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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Rare Volume

Chapter I. Colonization: the land question and the natives

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Chapter I. Colonization: the land question and the natives.

There is no portion of the globe which has stronger claims upon the notice of the Aborigines’ Protection Society than New Zealand. The group of islands known by this name, being nearly our exact antipodes, and occupying in the south temperate zone a position almost equally advantageous with that which we hold in the northern, has started into existence as a British colony a few years later than the formation of the Society. The preliminary proceedings—the first steps of the New Zealand Company have passed before our eyes. The individuals who have taken part in the work have been well known to the members of the Society. Professions calculated to raise hope and sanguine expectation have been sounded in our ears. The tokens of friendship were exhibited in a manner which might well inspire confidence, and encourage the idea that the brightest anticipations were well founded. But the Society could not close its eyes to the valid reasons for doubt. With no hostile feelings it expressed its fears and forebodings, and placed them on record, and already may they be appealed to as prophecies accomplished.

The acts of the Government, the progress of colonists, the labours of missionaries, the conduct of the natives, have been attentively watched, and the published papers and official memorials which the Society has from time to time produced, must abundantly testify that it has spared no pains to avert the coming evils. So long as well-filled emigrant vessels continued to depart from our coasts— so long as the colonists reported well of the climate, and sent home flax, spars, wool, gum, and gold, to pay for the growing orders for British manufactures—New Zealand was regarded as a sort of pattern colony, and a most attractive home for enterprising Englishmen, who felt that the thickly-peopled land of their birth afforded no adequate scope for their exertions. Few, if any, of the emigrants reflected that the home which they sought, was already the home of a brave and high-spirited people. The exaggerated stories of ancient cannibalism were almost forgotten. The labours of missionaries had been crowned with success, and the natives themselves had taken the work out of their hands, and, acting as voluntary teachers, had introduced Christian faith and Christian practice also, where the face of a white man had never been seen. The Government claimed no conquests, and scrupulously avoided making enemies. Its agents had skillfully managed to persuadepage 4 the Maories—for so die natives are called—to recognise the sovereignty of the Queen of England, and to believe that they lost nothing but the shadow of their land, the possession and control of which, with its concomitant privileges, were to be effectually secured to them, in conjunction with the honour and substantial benefits of British citizenship. If any reliance is to be placed in the successive accounts which have been given of the friendly reception which the natives have offered to the colonists, of their disposition to adopt European habits, of their readinesss to take part in obtaining the productions of the country, and of their willingness to bring their labour into the market, it would seem that no other race has offered so many facilities for the establishment of a British colony on truly Christian principles. A succession of lamentable occurrences, commencing almost with the existence of the colony, have abundantly exhibited the real character of the colonizing race. It is sufficient to mention the prices paid for land, not only by individual colonists, but even by the agents of the New-Zealand Company, who obtained large blocks of land on terms which the natives could not comprehend and which the officers of the Crown could not sustain—the payment of native labour with damaged flour,* under the authority, bat we would hope without the cognizance, of Governor Hobson -—the violent trespass on native land, with a view to forcible occupation at the Wairoa, which led to the sanguinary conflict miscalled a massacre, when the Christian natives displayed their virtue and intrepidity, and the pagans maintained their rights—the attempts to set aside the treaty of Waitangi, and the effort to establish a constitution founded on its violation—and, not to notice other acts of minor importance, we need only add, the ultimate adoption of a constitution by which the hopes of the persistence of the native race may be said to be almost destroyed. The pages of the "Aborigines' Friend" contain a brief narration of the leading events which, during the last few years, have affected the prospects of the native New Zealenders.

The chief subject of regret in the New Zealand constitution was the comparative neglect of those portions of the islands which remained in the possession of the natives, whilst the colonized portions were formed into separate provinces, having a regular democratic organization.

Much might be said on the reasons assigned for this omission, as well as on the evils which were foreseen as its consequences; but we forbear to enter on these subjects, as it is more to our purpose to notice the occurrences which have actually taken place.

Notwithstanding the care which the government officials have for the most part successfully taken to preserve the loyalty of the natives, the Maories have not failed to perceive the false position

* This fact was communicated to us vivâ voce by the late Dr. Dieffenbach, be naturalist of the New Zealand Company.

page 5 in which they stood, neither retaining the efficiency of their native laws, nor participating in the benefits enjoyed by the settlers as British Colonial subjects. With a hope of correcting this state of things, the idea of proclaiming a native king was started and encouraged by a faction of the natives. It was again and again discussed in a manner which certainty reflects considerable credit on the native character, and it is impossible not to admire the steadiness of their loyalty, which rendered a large majority true to the Queen's authority, and there can he little doubt that had this feeling been properly cultivated by rigid regard to justice and the exact performance of promises on the part of our countrymen, this feeling would still have predominated, and peace remained unbroken, instead of which we have to lament collisions which have taken place, in which blood has been shed on both sides, and a spirit of mutual hostility has been excited, which it must be extremely difficult either to subdue or to appease.

We are sincerely desirous to place before our readers a strictly truthful, but concise statement of these transactions, which we have endeavoured to collect from official papers ordered to be printed by Parliament, from statements sanctioned by the best clerical or missionary authority, and from the direct communications of individuals of the highest respectability, and possessed of the most unquestionable means of acquiring information.

In New Zealand, as in most other colonies in which an aboriginal race was already in existence, the acquisition of land for the use of the colonists has been the most serious ground of dispute. The British Government, in the name of the Queen, has reserved to itself the exclusive privilege of acquiring land from the natives, whose right of proprietorship was most emphatically acknowledged by the treaty of Waitangi, notwithstanding the attempts which were made to evade its terms. The reason assigned for the retention of this right of purchase by the Government was to secure the natives from injury, to which their ignorance might expose them at the hands of fraudulent purchasers; and it in some degree justified this plea by setting aside some purchases; in which this kind of fraud had obviously been committed, but at the same time it exposed its own transactions to the like condemnation by the small price which it paid to the natives, and by the exorbitant increase of price which it claimed on the resale, from ten shillings to a pound an acre being added to the original price, which has ranged from a mite to about eighteenpence an acre. It is not surprising that the colonists should take advantage of this fact to call the proceedings of the Government in respect to land sales to account, and in doing so they may easily appear to be advocating the cause of justice, and assume the character of the defenders of the natives' rights. Though we would hope that in some instances New-Zealand colonists may have faithfully appeared in this character, a careful examination of their words aud conduct indicates that the suspicions entertained by the Government were too well page 6 founded. The extracts which we are about to give will prove the correctness of these statements. To render them intelligible to the reader, we must premise, that with the avowed object of putting the transfer of land from the natives to the colonists upon an improved footing, certain acts were proposed by the Colonial Government, and submitted to the governor for the purpose of being sent to England for the sanction of the Queen's Government. Without attempting to enter into all the particulars of these acts, it will suffice to state that there was one signal principle running through the whole of them as a most important element, namely, that the regulations affecting the natives were no longer to remain the exclusive prerogative of the Governor acting on behalf of the Crown, but to rest with him conjointly with the colonial ministers, the representatives of the colonized districts exclusively.

This violation of the rights of the unrepresented natives was ably exposed by the Governor in his despatch which accompanied the proposed acts. The question was thoroughly comprehended by Lord Carnarvon, the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, when the despatch was received, and his reply contains an able answer to the demands of the colonists. Besides these documents, the Blue Book in which they are published* contains the reports of interesting discussions conducted by the colonists, and important letters from ecclesiastical and civil officials, whose position and experience entitle them to the highest consideration.

