TWENTIETH REPORT OF THE COURT OF DIRECTORS OF THE NEW
ZEALAND COMPANY.
You will have seen, from the correspondence of which a copy has been transmitted to every proprietor, that we lost no time, after Mr. Secretary Gladstone became Colonial Minister, in drawing the attention of her Majesty's Government to the grievous state of New Zealand, and in urging the necessity of prompt interference by the only competent authority in order to save from destruction the settlements which you have founded, and so far to restore the public confidence in your powers of usefulness as to enable you to resume the functions assigned to you by your charter. The same correspondence will have informed you, that the efforts which we have continually made for months past to obtain a decision of the most important questions have hitherto been in vain. We sincerely believe that the views of Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues, with respect to the policy of the Imperial Government in its relations with the Colonists, the Natives, avid the Company, do not materially
• differ from those which we have expressed in our correspondence with the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister; but if this opinion is well founded, her Majesty's Government must have some reasons besides the one with which we have been made acquainted for desiring to post- pone the adoption of practical measures suitable to the exigencies of the case. That reason is the necessity of waiting until reports shall be re- ceived from Governor Fitzroy's successor. This is an indefinite post- ponement.
It appears by the latest accounts from New Zealand, that Governor Grey had not visited your settlements, hut, after entering upon office at the seat of government, had proceeded to the Bay of Islands, where there are no settlers, for the purpose of superintending the war in that neighbourhood. What may be the issue of this contest it is difficult to conjecture ; but, even if the comparatively insignificant tribes whom Governor Grey found in open rebellion against Governor Fitzroy's au- thority should be promptly subdued, there Is every reason to fear that he will have to contend with difficulties of a still more serious nature, arising from the errors of his predecessor, and in some measure from the instructions which have been transmitted to himself. This is a matter of so much importance that we must draw your particular attention to it.
The great bulk of the aboriginal population of New Zealand inhabits the portions of the Northern Island which surround the seat of govern- ment. It is known that the tribes in the immediate neighbourhood of Auckland can muster ten thousand fighting men. These tribes, which at one time regarded the Queen's authority and the White race in general with such reverence that a helpless traveller was deemed perfectly secure from any injury at their hands, and that traders and settlers lived amongst them without fear or uneasiness, have been taught by a long series of errors and inconsistencies on the part of the three Governors who preceded Captain Grey, to despise the power of the White man, to doubt his promises, to laugh at his threats, to think that every thing may be extorted from his fears, and only to tolerate his residence amongst them while he submits to their caprices and cupidity. Gover- nor Grey has publicly declared that he will not submit to the Natives he has announced his firm intention to maintain the Queen's authority, and to subject the Native tribes to the same laws which bind the colonists. This course was enjoined to him by his instructions ; and he uses the eery words of Lord Stanley's despatch to that effect. Such a policy would doubtless have answered its purpose if it had been consistently pursued from the beginning ; but its adoption now may lead to fearful consequences, and is almost sure, we think, to end in more serious con- flict between the Government and the Natives than any that has yet occurred. Our opportunities of obtaining information from persons ef intelligence who have long resided in New Zealand, but are now in till- country, and who have for years studied the character and calculated the defensive an I aggressive means of the various tribes, are avowedly superior to those of the Colonial Office; and such persons have expressed to us their unanimous persuasion, that the firmness of Governor Grey has come too late for its object. They believe that the powerful and warlike tribes in the neighbourhood of Auckland, instead &being over. awed by the elaborative language of the new Governor, will be prompted to imitate the less barbarous tribes who Inhabit the head-quarters of Missionary Influence, and who have hitherto rebelled with success. They assert, that even if the followers of Ileki and Kawiti should be destroyed by the joint power of the British troops and the Natives who act in con- junction with the Government against their own race, a spirit of despe- ration and revenge will probably be at once displayed by other and more formidable tribes who are connected With the present rebels ; and that, at all events, the slaughter of the latter by their own countrymen In conjunction with the British troops will sow the seeds of endless war amongst the Natives. Captain Fitzroy's policy of setting tribe against tribe has unfortunately been completely adopted by Governor Grey ; and although a temporary success may attend it, all our information is in- correct if it do not produce the ulterior effects of calling upon the British Government to protect its Native allies from the vengeance of other tribes, of alarming without intimidating the powerful tribes near Auck- land, and of involving the new Governor in a series of difficulties, In- trigues, and collisions with one tribe or another. But above all, we are convinced that the attempt to establish an universal British authority over the Natives must now fail, unless it be sustained by a military force sufficient for occupying one of the most difficult countries in the world for the operations of civilized warfare, and one whose mountainous cha- racter and impenetrable forests render it peculiarly susceptible of defence by brave though undisciplined savages. That such a force will be sta- tioned in New Zealand is out of the question. Instead, therefore, of relying upon reports which may come from Governor Grey as a means of assisting in the solution of the questions which we have submitted to her Majesty's Government, we believe that he has been compelled by his instructions to commit himself to a policy for which it is necessary that
• the Imperial Government should promptly substitute one of a totally different character. We believe that for the sake of all the parties con- cerned—the Colonists, the Natives, the Government, and yourselves— not to mention the honour of our country, which Is tarnished by the re- semblance of the condition of New Zealand to that of Algeria, or the great expense to this country of a war of extermination—it has become necessary to abandon the colonization of those parts of the islands in which there is a dense Native population, and to adopt with respect to the more numerous tribes the policy of the original opponents of the colonization of New Zealand.
