CO885(1-2) — Page 215

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.

885

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

NEW ZEALAND.

See Return attached.

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REPORTS EXHIBITING THE PAST AND PRESENT

And in the case of each individual who fell in such a conflict, it might have been said that from his ignorance a man had been destroyed whom a few months enlightenment would have rendered a good subject, a valuable consumer of British manufactured goods, and a contributor to the revenue. The loss to Great Britain by engaging in an unnecessary war would also have been great; every 100 soldiers that had fallen must have cost at least 10,000l. Moreover, Great Britain, in dispatching two regiments to this country, had made great exertions, which it could not continue or repeat without considerable incon venience to the public service. Yet even a very few false movements might have entailed so considerable a loss upon the small force in this country as to have rendered large and continued reinforcements necessary. It is perhaps not too much to say, that during a considerable period of time any signal failure in an operation which had been entered upon, would have led to a simultaneous and almost general rising, the effects and cost of which may casily be con- ceived.

15. It was also certain that even if the anticipations which had been formed of the benefits which might spring to both races from delaying military operations had not been realized, and it had proved ultimately necessary to embark in a war, yet that each month's delay, by increasing our knowledge of the country and of the native language, and by enabling us to complete our roads and to consolidate our establishments, would be of the greatest advantage to Great Britain, by enabling it to cuter on the contest with greater means and more certainty of success.

16. Mercy, justice, and prudence, all appeared therefore to point to delay as the general rule on which the Government should act. This line of policy has therefore been in all instances unswervingly pursued, and the result has quite equalled the anticipation which might reasonably have been formed; for whilst the rebellion which existed and the disturbances which naturally sprung from that rebellion have been in all instances crushed, the total loss, of all ranks, sustained on our side through so long a period of time has amounted to only 28 killed and 53 wounded; and in as far as human judgment can form an estimate of such matters, no probability exists of any extensive rebellion ever hereafter breaking out in the country, and even should such disturbances again unhappily break out, our knowledge of the country is now so much more accurate, our alliances with the natives have become so much more numerous, our military roads have already been so far completed, the number of persons acquainted with the native language and customs so increased, and the natives' supplies of arms and ammunition have been so much diminished, that we should enter on such a contest with infinitely greater advantages than we formerly possessed.

17. The efforts which have been made by the Government of this country for the removal of the second class of difficulties alluded to were of two kinds K

1st. The resumption of the Crown's right of pre-emption, which had unfor tunately been abandoned, and—

2nd. The adjustment of many of the almost innumerable land questions which existed. The task of resuming the Crown's right of pre-emption appeared to be one of great difficulty and danger, but the natural good sense of the natives, and their continually increasing confidence in the Government, have ren lered its accomplishment much less difficult than was anticipated. The various steps which have been taken for the adjustment of the disputes in reference to land have been so fully detailed in the Despatches from the various authorities, and the large mass of documents which have been transmitted to the Home Government, that it may be unnecessary toy more than, that with very few and trifling exceptions, every land question in the southern province has been already disposed of, whilst in the northern province nearly all ques tions connected with lands have been also arranged, with the exception of those which, resting upon grants issued by the Crown, can only be dealt with by our Courts in the ordinary, manner.

18. The measures taken to remedy the difficulties detailed under the third head, namely, the want of a revenue, the existence of a depreciated paper currency, and the failure which had taken place in the confidence and expect ations of the settlers, have also all been fully detailed in the Despatches which relate to those subjects. The objects contemplated by the Government, in reference to these subjects, may be generally stated to have been the imposition

STATE OF HER MAJESTY'S COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.

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of duties which, by a system of indirect taxation, might raise from the native as well as from the European population a revenue which would increase with every successive step of their advancement, and yearly yield the means for their more efficient control and government, whilst in aid of and in connexion with these plans the depreciated paper currency was partly withdrawn, and the remaining portion of it was converted into a funded debt.

19. In order to remedy, in as far as possible, the evils enumerated under the 4th head, namely, the difficulties which had been created by the Crown's right of pre-emption having been waived in favour of certain individuals over large tracts of land, and the claims of others having been entertained to enormous the upon tracts of country, every effort has been made to adjust these claims most liberal terms, and to carry out these arrangements in the most conciliatory manner; this being, however, one of those cases in which individuals have been led to form extravagant expectations which it was impossible for any Government to realize, no efforts could probably have prevented much disap- pointment and bitterness of feeling ensuing, and it is probable that nothing but time can completely eradicate this evil, although, from the settlement of so large a number of these claims, and from the arrival of so many disinterested persons in the colony, the proportionate number of individuals, whose expecta- tions have been disappointed, is gradually decreasing, and their influence, as a party, will soon cease to be felt.

20. But little would, however, have been accomplished if the Government had confined itself simply to an attempt to remove the various evils under which these islands were labouring. It was necessary that active measures should at the same time be taken, without delay, for the amalgamation of the two races; that the confidence of the natives should be won; that they should be inspired with a taste for the comforts and conveniences of civilized life; that they should be led to abandon their old habits; that the chiefs should be induced to renounce their right of declaring peace and war; and that the whole of the native race should be led to abandon their barbarous modes of deciding disputes and administering justice, and should be induced for the future to resort to our Courts for the adjustment of their differences and the punishment of their offenders.

21. Thoroughly to accomplish a change of this nature would require a long series of years and a succession of generations.

22. The utmost, therefore, that any Government could hope to do was to establish institutions which might imperceptibly but certainly lead to so com- plete a change of manners in a barbarous nation as was contemplated; and to secure these institutions by such laws and by such a constitution as appeared to afford a reasonable guarantee for their perpetuity, the first step to be taken to ensure these ends appeared to be, to convince the natives that our laws were better than their own, as affording more perfect security for life and property, and a much more ready means of adjusting differences which might arise either between natives and Europeans or amongst natives themselves.

23. To attain these ends the Resident Magistrate's Ordinance was passed, and Mixed Courts were constituted for the settlement of disputes betwixt natives. At the same time a considerable number of their young chiefs and most pro- mising young men were enrolled in an armed police force, and thus habituated to act as actual administrators in the lowest offices of the law, and were made acquainted with the practical administration of the law in our inferior Courts. This latter measure, at the time it was introduced, excited unbounded ridicule, yet probably no measure has been so totally successful in its results. The native armed police force has furnished gallant men who have led our skirmishing parties and who have fallen like good soldiers in the discharge of their duty; and it has furnished intelligent, sober, and steady constables, whose services, under various circumstances, have been found of great utility." The actual result of the two measures combined is sufficiently attested by the number and importance of the cases in which natives were concerned which have been recently decided by our tribunals, to which until lately the natives never resorted.

24. To bring the natives under the influence of the Government, and to gain their confidence and attachment, various measures have been resorted to by the Government. Hospitals have been established in the principal districts to which both races have been equally admitted, and in which they have been

NEW ZEALAND.

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