Practical Considerations.
[Image of page 45]
Practical Considerations.
1. The comparative populousness of New Zealand and of North America, in respect of the native races inhabiting those countries, will appear from the following statement.
Bancroft says,
"Very great uncertainty must indeed attend any estimate of the original number of Indians, east of the Mississipi and south of the St. Lawrence and the chain of lakes. The diminution of their population is far less than is usually supposed: they have been exiled, but not exterminated.--We shall approach, and perhaps exceed, a just estimate of their numbers two hundred years ago, if to the various tribes of the Algonquin race we allow about ninety thousand; of the etc. etc in all, it may be not far from one hundred and eighty thousand souls." 1
The area of this tract, "East of the Missisipi, and South of the St. Lawrence and the lakes," is about 824,000 square miles. This gives 4 1/2 sq. miles for each person. Now the surface of the New Zealand Islands is about 121,000 sq. miles: out of which, about 54,000 belong to the Northern
[Image of page 46]
Island. This gives, for the whole country together, about 1 1/2 sq. mile for each person: and, for the Northern Island taken separately, about seven tenths of a sq. mile for each person.
Therefore, comparing New Zealand with North America generally, the population of New Zealand is, for any given surface, three times as great as that of North America.
Confining the comparison to this Island,--the population of the Northern Island is, for any given surface, more than six times as great as that of North America.
Again Bancroft says
"On the discovery of America, the number of the scattered tenants of the territory which now forms the States of Ohio and Michigan, of Indiana and Illinois, and Kentucky, could hardly have exceeded eighteen tliousand." 2
The five States mentioned by Bancroft contain 228,650 sq. miles. This gives 12 2/3 sq. miles for each person.
Therefore, comparing New Zealand with these five States, the population of New Zealand is, for a given surface, more than eight times as great as that of those five States.
Confining the comparison to this Island,--the population of the Northern Island is, for a given surface, eighteen times as great as that of the five States.
The ratio would be still higher, in every case, if a deduction were made (as in fairness it ought to be) for the large extent of mountainous and desolate country, utterly unavailable for man's use, in the centre of the Northern, and in the Western parts of the Southern, Island. No tract of like nature exists in that part of N. America, to which the comparison here instituted applies,
[Image of page 47]
Yet of this thinly scattered Indian population the territorial rights have been recognized and respected (as has been already shown) by our forefathers, and by the United States.
2. So far as yet appears, the whole surface of these Islands or as much of it as is of any value to man, has been appropriated by the natives, and (with the exception of the parts which they have sold) is held by them as property.
The Commissioners, who were appointed to investigate Land Claims, travelled, in the course of their inquiries, from the North to the South of these Islands, holding Courts from place to place. The Claims, examined by them, extended from the North Cape to Foveaux Straits. No where was any piece of land discovered or heard of, which was not owned, according to native usage, by some person or set of persons. There might be several conflicting claimants of the same land; but, however the natives might be divided amongst themselves as to the validity of any one of the several claims, still no man doubted that there was in every case a right of property subsisting in some one of the claimants.
In this Northern Island at least, it may now be regarded as absolutely certain, that (with the exception of lands already purchased from the natives) there is not an acre of land available for purposes of Colonization, but has an owner amongst the natives according to their own customs.
The natives are scattered over the face of the country, in parties varying in numbers from a few persons to several hundreds.
In this Island a journey of a thousnd miles may be taken, (from Auckland to Wellington, and back again by a different route, so as to visit the lake district and Taupo,) travelling at
[Image of page 48]
the average rate of 20 miles a day, without sleeping more than one night at an uninhabited spot: and, in such a journey, the traveller will often in the course of one day pass several villages.
In the Southern Island also the natives are greatly scattered. The population has been reduced, partly by disease and partly by invasion and exterminating wars. Yet the relics of a tribe retain the claims of their fathers. Much the same state of things occurs there, as the United States found in Illinois.
See Treaty with Kaskaskias Indians, August, 1803. [Indian Treaties, p. 100.]
"Art. 1. Whereas, from a variety of unfortunate circumstances, the several tribes of Illinois Indians are reduced to a very small number, the remains of which have been long consolidated and known by the name of the Kaskaskia tribe, and finding themselves unable to occupy the extensive tract of country which of right belongs to them, and which was possessed by their ancestors for many generations, the chiefs and warriors of the said tribe---for the considerations hereinafter mentioned--relinquish and cede to the United States, all the lands in the Illinois territory which etc."
