FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE

15. I shall not seek to prove, what you will all be ready to admit, that the treatment you have received from the Government, since its establishment in these Islands down to the present hour, has been invariably marked by kindness. I will not count the Hospitals founded for the benefit of your sick ; the Schools provided for the education of your children ; the encouragement and assistance given you to possess yourselves of vessels, to cultivate wheat, to build mills, and to adopt the civilized habits of your white brethren. I will not enumerate the proofs which have been given you that your interests anJ well-being have been cared for, lest you should think lam ungenerously recalling past favours. All will admit that not only have your ears listened to the words of kindness, but that your eyes have seen and your hands have handled its substantial manifestations. 16. I will not now detain you by alluding to other matters of great importance, but will communicate with you from time to time and call your attention to them before you separate. Let me, however, remind you that though the Queen is able without any assistance from you to protect the Maories from all foreign enemies, she cannot without their help protect the Maories from themselves. It is therefore the duty of all who would regret to see their Race relapse into barbarism, and who desire to live in peace and prosperity, to take heed that the counsels of the foolish do not prevail, and that the whole country be not thrown into anarchy and confusion by the folly of a few misguided men. Finally,—l must congratulate you on the vast progress in civilization which your people have made under the protection of the Queen. Cannibalism has been exchanged for Christianity; Slavery has been abolished ; War has become more rare; Prisoners taken in war are not slain ; European habits are gradually replacing those of your ancestors of which all Christians are necessarily ashamed. The old have reason to be thankful that their sunset is brighter than their dawn, and the young may be grateful that their life did not begin until the darkness of the heathen night had been dispelled by that light which is the glory of all civilized Nations. Earnestly praying that God may grant His blessing on your deliberations and guide you in the right path, I leave you to the free discussion of the subjects I have indicated, and of any others you may think likely to promote the welfare of your Race. (Signed) Thomas Gore Browne, Governor.

Despatch from the Secretary of State. copy of a DESPATCH from the right hon. the earl of Carnarvon to governor GORE BROWNE, C. B. Downing Street, 18th May, 1859. Sir,— I have received your Despatches named in the margin, which transmit for the consideration of Her Majesty the following Acts, passed by the Legislature of New Zealand :— No. 41—"An Act to regulate the Local Affairs of Native Districts." No. 42— " An Act to make better provision for the Administration of Justice in Native Districts." No. 79 —" An Act to enable the Governor to establish a Settlement for Colonisation in the Bay of Islands." t No. 80 —" An Act to enable the Native Tribes in New Zealand to have their Territorial Rights ascertained, and to authorise the issue, in certain cases, of Crown Grants to the Natives." I wish, in the first place, to acknowledge the care, ability, and sound judgment with which these Bills appear in most respects to have been adapted to the character anil circumstances of the Native Tribes ; and if I am unable in some respects to give effect to the policy of your advisers, I •wish them to believe that this does not arise from any want of reliance on their desire to advance the well-being of the Natives, nor of their capacity to deal with the important and delicate question* on which that well being depends, but from ray conviction do not yet justify the Imperial Government in abdicating the responsibilities which are at present rest on it with regard to that remarkable race. The Act No. 41 appears to me on the whole wisely framed and to bear great promise of usefulness. The second clause however is open to an objection on the grounds which I have already indicated. It not only invests the Governor in Council with the virtual power of making laws affecting in many most important respects the rights and habits of the Natives, (a power which I readily concede, on the understanding that the Governor will exercise a personal discretion in consenting to them) but it omits to secure to the Crown its customary right of disallowance. If however that right is indispensible with regard to laws which are passed by the Representatives of the colonists for the furtherance and protection of their own interests, much more is it necessary in regard to regulations enacted by the Governor in Council for people whom they cannot in any sense be said to represent. I have felt much doubt whether I could properly advise Her Majesty to leave to its operation a law which was open to so important an objection. But believing that the Act is on the whole in the direction of a wise and useful legislation, and that the Legislature of

Ho. 79.14 th Sept., 1 Mβ. No. 101. 13th Oct., 1858. N«rio27T4th Oct., 1858~T 'jTorTo3riath~dctzr i858.~ No. 117!TsthlJe77l858.

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