Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Rare Volume

Extract from the Bishop of New Zealand'S Pastoral Letter to the Members of the Church of England in New Plymouth

page 49

Extract from the Bishop of New Zealand'S Pastoral Letter to the Members of the Church of England in New Plymouth.

It has always been my lot to be accused of opposing the interests of my own countrymen in the settlements of the New-Zealand Company, by supporting the claims of the native inhabitants. The root of all this appearance of opposition (for I deny that it was real) lay in the fact, that the Agents of the New-Zealand Company, while they recognised, by partial acts of purchase, the right of the natives to the land, did not sufficiently investigate the titles, and therefore failed to extinguish them. The solution of the question was made more difficult, by the large supply of doable-barrelled guns which were given to the natives in payment for the land. A transaction which was supposed to give to two or three thousand Englishmen an absolute right to dispossess seven thousand armed New Zealandors, was concluded within a space of time, in which no honest conveyancer would undertake to draw a marriage settlement upon an encumbered estate. This was the wholesale mistake, which led to all the misfortunes and disappointments of the Company's settlers. If the purchases had been conducted with more deliberation, over small blocks of land, and with the consent of all the owners, there is reason to believe that the colonista would have remained undisturbed, as the purchases of private settlers have, almost in every instance, been sustained by the testimony of the native vendors. It is against all experience to say that either the New Zealanders are unwilling to sell land, or that, having sold it, they will not allow the purchaser to enter into possession. The Ngapuhi Chief Hongi (to whose jealous fear of the forcible occupation of the country by the English many of the feelings of the natives of the present day may be traced), always encouraged the sale of land to the European settlers, and protected them in the enjoyment of their rights. I presume that it was in reliance upon this well-known character of the New Zealanders, that the first settlement was formed at Port Nicholson, before the arrival of Governor Hobson, as a federal government under the sovereignty of the native chiefs. When I find myself accused of blighting the prospects of my countrymen, I think it sufficient to point to the Province of Auckland, in which I nominally reside, where every merchant, and almost every settler would be ready to admit that the province owes its present wonderful prosperity to the peaceful union of the two races, One hundred and fifty coasting vessels bring native produce into the port of Auckland. Five large rivers, navigated by innumerable canoes, bring down from the heart of the country the floor ground in more than twenty native water-mills. Fifty thousand natives draw their supplies of clothing, tobacco, and hardware from its stores, paying a large share of the indirect taxation of the country, without so much as asking for a share in its representative institutions. I am sure that it has been the constant feeling in the Province of Auckland, that while the New Zealanders thus con- page 50 fidingly leave to our race the entire control over the revenue accruing from their industry, so much the more must be our bounden duty to legislate wisely and equitably for them. I am not aware that a single syllable has ever been said in that province about taking possession of land which the native owners were not disponed to sell. The result of this equitable system may be judged of by a single fact, that when Captain Fitz Roy waived the Queen's right of pre-emption, 70,000 acres of land were bought by English purchasers in the course of a few months; and the great argument alleged in favour of the "Penny Proclamation," (as it was called) was, that the natives would be discontented if they were restricted in the sale of their land.

The general appearance of the Province of New Plymouth justifies the belief, that, in respect of the joint interest of the two races, the state of the case is essentially the same as at Auckland. The coasting craft and canoes of that province are here represented by the almost innumerable carts which may be seen on market days coming from north and south into the settlement Almost as many native ploughs are constantly employed in augmenting your exports. I hear of 125l. paid by a native purchaser as the price of a pair of working bullocks. The threshing machines in use in the settlement are said to be the property of native farmers. The river Waitara is stated to have exported in one year 500l. worth of produce; every shilling of which has been spent in your stores; and has paid its per centage to the revenue administered by your Provincial Council. Surely, then, it is as unjust as it is impolitic to grudge to an industrious people the possession of land which they have shewn themselves so able and willing to cultivate; and to look with an evil eye upon the places which remain waste; and even to threaten force, if they will not consent to sell the land, which, whether cultivated or not, is admitted to be their own. It is strange indeed that your advisers in the local newspapers (2) who dwell so much upon the sixth commandment, should forget altogether that the tame law has also said, Thou shalt not covet. They may disguise it to their own consciences, but it is my duty, as a minister of the Law and of the Gospel, to lift up my voice against the publication of opinions, which would lead on to tile tin of murder as the direct consequence of the sin of covetousness. I offer to my countrymen my host assistance and influence with the native people in all their just and lawful desires, but I have no fellowship with covetousness, because Ahab found it to be but the first step to bloodguiltineas. Surely there is enough of blood already crying out of the ground against the Christian nations of Europe—against Spain, and France, and England—to make us tremble for the issue of our own connection with the New Zealanders, I cannot remain silent while opinions are being expressed and plans proposed, which, if you prove to be the stronger, would destroy the New Zealanders; or, if you be found the weaker, would destroy yourselves.