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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 63

Twenty-Fourth Report of the Court of Directors of the New Zealand Company

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Twenty-Fourth Report of the Court of Directors of the New Zealand Company.

During the interval which has elapsed since the Agreement was entered into with Her Majesty's Government, which received your assent on the 14th of May and your ratification on the 15th of October in the past year, questions have been frequently asked, to the effect of "What is the New Zealand Company now doing? What fruit is about to be reaped from the assistance and co-operation imparted to it by a friendly Government? How is it that the quietness of its proceedings under such circumstances affords a contrast so marked, to the activity which characterised its first unaided and independent efforts?"

In these questions and this contrast your Directors have found the truest and most sure eulogium of the measures which they formerly undertook on your behalf, and the best refutation of that condemnation which those measures have on various occasions, and page 2 in various quarters, from time to time called forth. But we have not found in them any sufficient grounds for continuing a course which, however necessary at the time, is no longer applicable to the altered circumstances in which the Company is now placed. When risk was to be encountered, and the acquisition of New Zealand was the stake, we braved the risk and won the prize. Now that the Colony is secured to the Crown, and that the Company, as the Agent of the Crown, is entrusted with the promotion of the welfare of the Southern Portion, a quieter and less prominent mode of procedure is at once both befitting and incumbent. As we then became the instruments of saving the Country from the grasp of a rival Foreign Power, so now it is our task to become the instruments of developing its resources, and laying it open to the tranquil operations of unassuming industry. In the one case energy was all-important; in the other, certainty.

It is with a view to such development that the powers have been conferred and the assistance imparted, that are comprised in the Agreement to which allusion has been already made. That Agreement may be described briefly as consisting of two parts, viz. 1st—An investiture of the rights of the Crown over all lands that are or may become Crown Property and available for Colonisation, in the Southern Province; and 2nd—An advance of a certain Loan, to be applied to Colonising purposes, till such time as sufficient funds shall be duly realised from the proceeds of those lands. In order to such realisation, it is evident that the extent page 3 and position of the available lands must be first ascertained. Upon the subject of this ascertainment we are at present in correspondence with the Noble Lord at the head of the Colonial Department; and when the correspondence is brought to a conclusion, its result will either be immediately made public, or if necessary we shall invite you to meet us again in this place for the purpose of taking such steps as may be then deemed expedient. Until such conclusion, it does not seem advisable, either to allude more directly to its tenor, or, notwithstanding your natural impatience at what must doubtless appear to be our comparative inactivity, to commit you to the adoption of specific measures. In the course of a very short time, however, we hope to be able to announce that defined tracts of country to a large extent have been positively placed at our disposal, and that the Sale of Land in the older Settlements of the Company has been actually recommenced.

In the meanwhile, without waiting for such recommencement, we have had the satisfaction of opening a way for the adjustment of those complicated and perplexing questions, which have so long tried the fortitude and retarded the efforts of the Colonists, more especially in the Settlement of Nelson. Although conscious that these trials are not justly ascribable to the acts of this Company, or to causes over which it was possible that the Company should exercise control, we have not hesitated, with the view of remedying the lamentable results of those causes, substantially to adopt the measures proposed for that end by the page 4 Colonists themselves; to select as sole Arbitrator, in such cases as may yet require arbitration, the individual whose position and character give the surest pledge of impartiality and justice, His Excellency Governor Grey; and to place at his disposal the Company's entire landed property, out of which the necessary equitable adjustment may be made. In so doing, we have felt assured that we are only acting in a manner not more consonant with sound policy than it is coincident with your wishes. In the same spirit, we are now engaged in a re-examination of the Accounts of the Nelson Trust-Funds, to which, as you are aware, our attention has been called by the Settlers, and we doubt not, that, in this case as in the former, the same process of fairness and reason will produce the same satisfactory results; that that confidence and harmony will be perfectly restored, which the disastrous events before alluded to have, for a while, appeared to interrupt; and that henceforward the Settlement will advance in a course of uninterrupted prosperity and vigor.

In Wellington and New Plymouth, the application of this remedial process has not happily been rendered necessary to so great an extent as at Nelson. Wherever required, however, the same principles will be exerted, in the same manner. For Wellington we have at length a hope of receiving the long-expected Deed of Grant by an early opportunity. On the 6th of December last, it was reported by Colonel Wakefield to be then in course of preparation.

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The Founders of the Settlement of Otago, connected more immediately with the Presbyterian Church, (and announced, as you doubtless remember, in the Report presented to you on the 21st of August 1843) sailed for their future home in the month of November last; one band under the guidance of Captain Cargill, the original promoter and, under all discouragements, the unyielding upholder of the plan; the other, in the fulfilment of the characteristic feature of that plan, under care of the Reverend Thomas Burns; from both of whom letters have been received, stating the health and contentment of those on board, after having accomplished a considerable portion of the voyage. On receipt of accounts of their arrival in safety, and actual location in the Country of their choice, we doubt not that their example will be quickly followed by a large and continually increasing number.