It would be mortifying to have to make the admission, if the policy of colonization had been wisely and consistently pursued. But when it Is so plain that the present impossibility of successful colonization In a large portion of New Zealand has been occasioned by errors which we could not prevent, and against which we continually protested, we have only to acknowledge that our opponents have partially succeeded in realizing their own wishes and verifying our predictions. We must re- mind you, however, that from the beginning we have thought it desirable that colonization should for many years to come be confined to those parts of the islands where there are but few Natives. But in whatever degree the policy which we now approve may be at variance or in agree- ment with our previous views, we find a general concurrence of opinion in favour of it. The most intelligent settlers recommend It in their letters ; the public men in this country whom we have had the oppor- tunity of consulting cordially approve of it ; and we imagine that it has found favour with the Government. That it would obtain the sanction of Parliament we have not the slightest doubt: our doubts and fears relate to the time of its adoption. We are afraid that, like the opposite policy which Governor Grey has so firmly announced, it may be adopted too late. We cannot doubt that a whole year will be lost if her Majesty's Government should continue to wait for reports from Governor Grey ; and we are satisfied that every month's delay will tend to render the adoption of what would be a wise policy now, more difficult, and more doubtful in its results.
Nor can we imagine how, in the meanwhile, your settlements could be saved from dwindling into a state of depression from which no efforts of yours or of the Government could recover them. Though far removed from the seat of the present conflicts, and of the difficulties and dangers which surround the Local Government at Aukland, they are exposed to the most imminent danger. New Plymouth and Nelson are without troops; and the military force of the Government at Wellington is ut- terly inadequate to contend against such an invasion of Natives from the Northward as may be expected to follow either a fourth defeat of the Queen's troops near the Bay of Islands, or that state of general Irritation amongst the tribes near Auckland which will probably result from Go- vernor Grey's resolute attempt to correct the errors of his predecessor by the general assertion of British authority. The settlers have Indeed been recently embodied in a Militia; but if you have read their petition to the House of Commons of which we have had copies printed for your information, you must feel that men so disheartened by a long course of neglect, injustice, and oppression on the part of their Government, can hardly be expected to make a vigorous defence. Property, In the usual sense of the word, it may be said that they have none to defend ; and if their lives should be threatened by any serious eruption of Natives from the Northward, we may rather expect that they will imitate many of the Auckland settlers by abandoning the colony in despair, than remain at the risk of their lives in such a state of misery as is described in their pe- tition. Assuming on the other hand that the great distance of your set- tlements from the habitation of nutnerous and powerful tribes should save them from attack, yet such is their condition, independently of Na- tive hostility, that we despair of being able even to preserve their existence much longer. The Colonists are still " squatters," without a title to an acre of land Their Government resides at such a distance from thens that they pass months together without hearing from it, and commonly learn what hap- pens in its neighbourhood from the Australian uewspapers. But whilst Government, as the means of accomplishing the public objects of a com- munity, is withheld from them, they are treated as rebels if they attempt to menage any of their own public concerns ; they are heavily taxed by the despotic and extravagant Government at Auckland; they are subject to ordinances of the most absurd and mischievous character passed at Auckland ; and they are tormented by the presence of subordie nate officers of the Auckland Government, whose authority is abso lute, and whose principal occupation seems to have been to rends,