Although it is to be deeply regretted that some of the extracts which we are about to cite are discreditable to our countrymen, we must again repeat that which we have often protested—that we are actuated by no party motives to lead us to the disparagement of any one; and whilst it is due to the cause of the weak and uncivilized to place their wrongs in the light of truth, we would not withhold praise from any governor, or fail to recognise, as regards our colonized countrymen, either the humanity and sense of justice which they may at times display, or the sufferings and various trials of patience which, in their new and distant homes, they may have to endure. We shall commence with those passages from the pen of the Governor, which shew how clearly he has viewed the question stated by the Ministers of the Colonial Cabinet.

"It is needless, therefore, to say that, in asking for local self-government, the colonists did not demand the right of governing any but those who would possess, through their representatives, the right to share in it. Nothing more was ever conceded. But on the contrary, on granting responsible government in Her Majaesty's name, I excepted the right of governing the natives, and my so doing was approved by Her Majesty's Government, and acceded to by the Assembly.—P 18.

"If the right to govern ceases to depend upon that of representation, the Maories might demand that the Government should be transferred to them, as being, especially in the Northern Island, greatly in the numerical majority. To say that they are savages and have no rights, but should be made hewers of

* New Zealand, Lords' Paper, No. 288, Session 1 860—Native Affairs.

page 7 wood and drawers of water, admits of an easy extension in the same direction, viz. that of reducing them to slavery, which might be done with equal reason on the same plea. The government of aboriginals is not conceded to the representatives of the civilized races, either in British America or in other British colonies. If it were so, the English residente in Ceylon, or even in India, might reasonably claim to govern the coloured population of those countries." New-Zealand Papers. Governor's Despatch. P .18.

"The expediency of subjecting the management of native affairs to the control of responsible ministers (which is inferred throughout the memorandum) is based upon the assumption that the interests of the natives may be safely confided to the colonists; but this is an assumption not borne out by experience.—Despatch, p. 18.

"In return for great pecuniary advantages, the Colonial Government is bound to take paternal care of the welfare and for the civilization of the native race."—P. 27.

"My views on the subject are approved by persons whose opinions on questions affecting the natives are entitled to the greatest respect I have, therefore, the less hesitation in requesting that this Bill may not be recommended for Her Majesty's gracious assent."—Gov. Browne, p, 64.

We may easily infer what were the authorities to which Governor Browne refers? from the statement which he previously made.

"For a collection of these authorities* I (Governor Browne) am much indebted to Mr. Martin, late Chief Justice of this colony whose name is never mentioned without respect, either by native or European, and whose experience and intimate acquaintance with the Maories cause him to be recognised as an undisputed authority in every thing relating to them,—New-Zealand Papers, p. 18

The Governor also cites the statement of H. Merivale, of the Colonial Office, which fully acknowledges the proprietorship and territorial rights of the New Zealanders, as well as that this admission by the British Government was an exception in its general conduct to Aborigines.

The opinion of the Governor, as to the objectionable character of the Bill, is supported by that of other competent judges. D. M'Lean, the Native Secretary, says in relation to it—

"If true of the two races that their interests are one, how much more so of the colonists as a whole; yet it will be hardly maintained that the inhabitants of any three of the New-Zealand provinces would submit to a Government chosen by the remaining three."—P. 51.

That D. M'Lean made this remark without any unkind feeling to the Colonists, may be inferred from the comparison which he suggests, as well as from the admission which he makes in the following extracts—

"It must be admitted that the most harmonions relations now subsist between the races; and full credit should be given to the settlers for their good Intentions and friendly feelings towards the natives. It is believed, however, that with every wish on the part of their representatives to promote the interests of the aborigines, when not supposed to involve a compromise of their own, serious inconvenience would ensue from conceding to them entire control over the management of native affairs."—D. M'Lean, p. 54.

* Regarding the natives' right of proprietorship.

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"I have had frequent occasion to explain to them (the native) their relations with the British Government, in order to remove from their minds various fears and apprehensions as to the ultimate consequences of the alienation of their territory and extension of English settlement. In doing so I have always impressed upon them that their interests are in the hands of the Queen of England, with whom their welfare, equally with that of her European subjects, is an object of solicitude. The introduction of changes in the system of government, taken in connexion with the views expressed by His Excellency's responsible advisers, on native policy, appear to involve a delegation of the relations subsisting between the British Government and the New Zealanders, which, in justice to the latter, I conceive should not take place without their concurrence."—D. M'Lean, p. 55.

The opinions of the Bishop of New Zealand, and of the late Attorney-General, are strongly corroborative of that of the Governor.

"In answer to your Excellency's inquiry in the course of our conversation on Monday last, I have no hesitation in again expressing my conviction that it is consistent neither with justice nor sound policy that the New Zealanders should be governed by a ministry in no way responsible to them, and deriving its power from a legislative body in which they are not represented."—Bishop of New Zealand, p. 112,

"Though it has repeatedly been declared that the Imperial Government would not be justified in abdicating the responsibilities which rest on it, with regard to the aboriginal native race, yet, when the principle of ministerial responsibility was introduced into the government of the colony, no guarantee was provided for their special government by the Crown; but if the influence of Her Majesty's representative is to be maintained amongst them, it is essential that he should have the power and the means of promoting their interests, independently of, and uncontrolled by, the responsible ministry. I believe that the Governor, if invested with the power and the means befitting his position, may exercise almost unbounded influence over the natives; and it appears to me to he expedient for the interests of both races, and essential to the peaceable occupation of the country, that his prestige should be carefully maintained, and that his administrative powers, so far as native interests are immediately concerned, should be free and uncontrolled."—W. Swainson, late Attorney-General, p. 114.

"Hitherto the territorial rights of the natives have been scrupulously recognised and respected by the settlers in the north, and friendly relations have been maintained between the two races; but if the possession of the waste lands of the province be allowed to become a bone of contention, and a state of ill-feeling grow up between them, it is to be feared that nothing can save the aboriginal race from becoming a persecuted people. They are still, it is true, sufficiently numerous and powerful to maintain their ground; but they are unquestionably diminishing in numbers, and are already out-numbered by the English settlers, and, at the present rate of immigration, will soon become an insignificant minority; and unless timely and effectual measures be taken to secure to them so much of the territory still in their possession as may be necessary to maintain their influence and to provide for their future wants, and to effect such a modification of the existing laws as may tend to facilitate the acquisiton of so much of their surplus lands as may from time to time be required for the immigrants now flocking in thousands into the Northern Province, it Is obvious to quote the language of Her Majesty's colonial ministers, that it will only be so Jong as respect for the strength of the Aborigines shall possess the public mind that the New Zealanders will be placed beyond the reach of those oppressions of which other races of uncivilized men have been the victims.'"—W. Swainson late Attorney-General, p. 114.

page 9

The Governors objection to the proposed Bill was not merely founded on the principles of political justice in the abstract. It is quite manifest that he was influenced by what he saw and heard of the dispositions of the Colonists, as a body, towards the natives, and we would particularly invite attention to the facts and admissions presented in the next extracts, since they are no less important in relation to the Governor's own acts than they are to those of the Colonists.