Another extensive and important undertaking, which deserves as it has received our fullest support, has been set on foot in connection with the Church of England. We allude to the intended Settlement of Canterbury, which is brought forward by the Association instituted for that purpose, under the auspices of some of the highest and most venerable Names that England can boast. Its site will be fixed in the Territory confided to your Administration; its strength be sustained by aid of your funds, till such time as the lands (purchased from you) shall be laid out and resales effected to some considerable extent; and while, in all probability, it will obtain, by means of a Royal page 8 moral atmosphere. Believing that the most important and beneficial of all the institutions of this country is the Established Church, they intend to require from every purchaser of land in their Settlement a contribution to ecclesiastical purposes, and (as the only effectual mode of securing the blessings of religious and educational unity) they have determined that no person shall emigrate under their auspices who shall not he a bonâ fide member of the English Church. Believing, further, that education is imperfect, if not valueless, when disconnected from religion, they require a further contribution from land-purchasers for the purposes of a religious education. In order to secure a constant supply of efficient laborers for their Settlement, a further contribution will be required from land-purchasers for promoting immigration. Lastly, a contribution will be required for repaying the sums which must be expended in surveys, roads and bridges, temporary buildings, and other preparatory arrangements which the experience of former Colonies has shown to be indispensable to the welfare of the First Settlers. But among these are included Churches sufficient in number for the reception of the first bodies of Emigrants; a provision of which the necessity cannot similarly be said to be deduced from former Colonial experience, as it has been too generally neglected, but which is clearly essential, according to the principles which have been laid down. The Churches may be at first of an imperfect and temporary description; but so will be the other buildings which will have to be provided against the arrival of the First Settlers. The important point is this, that the spiritual provision will proceed concurrently and analogously with the temporal establishments. Something also will be needed for defraying the small but necessary expenses of the Association in England.

"These various contributions M ill render the price of the land nominally high; but, as they will be applied with careful page 9 economy to the purposes above mentioned, it is manifest that they will only constitute an investment, which even in a pecuniary point of view will be profitable because it will serve to increase indefinitely the attractiveness of the Settlement, and which will ensure, besides, the enjoyment of moral and social advantages which are in fact beyond price. Without the appliances and means of civilisation, land is valueless to the civilised man; without a certain provision for religion and education, the Gentry of England, who are religious and educated men, cannot be expected to colonise; without due preparation being made in the new country before the First Colonists arrive, they find themselves to be only a forlorn hope, upon whose wasted capital and blasted hopes the foundation of future prosperity for others may perhaps be laid; but who themselves will only buy experience at the expense of ruin.

"Such are the evils which the Association has had in view in forming its plan of Colonisation, and they confidently hope that by a careful application of the means now devised, even if nothing further were done, those evils may be in a very great measure avoided.

"It is, indeed, probable that, in the opinions of many persons of reflection and sound judgment, much more than this is requisite for a real reform of our Colonial System; much relating to the organic structure of Colonial Society, and still more with reference to the frame and the course of Colonial Government. But it will not be denied that such points as these are beyond the scope of the operations of such an Association as the present. The Association, as it is now formed, has no power to do more than to plant a particular Settlement within the limits and subject to the constitution of an existing Dependency; and this condition determines the extent of the peculiar advantages which can therein be attained. Without, therefore, entering upon, still less questioning, the alleged imperfections of our general page 10 Colonial System, and the remedies for them which are at the command of an authority superior to their own, and not venturing at present to consider whether the promoters of this design may at any future time hope to be armed with more adequate powers for the complete realisation of their object than they now possess,—the Association still are confident that a great and permanent good may be accomplished by the scheme of which the outline has been presented. Men of all ranks will, they doubt not, be found to take a part in the work of Colonisation; the most valuable and influential of our institutions will be transferred and perpetuated; and those careful arrangements will be made in the Colony for the reception and distribution of the Emigrants, from the want of which so many of our later Colonies have so lamentably suffered.

"As the Site of their projected Settlement, the Association have fixed upon New Zealand, as possessing the best soil and climate, combined with the greatest amount of available and unoccupied land of all the British Colonies. Having obtained the sanction and co-operation of Her Majesty's Government, and of the New Zealand Company, who have been made Trustees for the disposal of Crown Lands in that country, it is about to despatch, in a few weeks, an Agent who will be empowered to select and purchase a District suited to the purposes of the Settlement, and immediately to commence the necessary preparations for receiving the Colonists. As the due performance of this operation will necessarily require a considerable period of time, the First Body of Settlers will not leave this country until next year, after intelligence shall have been received that the Agent has obtained possession of the land from the Representative of Government, and has actually commenced his work of preparation.

"In the meantime, the business of the Association will be to diffuse information on the subject, to invite public support, page 11 and to collect a Body of intending Colonists, who may be ready to sail when the necessary communications from the Agent in the Colony shall have been received. The names of the Gentlemen composing the Association are subjoined:—

"The Archbishop of Canterbury, President.

