New Zealand and the war

CHAPTER I. Page

Progress and Prospects of the Colony. — The recent Gold Discovery. — Increase of Population. — The New Zealand Constitution. — New Provinces. — The Church Constitution.— Synodical Action. — " Land Leagues." — The Maori " King Movement." — Policy of Sir George Grey . . 1

Chapter II

State of New Zealand at the time of the Outbreak. — Political Status of the Native Race. — Dangerous Consequences of a Collision foreseen. — The Maori Tribal System. — Maori Tenure of Land. — Cause of the Insurrection . . .45

Chapter III

The Taranaki Settlement.— The Waitara.— The Native Title. — The Waitara considered Essential to the Completeness of the Settlement. — Why valued by its Native Owners. — Their Suspicion of the Settlers. — Their early Determination not to sell the Land , 59

1331826 vi CONTENTS,

Chapter IV. Phrb

The Government urged to adopt a New System in the Purchase of Native Land. — Declaration of the Governor on the Subject. — Negotiations for the Purchase of the Waitara. — Opposition to the Sale. — Difficulty of completing a Satisfactory Purchase. — A Survey of the Land attempted. — Martial Law proclaimed. — The Land occupied by a Military Force . . . .77

Chapter V

Memorial warning the Governor not to proceed, and showing the Rights of the Native Occupants of the Land. — Rank and Position of William King, the Principal Opponent of the Sale. — Apprehension amongst the Natives excited by the forcible Occupation of the Waitara.—Remonstrances of the Absentee Claimants and others. — Their Petition to the Queen for the Governor's Recal 93

Chapter VI

Question of Title. — Disastrous Consequences to theTaranaki Settlement from the forcible Occupation of the Waitara. — Popularity of the Government Policy. — Debates in the General Assembly. — Sir William Martin's Pamphlet on the " Taranaki Question." — " Notes by the Governor " . 116

Chapter VII

Military Operations. — War risked without Preparation. — Power of the Insurgents underrated. — Repulse of the Troops at Puketekauere. — The Outsettlers driven in. —

CONTENTS. Ml

Page

Women and Children sent away to the neighbouring Provinces for safety. — The Taranaki Settlements virtually destroyed. — Impracticable Character of the Taranaki Country for Military Operations. — The Insurgents continue to keep the Field. — Embarrassing Position of the Governor. — Sudden Cessation of Hostilities. — Terms of Peace. — Difficulty of Warfare in the Bush. — Cost of the War. — Change in Public Opinion. — Waikato " King Movement." — Change of Ministry. — Sir George Grey appointed Governor. — The Colony saved from a General War 139

Chapter VIII

Impolicy of risking a War at Taranaki. — Policy of the Government as officially explained. — Hostilities : by whom commenced. — The Natives blamed for not appealing to the Law. — Result of the War. — Future Policv . .181

NEW ZEALAND.

AND

THE WAE.

Chapter I

Progress and Prospects of the Colony. — The recent Gold Discovery.— Increase of Population. — The New Zealand Constitution.— New Provinces. — The Church Constitution. — Synodical Action. — "Land Leagues." — The Maori "King Movement." — Policy of Sir George Grey.

VARIOUS and valuable as are its known productions, the natural resources of NEW ZEALAND have as yet been very imperfectly developed ; but the estimate which was formed of its advantages as a field for British colonization has been verified in almost every particular: and when the confidence of the Natives shall be restored, and when the measures now being taken, under the able administration of Sir George Grey, for establishing peace, order, and government amongst them, shall be completed, New Zealand will assuredly rank as the most attractive and important of our possessions in the Southern Hemisphere.