For the most part, the boundaries of property are well defined.
In the immediate neighbourhood of such Pas as are at present inhabited, land is often minutely subdivided; each separate piece belonging to some one person, who cultivates either alone or jointly with some members of his family.
The same is the case in the neighbourhood of old Pas, even though they may have been abandoned for many years. The titles of the former cultivators are remembered, and maintained, by their descendants.
[Image of page 49]
When the acts of appropriation, in some past generation, were of a less public nature, or took place a long time ago, the titles of the present claimants are of course much more difficult of proof. Out of cases of this kind, the greater part of the existing disputes have arisen.
Each of the claimants endeavours to prove some act of ownership, exercised without opposition by one of his ancestors. Acts commonly alleged are:--cultivating--building a house or catching rats on the land--setting an eel-wear--cutting down a Totara tree in the forest for a canoe, etc
These claims in the ordinary course of things, become sufficiently complicated; but are rendered much more so by the introduction of another set of claims, which arise out of rights of conquest, enforced in very different degrees in different cases. Boundaries between different pieces of property, have been often indicated by the natives incidentally, without any question put or any previous reference to the subject, in spots now remote from any habitation of man: for example,
On the edge of the forest between the Whanganui river and Tongariro;
On the highest peak of the Aroha;
At a stream in the heart of the wood between Tauranga and Rotorua.
But, between territories of different tribes, there are often found tracts of land which are called "kainga tautohe" or (literally) "debateable lands."
The lands of a tribe do not form one unbroken district, over which all members of the tribe may wander. On the contrary, they are divided into a number of districts, appertaining to the several sub-tribes. Each sub-tribe consists of the descendants of a common ancestor, (whose name it generally
[Image of page 50]
bears,) who was, in former time, the conqueror, or in any other way the recognized owner, of the district. These smaller districts are, in many cases, numerous; and for the most part they are sufficiently well defined.
Within each of them, the families or members of the sub-tribe are free to range, both to take the natural products of the soil, and to cultivate for themselves such portion of it as they may choose. There is no paramount or controlling power, either in the tribe or in the sub-tribe, to restrain or to direct the exercise of this right of appropriation. Each family or freeman may use and appropriate, without leave of any. It is indeed a rude form of property, --a natural stage in the progress toward the more complete appropriation of the earth's surface in the way familiar to ourselves. But, still, every right which exists, whether in one person or in more, is truly a right of property; and there does not, in this state of things, exist any thing which can be correctly likened to a right of Sovereignty, as understood amongst us.
Mr. Spain says, in describing the Port Nicholson district, "There are seven divisions or families of a tribe, each claiming separate lands of their own, and certain rights and privileges, which are sometimes wholly denied and at others only partially admitted by the rest." 3
And again, speaking of the same district, "In a place so thickly populated as I have before described this to be, the boundaries of the parts of the district belonging to each tribe or family are generally pretty well ascertained and admitted between them. As a proof of this, I may mention that, in the case of native reserves, great difficulty has been found in getting natives belonging to one family to go on a reserve made within the boundary of the land belonging to another
[Image of page 51]
family; although it has been fully explained to them that the reserves are made for the benefit of the natives generally, and not for any particular tribe or family. They cannot understand this; and, in several instances that have fallen under my notice, they have positively refused to cultivate a native reserve so situated, although at the time in actual want of a spot to grow their potatoes upon." 4
3. The New Zealanders have been in the constant habit of resisting, even to blood, any encroachment npon their territorial rights. They are not less disposed to resist now.
For their determination on this point, there are two reasons:
1. That these rights (whatever names our lawyers may give them) are of great value to the natives, as has been shown above. They, like other men, are naturally disposed to retain by force (if necessary) that which they know to be a benefit to themselves;
2. That every tribe sees, in any successful encroachment upon its territory, a peril to its own independence and even to its existence as a distinct tribe. An extreme jealousy on this point appears to be the natural result of their condition, and may with, truth be described as the "passion" of this people. This has been a main cause of desolating wars. There is a common proverb, "he wahine, he oneone, i ngaro ai te tangata:" ["woman and land are the destroyers of man."] The pride of each tribe centers in its power to maintain its own possessions against aggression.
This spirit in the native people is closely akin to one which, if we were speaking of ourselves, we should describe as patriotism.