"Assuming the whole of the Northern Island to contain twenty-six millions of acres, and that the native title has been extinguished over seven millions, there remain nineteen millions of acres owned, or occupied, by about 57,000, Maorica. A large portion of this consists of moantain and dense forest, but the remainder, which includes some valuable land, is greatly in excess of all their possible wants. The Europeans covet these Lands, and are determined to enter in and possess them 'recte si possunt, si non, quocunque modo. This determination becomes daily more apparent. A member of the Auckland Provincial Council stated in the Council that 'the fault lay in the system of acquiring land from the natives. We were called upon to leave them the best land, and sacrifice ourselves to sympathy for the natives, and all that kind of humbug. The settlers had no room for their stock, and would be obliged to set Government at defiance-Hitherto the settlers here had been a law-obeying community, but when once the Rubicon was passed, it was impossible to say how far they might go. There was something higher than the law, namely, the framers of the law, and the source of all law, the people. They had new arrivals landing here every day, and they might say, what right, for instance, had a parcel of natives at Coromandel, like dogs in a manger, to keep everybody out of that district? People would soon begin to action the old principle of letting land belonging to those who can keep it. It was impossible to prevent the Anglo Saxon overcoming the natives, and the Europeans, if they could not get land with the consent, must get it without the consent, of the Government.

"This speech was highly applauded in one of the journals."—Gov. Browne, p. 78.

"A stream of immigration is pouring thousands of settlers into this province every year, and, if it continue, the population will be doubled in a very short time. Soon, therefore, a want of available land will really be experienced, and it cannot he concealed, that neither law nor equity will prevent the occupation of native lands by Europeans when the latter are strong enough to defy both the native owners and the Government, as will be the case ere long; and then it will be seen whether or not the Maories will prove an exception to the rule, which seems universal, namely, that the aboriginal savages must fade away before their civilized Christian brethren.—P. 79,

"The immediate consequence of any attempt to acquire Maori lands without previously extinguishing the native title to the satisfaction of all having an interest in them, would be an universal outbreak, in which many innocent Europeans would perish, and colonization would be indefinitely retarded, but the native race would be eventually extirpated."—Governor Browne, p. 79.

The war now commenced and carried on by the Governor is the strongest proof against himself of the truth of hie own words.

The prevalence of a strong anti-aboriginal feeling in the Colony, and the effects which it is calculated to produce, are set forth in page 10 very striking language, by the Rev. R. Maunsell, who apprehends that "great evils would be sure to result if the management of native affairs were to be placed under the control of the General Assembly,"

"Of the depth to which even the Anglo-Saxons can descend, when they obtain the supreme control of another race, we have a remarkable example in the laws passed against upwards of 3,000,000 of negroes in the United States, and the coolness with which judges of the highest standing in that country expound and enforce them, That the tendencies of our (the colonial) Parliament are in a somewhat similar direction has been more than once most painfully evident to my mind."—R. Maunsell p 58.

"That the spirit of self-aggrandisement is supreme is beyond all contradiction, and that that spirit will, unleas carefully watched by the mother country, bring on a war of races, it does not require a prophet's mind to foretell. The wrongs that are now endured, and the measures that are mooted, are amply sufficient to create anxiety."—R. Maunsell, P. 58.

"I cannot forbear intimating to the gentleman, who it is said intends to make it felony to advise the natives not to sell their land, that if the proposition of the member from Wanganui is carried, it will be necessary to increase, to a much larger extent, the laws against felony. Not only, also, will he have to make it treasonable to explain to the natives the privileges to which they are entitled, as British subjects, or to urge them to seek a fair measure in the representation : he will have, when he once begins, to station his spies, and to multiply his police in every part of the island."—R. Maunsell. p. 58.

"This impetuous and high-spirited people will soon be ready for any thing desperate; and the white man will before long feel that a crooked policy will always recoil on itself. Even though they do continue to keep the solitary settler; even though they extend food and shelter to the weary traveller; even though they continue to sell their lands for a nominal sum, and aid the Government in the arrest of Pakeha and Maori culprits; still, if the feeling of wrong has taken up its abode in their minds, the first spark may produce a conflagration.—R. Maunsell, p. 58.

The words of the Assistant Colonial Secretary, T, H. Smith, are of the same purport.

"Few (colonists) would admit that the extension of European settlement must be contingent on the consent of the aboriginal owners to cede their territory. These unimproved lands are regarded as the property of the colony, merely encumbered with a certain native right of occupancy, of which it is the duty of the Government to clear them, as, from time to time, they may be required by the settler."—P. 84.

It will not merely interest the reader, but also throw some light on the further consideration of the subject now before us, here to introduce some extracts from the letter of a private colonist to one of his friends. We may confidently state that his education and personal character were such as might lead all who knew him to expect kindness of feeling, as well as sound justice of principle, to be fully exhibited by him in relation to the natives. We may therefore judge how strong must be the influence of colonial feeling, when we find him expressing himself as he has done, and also know what to expect from other colonists less favourably circumstanced.

page 11

"The Maories—Perhaps in my letters I expressed myself with some asperity about them. This should not be. Yet we settlers have a full measure of trial and vexation to bear—less from themselves directly than from a partial oppression and timid legislation, carried out by the Governor, who alone has power in native questions, and who is well intentioned, but old, and somewhat unduly influenced. But England should live here, and then see what it is to have European settlers put down under the feet of savages in virtue of a treaty (Waitangi), which secures all to the natives, nothing to us, not even a right of highway for the Queen, You have little idea how much and how long the settlers here have borne; and there is no need for it Had we faith in our laws, and did we carry them out simply and consistently, the Maories would obey them, and the two races would go on well enough together. Amalgamate they never will; but the Maori will vanish, as he is fast doing, and now at a quicker rate than ever, from the ti wai Pirau,' the stinking-water,' spirits. But do the natives understand your laws? They so well understand them that they can and do work them against us and for themselves. For instance, an Englishman's farm and a native's cultivation adjoin. The law forces a farmer to put up a fence, not the latter. But if the Englishman's cattle get into the Maori's land, their owner must pay damages, and mend the fence; whereas, if the Maori's cattle trespass, his neighbour has no redress, unless the persuasion of the magistrate can procure it. He fears to enforce it lest there should be war, Again, there is a fine of 5l. for having thistles in bloom on your land. They are a sad nuisance if unheeded. But the Maories are specially exempt from this ordinance; and the Provincial Government spend 1001, a-year, I think it is, in employing English labour to keep them down on Maori land. Again, rates at so much an acre are paid by Europeans to maintain and make roads. The Maoris have far more carts and oxen than we have, and use and injure the roads more than we do. Yet they are specially exempted from the road rates, and pay nothing. A European's land may even be sold for rates in arrear; hut you cannot touch a penny piece of a native. And any reader of debates in our Council, by whom these enactments were passed, would see, that to have laid the lightest finger on the Maoris would have ensured the Governor's disallowance of the Bills. When, therefore, a shrewd, penetrating, energetic race, half enlightened, and not one wit really Christianized, see themselves thus treated like spoiled children, and that they who so act both fear them, and hare no faith in their own laws, what can we expect but that their natural bluster and arrogance should be greatly increased, and that they should despise both us and our laws? We have laboured for their contempt, and have earned it Again; we have in our feebleness appointed natives magistrates or assessor, to assist us in such few native matters as we can act in, and we pay them salaries to secare their good behaviour. Well now, mark my words about our Government's conduct. One of these magistrates, a chief of high rank, supported by a large body of co-owners, negociates with our resident land commissioner, an officer, mind, of the general Government, not of the Provincial Government, to sell his and his fellow's rights in a block of land, and goes unarmed, with officers of our general Government, to mark out the block. Another well-known turbulent native, not a chief at all, and whose claim to any ownership in the land in question is more than doubtful, forbids the sale, and, in cold blood, shoots down this chief and several of his followers. This tribe appeal to us.—' He was your magistrate, and, acting for you, arrest his murderer, and do us justice.' The provisional authorities were timid; and, though three or four resolute men might have secured this man (Katatore), any step like it was avoided. The speaker of our Provisional Council proposed, in Committee of Public Safety, "that we should now page 12 refuse to pay import duties to the Government: that we had completely exhausted every constitutional appeal, and been disregarded, and we must now help ourselves.' This gentleman lives with a native woman, not married, but otherwise quietly, and does a father's part to his children : he speaks the language, and knows the natives well. The land that ought to be ours, and of which we are in sore need, is not and cannot be used by the natives. It is a beautiful block, but now being fast overrun by the thistle. Whilst our settlement is dwarfed and languishing for the want of that very land, which even yet the rightful owners earnestly desire to sell, and which our governor will not purchase, or even the seller's rights in it, because this murder-stained savage forbids it, Such is an outline of events illustrating the British colonial impolicy. Well Exeter Hall may say, You have been saved from war, and Government has done judiciously. Opinions differ We who have emigrated hither understood we were to have the protection and justice afforded by British Government and law; that we were to be its special care; but, finding ourselves, our rights and our prosperity invariably held secondary to those of savages, we are so stung to the quick in our political instincts that we fall back on the pregnant words of an American statesman, 'Governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed.' Take away the troops, and every government officer; no longer stand between us and the natives, setting us both by the ears; but leave us the real management of our own affairs. We settlers have no quarrel with the Maories, or they with us, but both parties have with the Government Leave us alone, and we will soon cease to be the most cramped, fettered, and stagnant of the provinces, the only one where no land is to be had by new comers; the only one where the Government, with whom rests the sole power, does not or will not buy from the natives; the only one where native chiefs, anxious to sell, may, through British paid officers, be murdered with impunity for fostering British progress; the only one where native owners, earnest to sell, have tried in vain for years to do so. Let the natives and the settlers make their own bargains about land, but let none be closed until Government has stepped between the negociants and seen justice done, and clear tide obtained. Government buys land by hundreds of thousands of acres in other parts, and the displaced natives come here to live. This, of course, augments the difficulty of purchasing, but land is at this moment offered to us by a chief who has offered land for years. Our Governor hangs back because* Katatore forbids it."