When the Colony was first founded, neither gold nor wool was counted amongst its probable productions : and the Southern Island was comparatively unknown. But the discovery of a valuable gold-field in the Province of Otago, commencing about thirty or forty miles southward of Dunedin, already promises the most important consequences. In the course of a few weeks 10,000 persons, chiefly from the Australian Colonies, were attracted to the Province, and were engaged in the search for gold. Gold to the value of more than 100,000?. has for some weeks been carried by escort from the ground; in proportion to the numbers employed, the yield largely exceeds the richest of the Victoria gold-fields, and within less than three months the population of the Province was more than doubled.

According to the Official Returns for the year 1860, the English population of New Zealand, amounting to upwards of eighty thousand, was

INCREASE OF POPULATION. 3

distributed amongst the several Provinces as follows : —

NORTHERN ISLAND.

English Maori Popula- Population. tion: 1857.

Province of Auckland . . . 23,732 . . 38,269

SOUTHERN ISLAND.

„ Nelson ( including

„ Canterbury . . 12,784 . . 638 „ Otago ( including

Stewart Island 200

Chatham Islands . . . . ' '. . . ' ' 510

But the Colony has now an English population, exclusive of the Native race, of more than 100,000 souls, nearly equally divided between the two Islands ; but if the Southern gold-fields shall prove, as they promise to be, not only rich but extensive and permanently productive, the Southern Island will soon have a large preponderance of population ; and an attempt will, no doubt, be made to

* A large number of the wives and children of the Taranaki settlers had been temporarily removed from the province in consequence of the war.

1—2 have it erected into a separate and independent Colony.

Previous to the recent gold discovery, wool was the great staple product of New Zealand. In the course of seven years the quantity produced has increased sevenfold; and the value of the wool now annually exported from the Colony amounts to more than half a million sterling. It is grown chiefly on the grassy plains of the south ; but wool of superior quality is also grown on the cultivated pastures of the Province of Auckland. Sheep-farming, even on the grassy plains and rich pastures of New Zealand, is not without its vicissitudes; but, under the eye of the master, and with ordinary care and attention, it is found to yield a profitable return for the capital employed in it. But nearly the whole of the crown-land available for pastoral purposes is already occupied by a few extensive run-holders, who have for some time been in the receipt of a very considerable income.

A gold-field has for some time been worked in the Province of Nelson which produces a yield of about 50,0002. a year. Gold has also been discovered in the Northern Island; and permis-

CLIMATE. 5

sion has recently been obtained from the Natives to search over the gold-bearing district of the North ; and the offer of a free grant of forty acres of land to each immigrant is again, since peace has been restored, attracting to the Province of Auckland a stream of valuable settlers. The other provinces, with the exception of Taranaki, are also making steady progress.

In both Islands the soil and climate have been proved to be adapted to the growth of every description of farm produce. Of the thirty millions of acres of land which have been acquired from the Natives, almost 150,000 acres have been brought into cultivation ; and the colonists are already rich in live-stock of every description. More than 15,000 horses, 150,000 head of cattle, and upwards of two millions of sheep, are owned by the settlers alone. The country is liable neither to oppressive heat, severe frost, nor destructive drought ; but the climate will disappoint those who expect perpetual sunshine and an atmosphere undisturbed by wind or rain. The weather is changeable, and the seasons are uncertain ; but the climate is mild and healthy, and better suited to the English constitution than that of Canada, Australia, or the Cape of Good Hope. For those who are liable to pulmonary disease, there are districts in New Zealand which, as a place of residence, are hardly inferior to Madeira itself, and greatly superior to any part of Italy or the south of France. But in spite of all warning, numbers leave England for the Colonies who are utterly unfitted for a settler's life, not a few of whom find their way to New Zealand ; with these exceptions, the settlers who have been steady and industrious have bettered their condition, and the greater number have laid the foundation of an early independence.

