CHAPTER III
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CHAPTER III.
NECESSITY FOR RESTRICTIONS ON RE-SALES OF LAND--- IMPORTANCE OF MEASURES AS REGARDS THE SALE OF CROWN LANDS --- DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NEW ZEALANDERS AND OTHER NATIVES--- EFFECT OF LAND CLAIMS ON SALES OF CROWN LANDS --- COMPETITION OP NEW ZEALAND COMPANY IN SALES OF LAND---NEW ZEALAND COMPARED WITH UPPER CANADA---DOUBTS OF ANY FUNDS FROM SALES OF CROWN LANDS FOR EMIGRATION.
The details of these two fresh sales by Government are minutely given, in order to explain the baneful system which has, in a great measure, brought New South Wales into its present state, and likewise that emigrants, intending to proceed to New Zealand, may fully understand, and be on their guard, against such chicanery and delusion. Within a fortnight from the last sale, there were not less than ten towns and villages advertised, all on one line of intended road, within two miles of Auckland; but not to any one of which was there any access or the least sign of survey or location. It must be remembered, also,---but on which subject the auctioneer and seller are ever silent,---that all the churches, market-places, streets and roads, to these mushroom towns and villages, so temptingly depicted in the plans, are to be built and made, and that at the expense of the inhabitants, so that a
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ON RE-SALES OF LAND.
poor unwary purchaser, who expends some few pounds for an estate of forty feet by one hundred feet, the general size, discovers, when seeking for possession, that he can scarcely find it, and when found, that he is in the wilderness instead of a town, and that there is neither road, dwelling, nor enclosure near it.
It may be urged, that it is impossible to prevent any purchaser of land from re-selling it, at any time, or in any way he thinks fit; but, on the other hand, it is contended, that the Government should prevent the settlers from being thus obliged to pay a high price for small pieces of land, by selling a greater number and smaller allotments of Crown lands, at certain periods, as in Canada, and then the Government could, especially in the early days of the Colony, prohibit the subdivision of any land under certain area, within a given distance of the city of Auckland, or any other principal town, for a limited number of years, more especially while there is no surplus population to occupy so many dwellings and spots as these subdivisions create.
If towns and villages, such as described, and which are now attempting to be established, round the principal city, in the early stages of the Colony, are allowed on every three acre suburban, and ten acre farm allotment, that is sold in the first instance by Government, the country round Auckland will be very soon covered with road side inns and grog houses of the lowest description, surrounded by a few dirty hovels, inhabited by the worst of charac-
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SALE OF CROWN LANDS.
ters, and called the village of Epsom, Parnell, &c, and serving, as the rendezvous and abode, for all agrarian idlers and reprobates.
The localities for the towns, more especially, should be wholly in the hands of Government. When, from the number of farmers and settlers in any particular district a town may be considered essential, from their distance from the capital, and an eligible spot presents itself for such purpose, the Surveyor-General should then decide and fix the plan as to area, churches, &c, so that some consistency as to size, and uniformity as to building, should be observed.
The Government should have the benefit of the sale of the land in these small divisions, so as to increase the fund for the supply of emigration labour, and the settlers would more cheerfully and liberally pay for land to the Government, knowing that they were so obtaining future supply of labour, than to the land speculator, who only aggrandizes himself, without contributing in the least to the welfare of the Colony.
With respect to all suburbun and farming allotments, which may hereafter be sold by public competition, or at an uniform fixed price, the Government should not only protect themselves, but also the actual industrious settler, from the schemes of land jobbers and monopolists, by a Legislative enactment; that all lands, unless enclosed and cultivated---the former being in a short period, and the latter within a given time---should be subject to a fine, in the
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SALE OF CROWN LANDS.
first instance, and subsequently to an annual tax per acre, increasing with time until under cultivation.
The sale of Crown lands in New Zealand is a subject of most momentous and important interest, inasmuch that the Colony, with respect to the land, is totally different from any other Colony yet taken possession of by Great Britain. The more this subject is considered, in all its bearings and contigencies, the more evident will it be, that the future success and prosperity of New Zealand, will wholly depend on the measures adopted in the adjustment of the claims to grants of lands, by right of alleged purchase from the natives, and the sales or grants of Crown lands.
In all other Colonies, the right to the soil has been acquired, either by conquest, or by right of discovery. In settlements conquered, where there have been inhabitants, private property has been respected; but all waste lands have become, as in Canada, absolutely the property of the Crown.
The Australian Colonies of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, it may be imagined, are similar to New Zealand, being by right of discovery, but they are quite the reverse. The British Government established its sovereignty in January, 1840, by the concession of the native chiefs, and although it claims priority of discovery to the two southern islands, yet it has not been given absolute right to, or possession of, the soil.