the Southern settlements uninhabitable by men of ordinary self- respect and prudence. But instead of reciting the grievances of the settlers, we must again refer you to their Own complete and temperate statement of them. The effect of misgovernment to which we would now direct your attention, is the abandonment of the colony by its moat valuable settlers. During the last two years this second emigration has been considerable ; and every ship from the colony brings some fresh victims of Colonial-Office government. These returned colonists come straight to us, and afflict us is ith their complaints of disappointment and ruin. We can afford them no redress, and no consolkion hut. the expression of our warmest sympathy. We could not make you fully aware of the grievous nature of such cases, without entering into parti- culars concerning individuals which it would be improper to mention here; but you will readily conceive, when you reflect on the objects with which a man of some station and property in this country emigrates with his family to a distant colony, that our position us a screen between the complainants and the Colonial Office has become intolerable. But this Is not all : we tell you that it is our deliberate conviction, that, unless
a great change takes place immediately, your settlements will not be worth preserving. Hitherto we have hoped against hope, and have continually assured the settlers through your Agents that we expected to send them good news by the next ship. We really believed that so monstrous a state of things as the anarchy of this colony would not be maintained, as it has been from month to month and from year to year. Since the Parliamentaay discussions of last year, and especially since Mr. Gladstone's accession to office, we have been in constant expectation that some new and definite policy would be announced by her Majesty's Government. We have repeatedly, during the last few months, expressed in letters to your Agents, our conviction that her Majesty's Governwent would not allow the present session of Parliament to close without carrying into effect the Prime Minister's emphatic declaration of last year in favour of local self-government, similar to that which was enjoyed by the old English colonies in America. Recent in- quiries leave us without a doubt, that for this purpose an Act of Par- liament is indispensably requisite. We are issured, that at this time Sir Robert Peel is precluded from giving effect to his declaration of last year, by the Act 3 and 4 Victoria, cap. 61 If, therefore, the present session should close without the repeal of that Act so far as concerns the present despotic Government or New Zealand, and the passing of an Act authorizing the Crown to grant a charter of government on the old English model, we shall despair of good government for New Zealand ; and the Colonists will be utterly deprived of the hopes which have alone sustained them during the last two or three years. We still rely on our knowledge of Mr. Gladstone's earnest consideration of the whole subject, and on Sir Robert Peel's declarations : but it is our bounden duty to warn you that waiting for reports from Captain Grey means waiting in- definitely, and that the close of the session without sutticimt legislation seems highly probable. Under these circumstances the balance-sheet, of your financial posi- tion presents an aspect which demands that you should relieve us from the responsibility of determining whether we shall continue to waste money borrowed from the Government in merely pretending to carry out the objects of your charter, or shall take the nece-sdry it pa for avoiding further liabilities, for transferrinc your nominal property to the Government, which could soon restore its value by prompt and earnest endeavours, and for claimiug from the justice of Parliament in this or the ensuing session a fair compensation for your pecuniary losses, which have been occasioned, if ever cause produced effect, by acts of the Go- vernment. We confess to you that our own opinion is in favour of such a course. We are tired of the protracted and painful struggle. Your subscribed capital of 300,000/. is expended or mortgaged. You have besides expended about 300,0001., paid to you by the Settlers as the pur- chase-money of lands, which, so long ego as the 28th of May 1841, Lord John Russell directed should be "forthwith" and unconditionally granted to you, but of which not an acre has yet been obtained. For this great outlay you have really no property to show. The present expenditure of the Company is supplied by loans from your Bankers made to you on the faith of a promise of a loan of 100,000/. from the Government. That expenditure maintains establishments here and in the settlements which are rendered usele.ei by the want of a title to lands ; and it goes on without benefit to ans body. You really do nothing at present but continually augment the excess of your liabilities over your assets. Of the functions attributed to you by your charter, not one is performed by you. We come here to fritter away borrowed money, to consider claims which we have no means of satisfying, to hear the most distressing complaints without being able to assi-t the sufferers, and to frame representations to the Government which only end in disappointment. In asking you, therefore, to determiee whether this state of things shall continue or shall be brought to an end, we cannot hesitate to assure you that our own inclination is altogether in favour of the abandonment of your enterprise.