The form of Government best suited to the peculiar circumstances of the country is a problem which still remains to be solved. When the subject was under the consideration of Parliament it was obvious that, with its numerous and widely detached settlements, New Zealand could not be governed in detail by a single central authority ; and it was provided by the Constitution, that in addition to the general Legislature, six subordinate Provincial Councils should also be esta-

NEW PROVINCES. 7

blishecl with large powers of legislation. Yet with all this legislative machinery, it was found that there was important districts still governed from a distance, and in which the inhabitants possessed little or no power of local self-government. Three of the most important of these outlying districts have, under the authority of an Act of the Assembly, been recently carved out of the original provinces ; and New Zealand is now divided into nine provinces of unequal extent ; Auckland, the largest, having an area of upwards of seventeen millions of acres ; and the smallest, Taranaki, having an area of between two and three millions only. In some respects the constitution of the three new provinces * differs from that of the provinces established by Parliament : instead of being elected by the people themselves, the Superintendent is chosen by the Council of the province; and an Act passed by any new province cannot come into operation until it shall have received the Governor's assent. But with this restriction, the legislative jurisdiction of the new provinces is equally extensive with that of the original provinces ; and there may now be as

* Hawkes Bay, Marlborough, and Southland.

many ns ilitee different laws in the same country on a variety of important subjects. It still remains to be discovered how the principal settlements, several hundred miles distant from the seat of Government, may have free scope for their development, and how the more thinly-peopled outlying districts may enjoy sufficient power of local self-government, yet in due subordination to a single central authority, and without encumbering the Colony with an inconvenient multiplicity and diversity of laws.

The Natives of New Zealand, like ourselves, appreciate the advantage of law and order; but, like ourselves, they also 'prefer self-government to being governed by a stranger. They say that it is not just that the Maories should be placed entirely in the power of the white man ; that salt water and fresh water do not mix well together ; and that if their affairs are to be put into the hands of any assembly, they should be placed in the hands of an assembly consisting of their own race. No one would have desired to see the whole of the Natives at once placed on the electoral roll ; — but in the first instance, it was generally understood that the Natives, as

THE CONSTITUTION. 9

well as the Colonists, if they were •fee owners or the individual occupiers of lands or tenements of the value prescribed by the Constitution, would be qualified to vote at the election of Members of the Colonial Legislature ; and several of them claimed to be placed upon the electoral roll, and gave their votes at the election, but their claims to vote as owners or occupiers of land held under native tenure was soon called in question. The late Governor's advisers declared the opinion that it is just in itself, and a political necessity, that no electoral qualification should be derived from the tenure or occupation of lands or tenements which are not held under a Crown title; and in pursuance of a Resolution of the House of Representatives, the question was submitted to the Attorney and Solictor-General, whether the Natives can have such possession of any land that is used or occupied by them in common as tribes or communities, and not held under title derived from the Crown, as would qualify them to become electors. The opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown brought to light the fact that the Natives have hitherto been left as entirely without law or tribunal for the determination of questions

10 NETV ZEALAND AND THE WAR.

relating to territorial rights, as they were before the discovery of the country by Captain Cook. " Suppose," say the Law Officers of the Crown, " in a district of Native land lying within the limits of an Electoral District, that one Native by consent of the rest is permitted to have exclusive possession of a piece of land, in which he builds a Native hut for his habitation, but is afterwards turned out or trespassed on by another Native : could he bring an action of ejectment or trespass in the Queen's Court in New Zealand ? Does the Queen's Court ever exercise any jurisdiction over real property in a Native district? We presume," they say, " this question must be answered in the negative ; and it must of necessity therefore follow that the subjects of householding, occupancy and tenements, and their value in Native districts, are not matters capable of being recognized, ascertained, or regulated by English law." And on the question submitted to them they gave their opinion in the negative. And it has since been admitted by the Colonial Department that the New Zealand Constitution was framed in forgetfulness of the large Native Tribes within the dominions in which it was intended to apply.