[Image of page 52]
In the year 1845, a dispute between two tribes touching a piece of what would be called 'waste land,' at 'Te ihu taroa' on the Waikato, led to a conflict in which 23 men were killed.
4. Yet the natives have always been and still are, not only willing, but eager to sell their land to the English.
Captain Hobson, shortly after his arrival in the Colony, reported to the Marquess of Normanby, "This mania for land-jobbing is by no means confined to Europeans; but has extended to the natives, who have proved quite as ready to sell their lands as the Europeans were to buy. 5
By a Return laid before the Legislative Council, 14th. of October, 1846, it appears that the number of acres of land granted to the original land-claimants, out of lands validly purchased by them from the natives, was
in 1842 - - - 10,000
-- 3 - - - - ,797
-- 4 - - - - 193,354
-- 5 - - - - 26,500
making a total of 230, 651 acres. 6
This total does not include, either lands reserved to the Crown under the Land Claims' Ordinance, or the lands transferred to the Crown by way of exchange, under the arrangement sanctioned by Lord Stanley in 1843.
That system of exchange was in operation in the Colony from Decr. 1843 to (at least) July 1845. It may therefore safely be presumed, that those claimants who chose to keep their claims, when they had an opportunity of exchanging them for lands purchased by the Crown itself, could entertain no doubt of obtaining quiet possession of the lands comprised in their claims.
[Image of page 53]
By a similar return October 14th. 1846, it appears that the estimated number of acres of land purchased by the Crown from the natives in the Northern District, up to the end of 1844, was 284,939 acres. 7
These two items alone yield a quantity of land more than sufficient for the population of all the British Settlements together: and of this quantity (with very trifling exceptions) undisputed possession appears to have been obtained.
On the 26th. March 1844, Governor FitzRoy issued a proclamation notifying that he would consent to waive the Queen's right of pre-emption over limited portions of land, upon certain conditions. A fee of 10 shillings was required to be paid to the Colonial Government for every acre of land which should be purchased and granted in pursuance of that proclamation.
On the 10th of October following, by proclamation, the fee was reduced to the rate of one penny an acre.
So great was the eagerness of the natives to sell, that the Government, which had given this liberty of sale, in October 1844, found it necessary, in January 1845, to chide the natives for availing themselves of it too freely, by coming to Auckland in great numbers to hawk their lands for sale up and down the streets. [Native Gazette, January 1845. Kua kite matou i te tini o koutou e haereere ana, e tohe ana ki nga Pakeha kia hokona o koutou whenua, a he maha etc.]
It appears that under the latter of Governor FitzRoy's proclamations, and between 14th. October 1844, and 17th. November 1845, (both included) the Crown's right of preemption was waived over 90,016 Acres, together with two Islands of which the area is not stated. 8
[Image of page 54]
The readiness of the natives, generally, to sell their lands--and even to do so at the sacrifice of their own permanent interests--is assumed as a known fact in the judgment of Mr. Justice Chapman in Queen against Symonds above cited. 9
"The legal doctrine as to the exclusive right of the Crown to extinguish the native title, though it operates only as a restraint upon the purchasing capacity of the Queen's European subjects, leaving natives to deal amongst themselves as freely as before the commencement of our intercouse with them, is no doubt incompatible with that full and absolute dominion over the lands which they occupy, which we call an estate in fee. But this necessarily arises out of our peculiar relations with the native race, and out of our obvious duty of protecting them, to as great an extent as possible, from the evil consequences of the intercourse to which we have introduced them or have imposed npon them, To let in all purchasers, and to protect and enforce every private purchase, would be virtually to confiscate the lands of the natives in a very short time. The rule laid down is, under the actual circumstances, the only one calculated to give equal security to both races. Although it may be apparently against what are called abstract or speculative rights, yet it is founded on the largest humanity; nor is it really against speculative rights in a greater degree than the rule of English law, which avoids a conveyance to an alien. In this colony, perhaps, a few better instructed natives might be found, who have reduced land to individual possession and are quite capable of protecting their own true interests; but the great mass qf the natives would, if sales were declared open to them, become the victims of an apparently equitable rule. So true is it, "that it is possible to oppress and destroy under a show of justice."
[Image of page 55]
The following letter of the Commissioners of Land Claims [Colonel Godfrey and Major Richmond,] states the result of a very extensive experience in reference to this subject.
Auckland, May 4th. 1843.