You will have gathered, however, from the correspondence which has been placed in your hands, that there is one condition upon which we should recommend you to pursue the objects of your incorporation, and should be ourselves prepared to continue the labours of directing the Company's affairs. The condition is, that during the present session of Parliament a sufficient legislative measure be adopted for the purpose of giving effect to Sir Robert Peel's declarations in favour of local self-go- vernment for the settlements of New Zealand, and for the further purpose of substituting a policy of peace with the Natives for the state of war which must continue if the attempt to subject the dense Native population to British authority and law should be pursued according to the views of the present Governor and the instructions on which he is acting. This is a question of time only, and must be speedily determined. We have no conception that its determination either way will be affected by any reports that may be received from Governor Grey. Not doubting the desire of her Majesty's Government to hear further from Governor Grey before they decide on their future policy, because in ordinary circum- stances such patience would be justifiable on considerations of official form and custom, yet we cannot doubt that in this urgent case there are other reasons than the absence of despatches from Governor Grey for the postponement since January of an announcement of the practical inten- tions of the Government ; and it behoves us to assure you that our own reasons for requesting Arr. Buller to postpone his motion in the House of Commons on the state of New Zealand, of which he had given notice for the 21st instant, were certain considerations relating to the state of busi- ness and parties in Parliament on which we think it inexpedient to dwell on the present occasion. We repeat to you the assurance of our firm belief that the Colonial Minister and the head of her Majesty's Go- vernment wish and intend to provide efficient remedies for the past and sufficient securities for the future; but, in common, with every one who attends to the state of public affairs in this country, we consider the du- ration of the session of Parliament to be very precarious, and we perceive other reasons for doubting whether it may be in the power of the Go- vernment to carry their purposes into effect. We therefore concluded our memorial to Sir Robert Peel with a prayer, that if he should not deem it consistent with his views of public duty to assure us that her Majesty's Government are proparcd to propose measures which shall avert the postponement till the next session of any legislative remedy for tile present state of New Zealand, he would not hesitate to communicate his decision to us, and to consider the arrange- ments which will he requisite to enable her Majesty's Government to take the affairs of the Company into their own hands, and afford the shareholders and land-purchasers a reasonable com- pensation for the losses which they have suffered. Having received an answer to that memorial, which leaves the matter wholly undeter- mined, we beg of you to intimate to us whether you concur with us as to the necessity of putting an end to further expenditure, winding up the affairs of the Company, and claiming compensation for the losses in- curred, in case the session should close without such a legislative mea- sure as we deem indi-pensable.
We are desirous of impressing on you that the decision to which you
may now come will be irrevocable if you should adopt our recommenda- tion. The newspapers will convey to New Zealand a report of the pro- ceedings at this meeting. We 'shall not fail to transmit to the leading set- tlers by every means of conveyance the expression of our hope that they will consider nothing to be finally determined until the close of the session of Parliament. But if the session should come to an end without the adoption of such measures as, subject to your conditional agreement with us now, will alone induce us to preserve the existence of the Com- pany, you may be very certain that the preservation of the settlements will have become impossible with a view to carrying on colonization under your charter. They may be preserved, indeed, and even restored to prosperity, by the fostering care of the Government ; but this means of saving them would of course be founded on the dissolution of the Company. After learning your decision, if it should be in accordance with our own views, (and we shall understand such agreement with us to be expressed by your unqualified adoption of this report) we shall lose no time in urging her Majesty's Government to concert with us such measures as may be best calculated to prevent the settlements from being broken up and dispersed by the news of the intended dissolution of the Company. It is our sense of the necessity or adopting such measures of precaution against the consequenees of depriving the settlers of their reliance upon the Company for their ultimate security and wellbeing, which has induced us to ask for an immediate expression of your wishes conditionally, instead of waiting till the lapse of a few weeks shall have determined the point on which we are still in doubt. Let us repeat, then, that if you should adopt this report without qualification, and if Parliament should separate without passing a law for settling the government of New Zealand, your decision will be past reed!. It is with no wish to deter you from coming to it at once that we offer this explanation ; our sole object is to make you thoroughly aware of the consequences of the decision which, for all the reasons before stated, we trust that you may adopt in accordance with our own well-considered and conclusive opinion.
There are many matters of detail which, in ordinary circumstances, we should have felt it our duty to bring under your notice. But, with the exception of the election of Directors and Auditors, which is ren- dered indispensable by your charter, we purposely abstain from making mention of them, in order that you may confine your attention to the one vital question which you have met to determine.
New Zealand House, Broad Street Buildings, 29th May 1846.
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