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 11

If a separation shall take place between the Northern and Southern Islands, the Constitution must of necessity be revised, and an opportunity will be afforded of reconsidering its provisions. But whatever may be its defects, it has proved generally acceptable at least to the English Colonists, and largely instrumental in promoting the progress of the several principal settlements. On leaving the Colony, Governor Browne had the satisfaction of receiving an address from the House of Representatives, assuring him of their appreciation of his endeavours to facilitate the operation of responsible government in the Colony, and to fulfil the promises which he made prior to its introduction. So far also as relates to the Colonists themselves, the experiment of introducing the <e responsible " system has been conducted with prudence and moderation. Able men have been found amongst the Colonists to undertake the management of public affairs. The fittest men have hitherto had no difficulty in finding seats in the House of Representatives ; and the debates in the Assembly have been conducted with acknowledged ability.

The measures which were prepared by the General Conference for organizing a system of government for the Church in New Zealand have been completed; and though based only on the principle of voluntary compact, they promise to be productive of useful results. If the subject of organizing a constitutional government for the Church of England shall ever become a question of practical importance, something may be learned from the New Zealand experiment. It must be interesting indeed, under any circumstances, to witness the difficulties which churchmen have to encounter when thrown upon their own resources in a new country, without law or organization, without endowments, and beyond the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical tribunals of the mother country.

Regulations had already been made by the General Conference, prescribing the number of members of which the first General Synod should consist ; but no provision was made for the constitution of future General Synods ; so the first business of the first General Synod, held at Wellington on the 8th of March, 1854> was to prepare a measure for the purpose. And it was provided that in future the General Synod

THE CHUKCH CONSTITUTION. 13

should consist of the several Bishops for the time being; of eighteen Clerical Representatives, to be elected by the clergy ; and of twenty-nine Lay Representatives, to be elected by the laity : that every layman of the age of twenty-one years, or upwards, who shah1 sign a declaration that he is a member of the United Church of England and Ireland, shall be entitled to vote at the election of Lay Representatives for the district in which he may reside ; and that every layman, being a communicant and qualified as an elector, shall be qualified to be elected as a Lay Representative.

In addition to a General Synod for the whole Colony, it was provided by the Constitution that a Synod should be established in each diocese ; but it remained to be determined what should be the number of the members, their qualification, and the mode of their election ; and statutes were passed for the organization of Diocesan Synods and of Archdeaconry Boards ; for regulating the formation of parishes; for the appointment of pastors of parishes ; for delegating certain of the powers of the General Synod to a standing commission or executive body to act when the Synod itself shall not be in session; and for deciding doubts in the interpretation of the statutes to be passed by the General and the several Diocesan Synods. A measure was also prepared, but left for .final consideration at a future session, on the subject of Church discipline ; — and after a session extending over a period of twenty-eight days, the first General Synod brought their proceedings to a close. Within less than a year afterwards Synods were also called together in the several dioceses (excepting Waiapu), whose members devoted themselves with considerable zeal and interest to the task of completing the work of organization which the General Synod had begun.

One of the most important of the measures of the first General Synod was the statute to provide for the appointment of pastors to parishes. When it was first mooted, the subject was entirely new to most of the members. As might be expected, opinions were various ; and, in the first instance, there was little prospect of unanimity. No readymade plan was brought forward either by the Bishops, Clergy, or Lay Members. As the discussion proceeded, points of agreement were gradually arrived at. The feeling was unanimous that rights of private patronage should not be

THE CHURCH CONSTITUTION. 15

admitted. No one proposed that the Bishop of the diocese should be the sole and absolute patron ; nor, on the other hand, that pastors should be appointed by the parishioners at large. JBy degrees, the opinion gained ground, that it is important, not to the parish only, but to the Church at large, that a proper appointment should be made to every vacant cure ; and that every cure should, if possible, be filled by a clergyman acceptable to the congregation, yet without being directly chosen by themselves, and without being removed from a more extended sphere of usefulness. To secure these objects, it was finally determined that the trust of selecting a clergyman and nominating him to the Bishop of the diocese for institution to a vacant cure, should be vested in a Board of Nominators, to be appointed annually by the Diocesan Synod, and by the Vestry of each parish. But of what number the Board should consist, and in what proportion they should be elected respectively by the Synod and by the Vestry, was left to be determined by the Synod of each diocese.