Sir,
In reply to the memorandum of his Excellency the Officer administering the Government, addressed to us this day, demanding,
"If the conduct of natives, in the investigation of land claims, has caused a great alienation of feeling between the parties, and a disposition in some cases has been manifested to get returned to them lands which they formerly sold:"
We have the honour to report, that we have now examined more than half of all the claims, yet have never remarked such a consequence in any of our investigations.
In cases wherein the boundaries have been loosely described in English, nay, frequently confessed to have been inserted by the purchasers after the signature of the deeds by the natives; then indeed, the natives, although admitting a sale of some portion, have boldly, and in every instance, with apparent truth, denied the extent of land alleged to have been alienated; upon these occasions they have declared, that although they do not and never did understand the boundaries there read to them from the deeds, they can however, and willingly will, point out to the surveyors the lands they actually sold.
We have examined some natives more than ordinarily dissipated, and corrupted by habits of intoxication; still even these never made any unjust attempt to repossess themselves of their lands; witness the examination of Pomare upon the sale
[Image of page 56]
of Russell, which took place upwards of a year after its purchase from Mr. Clendon by the Government, and was well known by Pomare to have then become of a vastly increased value.
We do, however, believe, that pretty generally the natives have required some presents to induce them to undergo our examinations; and that, in a very few instances, where they had been seduced by the temptations offered to them by Europeans to sell the same land to two different parties, they would perhaps give their evidence in favour of the greatest bribe, although offered to them by the later purchaser; but such cases have been most rare, and only occurred when the morality of the buyers appeared quite as questionable as that of the sellers.
Except on such an occasion, we can scarcely recall to mind a single investigation in which the testimony given to us by the natives was not deserving of the most entire credibility.
We have &c.
(Signed) Edward L. Godfrey. M. Richmond. Commissioners
The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 10
5. What has been asserted of the willingness of the natives to sell, and of the facility of obtaining quiet possession of the land sold, is not disproved by the state of the Company's Settlements.
There also the same willingness existed at first. It even continued after much dispute had arisen, and after direct aggression had taken place.
Mr. Commissioner Spain says,
"Now here is a case (with the natives' feeling as I have
[Image of page 57]
described it to be, rather to press for payment for their land than to retain it or force the Europeans from those parts of which they are in possession,) that might easily be settled by carrying out the compensation system." 11
Amongst the causes of the New Zealand Company's want of success are, in the first place, their undue haste in the negotiating of purchases, and the incompetency of the interpreters employed for that purpose.
In New Zealand the claims to land are numerous--the claimants often live far apart from each other--and the people are especially slow and deliberative in settling the terms of a bargain. To make a good bargain there are needed, length of time--publicity--and knowledge of the native language. When these requisites are found, purchases of land in New Zealand may be, and, in a large number of cases, have been, made as safely at least as in England.
Colonel Wakefield, writing to the Secretary of the Company, says:
"The Court is not ignorant of the duties which devolved upon me in the early days of the Company's existence; of the necessity of acquiring a territory on which to locate the emigrants destined to follow me from England with so little delay, without the sanction, if not in direct opposition to the wishes of the Government; of the difficulty of obtaining in a limited period a clear and indefeasible title to sufficient land to enable the Company to meet its engagements in a country where such confusion as to proprietorship existed as I found here." 12
Mr. Commissioner Spain says,
"It appears to me, as far as the evidence has gone, that all the Company's purchases were made in a very loose and care-
[Image of page 58]
less manner; that the object of the Company's agents, after going through a certain form of purchase, seems to have been, to procure the insertion in their deeds of an immense extent of territory, the descriptions of which were framed from maps and by obtaining the names of ranges of mountains, headlands, and rivers, and were not taken from the native vendors; and that such descriptions were generally written in the deeds before the bargain for the purchases was concluded: that these parcels contained millions of acres, and in some instances degrees of latitude and longitude: that the agents of the Company were satisfied with putting such descriptions in their deeds, without taking the trouble to inquire, either at the time of or subsequently, to the purchase, whether the thousands of aboriginal inhabitants, occupying the surface of these vast tracts.of country, had been consenting parties to the sale."
"I am further of opinion, that the natives did not consent to alienate their pas, cultivations, and burying grounds: that the interpretation between the aborigines and the agents of the Company in the alleged purchases was exceedingly imperfect, and tended to convey, in but a very slight degree, any idea to the former of the extent of territory which the latter, by those purchases, pretended to have acquired: and that the explanation by the interpreters of the system of reserves was perfectly unintelligible to the natives."