The Marquis of Normanby's instructions to Captain Hobson, clearly prove that the British Government, in assuming the sovereignty, by concession of the
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SALE OF CROWN LANDS.
native chiefs, and taking possession of the three islands, considered the Colony quite in a new light, and contradistinguished from all others.
"The Queen, in common with her Majesty's predecessor, disclaims for herself and subjects, every pretension to seize on the islands of New Zealand, unless the free and intelligent consent of the natives, expressed according to their established usages, shall be first obtained. You will, therefore, frankly and unreservedly explain to the natives or their chiefs, the reasons which should urge them to acquiesce in the proposals you will make to them.
"It is not, however, to the mere recognition of the sovereign authority of the Queen, that your endeavours are to be confined, or your negotiations directed. It is further necessary that the chiefs should be induced, if possible, to contract with you, as respecting her Majesty, that henceforward no lands shall be ceded either gratuitously or otherwise, except to the Crown of Great Britain.
"Having by these means, obviated the dangers of the acquisitions of large tracts of country by mere land jobbers, it will be your duty to obtain, by fair and equal contracts with the natives, the cession to the Crown of such waste lands, as may be progressively required for the occupation of settlers resorting to New Zealand. All such contracts, should be made by yourself, through the intervention of an officer, expressly appointed to watch over the interests of the Aborigines as their protector."
The British Government having so long delayed
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PECULIARITY OF NEW ZEALANDERS.
exercising their right of discovery, may have, in some measure, occasioned the subsequent peculiar circumstances; but it must be remembered that there is in New Zealand a great native population, and that of a different character to the generality of savage tribes, and also that this population are inhabitants of islands, and not natives on a large continent.
The American and Canadian Indian is a hunter, ranging the woods for his subsistence, and when the stranger settles on his lands, he retires to the backwoods. To him such forest is a home, and like the animals he hunts, he shuns civilized man, and migrates further into distant wilds.
Far different is the New Zealander. He is no hunter, he dwells where he was born, on the land of his forefathers, cultivates his ground for kumeras and potatoes, which, with fishing, furnish his subsistence. This necessity to cultivate the soil for his daily food, restrains him from being a wanderer in his native wilds, and thus, in the course of time, have the natives in New Zealand been divided into so many tribes, as they increased in numbers, and their wants compelling them to separate, and cultivate distant spots of land, each the distinct and exclusive property of the tribe in possession.
To have obtained, therefore, possession of the whole of the land, must, and could only be effected by extermination of the Aborigines; for there are no back settlements, as in New South Wales, to which they could retire---and a proceeding similar to that pursued in Van Diemen's Land is quite impracticable, on account of their numbers.
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EFFECT OF LAND CLAIMS
The course pursued by the British Government was as humane as it was honest and wise, namely, sovereignty of the North Island, by concession, from such chiefs who had imagined that the acknowledgment of a New Zealand flag had yielded the right of discovery---and sovereignty of the Middle and Southern Islands, by right of discovery---and possession, by purchase of all such lands as the Natives would abrogate, with guarantee of proprietary of all such districts as the Natives wished to reserve for themselves.
Hence, therefore, it is evident, that whatever lands the Government may have to distribute to emigrants and settlers must be purchased from the Natives, and although the compensation given may be very small in proportion to the land acquired, yet it shews a different state of things to New South Wales and the neighbouring Australian colonies.
In Upper Canada, the British Government purchased large tracts of land from the Indians in 1818 and 1819, comprising Lake Huron, the Rice Lake, the Mississagua, the Long Wood, and the Mohawk, being 4,680,390 acres; but such purchases may be considered as out of the boundaries of the right by conquest of Canada from the French, and therefore liable to be purchased by, and annexed to, the United States, consequently it bears no analogy to the Colony of New Zealand.
The next peculiar circumstance affecting the future sale of Crown lands in New Zealand is the Land Claims. This subject has been explained fully
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ON SALES OF CROWN LANDS.
in a former part of these pages. It is mentioned here, only so far as connected with, and affecting the value and sale of Crown lands. Of these claims very many are just, and must be admitted, more especially those of early settlers. This result will throw into the market much land, and that of the most valuable description, whether covered with timber or for agricultural purposes, as well as being in very excellent situations. Those who came some years since into the Colony, selected before they fixed on their location, as it was for their future home, and these settlers are generally found in most advantageous spots, on the banks of some beautiful river, on rich soil, with easy communication to all other parts by boats and shipping.