When the subject afterwards came to be considered by the Synod of the Northern Diocese, the question as to the proportion in which the members of the Board of Nominators should be elected by the Synod and by the parish was debated at considerable length ; — a majority of the Lay Members inclining to the opinion that the members of the Board to be elected by the Vestry should exceed the number of members to be elected by the Synod; and it was ultimately determined that the Board of Nominators should consist of five members, two of whom should be elected each year by the Synod, and three by the Vestry of each parish. As not less than twothirds of the members of the Board must concur in every nomination, no nomination can be made without the concurrence of four out of the five, and consequently no nomination can be made in opposition to the opinion of a majority of the members elected by the Vestry, nor, on the other hand, without the concurrence of one at least of the two members elected by the Synod. As a further safeguard against an improper nomination, the Bishop of the diocese, if not satisfied of the fitness of the party presented by the Board, may reject him ; and as a security against the exercise by the Bishop of his power

CHURCH CONSTITUTION. 17

of rejection on arbitrary, frivolous, or vexatious grounds, the rejected nominee may appeal to the House of Bishops, who, if they think the Bishop's alleged grounds of objection insufficient, may over-rule them, and may direct institution to be given. The members are changed every year, so as always to represent the Synod and the Yestry for the time being ; but the Board is always in existence, and ready to act whenever a vacancy may occur, special care having been taken that the members of it shall not be elected for the purpose of nominating in any particular case. By means of the members elected by the Vestry, it is expected that the Board will be made acquainted with the condition and circumstances of the parish, and with the views and wishes of the parishioners; and by means of its diocesan members, that the Board will be made acquainted with the character, ability, and antecedents of the several candidates ; and that possessing this united knowledge, the Board of Nominators will be qualified to act in the character of a valuable council of advice to the Bishop in appointing the fittest person to the vacant cure. Experience alone can determine the value of the system which has been devised for securing this important object; but the statute passed by the General Synod, supplemented by the Statute of the Diocesan Synod of Auckland for the appointment of a Board of Nominators, may be regarded as affording some test of the fitness of the Colonists for the work they have undertaken of organizing an ecclesiastical system for the Church of England in New Zealand. A Synod is about to be established in the Native Diocese of Waiapu, under the presidency of Bishop Williams ; several of the Clerical Members will be Native deacons ; the whole of the Lay Representatives will be Natives, and the proceedings will be conducted in the Maori language. Considering the time, the place, and the circumstances, the first meetings of the Synod of the Diocese of Waiapu will be one of the most remarkable events in the history of the Church.

The recent disturbances in the Colony have compelled general attention to the necessity for reconsidering our relations with the Native race.

LAND LEAGUES. 19

The Land Leagues which have been formed amongst them, and their connection with the "Maori King Movement," have been frequently misunderstood. In some instances the Natives, in forming a Land League, and in connecting themselves with the King movement, neither intended disloyalty to the Crown, nor wholly to put a veto on the sale of Maori land ; their object in placing the land of the Tribe under the care of the King being to make him the arbitrator in case of disputes amongst themselves; to constitute him their mouthpiece as to the land which the tribe as a whole were or were not disposed to sell, so as to prevent the tribal property from being dealt with by individuals, or a fraction only ot the Tribe, and thus spare themselves from incessant and destructive feuds. In some cases no doubt the object of the Land League was to maintain their own power and influence by preventing any further alienation of territory; and it can hardly be surprising that a high-spirited people should look with suspicion and misgiving at the increasing numbers and the growing influence of the colonizing race, or that some of their leading Chiefs, seeing a considerable portion

2—2 of the country already in the hands of the settlers, should have formed an agreement amongst themselves to hold fast to the land which still remains to them.