It is obvious from the tenor of the letter from which the foregoing extracts are taken, that the colonists, whose trials we do not question, are taking an imperfect, partial, and discoloured view of the question as regards themselves and the Maories. We should probably speak as they do were we similarly placed, and we no more suspect very many of them of having gone to New Zealand with the least idea of injuring the natives, than we would accuse the best man in England of stealing a neighbour's coat, or of forging his name.

Perhaps the most important, as well as the most palpable error, and that which sours the colonists against the Home Government,

* From late information received from New Zealand it appeals that Katatore himself was killed by his countrymen in consequence of this affair emanating from troubles of oar exciting.

page 13 as well as against the natives, is the persuasion that the colonists are put under the feet of savages; and that the Treaty of Waitangi, ascribed, by the bye, to the Bishop and the clergy, secures all to the natives and nothing to the colonists. We are not bound to the defence of that treaty, with which, of course, we had nothing to do; but it would be a monstrous dereliction of duty were we not to be on the watch against the violation of those stipulations in it, which promised the natives something, when, having served the purpose of the Government, it might seem advantageous to the whites to set them at nought. We call in question the truth of the assertion in both its parts. Instead of securing all to the natives, it may be said to secure them nothing except a trifling delay of the period at which the whole will be taken from them—a delay produced by the legal formalities required by so much of the native laws as to property, which the treaty allowed to remain, through which impediments patience would work its way, whilst violence has been seen to cause delay and death. The writer of the letter is a settler in the Northern Island, the seat of nearly all the native population, to which many natives, from the Middle Island, have resorted, in consequence of that island having been bought up for a trifle by the Government. We have before us a Government map of New Zealand, from which it appears that, in the Northern Island, nearly two millions of acres in the Province of Auckland alone have been bought by the Government, and that in several other parte of the same island considerable and most advantageously situated districts have been ceded by the natives. The whole of this land has been obtained from the natives either by the Government through the operation of the treaty, or by colonists before its existence, upon terms by which the natives have been injured instead of benefited. The Bishop says that the available country still occupied by the natives would not be more than sufficient for them were they brought in to a status corresponding with that of the colonists. Yet this is the land which the colonists seem already to consider as theirs, and from which they are unreasonably kept. But the writer of the letter does not go so far. He says that there are native owners wishing to sell, and colonists ready to buy. This may be very true, but from the native New Zealander's tenure of land, it requires the simultaneous consent of many parties to effect a transfer, and a process as tedious, and perhaps as vexatious, as a chancery suit may be indispensable for its quiet completion. The very case which the letter relates on the writer's own shewing proves the inexpediency of attempting to proceed in advance of this process. In this instance, it seems that a native chief having been appointed a magistrate by the Government, was made a cat's paw to gain possession of the block of land, and was resisted by the native, who, perhaps, had no right to object, but whose claim to do so had not been formally set aside. In his resistance he used fatal violence, but it is questionable page 14 whether in the eye of even civilized law such homicide could be called murder. The attempt to enter upon the land was so inconsistent with the principle laid down by the Governor and by his best advisers, that it is probable that he allowed the step to be taken under that pressure of colonial opinion which in his despatches ho had disapproved, and the repetition of the same kind of procedure on the commencement of the present war in which right was on the side of the native, and violence was commenced by the Government must be ascribed to the same pressure. We must cordially agree with the writer when he says "let no bargain about land be closed until Government has stepped in between the negociants and seen justice done, and a clear title obtained." It is precisely the course which we have advocated, the neglect of which in both the instances alluded to has led to so much evil.

As to the supposed injustice respecting stray cattle, the settlers are probably inconvenienced and injured, but there is something to be said on the other side. It could not be reasonably expected that the natives, whether they had received a farthing or eighteen-pence an acre for their land, should be at the expense of either enclosing it or keeping off trespassers. This was to be done by the buyer if his purposes required it, and if he neglect to do so, the land must take the same chances as the unsold land adjoining it. The same principle applies to weeds. Some of those which are the most complained of are, we believe, of European introduction; and is it consistent, even with colonial justice, that the natives, on the prospect of a sale at sixpence an acre, should be at the labour and expense of extirpating these exotics, or that as neighbours they should be bound to remove a nuisance of which they are not the authors? The fine is obviously imposed by the settlers, who are cultivators for their mutual advantage, and the natives have no part in making the law or benefit from it when made. Has any native, cultivating his own land in juxta-position with a settler's, failed to do his duty in this respect? Might he not, if so disposed, keep off those who would trespass on his land, though it were for the destruction of weeds, provided he resided on unalienated land? The case is very different when colonial cattle go on the native plantations. These being held in common and jointly, may have no fences, as was frequently the case in this country, and the proprietors adjoining such lands are bound to respect the local usages in relation to them, and have no odious privilege of free warren, entitling them to allow their animals to feed over the cultivated lands of others. Then as to the roads. It is well known that natives have voluntarily offered land and labour for this object, but it is not shewn on what principle a tax can be levied upon them to make roads through land which they have sold, or which they may be likely to sell, whilst the price is so inadequate, and there is no participation in the local benefit. If the colonists desire the actual users of the roads, natives or others, page 15 to contribute, they should exact a toll equally from all. If they do not take it from the natives, it is probable that the advantage derived from commerce with them, both as buyers and os sellers, makes it impolitic to let them feel this check. The writer of the letter has failed to adduce the least proof that the natives, whether they merit the appellation of savages or not, are in any manner placed above the colonists. They have not even the power of making laws for themselves, and instead of all really nothing is secured to them. Of the substantial benefits of British citizenship they possess none. Whether any thing or nothing is secured to the colonists is a question between them and the Government, but when we reflect on the fact that for many years numerous emigrants of various classes have poured into New Zealand, many of whom have been attracted thither by the reports of their predecessors; that almost the whole of the Middle Island is possessed by them; that even in the Northern Island, the residence of the larger portion of the natives, a great part of the available land has been acquired and transfered to the settlers; that at the rate of acquisition now in progress, though it may not be so rapid as the colonists desire, very much of the remainder will be in the same state,—we cannot see that, the colonists have much to complain of as to land, whilst the natives have certainly lost more than the shadow. Again, the colonists have received a constitution which, if it cannot he admired as a specimen of legislation, at least gives many privileges to them, whilst it fails to make any availing provision for the Maories.