"A comparison of the native evidence given in the Company's cases, with that given in most of the cases of private claimants which I have investigated, will show a marked difference. In the former, with few exceptions, it goes to deny, or only partially to admit, the sales: while, in the latter, it tends generally to admit the sale and the receipt ef the consideration, and usually to describe clearly the boundaries of the land sold." 13
[Image of page 59]
It will be observed, that Mr. Spain's concluding statement is in accordance with that made by the other Commissioners in their above cited letter of May 4th. 1843.
"I have shown," says Mr. Spain, "that many tracts of these vast territories are now in the peaceable and unquestioned possession, in the strictest meaning of the term, of large bodies of natives, who may be divided into three classes: those who seized on and had retained possession of portions of the conquered territory; those who have returned from captivity, and now from long sufferance are fairly repossessed of their lands; and those who, as was the case at Whanganui, having escaped to the mountain fastnesses in the interior on the approach of the invaders, returned on their departure, and have ever since retained unmolested occupation of their ancient possessions: and finally, personal investigation has convinced me that these resident natives had never been in the remotest degree parties to,--many of them never heard of,--the transaction by which the land they dwelt on, the soil they tilled, was sought to be disposed of to another, by the pretended possessor of some imaginary rights of territorial sovereignty. 14
The extent and purpose of the 'native reserves' were not properly explained to the native sellers.
Barrett, the interpreter in the transaction at Port Nicholson, is asked, "Did you tell the natives, who signed the deed, that one tenth of the land should be reserved for the use of themselves and their families, or simply that the Europeans should have one portion of the land and the natives the other portion? He answers as follows: No; I did not tell them that they would get one tenth; I said, they were to get a
[Image of page 60]
certain portion of land, without describing what that portion was." 15
Again, as to the transaction at Whanganui, the same witness says, "What I stated to them was, that there was one part for the white people, and one for them: I did not say the proportion." And being requested to state (as nearly as he could recollect,) the very words which he used, he gave the following; 16
"I say to you all,--when the white people come, they will put a part for you to cultivate with the white people." "I say to you all, natives, when the white people arrive here, they will lay apart one side as a seat for you: the land is large enough to grow food for you all."
A further cause of the failure of the Company's operations was, the badness and insufficiency of such reserves as were made.
"In a Report recently submitted to Government on the native reserves, by the Government Surveyor, he says, 'That of the 4300 acres reserved for the natives in the district of Port Nicholson, only 1550 acres can be considered at all available for cultivation.' We believe that the Surveyor appointed by the Company to go over this estimate, reported that 1700 or 1800 acres were fit for native cultivation." [Letter to the Directors of the New Zealand Company, from the resident Land Purchasers. Wellington, 1846. p. 26.]
A further, and a most material, cause, was the seizure, or attempted seizure, of lands without the consent of the owners.
"I speak," says Mr. Commissioner Spain, "of the natives of Te Aro or Taranaki, and Pipitea. The evidence goes to deny their consent to the sale in any way, or their participa-
[Image of page 61]
tion in the proffered payment; while Barrett has distinctly stated that he told Colonel Wakefield that the natives of Te Aro and Pipitea were not so willing to sell their land as the natives were at Petoni; and he also states in his evidence, "I know that there were some part of the natives not inclined to sell their land, namely, the natives belonging to Te Aro and Pipitea;" and when he went to visit those living at Te Aro, they told him, "that they had not had any payment for the land, and that Wharepouri and the other natives had no business to sell their land."
"On a subsequent visit, accompanied by Colonel Wakefield and Dr. Evans, the natives of the same pa told him, 'that they had never recived any payment for their land;' and afterwards, when blankets were offered in payment for their land, they declined to accept them." 17
Yet lands of these people form part of the site of the town of Wellington, and were sold, as such, by the Company, in London. 18 And in August 1840, an attempt was made to get possession of part of those lands by force, but without success. 19
In like manner at the Wairau, "The survey" says Mr. Spain, "was commenced only two months before the affray took place; the agent to the Company being well aware that the natives had always disputed the sale of the district." 20 Yet the Commissoner found, when the time for inquiry came, not only "the positive denial by Rauperaha and Rangihaeata of the sale," but also "the absence of any proof by Colonel Wakefield of its purchase." 21
"Owing to the small surveying-staff (consisting of a principal surveyor and three assistants,) originally sent out by the
[Image of page 62]
Company, followed, as it immediately was by the Settlers, there were neither the means nor time for exploring the country. Land was taken and surveyed wherever it could most easily be found, without any reference to its quality, accessibility, or proximity to the town, and without any regard being had to the numbers and feelings of the native population." [Letter to the Directors etc. Wellington, 1846. p. 27.]
