B.—No. 5,
1860
18G1
denied the right of Teira to sell. It will be sufficient to state that on the 26th of; January,. 1860, the Governor reported to the Duke of Newcastle that the title of Teira and others, having been minut ?ly examined for several months, proved, and extinguished by the Crown, a survey had been ordered in tho usual manner, and that it was his intention, in. case of the rumored resistance on the part of William King taking place, "to enforce Her Majesty's right to deal with her own subjects without hindrance from anyone not having a legitimate interest in the transaction." This decision received the approval of the Executive Council, which, in accordance with existing arrangements, had been consulted on the occasion. In furtherance of this determination of the Governor not to allow the sovereignty of the Queen to be questioned, and the rights of her Native subjects to be restricted by illegal combinations, and owing to the fact that William King's party had erected another pah on the Government block of land, thus unequivocally declaring their hostile intentions, Colonel Gold attacked and took the pah on the 18th of March, 1860. This was followed, on the 28th of March, by the savage murder of six settlers and two boys who had gone into the country to look after cattle; and thus commenced the armed rebellion of a portion of the Native race which, with intermissions, continues, though enfeebled and rapidly dying out, to the present moment. 64. In considering the origin of the rebellion the Colonial Treasurer, now Mr. Justice Richmond, in a memorandum of the 27th of April, 1860, ascribes it to two causes, viz.: " to the desire to effect the subversion of the Queen's Sovereignty over the Northern Island, and the prohibitition of all further alienation of land to the Crown;" and he observes that "the Colonists as a body, are in no degree responsible, directly or through their representatives, for the existing state of affairs. » They have never had the direction of Native policy, or even suggested the acts of the Imperial Government in its. relations with the Natives ; but they approve of the stand made by His Excellency in the Taranaki case, and are naturally willing to risk life itself in the maintenance of the Queen's authority over theIslands of New Zealand." 65. No less emphatic was the declaration of the Governor; for, after referring to the origin of the Native King movement in 1856, he states that he "must, therefore, consider that the question at issue is one which affects Her Majesty's Sovereignty over tho the Islands of New Zealand, and nothing else;" and, that it is quite true that this sovereignty as relates to the Maories has been always more nominal than real; but it is now evident that the Maories desire a separate nationality and union in order that they may erect a real Sovereignty." He regarded the attitude assumed by the Natives, as blocking up the Queen's road, and stopping the free passage of persons going and coming, which he said was levying war against the Queen. 66. If additional evidence were necessary to establish this point, it may be found in the letter of Mr. McLean, the Native Secretary, who expresses an opinion, that, "now the Natives have buried the hatchet among themselves, and yielded allegiance to King Potatau, the powerful Waikatos, several thousands strong, and many of the numerous and disaffected tribes on the East Coast, in the vicinity of Poverty Bay, may be implicated in the present contest with a view of asserting their national inde--pendence, and throwing off their nominal allegiance to the Crown." 67. The Waikatos were very generally considered to be the backbone of the resistance to the Queen's authority, and known to be deeply implicated in the late transactions at Taranaki, and it was. at this time therefore seriously considered, whether it was not advisable at ODce to reduce them to submission by force. The Governor and his Ministers after much thought deemed it wise to give the Waikatos time to deliberate before sending specific terms for their acceptance.. General Cameron, who. was commanding the Forces, and who was also a member of the Executive Council, had, however, for some time past urgently pressed that the Waikatos "should be called to account without loss of time for their participation in the rebellion, and that they should not be allowed more than a few days to give in their submission." 68. I have hitherto endeavoured to give a rapid narrative of passing events during the period when the Colony of New Zealand was, to all intents and purposes, a Crown Colony; and also during theperiod when, under the Constitution Act, it was endowed with full legislative and administrative powers as regards the European race, but was debarred from all interference with affairs connected with theNatives, which were considered to be matters of Imperial concern, and the conduct of which was entrusted solely to the Governor, responsible to the Crown. I shall shortly enter On the consideration of' the last period when the Crown, waiving its right and abandoning its trust, peremptorily transfers to the Colony, during a period of unparalleled difficulty and distress, the power which it had withheld in times of comparative peace and quiet. Colonel Gore Brown was about to be relieved of the administration of the Government, and Your Excellency was about to bo appointed to succeed him. In anticipation of your arrival His Grace the Duke of Newcastle proceeds in his Despatch of the 5th of June,. 1861, to indicate the main objects which you should keep in view in your administration. Impressing on Your Excellency the earnest desire of Her Majesty's Government for the establishment of peace, His Grace declares "that it would be better even to prolong the war, with all its evils, than to end it without producing in the Native mind such a conviction of our strength as may render peace, not temporary and precarious, but well grounded and lasting." The future relations between the Governor and the Responsible Ministry in the administration of Native affairs are pressed upon your attention, as. also the introduction " of some institutions of Civil Government, and some rudiments of law and order into those Native districts whose inhabitants have hitherto been subjects of the Queen in little more than in name, notwithstanding the well-meant Colonial legislation of the last few years ;" while His Grace remarks, of even greater moment, as the " most important of the Crown's powers is that not hitherto exercised of declaring Native districts, with tho view of withdrawing them for purely Native purposes from tho jurisdiction ot the General Assembly or Provincial Councils, or both." 69. Not only is the C/own thus prepared to hand over to the Colonists the administration of Native affairs, but even to waive the objections so earnestly and so forcibly urged against tho "Native Territorial Rights Act, of 1858," by Lord Carnarvon in his Despatch of the 18th of May, 1859. His Grace concludes his instructions by reminding the Colonists that if, in the acceptance and exercise of the new powers proposed to be entrusted to them, they should ill-treat the Natives, "it would bo im possible for any Government in this country to supply Imperial troops at Imperial charge, in order to.
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