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CHAPTER XXVII.

NEW ZEALAND COLONIZATION.

THE OLD PAKEHA POPULATION-THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANYESTABLISHMENT OF BRITISH SOVEREIGNTY IN NEW ZEALAND, AND ITS CONSTRUCTION AS A REGULAR COLONY-ITS PROGRESS -LAND-QUARRELS WITH THE NATIVES-THEIR ATTEMPTED PROTECTION BY THE GOVERNMENT-THE INFLUENCE OF THE

MISSIONARIES LATER GROWTH OF THE COLONY. [1839-1867.]

I

IN the early part of 1839 there were about two thousand Pakehas, or English residents, in New Zealand, some of them as missionaries and their dependants, but most of them as traders of one sort or another. They were scattered along the shore, and in various inland parts, though chiefly in the northern island, or New Ulster, and especially in its most northern districts. Kororarika, in the Bay of Islands, was the locality most frequented by them; and there, in 1838, a sort of republic had been formed, with laws of its own making, for mutual assistance and protection in dealings with the natives. The report of this organization seems to have encouraged some English adventurers in the adoption of schemes, previously advanced, for establishing in New Zealand a regular colony.

The schemes had taken shape in the founding, in 1837, of a New Zealand Association, designed to carry out plans very similar to those that already

THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

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had been tried and had failed in South Australia. In both cases the guiding genius was Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield; and here the proposal was at once to buy up from the natives large tracts of land to be sold to private adventurers, to whom special inducements were to be offered for extending English civilization over the whole country, -all which, it was expected, would in a short time pass from its native owners and become English property. The association, being refused a charter, was dissolved; but in 1838 it was revived as the New Zealand Company, which, its proposals being again rejected by the Government, proceeded to put them in force without authority. It had many supporters, and Colonel Wakefield, the son of the projector, went out with a party of pioneers. He reached Cook's Straits in August 1839, and in the course of two months went through the form of buying land, on both sides of the channel, which formed in all a territory as large as Ireland, for about £1500 worth of muskets, gunpowder, tomahawks, pocket-handkerchiefs, tobacco, Jews' harps, and other articles; being at the rate of about sixpennyworth of goods for every thousand acres. The chieftains of whom it was bought had, of course, no right to sell it; but, if this was known to the leaders of the enterprise, it was not understood by most of the colonists who were induced to join in the work, and who, soon after landing, found themselves involved in serious difficulties with the natives on account of their aggressions.

They had difficulties also with the English GovernIn June 1839 instructions were sent out by

ment.

Lord Normanby, then Colonial Secretary, to the Governor of New South Wales, authorizing him to regard all British residents in New Zealand as his subjects, and, both on their behalf and in the interests of the natives, to treat with the latter for the purchase of land. These instructions, designed especially as a curb upon the ill-planned projects of the New Zealand Company, were wise and generous. “The Queen," it was there said, "disclaims, for herself and for her subjects, every pretension to seize on the islands of New Zealand, or to govern them as a part of the dominion of Great Britain, unless the free and intelligent consent of the natives, expressed according to their established usages, shall be first obtained." Careful directions were given with a view to securing this end, and to the observance of sincerity, justice, and good-faith in all dealings with the natives. "Nor is this all," it was added. They must not be permitted to enter into any contracts in which they might be ignorant and unintentional authors of injuries to themselves. You will not, for example, purchase from them any territory, 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 must be confined to such districts as the natives can alienate without distress or serious inconvenience to themselves. Το secure the observance of this will be one of the first duties of their official protector."1

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The English Government cannot be blamed for the troubles that began in that early day, and have lately 1 "Parliamentary Papers," 1840, pp. 37-42.

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ESTABLISHMENT OF BRITISH SOVEREIGNTY.

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become very grievous, through the greed of private speculators, and the jealous, violent patriotism of the New Zealanders. In accordance with the instructions issued by Lord Normanby, Captain Hobson was sent to New Zealand as lieutenant-governor. He reached Kororarika, in the Bay of Islands, on the 29th of January 1840, and there established the rule of English law in lieu of the self-governing regulations of its British residents. In February he had a conference with forty-six chiefs of the islands and neighbouring mainland, and submitted to them a treaty by which they recognised the sovereignty of Queen Victoria, on condition of having all their local rights and privileges respected. Send the man away!" said one chief, with whom many sympathized. Do not sign the paper. If you do, you will be reduced to the condition of slaves, and be obliged to break stones to make roads. Your land will be taken from you, and your dignity as chiefs will be destroyed." But other chiefs thought differently, and urged so eloquently the value of alliance with Great Britain that all were convinced, and the treaty was signed. "You must be our father!" said the leader of this friendly party to Captain Hobson. "You must not allow us to become slaves! you must preserve our customs, and never permit our lands to be wrested from us!" Captain Hobson afterwards visited the principal parts of New Ulster, and sent a deputy on a like tour through New Munster. Everywhere he received the submission of the principal chiefs. Thus British sovereignty was

commenced in New Zealand.

On the 16th of November 1840 the colony of New

Zealand was established by charter, and Captain Hobson was appointed its first governor. He was empowered to grant "waste and uncleared lands" to European settlers, "provided that nothing shall affect or be construed to affect the rights of any aboriginal natives of the colony, to the actual occupation or enjoyment in their own persons, or in the persons of their descendants, of any lands now occupied or enjoyed by such natives." Captain Hobson was also enjoined "to promote education among the native inhabitants; to protect them in their persons, and in the free enjoyment of their possessions; by all means to prevent and restrain all violence and injustice which may in any manner be practised or attempted against them; and to take such measures as may appear necessary for their conversion to the Christian faith, and for their advancement in civilization."

No colony ever began better in theory; but in practice the generous principles propounded were found utterly untenable. The native chiefs, in yielding submission to the English Crown, thought they were only conferring on it magisterial powers, and intended to keep their territorial rights intact. In the treaty nothing had been said about "waste lands," and the natives considered that there were no "waste lands" at all in the country. Every acre, whether cultivated or left desolate, had some individual claimant, or was regarded as the common property of the members of some tribe; and, though at first they offered no objection to small appropriations of land on the coast, especially when they knew that the monster pretensions of the New Zealand Company were repudiated by the Government, their jealousy

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