The appointment of natives as magistrates or assessors is no boon to them, but quite the reverse. It is merely a clumsy expedient to supply the fatal deficiency in the New Zealand Bill, against winch the Aborigines' Protection Society pleaded and importuned in vain.

The colonist's letter from which we have quoted, with the comments which we have made upon it, will, we believe, afford a correct and by no means an over-coloured view of the prevailing feeling of the European towards the native population. We would further observe, in justice to our countrymen, that as a body they are not to be supposed to have emigrated with the object of benefiting the Aborigines, but expressly to improve their own position. Bright and attractive inducements were held out to them. Tempting baits of free grants of land were offered them, and they had no reason to anticipate difficulty in obtaining larger tracts. Their disappointment, and the irritation consequent upon it, may be easily conceived, but cannot change our convictions as to the still worse position of the natives, regarding whom our words of prediction and warning have been long on record.

We may now resume our extracts from the Parliamentary Papers, The waning condition of the natives is strongly portrayed in the following statement of Mr. Fenton, whose elaborate statis- page 16 tical details, tending to the same conclusion, have already been given to the public through various channels. He says at page 155—

"In my opinion, the social condition of the Maories is inferior to what it was five years ago. Their houses are worse, their cultivation more neglected, and their mode of living not improved. The mills in many places have not run for some time, and the poverty of the people generally is extreme."

At page 154.—Mr, Schnakenberg, a Missionary, says:—

"The greatest cause of a decrease, I believe, is uncleanness, inwardly and outwardly, in diet, dress, and habitation, in body and mind, in all their thoughts, words and actions."

Mr, White observes in the same page—

"I regret that I cannot report any marked improvement in their condition, except in a few instances in farming; but there is a marked decrease of quarrels among themselves, on their old prejudices and customs, and a general desire of improvement, which they want the energy to carry out,"

The Governor himself admits the general fact, and in a comment on the colonists' letter to the Duke of Newcastle says—

"The first of these assertions (that regarding the diminution of the native population) is, unfortunately, but too well grounded, though I trust a reaction has set in partially. It would, however, be as just to attribute the decrease of the Maori race to the introduction of Christianity, as to any agency or snpineness of the Government on this subject. I may refer to the Quarterly Review, No, 211, July 1859, page 183: 'This diminution of numbers has extended to all portions of the race, from New Zealand to the Sandwich Islands, and appears to be in some respects as unaccountable as it is ominous. The wasting away of the people of Polynesia has now continued for years, after all the causes connected with their heathenism have ceased, day, the process goes on in spite of improved social habits, better food, clothing, and dwellings; and notwithstanding that an appearance of health amongst the young would warrant the expectation of increased vigour, &c."—P. 154.

The sentiment avowed by the Governor, and the quotation from the Quarterly Review, which he offers in confirmation of it, are far too important for a passing observation, and, not to introduce a long digression on the subject, we reserve our remarks for another occasion. Unhappily we find too many evidences of the decline of the Maories to have any doubt of the fact, and to us the causes are too obvious to admit the unaccountable and the occult. We must not, however, overtook what has been done for their benefit in a social as well as in a religious point of view, nor omit to mention some of the causes by which these efforts have been counteracted. Though volumes have been written, a very few extracts from the Papers before us will suffice, Donald M'Lean, the Native Secretary, states, page 50—

"From a period long antecedent to the establishment of British Government in these islands down to the present day an annual expenditure considerably page 17 larger in amount than the whole sum appropriated to native purposed by the present Government has been maintained by Missionary bodies. The Church Missionary Society alone has expended upwards of 300,000l. on this object. The Wesleyans have expended largely; so also have the Roman Catholics and other religious bodies. .... The result of their efforts has been the general adoption of Christianity, And it should be remembered that the funds expended fay the Missionary bodies are drawn from sources altogether external, while those appropriated by the Government to native purposes are taken from the revenue, to which the natives themselves are large contributors.

W. C. Richmond, the advocate of the colonists' party, mentions the large amount of expenditure on behalf of the natives, but complains of the mode of its application. His words are—

"The amount of aid received by different schools in the north has varied from 4Ol, per head and upwards on the average number of pupils 6l-per head and less. As between the northern and the southern divisions the case was even worse. Several establishments in the south, which were absorbing year after year large sums for buildings and farm improvements, were actually without scholars. Meantime large and flourishing schools in the north, with unpaid teachers, were pinched for want of the funds requisite to provide their scholars with the bare necessaries of life."—P. 31.

It is even admitted, that some very important practical improvements amongst the natives have been effected; and it is also made evident, that they are by no means insensible or indifferent to what they have received and might yet further obtain.

"Since the introduction of Christianity, the natives have gradually emancipated their slaves taken in war, and by their return to their former possessions, they have become a new class of claimants (of land)."—Report made by Colonists to the Governor p. 90.

The decided advantages resulting from the efforts of Missionaries are stated in the following extract, which also suggests that they are very inadequately known and appreciated:—

"As it was, the Government, I suspect, never heard of what was going on through the country at a period of native excitement. The young men taught in this institution continued doing their work of peace through the district, answering arguments, assuring the wavering, explaining difficulties, laying their hands exactly upon the spots whence the evil was likely to arise; and when Colonel Wynyard visited the river, he found, as may be seen in the report of his journey, an open hearted and cheerful reception a people willing to listen to his statements and comply with his wishes, and more firm than ever in their attachment to the British Crown,—P. 59.

"Rev. R. Maunsell."

It is evident that it is not the fault of the natives that the results have not been more complete and satisfactory. They both recognise the advantages possessed by their European neighbours, and desire to participate in them.

"The people of the Waikato district are at the present time more anxious to avail themselves of the means of education, both for themselves and children, than they have been for the last twenty years that I have resided amongst them. I certainly consider that they are progressing.

page 18

"There are more than 100 scholars, male and female, in the boarding establishment under my charge, besides ten branch schools containing 123 scholars affiliated with my institution; altogether supporting themselves without aid from the Government or Church Missionary Society, excepting the small sum of 101. towards fencing in school ground, which has been lately received. These branch schools are altogether conducted by native teachers trained at the Central Institution.

"Seventy pounds have been collected by them (the natives) with a view to maintain an English schoolmaster, whom they have not been able to procure.—Pp. 162 and 163.

"Rev. B. Y. Ashwell."