Moreover, many of these early claims will be entitled to the maximum grant of 2,560 acres. Very many more will receive large grants, on account of the early date of their purchase from the Natives--- and on the whole, there will and must be conceded and allowed by the Commissioners, a very great area of land. These awards of land in New Zealand will be far beyond the wants---and, in fact, beyond the means---of most individuals to enclose and cultivate. Those persons, who settled some years since, depended chiefly on their own labour and the assistance of the neighbouring Natives, for the cultivation of the small portion of ground necessary and capable of supplying their wants of vegetables, &c. They will be very desirous to induce new emigrants to settle near them, and they will be very willing to
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COMPETITION OF NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.
dispose of a portion of their land for very moderate compensation, looking forward to the advantages of forming a small community in their neighbourhood, and to the reciprocal benefits and courtesies of social life.
To a man located on the borders of a river, isolated, with only casual intercourse with the small craft who frequent the coast on trading expeditions, the opportunity and advantage of securing a few neighbours would be endeavoured to be obtained at some personal sacrifice; but when it can be acquired to his pecuniary profit, in addition to the other advantages, it is natural to presume that no small exertion will be made. The price of the land per acre to the early settlers will be, by the table of valuation of the Land Commissioners, very small, and consequently, it will enable them to resell the excess beyond what they themselves require, at a very low price to new settlers---and by disposal of a portion, the part reserved by themselves becomes more valuable, and thus they will become most active and formidable competitors with Government in the sale of lands.
In addition to these circumstances, must be added another rival to Government in the sale of land--- the New Zealand Company---whose enlarged views, backed by immense capital, will tend to increase the number of emigrants to New Zealand, and likewise influence greatly the value and sale of Crown lands.
Notwithstanding the present great interest excited towards New Zealand in England, as one of the
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NEW ZEALAND COMPARED WITH UPPER CANADA.
most desirable, and almost unparalleled countries for emigration; the facts as to its real resources and true advantages,---the expense and privation which an emigrant must incur in reaching the antipodean Colony, and, when arrived, the cost of the land,--- will lead to comparison with the other Colonies open to the poor, yet industrious, enterprising emigrant.
Much nearer to England, and in a climate quite as healthy, and with a soil as fertile and productive as New Zealand, is Upper Canada. The temperature corresponds with that of New Zealand, allowing 7 deg. for the difference of the hemisphere; Upper Canada being between 42 deg. and 50 deg. north, and New Zealand between 34 deg. and 48 deg. south latitude.
The winter, it is true, in the former, is longer and accompanied with frost and snow; but the temperature is never much below freezing point, and the climate is healthful and dry. In New Zealand, although the winter season is not attended with such very severe or long frosts, yet it is with heavy continual rains.
The other seasons in Canada are beautiful, and the fertility of the soil is rendered prolific by the warmth of the summer. Wheat is the staple, and all kinds of European fruit, and vegetables, produce most abundantly. Forests of oak, pine, cedar, ash, beech, spruce, &c. are every where numerous, and copper and iron are abundant in very various parts. Labour is cheap, and so are all the necessaries of life. The rivers and lakes afford cheap transport and communication, and added to all these advantages
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DOUBTS OF ANY FUND FROM SALES OF
the land can be easily obtained at a low price, with some time allowed for payment.
It is true that the land is now sold by auction, but the sales are so regular and frequent that they completely counteract any land jobbing.
The sales take place every first and third Tuesday, once a fortnight, in each month, in different districts. There is an upset price, and the conditions are 20 per cent, deposit, and the balance paid at three equal annual instalments, bearing 6 per cent, interest.
The prices realized by Government have been from four to twelve shillings per acre. The average of all Crown lands sold in 1836, in Upper Canada, was nine shillings per acre, with the credit of three years.
If the fund for Government emigration to New Zealand is to be raised and supported by the sales of Crown lands alone, it is very doubtful whether, as soon as the land claims are settled, there will be any proceeds for such purpose, and most assuredly there will not, if the price of the country land is fixed at a high rate, or if it is submitted to public competition.
All these facts will clearly point out the various circumstances, connected with the titles to land and property in New Zealand, and will likewise prove how necessary and incumbent it will be on the Government to establish a consistent and judicious system for the sale of Crown lands.
The town allotments may be sold by public auction,
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CROWN LANDS FOR EMIGRATION.
but they should be in small sections, sufficient for the occupation and purposes of trade of one individual, in streets intended solely for business, and not in large areas, so as to place it in the power of jobbers, and speculators, having capital, to buy up whole streets of large allotments, and then parcel them out in less, yet sufficient dimensions, and realize enormous profit, to the loss of Government, and at the expense of the industrious settler of more limited means.
The farms and country lands are of still more importance, and the greatest encouragement should be offered to the actual cultivators, by giving them every facility to obtain land at a very low fixed rate, if not by gratuitous grants, under certain conditions.
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