assistance in this affair; and, without professing to throw any blame on the officers in command, we may say that it was unfortunate that the rebellious natives were not better enlightened upon this occasion as to the power and efficiency of our troops. The result was, that they treated us with scanty respect, and the disaffection still spread amongst the various tribes in the northern island. The officer in command at this period did not seem to possess any great amount of energy, and little was attempted by him beyond holding his position. The arrival of Major-General Pratt, who held the office of commander of the forces in Australia, with largo reinforcements, put it in the power of the British to assume offensive operations; and we are very happy to learn by the last mail that a complete victory had been obtained over a portion of the rebels on the 6th November, at a place named Mahoetahi, and that their leader Wetini had been slain. The engagement is reported to have been very severe, the Maories fighting, as they generally appear to do, with great courage and resolution, while the conduct of our officers and men was beyond praise. The natives have been accustomed hitherto to undervalue British prowess, and it is to be hoped that they have now received a salutary lesson, which will not fail of restoring our prestige. Our ultimate triumph cannot be doubted, but in the mean time many colonists are suffering severely in consequence of the risks and losses which this disturbance has brought upon them; and it is absolutely necessary that the outbreak should be quelled and peace restored as quickly as possible.

T. McC.