INSTRUCTIONS FROM Til E I A OFFICE TO CAPTAIN HOBSON.
REGARDING LAND iN NEW ZEAL A ND.
Extract from a llesultelt front the Marquis I' Normanku fo evtqia Hebson, aat(‘I Downing Niro f unnet Iezn9.
" It is not, however, to the mere recognition ef the severelen authority of the Queen that your endeavours arc to be confined or your ii..-otiations di- rected. It is further necessary that the chiet;i should be indite, d, it' possible, to contract with you, as representing her 'Majesty. that hen.‘ofonv.ird. 210 lands shall be ceded either gratuiiously or othervi ise exe...pt so C... C,N it of Great Britain. Contemplating the future growth and ex....i,slon 1;1:11611 colony
in New Zealand, it is an object of tie first importai:oe the alienation of the unsettled lands within its limits should i.e conduct od tr..m its commence- ment upon that system of sale of which experience har. ptov, 1 the wisdom, and the disregard of which has hom so flit a to the other British settlements. With a view to those ts, it is oln same thing whether large tracts of land be acquit :it 1.2.- the mei.s t:overnntent, or by purchases effected on 'minima considerations l'soio the Oa either supposition, the load must be wasted, the intrAneti.m. otPcmigrants
delayed or prevented, and the country parcelled out amongst large landholders, whose possessions must long remain an ituprofitable, or rather a pernicious waste. Indeed, in the compariemt of the two methods of acquiring land gra- tuitously, that of grants from the Crown, nisellievous as it is, would be the less inconvenient, as such grants must he made with at heist some kind. of system, with some degree of responsibility, subject to some corditions, and re- corded for general information. But in the case of purchases from the natives, even these securities ag,ainst abuse most be omitted, and none could be substi- tuted for them. You will therefitre, immediately on your arrival, announce by a proclamation addressed to all the Queen's subjects in Nov Zealand, that her Alejesty will not ackilow beige as valid any title to land which either has been or shall hereafter be acquired in that country, which is not either derived from or confirmed by a grant to be made in her Majesty's; name and on her behalf.
" You will, however, at the same time take care to dispel any apprehensions which may be created in the minds of the settlers, that it is intended to dis• possess the owners of any property which has been aquired on equitable con- ditions, and which is not upon a scale which must be prejudicial to the latent interests of the conainunity. " Extensive acquisition: of such lands have undoubtedly been already ob- tained; and it is probable that before your arrival it great addition will have been made to them. The embarrassments occasioned by such claims will demand your earliest and most cart MI attention. "I shall in the sequel explain the relation in which the proposed colony Win stand to the government of Nt.w Smith Wales. From that illation I propose to derive the resources necessary felt- encountering the dillicuity I have men- tioned. The Governor of the colony will, with the advice of' the Legishitive Council, be instruetol to if point a Legislative Commission to investi■mte and mue:ert ailt what are the lands in New Zealand held by British subjects under g:muts front the natives, L..tv IL uet' grants were lawfully acquired and ought to he respected, and what may hove 1,eett the price or other sal :tail: considera- tion, ;;I yen fur them. The Can1111“ suers will matte their report to the Go- vernor ; and it trill then be di tided by him how liar the claimants, or any of thou, may be entitled to confM., dory grants from the Crown, and on what ccedithArs such confirmation ought t I be made.
1"11.c propriety of itunte.liately sahjecting to a small annual tax all un- Chare1 lands it ithin the British ..s... Clements in New Zeeland will also engage the immediate attention of the Gov rnor anti Council of New South M ales. The forfeiture of all bolds in resd :et of which the tax shall rcmi it for a cer- tain period in nrrear, wottld prohohls before lone restore to the demesne of the Crown so much of the waste lanul as may be held unprotitahly to themselves and to the public by the actual chi mutts.
" Having by these methods ohei-*.-1 the dangers of the acquisition of large
tracts of country by nu. re land it will be your duty to obtain by fair PM' equal contracts with the tat vu the cession to the Crown of such waste latids as may be progressively require-1 for the occupation of settler, resorting to New 'Zealand. All such contracts should be made by yourself, through the intorvention of an officer expressly appointed to watch over the interests of the oboe:aims
as their protector. The resales of the first purchases that may be
:mile will provide the fn n1s nee for future acquisition, an 1 beyond the original investment ,tf a vely small sum of money, no other resource will be necessary for this peer t,e. I thus assume that the price to be paid to the natives by the local aoverement will bear an exceedingly small proportion to the price fur - which the same land,, tt ill be resold lty the Government to the settlers. Nor is there :11:y real injustice in 111i; inequality. To the natives or their chief's much of' the land of the country is of no actual u;e, and in their hands it puu. uesses scarcely any exclongeabie value : much of it must remain useless even in the hands of the British Government also; but its value in excharg,e will be first created, and then progressively increased by the introduc-
tion of capit,.1 and of settlers from this it wary. In the itenefits of that in-
crease the natives themselves gradually participate. "Ii du ,tiogi with the aborigines f ur their lauds utmost lo conducted 011 the sante lorinciples of sincerity, justice. and ,good faith, as must govern your transaetions with them for the reeow.::ion of her Majesty's s,vvereignty in the ish.nds. Nor is this all : they must mut he permitted to 'titer into any con- tracts in whieh they might be the h:atorant mu l imintentioaal authors of in- juries to themselves ; yott will not, fie: example, purchase front them any terri- tory the retention of which by them would be essential or highly conducive to their own comfort, safety, or subsistence. The acquisition of land by the Crown for the future settlement of British subjects, 111lIst L.' confined to such
districts as the natives can alienate without distress or serious inconvenience to themselves. To secure the observauec of this rule, will be one of the first ut it s of their official Protector."
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