6. In the course of British Colonization, fair purchase has almost invariably been followed by quiet possession, but aggression and invasion have always led to the contrary result.
The secret of successful and undisturbed colonization is indicated by Mr. Chancellor Kent, in the following passage.
"The Minesink valley on the Delaware, was settled by Dutch emigrants as early as 1644; and, being an industrious, quiet and pious people, and having purchased the lands from the Indians, they lived in uninterrupted peace and friendship with them for upwards of 100 years." 22
"The massacre of the whites in Virginia, is asserted by Governor Winthrop (who wrote from contemporary information which came from the Indians,) to have been 'because the Indians saw the English took up all their lands, and would drive them out of the country.'" 23 Precisely where, as we have already seen, "the cases of unauthorized intrusion upon Indian lands happened," there also happened the only massacre we read of in the history of our early colonization of America. 24
Bancroft says, "From the first landing of Colonists in Virginia, the power of the natives was despised." 25 --"The plantations of the English were widely extended, in unsuspecting confidence, along the James River and towards the Potomac,
[Image of page 63]
wherever the rich grounds invited to the culture of tobacco." --"Should the native occupants of the soil consent to be driven from their ancient patrimony? Should their feebleness submit patiently to contempt, injury, and the loss of their lands? The desire of self-preservation, the necessity of self-defence, seemed to demand an active resistance; to preserve their dwelling-places, the English must be exterminated; in open battle the Indians would be powerless; conscious of their weakness, they could not hope to accomplish their end except by a preconcerted surprise. The crime was one of savage ferocity; but it was suggested by their situation." 26
The feebleness of the Indians of Virginia is strikingly shown by the following statement:
"Smith once met a party that seemed to amount to seven hundred; and so complete was the superiority conferred by firearms, that with fifteen men he was able to withstand them all." 27
Again, of the same tribes, Bancroft says, "So weak were the natives, that, though the careless traveller and the straggling huntsman were long in danger of being intercepted, yet ten men mere considered a sufficient force to protect a place of danger." 28
The weakness of the Indians induced them to have recourse to treachery, to defend themselves against aggression; the strength of the New Zealanders prompts them, in the like case, to an open and resolute resistance.
"It appeared" says Mr. Spain, "that the Officers of the Company, who had arrived in the first expedition, had fixed upon Petoni as the site of the Town, where the early settlers landed and commenced erecting their houses. This part be-
[Image of page 64]
longed to E Puni and his tribe, by whom the sale to the Company had always been admitted, and consequently the settlers experienced no opposition from them. After the arrival of another vessel from England with settlers, it was, after considerable discussion, ultimately determined to change the site of the town from Petoni to Lambton Harbour, which was accordingly done. The new site was upon land belonging to the natives of Tiakiwai, Pipitea, Kumutoto, and Te Aro, who, having always denied the sale, offered every opposition to the settlers, and have firmly retained possession of their pas from that time to the present." 29
"Porirua and Wairau--in both instances the opposition to the surveys and occupation has been, from the first, systematic and determined." 30
So far as the N. Z. Company's dealings with the natives were what they professed to be, namely, good and complete purchases, the natives have acquiesced and all has gone on quietly. In so far as those dealings partook of a different character, the contrary has been the result. 31
7. The cost of obtaining land in New Zealand, by purchase from the natives, will appear from the following facts.
The number of acres bought by the Crown up to the end of 1844 was 284,939. The consideration paid for the same was £5285. 32
Thus the average number of acres obtained for every £1 of purchase money was between 53 and 54: making the average price of an acre about 4 1/2d.
[Image of page 65]
Much of this land was purchased after its value had been raised by the establishment of the Town of Auckland.
It may be safely assumed that the average price of land purchased from the natives will not exceed 3d. an acre.
Recent transactions in New Zealand will have furnished to the Government at Home some means of estimating the probable cost of attempting to get possession of land in New Zealand otherwise than by fair purchase. That cost may be better calculated in England than here.