  • "The Archbishop of Dublin.
  • The Duke of Buccleuch.
  • The Marquis of Cholmondeley.
  • The Earl of Ellesmere.
  • The Earl of Harewood.
  • The Earl of Lincoln, M.P.
  • Viscount Mandeville, M.P.
  • The Bishop of London.
  • The Bishop of Winchester.
  • The Bishop of Exeter.
  • The Bishop of Ripon.
  • The Bishop of St. David's.
  • * The Bishop of Oxford.
  • *Bishop Coleridge.
  • *Lord Ashburton.
  • *Lord Lyttelton.
  • *Lord Ashley, M.P.
  • *Lord Courtenay, M.P.
  • *Lord A. Hervey, M.P.
  • *Lord J. Manners.
  • *Sir Walter Farquhar, Bart.
  • *Sir W. Heathcote, Bart. M.P.
  • *Sir W. James, Bart.
  • *Sir Willoughby Jones, Bart.
  • *Right Hon. H. Goulburn, M.P.
  • *Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P.
  • *Hon. Sir Edward Cust, K. C. H.
  • *The Dean of Canterbury.
  • *C. B. Adderley, Esq. M.P.
  • *W. Pole Carew, Esq. M.P.
  • *Hon. R. Cavendish.
  • *Hon. F. Charteris, M.P.
  • *T. Somers Cocks, Esq. M.P.
  • *Rev. E. Coleridge.
  • *W. Forsyth, Esq.
  • *Rev. G. R. Gleig.
  • *J. R. Godley, Esq.
  • *E. S. Halswell, Esq.
  • *Ven. Archdeacon Hare.
  • *Rev. E. Hawkins.
  • *Rev. Dr. Hinds.
  • *Rev. Dr. Hook.
  • *John Hutt, Esq.
  • *G. K. Rickards, Esq.
  • *J. Simeon, Esq. M.P.
  • *A. Stafford, Esq. M.P.
  • *Hon. J. Talbot.
  • Rev. C. M. Torlesse.
  • Rev. R. C. Trench.
  • *E. Jerningham Wakefield, Esq.
  • *Ven. Archdeacon Wilberforce.

Subordinate to the foundation and maintenance of such Settlements, but auxiliary thereto, we have taken steps for despatching a regular succession of Passenger-Ships, upon a system which, while it com- page 12 bines economy with efficiency, makes provision also for an attention to the habits of domestic privacy and feelings of personal self-respect, as well as to the health and ordinary comfort, of the several classes of Passengers. With no one circumstance, we believe, is the moral tone of the Colonial Communities more intimately connected than with the observance or neglect of due arrangements for this purpose; and we have been gratified to find that, in the discussions on this subject which have recently occupied the attention of Parliament and of the Public, and even in the arrangements adopted by Her Majesty's Government, nothing has been suggested of any practical value that has not long ago been put in force by your able and indefatigable Inspector of Shipping, Captain Reeves.

It will, no doubt, have occurred to you that, in the foregoing statements, two subjects of great importance have been omitted; namely, the inducements to Colonisation which are supplied by the present position of Public Affairs; and the changes which have been made recently in the Constitution of the Colony. We have purposely abstained from both. When we are enabled to enter actively upon our real Colonising work will be the fitting time, we conceive, for laying open the advantages which that work offers to others. When it has been proceeded in for a sufficient period, the class of Colonists which it will be the means of introducing, will show themselves qualified to administer, and will therefore secure, we feel confident, a Constitution far in advance of any that have yet been proposed.

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In fulfilment of the purpose for which this Meeting is assembled, the Annual Accounts will now be laid before you.

It is our duty to announce, which we do with a regret in which we are sure that every Shareholder in the Company will participate, that Stewart Marjoribanks, Esq. has retired from the Direction.

We have much pleasure in stating that John Robert Godley, Esq. has taken his seat as a Member of our Board, elected in room of Charles Buller, Esq.

The Directors who, this year, go out of office by rotation, and whom we recommend for reelection, are—
  • The Honorable Francis Baring,
  • James Robert Gowen, Esq.,
  • The Right Honorable the Lord Petre,
  • Jeremiah Pilcher, Esq.,
  • The Viscount Courtenay, M. P., and
  • The Baron de Goldsmid and da Palmeira.

The duty of auditing the Accounts of your Expenditure being laid, by the Act 10 and 11 Victoria, Chapter 112, upon Her Majesty's Commissioner, it has been suggested that the appointment of other Auditors, heretofore made annually, has been thereby rendered unnecessary. Instead, therefore, of the usual proposal for re-election, a Resolution has been prepared, tendering the thanks of the Company to the Gentlemen page 14 who have hitherto discharged this unattractive duty, namely,

  • Richard Edward Arden, Esq.,
  • Russell Ellice, Esq., and
  • Joseph Dowson, Esq.

But if you are of opinion that, notwithstanding the appointment of the Commissioner, it will be either advantageous or satisfactory to the Shareholders at large, that any or all of these Gentlemen shall be reinstated in their office, you will, perhaps, originate a proposal to that effect; and we need scarcely add that in such case it will receive our unanimous and cordial concurrence.

New Zealand House, 9, Broad-Street Buildings, London,
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* "Committee of Management."