INTRODUCTION.
[Image of page 1]
NEW ZEALAND,
&c.
INTRODUCTION.
NEW ZEALAND, from the moment the British Government proposed to colonize it, has attracted a very large share of public interest, and has always been acknowledged to possess singular advantages as a field for colonization, in its almost unequalled salubrity and mildness of climate, and in its richness in natural productions, and other sources of wealth. Yet with all these advantages, and the strong prejudice in its favour, it is matter of no ordinary surprise that New Zealand has hitherto failed in attracting emigrants and men of capital to its shores; and thus, while the country is universally extolled, it is altogether avoided, as if a curse hung over it to mar and neutralize every advantage it possesses.
To explain this anomalous state of things, and to remove, if possible, the apprehensions of failure
[Image of page 2]
which have, hitherto, been but too justly entertained, is the object of the following pages.
The representations of the savage and cannibal propensities of the natives, and the consequent dread of personal insecurity, have operated to deter many from settling in their country. That these apprehensions are altogether unfounded, I shall endeavour to show in a more minute and comprehensive account of the aborigines than any hitherto published.
My object, however, is not merely to remove groundless fears, but to diffuse correct notions as to the character and capabilities of these people, and to suggest practical measures for their advancement in civilization.
The accounts hitherto published may have been sufficiently minute for the general reader, but are far too vague and scanty to admit of any system of treatment being based upon them. I have not, therefore, hesitated to describe the minutest shades of the national character that presented themselves; although, in so doing, I may become obnoxious to a charge of prolixity, or even of tediousness.
It is vain to hope that the natives of this the last and fairest of our colonies, may escape the fate which has hitherto attended the aborigines of other countries when brought into connection with civilized man, while the proper means for ensuring
[Image of page 3]
to them a better destiny are either unknown or neglected. The natives of other countries have certainly been less hopeful subjects than the New Zealanders; but even they might have been improved--at all events, have suffered less--had any vigorous exertions been made to save them. Nor is it enough to have the willingness to do this, with the readiness to supply the funds necessary for such a purpose. Success would still be wanting, without an intimate and practical knowledge of the mental characteristics of the particular people to be acted upon. Look, for instance, to the revengeful, proud Indian, who would rather sacrifice his life than owe it, under whatever circumstances, to the generosity of another;--who, from infancy, is trained to endure, without flinching, the most exquisite pain,--who is a hunter by nature,--warlike, restless, and wandering in his habits,--and clinging to these, and even to his very feelings and ideas, with invincible tenacity. How different would be the treatment applicable to such a being from that to be pursued towards the New Zealander! who, on the other hand, cultivates the ground, is quiet and placable, and pretends to no courage,--is as much afraid of the physical prowess of others as he is of the Attua which his own fancy has created; and who, above all, is a trader by nature; changing his habits, feelings, and ideas with the utmost ease and rapidity,
[Image of page 4]
and being therefore, in the highest degree, a fitting subject for rapid civilization. Still, his peculiar dispositions require to be minutely known, and carefully considered, by those who would promote his improvement: and I am convinced, that if the character of these aborigines were accurately known, they would cease to excite any fears; and, so far from being an obstacle in the path of the colonist, they should be regarded as the chief element of his success; being at once the producers and consumers of vast quantities of articles of commerce, and therefore a source of great wealth to the settler.
The other causes which have operated to check emigration to New Zealand are equally obvious.
It is well known that efforts to colonize New Zealand have hitherto been made by two separate bodies,-- the Government and the New Zealand Company,--and these, unfortunately for the colony, have not only been distinct, but frequently opposing influences.
The part which the Government have played in this colonizing tragedy is soon told. Incompetent officers were appointed to establish British authority, and to prepare the country for the reception of emigrants.
When these officers arrived they found a flourishing and industrious little colony already established; but instead of nourishing, protecting, and extending
[Image of page 5]
it, the measures adopted by these functionaries utterly overturned it; while their efforts to rear a new colony on the ruins of the old one signally failed.
Such are the simple facts of the case; but the explanation of the causes which have hitherto prevented that flow of emigration so reasonably to have been looked for towards the Government settlement at Auckland would still be incomplete, were it not stated that the settlers at that place have proved themselves a most honourable exception to emigrants in other colonies, who, by misrepresenting the state of affairs, have allured new victims to their settlements in order that the former victims might, by preying on the new comers, be enabled to leave the scene of their misfortunes. In this respect the public press, in the Government townships, have behaved most honourably, and, instead of recommending emigration, have almost continually discouraged it. It was early seen that the measures of the Government were totally ruinous; and that the sooner the doom was accomplished, the sooner might a change for the better be expected; and the colonists nobly resolved to endure the evil themselves without attempting to draw others into the same snare. At the same time they were not disposed to endure their wrongs in silence, and accordingly made every exertion to bring their grievances before her Majesty's Government.
[Image of page 6]
These, it may be stated, are now redressed, though by indirect means; for they might still have existed had not the officers, by their fortunate reckless extravagance, soon left themselves without the means of carrying on the system any longer.
It may with truth, therefore, be affirmed, that from the arrival of Captain Hobson, in January, 1840, the portion of the Colony under the immediate superintendence of the Government became every day less desirable as a field of colonial enterprize, and never having been puffed and written into notoriety it fell at once to its natural level. These circumstances are, therefore, quite sufficient to account for the anomalous statement already made, that New Zealand, while it is still acknowledged to possess the greatest inducements to the emigrant and man of capital, has hitherto been perfectly neglected.
The efforts of the New Zealand Company, as the other colonizing agent, have led to an almost equally unhappy result, though the means pursued have been widely different.
The Company, like the Government, did not find a colony ready made to their hands; but they were men of business--of energy and of vast resources-- and they lost no time in attempting to make a colony. Every expedient that ingenuity could devise was resorted to in order to force emigration.
[Image of page 7]
They have founded three settlements -- Port Nicholson, Nelson, and New Plymouth; but from their not having, properly, purchased their lands from the natives, and other causes to which it is not necessary here to allude, many thousands of our countrymen who were induced to quit their homes, were doomed to the bitterness of disappointment, and the Company are only now removing obstacles which might have been overcome before these emigrants were sent to the country. However, my design is not to write a history of that Company, but merely to adduce the fact of its having failed in its object, as completing the list of causes which have hitherto prevented the colonization of New Zealand. It is necessary to do this much in order to remove the groundless fears to which the tales of misery and suffering sent by the Company's settlers to their friends in England have given rise. These statements have doubtless operated more powerfully than perhaps the parties themselves intended, since they have been made to apply to the whole of New Zealand.
Many, however, of the evils of the Company's management are of a merely temporary nature, and such as a change of policy may easily obviate.
It is confidently believed that a better day has now dawned upon New Zealand, and that a career of prosperity has at last commenced; and firmly
[Image of page 8]
entertaining the opinion that such is the case, I shall state the reasons upon which my hopes are founded, in order that others may be enabled to decide for themselves the momentous question as to the colony which holds out the best prospect.
I have been myself a victim of the grossly exaggerated and deceitful statements which were made use of to force emigration to South Australia, where I spent ten months of misery; and I have subsequently witnessed, in the case of others, similar sufferings in Port Phillip, Sydney, and even in New Zealand, in which last I have been since the foundation of the Colony. In this experience I have, therefore, seen too much misery to wish to induce one person to emigrate against his inclinations, far less have I any desire to excite extravagant hopes, or to exaggerate any advantages; but should I have been betrayed into error in this latter respect, let it rather be ascribed to the pleasure which I feel in making my first favourable statement regarding the Colony, than to any intention to deceive.