"M. Whitaker gave a detailed account of the Governor's visits to the Waikato and Bay of Islands, describing the anxiety manifested in all the places visited by the natives, to be instructed in the laws and customs of the Europeans, and their wish to be amalgamated and identified with them, exemplifying this by the statement of the fact, that so eager was Kowiti, the son of the famous warrior chief, for the foundation of a settlement at the Bay of Inlands, to be inhabited alike by both peoples, and to be governed alone by English laws, that he proffered a piece of land as a free gift for such a purpose—New Zealand Papers, p. 8.

Even the colonists, in their letter to the Duke of Newcastle bear testimony in favour of the natives, the so-called savages, and leave us to guess the source of mischief, should it arise, as has unhappily been the case.

"The danger of a conflict with the natives has been always much exaggerated by those whose interest it has been to maintain that impression in the minds of the Hume Government. We take upon ourselves to affirm that peace is absolutely secured, provided that the natives be treated with justice. and deprived of none of their natural rights."—Letter to the Duke of Newcastle, p. 155.

A strong and by no means a surprising or unreasonable desire to preserve and defend their rights has led the native to confer, combine, and place themselves under a chief whom they esteemed, that they might themselves supply the defect left by the British Government when passing the Bill for the settlement of the New Zealand Constitution, This step has been styled the King Movement, and been regarded as an act of rebellion. We cannot better describe its character than in the words of the Assistant Native Secretary :—

"The main object of the so-called Maori king movement, of which the Waikato is the centre, is to unite the tribes in a national assertion of the right to retain those portions of the Northern Island, the possession of which is considered by the promoters of the movement to be necessary for the well-being of the Maori race and the maintenance of its independence.

"To oppose this movement will be to strengthen it To counteract it, it is only necessary that the Government shall be in a position to shew the tribes taking part in it, that such assertion of their right to hold back their lands is unnecessary, this right being recognised and respected by the Government in the case of each tribe in regard to its own lands, though ignored as existing in any confederation, in regard generally to lands belonging to the tribes composing it."—T. H. Smith, Assistant Native Secretary, p. 85.

page 19

In a subsequent Parliamentary publication on New Zealand affairs (August 16, 1860), we are informed by a letter of the late Chief Justice Dr. Martin, that the term king is only used by one section of the Waikato tribe. The chosen chief, Te Whero Where, has uniformly refused any tille but that of Matua (Father). Few natives then desired actual independence of the Queen, but the excitement of the war might increase their number.

The anxious solicitude, the active excitement exhibited by the natives at the rapid diminution of their numbers, as well as of their possessions, should produce no surprise. The officers appointed by the Governor to make a report on native affairs, express themselves very plainly on this subject.

"It is, however, known, that almost every spot chronicles some well remembered tradition, and when they (the natives) are asked to part with these places to Strangers, who cannot be supposed to enter into their feelings on the subject, and who, they see, are destined at no very remote period to place them in a secondary position in their own country, it is no wonder they hesitate to lake the step."—Report, see p. 92.

What can be more just, as well as more reasonable, than that in contemplation of their position, the more clear-sighted of the natives should desire, by a common understanding and general agreement, to arrest the further transfer of land from its Maori owners. If restricted by the law of their Queen to a single purchaser, are they not to be left at liberty whether to sell or not to sell to that customer? and will not the desire to exercise the right of refusal be increased, when they see all classes of their rivals, whether officers of the Government, colonists, or ministers of religion anxious to hasten the transfer? Even the Bishop of New Zealand says—

"My advice to the natives in all parts of New Zealand has always been to sell all the land which they are not able to occupy or cultivate. I had two reasons for this: first, to avoid continual jealousies between the races; and secondly, to bring the native population within narrower limits, in order that religion, law, education, and civilization, might be brought to bear more effectually upon them."

We cannot doubt the sincerity and purity of intention of the Bishop in giving this advice, but we may question its soundness and expediency upon his own shewing.

It is only fair to the colonists, as well as due to the impartial consideration of the questions before us, that the colonists themselves should be heard, and they have given us the opportunity of letting them be heard in words to which they cannot object, since they are taken from a document deliberately prepared by the responsible advisers on native affairs, chosen by the colonists, and signed by a distinguished colonist, C. W. Richmond, The document confirms our statement that the colonists themselves exhibit differences in sentiment and conduct as regards the natives, It points out deficiencies and defects on the part of the Government, and exhibits, page 20 we fear too truly, but we would hope too strongly, the pernicious influences which British colonization has produced on the natives.

"There are some who, considering what a chasm intervenes between civilization and barbarism, and how impassable the boundaries of race have generally proved, are of opinion that the fusion of the two peoples is a moral natural impossibility. These persons refer to the statistics of population, which, according to the most accurate estimates hitherto made, shew a decrease in the number of the natives at the rate of about twenty per cent. in every period of fourteen years. They point to the relative paucity of Maori females, and to the abnormal mortality of the race, especially amongst the children as facts which make certain its extinction within a short period. Such considerations induce to the abandonment of the work of civilization as hopeless, and favour the adoption of a merely temporizing policy.

"The race, it is said, is irredeemably savage, It is also moribund. All that it is wise or safe to attempt is to pacify and amuse them until they die out—until the inscrutable physical law at work amongst them shall relieve the country from the incubus of a barbarous population, or at least shall render it practicable to reduce them to the condition for which nature has intended them—of hewers of wood and drawers of water. An exclusive reliance on the personal influence with the natives of particular individuals, and on the effects of gifts and flattery upon the more powerful or more turbulent chiefs, would be features of such a policy, which, by its demoralizing influence, would realize the expectations of its advocates, and render the annihilation of the Maori race both certain and speedy.

"To the present advisers of the Crown in New Zealand such a policy appears false, cowardly, and immoral. In common with the whole intelligence of the community, whose opinions they represent, they believe it to be at once the interest and the duty of the colonists to preserve and civilize the native people-Though Dot blind to the indications of physical decay which the race exhibits, nor to the great difficulties in the way of a policy of fusion, they do not permit themselves to despair; and they believe that the true course—a course which, however small the prospect of success, the British Government would still, in honour and conscience, be bound to pursue—is to take all possible measures for bringing the aborigines as speedily as may be under British institutions.

"In order to the correct apprehension of the native question, it ought to be fully understood that the British Government in New Zealand has no reliable means but those of moral persuasion for the government of the aborigines. It is powerless to prevent the commission by natives against natives of the most glaring crimes. Within the last twelve months blood has been spilt in native quarrels in at least four different places in the Northern Island—at New Plymouth, the Bay of Plenty, Hawke's Bay, and the Wanganui river; in one island within the limits of a British settlement. In the cases, which happily are not numerous, in which aggressions are committed by natives on settlers, the Government is compelled to descend to negotiation with the native chiefs for the surrender of the offender. The development of the material resources of the extensive wilderness still in the hands of the natives, which comprises more than three-fourths of the total area, and some of the most fertile regions of the Northern Island, depends absolutely on their will. Without their consent it is impossible to survey, or even to traverse the country. Much less could the Government undertake the execution of roads, bridges, or other public works in native territory. Considerable difficulty was lately experienced in the establishment of a mail route between Auckland and Napier, though the mail-bags are carried by Maories. And it was very recently represented by the chief page 21 permanent officer of the native department that it would be inexpedient, and even dangerous for the Government to make a gift to certain Waikato natives of a few bags of clover-seed, lest the present should give rise to disputes respecting the ownership of the land, and the Government be blamed by the natives for having introduced amongst them a cause of dissension. These instances may serve to illustrate the nature of the present relations of the Colonial Government with the natives.—P. 21.