But unwise as it may be, this compact, so long as it is confined in its operation to those who are parties to it, is no more an offence against the law than an " eight-hours' movement " or a " temperance league," nor is there any reason to fear that it will long be persisted in, or become a practical hindrance to the progress of British colonization. For more than twenty years land has been acquired from the Natives faster than it can be made use of by the Colonists. Nearly the whole of the Middle Island has already become by purchase the property of the Crown ; and in the Northern Island, where we have not yet 50,000 Colonists, we have acquired from the Natives seven millions of acres, of which but an insignificant portion has been brought into cultivation. In fact there need be no real difficulty in acquiring the whole of the surplus land of the Natives as fast as we can use it. It is by no means essential to the successful colonization of the country, that the Crown should continue to

LAND LEAGUES. 21

monopolize the right of purchasing Native land ; nor is there any reason why its owners should be virtually compelled to dispose of it at a price below its market value. Let the Government abandon its position as a land dealer. Let all unnecessary restrictions be removed which prevent the Native owner from disposing of his land in open market, and obtaining for it its real value,* and let the Colonists at the same time moderate their apparent eagerness to obtain possession, and the Natives generally will soon become as clamorous to dispose of their land, as some of them have for some time been determined to retain it. But under any circumstances land can always be acquired from the Natives much more quickly, and much more cheaply by fair purchase than by military force. Nor would any true friend dissuade them from parting with their land. Hitherto their rights have been

* " And with regard to the alienation of land, might there not exist a well-founded distrust of a Government which, while it did not permit the sale of land to individuals, does, by holding out inducements which few savages are able to resist, acquire the article which the Maori has to sell at a very low rate (sixpence or a shilling an acre), which article is instantly retailed to the white man at ten shillings an acre ! " — Sir William Denison to Governor Browne, recognized and respected, and friendlj relations have until recently been maintained between the two races ; but if the dominant race, whose flocks and. herds are already numbered by the million, shall find themselves cramped for space, and if the progress of colonization shall be seriously impeded, the surplus lands of the Natives will become a bone of contention, with a result which the light of history renders it by no means difficult to foresee.

The attempt has indeed already been made to induce the British Government to regard the conduct of the Natives in resisting what they believed to be an encroachment on their territorial rights, in joining the so-called " King Movement," and in forming a league to retain possession of their lands, as acts of rebellion against the British Crown justifying the confiscation of their land, and calling for the employment of the Queen's Troops at the cost of the Imperial Treasury ; but unless the statement officially reported by the late Governor be an unwarrantable libel upon the settlers, that they "are determined to enter in and possess the lands of the Natives, and that neither law nor equity will prevent them," and

LAND LEAGUES. 23

if it be true, as stated by the late Native Minister, that a degraded portion of the newspaper press had teemed with menaces of this kind, and with scurrilous abuse of the Natives and of all who took an interest in their welfare,' — there will always be danger of a Native insurrection, so long as it shall be understood that an extension of territory may be obtained by the forfeiture or confiscation of Native lands. The Native owners of the soil have already peaceably alienated more than half their territory on the most reasonable terms.* Yet although her Majesty has guaranteed

* " It might not be generally known that a vast extent of the lands in the Middle Island was obtained from the Natives on certain conditions. The whole of the land commencing at Eaiapoi, and extending south to Molyneux, amounting to about twenty two million of acres, was acquired from the Natives by a payment of i,OOOZ., and an assurance given by the Commissioner (himself Mr. Mantel), on behalf of the Government, that they must not regard the 2,000/. as the principal payment, but the benefits they would acquire from schools erected for their education, from medical attendance, and the general hospitable care of the Government. Those lands passed to the Government, but the promises made had never to this day been properly fulfilled." — Speech of the Native Minister (Mr. Mantel), House of Representatives.