Besides, all such attempts must involve other losses more serious by far and deplorable than any outlay, however vast, of mere money.
8. The suspicions which have been entertained by the natives as to our policy and designs, with regard to their lands, have, from the beginning, formed one of the main difficulties in the Colonization of New Zealand.
Partly from hearsay, partly from actual observation, the natives have become well acquainted with our doings in Australia. Suspicions, necessarily flowing from that knowledge, were (as we have seen) avowed, and strongly urged at Waitangi.
Major Bunbury found them equally prevalent even in the Southern Island.
"We arrived at Cloudy Bay;---Mr. Williams, Captain Stuart and myself landing the same evening at Gore's Cove, where we found several European residents, and the brother of the Chief of Kapiti Island (Rauparaha) with two or three chiefs of inferior note, his nephews; the whole of these refused to sign the Treaty, under the impression that, if they did so, their lands would be taken from them; in other respects
[Image of page 66]
they received us civilly; the old man, the brother of Rauparaha, promised however to come off the following morning to the ship. --On the morrow following our arrival, we were invited by some chiefs from other coves adjoining that which we had visited the preceding evening: these did not hesitate to sign the treaty, when it was explained to them: a young chief, of the name of Mauipu we found particularly intelligent; he spoke a little English, and told me he had been at Hobart Town, and on board H. M. S. "Conway."--When told, after he had read the treaty, of the difficulty we had experienced at the neighbouring cove, he said, that tribe was not singular, and that most of the natives imagined that we asked them to sign in order that the Queen might afterwards take their lands from them. Both Mr. Williams and Captain Stuart were surprised at the very clear manner in which he explained to another chief the nature of the second article of the treaty, which relates to the land and property of the natives; and, as he offered to return on shore to them, we accompanied him. The old chief, named Nohorua, (brother to Rauparaha,) on condition that his signature was witnessed by his English son-in-law Thomes, agreed to sign, in order that, (as he said,) should his grandchildren lose their land, their father might share the blame; the others, his three nephews, said they would see us on board. --To show how much these people have been harassed about their lands, and how jealous they are in preserving this species of property,--they all objected to receive presents after signing, lest by some quibble I might construe it as a payment for its surrender, until they were again assured to the contrary." 33
These natural apprehensions slumbered for a season after the commencement of the Colonization of the Country.
[Image of page 67]
They were waked up again, in the north, mainly by certain effects of British Sovereignty which the natives had not foreseen in the South, mainly, by the proceedings of the New Zealand Company.
Governor Grey arrived in New Zealand in November, 1845. Shortly after his arrival he wrote to Lord Stanley from Auckland, November 23st. 1845, as follows:
"Terms of peace having been proposed, (previous to my arrival,) to the rebel chiefs, which were made conditional upon their surrendering certain tracts of land, I found that an impression was still prevalent that the Government desired to get possession of their lands from the natives; and even some of those chiefs who have hitherto been in alliance with the Government, were so apprehensive on this point, that they would not rest satisfied, until they had an opportunity of personally conversing with me, and thus assuring themselves of my future intentions with regard to them. This interview has just been concluded; and I explained to them that Her Majesty was aware of the various difficulties which now existed in New Zealand, and that I had been sent here for the express purpose of inquiring into, and adjusting these difficulties; and that, until I had had an opportunity of making the necessary inquiries, and of satisfying myself which were the best means of removing the present evils, I could give them no information upon the line of policy I might think it proper to adopt; that, in the mean time, they might rest assured that the Queen's only object was to promote their welfare; that the British Government did not entertain the idea of depriving them of their lands; and that under no circumstances would the services of those chiefs, who had so actively and energetically assisted the Government, be overlooked. They expressed themselves perfectly satisfied with these assurances
[Image of page 68]
on my part; but added, that they feared that I should find that the evils, which disturbed the country, were much greater than I had been led to suppose; and that they were much pleased to hear that I was about to inquire for myself, and to obtain information upon the state of affairs here. They concluded by stating, that the assurances they had received were so satisfactory that I might rely on their affording every assistance in carrying out my views. Their whole demeanor satisfied me that every suspicion was removed from their minds." 34
In a despatch of November 22nd. 1845, Governor Grey says, 35
"The only means by which I can hope to secure the allegiance of the chiefs, who have naturally no abstract sentiments of loyalty, is to attach them to the Crown by permanent benefits, which may convince them that Her Majesty's intentions to them are benevolent in the highest degree, and that the Queen entertains no idea of despoiling them of their property."