"Whether a Government reduced to make such timid shifts, end with nothing beyond a moral hold upon the allegiance of a self-willed, suspicious, and warlike race, can succeed in subjecting that race to the salutary restraints of law, and in preserving it from the distraction which must result from a continuance of its own barbarous usages, is a problem which remains to be solved. There can, be no doubt that the presence of an increased military and naval force, of sufficient strength to command respect for the British power, now very lightly esteemed by the New Zealanders, would greatly forward any efforts for the permanent amelioration of their condition.

"The old Maori régime is fast falling into decay, whilst a substitute is naturally sought in spontaneous imitation of British usages. Native chiefs, in various places, affect to administer justice with the forms which they have observed to be used in the police courts of the colony, and attempts have been made at many native villages to enact and put in force local regulations on various subjects. The leaders of these movements are mostly young men of standing, educated at the Mission Schools, who, though they appear destitute of the requisite knowledge, judgment, influence, and force of purpose to effect unaided the needed reforms, may yet, it is hoped, be counted upon to second the endeavours of a European magistrate.

"It seems, however, to have been expected that other natives in the neighbourhood of the European settlements would naturally aggregate themselves about those centres as so many nuclei of civilization, adopting the Jaws and usages of the settlers, and resorting to the European tribunals for the settlement of their differences. This expectation, if such there were, has been in great measure disappointed, and the social organization of the two races remains as distinct as ever, even in the immediate vicinity of the towns. In a few cases magistrates have been stationed in purely native districts; but, placed there independently of the will of the people, and utterly without power to enforce their own decisions, their position has been a false one, and they have done nothing to supply the needed reconstruction of Maori society.—P. 22.

"It is notorious that the most frequent and bloody Maori feuds arise, and have always arisen, from disputed title to land. The four existing quarrels which have been referred to have all this origin, and others that could be mentioned are at this moment smouldering. It is equally indisputable that the communistic habits of the aborigines are the chief bar to their advancement. Separate landed holdings are indispensable to the further progress of this people. Chastity, decency, and thrift cannot exist amidst the waste, filth, and moral contamination of the pahs-—P. 24.

"The propriety of making at least an attempt to provide means for the extrication of native title from its present entanglement, for reducing it to filed rules, and for subjecting it to the jurisdiction of regular tribunals, can hardly admit of a doubt Even if it appeared that such an attempt might involve a certain amount of risk, that surely ought not to deter a great Christian power from some effort to avert the shame and sin of remaining, what Her Majesty's representative is at this moment, the passive witness of murderous affrays between Her Majesty's subjects almost under the guns of her garrisons.—P. 24.

The following extracts are taken from a letter addressed, by page 22 nine influential colonists, to the Duke of Newcastle on the subject of the rejection of the Bill.

"We are informed by the despatch, that, in the opinion of the Home Government, the administration of native affairs has been 'crowned with a very remarkable success.' It is with much regret that we feel called upon to assert, from our own knowledge, that it has not been a remarkable success, but that, on the contrary, it has been a remarkable failure, whether as regards the separate or the joint interests of the two races."—P. 154.

"We, who live in New Zealand, see the Maori race perishing away before our eyes; we know that their social condition is not improving; and are strongly impressed with the belief that they are lowered in tone of mind—that their character is altered very much for the worse.

"In Governor Grey's despatch, dated 30th August 1851, the native population was estimated at 120,000 souls. The number is, probably, exaggerated, but even, after making a large allowance, the contrast with the last return is startling. The result of the Maori census of 1858, generally considered as a reasonably fair approximation to the truth, is 56,049. We believe, however, that we keep within bounds in assuming a continuous decrease in population, amounting to about one-fifth, in fourteen years."—P. 154.

At a public meeting on the subject of the land question, R, Graham, a colonist, made the following statement—

"We are at present a large city without a country, obliged to import our beef and mutton, butter and cheese, from other provinces, as welll as flour, wheat, oats, &c., which this fine province might very well produce, if we only had the lands opened up. Our farmers are obliged to suspend the increasing of their flocks, owing to the want of lands and the scarcity of food. Many of our herds of cattle are bordering upon starvation, from being pent up upon the already-overstocked pastures around Auckland, while there are millions of acres of excellent lands in the interior of this province at present unoccupied, large tract of which are grass lands, nothing inferior to the plains of Canterbury or Otago, and which the natives are quite willing to leave or sell to the 'Pakeha' [the whites] but not under the present system.—Speech of Mr. Graham, a Colonist." P. 134.

It must be abundantly obvious to any one who will make a careful inquiry into the state of things in New Zealand, whether he take the part of the British Government, of the Governor of the colony, or of the colonists and local legislature, or of the natives, that the acquisition of land by the whites from the natives is the great bone of contention—the object of insatiable desire to the former; and of extreme but very natural and reasonable uneasiness and apprehension to the latter. It will not however be amiss to give some further extracts from the same Blue Book from which we have already largely quoted, in order to place this fact more clearly before the reader. At pages 77 and 78, Governor Browne says—

"It is true that the Middle Island was acquired for an almost nominal sum; and large tracts in the Northern Island have been purchased at prices varying between a farthing and sixpence an acre; but there still remain many millions of acres, which we now vainly desire to acquire, which might in those days have been bought at a cost too insignificant to be calculated by the acre."

"With the increase of the European population, land has necessarily acquired an additional value. The natives have seen the lands they alienated for farthings page 23 re-sold for pounds; they feel that dominion and power, or, as they term it, 'substance,' went from them with the territories they alienated; and they look with apprehension to the annihilation of their nationality."

Our next extracts are from the pen of Archdeacon Kissling, to whom, as well as to many of his clerical brethren, we would offer our sincere thanks for their noble exertions in favour of justice to the native race, in common, we doubt not, with regard for the best interests of the settlers, whose censure they have incurred—

"It is obvious that the great and numerous advantages which the Northern Island of New Zealand has for colonization, its natural resources of wealth, its fertile soil, its noble forests, &c., must, in a great measure, remain unavailable, so long as the Aborigines and settlers are not united with each other in object, interest, and action.

"To unite both races, for the success and prosperity of the colony, the confidence of the native race, who are in possession of the soil, is absolutely necessary."—P. 116.

"The keen eye with which the natives watch immigrant ships bringing accessions of 'Pakehas' to their shores; the deep feeling heaving from their breasts when hearing of the injudicious and exaggerated statements set forth in local newspapers relative to the rapid diminution in their population; the excitement caused by a movement of Europeans to effect a direct and individual purchase of land from them; together with other circumstances too numerous to be mentioned, are, to a Competent observer, significant enough to shew that the New Zealanders mean to strain every nerve for the preservation of their nationality and their landed possessions.

"On the other hand, the new-come race assumes a bolder tone of voice; selfishness interferes, objects tempt, vice increases, the country is overrun by various characters and the immigrants call for the land promised them before their departure from England.

"The difficulties of the Government thus increase, while the bond which has so far held the two races together is weakened by elements over which one race only has control. A new and more satisfactory arrangement Tor the future conducting of the Government with respect to the native population is clearly required."—P. 117.

All parties have desired a change as respecte the tenure and transfer of land, and we would give them credit for wishing to obtain it in a right way when their own interests are not interfered with. We have seen how the colonists have been biassed. The Government has also had its bias, and whilst it has apprehended that the natives might suffer from advantage taken of their ignorance, it has not failed very largely to profit by their necessities or desires in maintaining a monopoly, which enabled it to dictate a price wholly incompatible with open competition. The Bishop of New Zealand says that the price given to the natives has been as low as a mite an acre. The colonists had therefore unquestionably strong reasons on their side, when they contended for some changes provided for by the Bill which was disapproved of by the Governor and rejected by the Colonial Office, on the grounds already stated. It must further be acknowledged that the successive Governors of New Zealand, and most of the officials who page 24 have acted under them, have, by the influence which their personal intercourse acquired, rather than by substantial benefits which the British Government conferred, so won the confidence of the native chiefs and people, that till lately, except under particular circumetances, they manifested no desire to get rid of the burden and injustice of this monopoly,

D. M'Lean, Native Secretary, says, p. 36—

"The natives themselves, who are much interested, do not desire any change, excepting perhaps a few who are deeply involved in debt, and who would make any sacrifice to be relieved from their creditors.

The possession of land by individuals, and not merely in common, is so obviously necessary a step in the progress of civilization, that the Governor, as well as o there, was satisfied of the importance of encouraging this tenure, which was already not wholly unknown amongst the native New Zealanders. He desired to effect this object by the granting of Crown titles, but it seems very doubtful whether this proceeding, borrowed from our feudal system, could be made sufficiently intelligible to the natives, not to appear to clash with the recognition of their existing and acknowledged rights.

"It is very desirable," observes Governor Browne, "to provide means for enabling tribes, families, and particular individuals, to define or individualize their property, and, in certain cases, it would be just and proper to confirm well-ascertained rights by a crown title.—P. 63.

The Assistant Native Secretary, T. H. Smith, says (pp. 38 and 40)—

"The Bill appears to recognise the right of the natives to receive Crown titles to their lands when they can prove ownership.

"I believe the natives would, in many cases, gladly avail themselves of the assistance of the Government to define and permanently fix tribal boundaries, and even, to a certain extent, to individualize their titles, but they would view with suspicion any attempt to impose restrictions, or to interfere in any way with the native tenure, unless prepared for an absolute cession to the Crown in the usual way.

"Serious objections also arise to imposing upon natives holders of Crown grants any restrictions which are not imposed upon Europeans; nor do I think the natives would in many cases be willing to accept grants containing such restrictions. On the other hand, there is reason to fear that, if unrestricted facilities are afforded to natives to obtain individual Crown grants for their property, advantage might be taken of the law by Europeans, who would prompt and assist the natives to apply for and obtain such grants for the purpose of acquring their lands by individual purchase, instead of purchasing from the Government, to the great injury of the colony

"T. H. Smith, Assistant Native Secretary."

The Native Secretary, D. M'Lean, says, (p. 49)—

"Individualization of title and the securing of properties on chiefs have also been attempted and carried out in connection with the acquisition of native lands in different parte of the country, and about 200 valuable properties, page 25 varying from 20 to 2000 acres in extent, have been secured to individual natives to be held under Crown grants."

It is evident that the colonists are very jealous of even the small extent to which the Governor may be disposed to let the natives be permitted to possess a title to land in the country of their birth, the unconquered inheritance transmitted from their ancestors. The spirit of the colonial party is exhibited in the following remark by C. W. Richmond, a prominent member of the Colonial Ministry, the advocate of the Bill for handing over native affairs to the colonists—

"The fallacy is, in assuming that to be a right in the natives which is really a gratuitous concession by the Government, The Legislature very properly will not trust Governor or ministers or both together with any such extravagant discretion as an unlimited power of granting away the colonial territory to natives in fee-simple. What the natives think on such matters depends much upon what is put into their heads by Europeans, especially by persons in authority."C. W. R."

The Governor makes the following pertinent and striking observation on this feature in the Bill—

"Although strict limitations are placed on the amount of hit own land, which may be conveyed 10 the Maori, great liberality is evinced towards the European who has been equalling on native land in defiance of the law. This would also lend to much jobbery,"—Governor's Comment on Colonial Draft, p. 108.

The difficulties of the native land question, as exhibited in the foregoing pages, in which authorities from amongst all parties have been carefully taken, inevitably claimed the attention of the British Government, and a Bill was brought before Parliament from the Colonial Office with the express object of removing them. The Bill was evidently drawn with the intention to do good. Its failure to give satisfaction to the colonists' party sufficiently indicated that it afforded the natives some shelter from the colonists, but, when carefully examined, it no loss clearly manifested that the rights of the natives were not placed on any solid foundation. The Committee of the Aborigines' Protection Society therefore regarded it as a duty incumbent upon it to explain to the Colonial Office the grounds on which it deprecated the passing of the Bill, and, in the absence of the Duke of Newcastle, it addressed to the under Secretary of State for the Colonies a memorial on the subject." We cannot say to what extent the reasons expressed in the memorial may coincide with the opinions entertained by the Colonial Office, but it is probable that the more public opposition to the Bill led to the withdrawal of it before the close of the session, whilst the large addition to the military force in the colony, the enlistment of militia, and the active hostile operations which have been carried on, together with the corresponding adverse acts of the natives, make it too plainly evident that force rather than conciliation is looked to for the settlement of the present difficulties. page 26 When the preponderance of power, intelligence, and resources is so great the result cannot be doubtful; and though the colonization of New Zealand may in some respects have differed from that of other British settlements, which our officials themselves have condemned, the conclusion, like the prevailing influences, must be similar.

Whilst this article has been in the press we have had placed before us another important and voluminous Blue Book of New-Zealand papers. It gives further confirmation of the remarkable loyalty of the chiefs of many of the tribes and of their adhesion to the side of the Queen and the Governor, though they, in some instances, speak plainly of their wrongs and of the unequal application of the British laws.

We have been particularly struck with the dread of the natives acquiring the elective franchise (the right most likely to unite them to the colonists) with the offence taken at Missionary influence, and with the Government prohibition imposed upon it. We believe that the influence of Missionaries, and that of other really good men, can alone lead to any thing like a pacific termination of hostilities. In the place of this most desirable conclusion, we have to deplore the obvious determination to carry the point by force—not to spare the rod, as a colonist says—to make the Maories feel our superiority and know it by experience.

The panic which the colonists exhibit offers a temptation to the turbulent amongst the natives; our active preparations excite suspicion and distrust with the well disposed, and our resort to force when they feel satisfied that we are in the wrong, instead of breaking their spirit, makes disaffection spread, and by protracting the struggle hastens the extermination of the race and retards the progress of the colony, which it loads with expenses.

To a great degree, the natives have distinguished the colonists from the troops, but now that the colonists are acting with the troops and native villages are broken up, mutual violence becomes indiscriminate. The lives of colonists who do not appear to have committed any offence against the natives have been cruelly taken, though it would appear that these murders have been of rare occurrence, and are condemned by the natives themselves. Such acts, however, bring down equally indiscriminate colonial vengeance on the Maori; but while the deeds of the one party are called savage and fiendish, those of the other are extolled as gallant and heroic. The spirit rife in New Zealand has spread to the neighbouring colonies of Australia, where many spirited young men have been eager to enrol as volunteers to aid in the war, We have seen a long article in one of the Australian papers advocating this movement, and, amongst other proposals, suggesting that the conquest of New Zealand having been completed by this combined operation, the surviving remnant of male Maories should be brought to New Zealand to serve as compulsory labourers, and that the females should be distributed amongst the convicts and ticket-of- page 27 leave men. The article was given, if we are not mistaken, without a comment, and, whether it was written as the serious and deliberate opinion of the author, or intended as an ironical rebuke to colonial feeling, it is equally remarkable as indicating what, in some quarters, that feeling is against which it is the duty of Christians to guard and protest.