Governor Grey proceeded immediately to the Bay of Islands, from which place he wrote further, on the 24th. November;
"I find that great distrust regarding the intentions of the British Government, upon the subject of claiming all lands of the natives not actually in occupation and cultivation, exists among many of the most influential and hitherto friendly chiefs in this quarter. They are tolerably well acquainted with the details of the discussion which took place in the house of Commons at the end of June last, regarding the state of New Zealand, and their apprehensions are avowedly based upon what transpired during the debate to which I am alluding." 36
In consequence, Governor Grey gave to the natives the assurances mentioned above, which, he was satisfied, "produced
[Image of page 69]
a very favourable impression upon many of the most influential of the Chiefs." 37
As to the South, Mr. Commissioner Spain says, in September 1843, of the conflict at Wairau:
"This fatal business put an end to all confidence on the part of the natives in the Europeans, and they came to the conclusion that the British Government had suddenly altered its policy towards them, and intended to take away from them all their land by force." 38
Again, in March 1845, Mr. Spain says, "It was my painful duty to act as a Magistrate during the proceedings immediately consequent on the melancholy catastrophe at Wairau; which has done so much towards the estrangement of the two races, and from which may be dated the existence in the native mind of a feeling of jealousy and animosity towards the European stranger, but little calculated to strengthen the bonds of friendly intercourse betwixt us or to promote the advancement of civilization." 39
In this way, from time to time, the old suspicions have revived and gathered strength. It has been conceived by some of the natives that the Missionaries have been, from the beginning, parties to a plot, jointly with the Government, for seizing the native lands; and that they were employed to prepare the way for the execution of that purpose.
This supposition or suggestion has naturally found favour with, some of the leading heathen chiefs. It has often been avowed.
So high has the feeling risen at times that, in one part of the country at least, it was made a subject of serious discussion whether it was not necessary to combine for the purpose
[Image of page 70]
of driving the English wholly out of the Country. Nor has this notion been made a secret: it has been openly mentioned.
Still confidence has on the whole prevailed: because no act of aggression has been committed by the Queen's Government. Acts of injustice committed by others have only accustomed the natives to appeal for redress to the Queen: and have ended in strengthing their confidence, that the Queen would always cause justice to be done.
So long as the British Power presents itself to a native tribe as friendly and just, every tribe is anxious, and is induced by the strongest motives, to make that Power its ally and protector.
The importance of maintaining in the minds of the natives a favourable disposition towards the English authority, may be seen from the following remarks of Governor Grey, in a Despatch dated 11th. December, 1845;
"The friendly chiefs will now be able to bring into the field a much larger number of men than they have previously done;--I ought also, perhaps, to state to your Lordship, that in many operations in the field, such as occupying a wood, lining the banks of a river, etc., these native troops afford the most essential assistance to Her Majesty's forces; indeed I do not think that our operations could be successfully conducted without their co-operation." 40
If then, in warring against a small part of the native people, our success has been so dependent on the co-operation of native allies; what result can we expect when, by our unjust policy, we shall have united against us the entire native population?
The conduct of the British Government in this country has
[Image of page 71]
hitherto been such as to produce amongst the natives generally a considerable degree of reliance on British justice, and to remove, or greatly diminish their natural and reasonable apprehensions.
In particular, those who have received Christianity are disposed to look up to us for guidance and government.
But, let the plan of confiscation or seizure be once acted on and all this will be at an end. The worst surmises of the natives will have become realities. To them we shall appear to be a nation of liars.
All our means of exercising a moral influence over this people will have ceased, together with all the hopes, (which we have nationally professed to hold most dear) of success in the work of civilizing and Christianizing them.
The Christian faith itself has, from the necessity of the case, been received mainly upon our credit; that is, in the belief that the Pakeha who proclaimed it, was a true man, honestly seeking to benefit, in every way, those whom he instructed. [If] Our dishonesty shall be seen, if [delete] the Christian religion will be abandoned by the mass of those who now receive it. That such will, in that case, be the result, may be shown,) as far as any result yet contingent can be foreshown at all, from the language and conduct of the natives since the contents of Earl Grey's Despatch became known:
This consideration can scarcely be deemed a slight matter, in the judgment of any Englishman: certainly it cannot appear so, in the judgment of any Christian man.
[Image of page 72]
[Page 72 is blank]
