NEW ZEALAND.

FINAL SETTLEMENT BETWEEN THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE NEW ZEALAND COMPANY.

In our number for the 15th instant we stated the substance of the ar- rangement concluded between Lord Grey and the New Zealand Company: the publication of the documents and the comparative ease of the holyday week enable us to supply the details of the arrangement.

In a letter dated on the 23d of April, the Directors of the Company an- nounced to Lord Grey that the time had arrived when they must come to

some determination as to the proceedings and existence of their own body; and they state the grounds on which they claim the assistance of the Go- vernment— " They think that the circumstances of the case justify them in asking, est public grounds, for such aid as may be required to enable them to continue ope-

rations acknowledged to be advantageous to the community at large. And they also think themselves entitled to prefer a claim for compensation, on the ground of justice to the Company.

That claim they base upon the injury which has been done to the Company by the acts of the Government at home and of the local Government of New Zea- land.

"The principal acts of the Home Government for which the Directors consider that compensation ought in justice to be given, are, that it has entered into four

distinct agreements with the Company; that in each of these the Company has fulfilled its part; but that to this day not one of these agreements has been ful- filled by the Government.

"In the first, (in November 1840,) relying on the pledge of Lord John Russell, that a Crown grant of its lands should be made forthwith, the Company wai its claim to all purchases from the Natives, increased its capital, spent further' large sums of money, and incurred heavy liabilities in colonizing according Wits charter. No grant under that agreement has ever been made. "In the second and third, (in June 1841, and August 1842,) the Company purchased lands from the Government, with the fall understanding that it should

have the proper deeds of grant without delay; and on the strength of this they proceeded to colonize, and again spent money and incurred liabilities. No deeds under those agreements have ever been made.

"In the fourth, (in May 1843,) relying on the distinct promise of Lord Stanley, that conditional grants should be made immediately on Captain Fitzroy's amval in the colony, the Company resumed its operations; which had been suspended in the preceding January in consequence of the non-fulfilment of the former agree-s mews and the hostility of the Government, spent further sums, and incurred farther liabilities. No grants were made in accordance with that promise. Par-

tial grants were tendered, but long after the time promised; and even they were rendered useless by the interpolation of unauthorized and vague clause, and were consequently refused by the Company."

The Directors state the actual condition of the Company, and make a proposal-

" The total of the Company's liabilities may be estimated at 394,0001. [Ne14- son—unsatisfied pledges to purchasers of land, 25,0001.; other parties—bor- rowed, 134,000L; shareholders, 235,0001.] "The present assets of the Company, exclusive of the investments and securi- ties for which allowance has been made above, consist of 1,049,090 acres of land,

(or a right theret,o) which it has not yet disposed of, out of the 1,300,000 acres to which its claim has been admitted; and a further quantity of 24,009 acres for which it has paid the same prices that it charged to its earlier settlers, namely, twenty and thirty shillings an acre; in all, 1,073,000 acres.

"This, then, is the alternative which the Directors consider themselves entitled to submit for the election of her Majesty's Government,—Either the. payment ot a sum of 225,000/, together with the addition which may be decided on as the amount of the loss alluded to above as yet estimated; leaving the Com- pany's engagements to be satisfied out of these sums and the proceeds of its land: or the transfer to the Government of the 1,073,000 acres of land to which the Company has at present a right, together with an obligation to satisfy the engagements of the Company as above stated, in this country and in New Zealand."

Replying on the 10th of May, in the name of Lord Grey, Mr. Under- Secretary Hawes acknowledges that the Company have a claim, and pro- poses to make a satisfactory arrangement—

Lord Grey is ready at once to admit that the Company has established a claim against her Majesty's Government. "lie is, however, very averse to discussing how far the claim in question givett the Company a right to pecuniary indemnification, or attempting to calculate its amount. He could not do so without disputing many of the arguments anima& of the claim urged by the Company; and he thinks that he can best consult his own sense of the public interest, and what he understands to be the wishes of the

Company, without entering into discussions and investigations which would neek lessly prolong a prejudicial controversy. For higher objects even than that of jusuce to the New Zealand Company are involved in the consideration of its ChIlira. The proceedings out of which that claim has grown, together with the serious

errors committed in the general administration of the colony, have inflicted on the great body of enterprising settlers injuries more to be deplored even than those to which the Company has been subjected.'

"When Lord Grey considers of what great importance to Imperial interests it is that the colonization of New Zealand should go on steadily and rapidly, and that the ancient disposition to plant settlements of Englishmen in her Majesty's distant possessions should be revived and established, he is not disposed to allow such great objects to be frustrated by difficulties which it is in the power of the Government to surmount. At the present moment, he sees no means whereby the settlement of New Zealand is likely to be so vigorously and se- curely effected as by the operations of the New Zealand Company. Ile feels convinced that the extinction or failure of a company whose first efforts were so successful, would operate most fatally in deterring others from embarking in similar associations. It appears to him therefore, that it is matter of the greatest public concern to enable the New Zealand Company to renew its operations."

The arrangement proposed by Lord Grey, and accepted by the Com- pany, is set forth in the following enclosure in Mr. Hawes's letter. "Memorandum.

"L (1.) It is proposed that a Commissioner be appointed by her Majesty to be a Commissioner for the New Zealand Company. " (2.) That the name of the person selected by her Majesty be submitted to the Directors of the New Zealand Company, and the appointment take place on their signifying their approval. "(3.) That this Commissioner attend all meetings of the Directors, and have access to all books, papers, and accounts of the Company; and that the Company shall agree that no resolution shall ever be adopted at any meeting of the Di- rectors without the assent of the Commissioner.

"(4.) That the Commissioner be paid a salary of 1,5001. a year out of the funds of the Company. "IL. That during the period for which the present arrangement shall last, the Government shall give up to the Company the entire and exclusive disposal of all Crown lands, and the exercise of the Crown's right of preemption of lands be- longing to the Natives in the Southern government of New Zealand, and under- take during such period to execute any grants, leases, or mortgages, for which the Court of Directors and Commissioner shall engage. "ILL That during three years, commencing the 6th of April ultimo, the Go- vernment shall engage to place at the disposal of the Company, during the first year such sum of not more than 28,000/. over and above any sum now payable to the Company under any former loan, during the second year such sum not ex- ceeding 72,0001., and during the third year such sum not exceeding 36,0001., as shall be required by the Company and the Commissioner from time to time, for the purpose of discharging the existing liabilities of the Company to an extent not exceeding 79,0001., and of conducting its colonizing operations. "That all sums accruing to the Company in each year, beyong those which it is bound to expend for the benefit of the purchasers of its lands, shall be expended in furtherance of the general objects of the Company, with the view of diminish- ing the amount of advances which may be required from her Majesty's Govern- ment.

"That during that period no interest shall accrue from any debt to the Govern- ment, nor for any claim to compensation on the part of the Company. "That during the first year no dividend shall be paid to the proprietors of the Company's stock, nor any in either of the two following years, without the ex- prim sanction of her Majesty's Government, - "That the Company shall at once give up all claim to lands in the neighbour- hood of Auckland, and take the whole amount awarded to it elsewhere.

"IV. That if the Company shall be in a condition at the end of three years to continue its operations, the present arrangement with respect to heads I. and II. *ball continue, and be made permanent either by a new charter or by act of Par- liament, upon the Company agreeing to such restriction on its disposal of land, dividends, and application of funds, as shall then be agreed upon between the Company and her Majesty's Government.

"That the Company shall in that case abandon all claim to compensation from the Government.

That all advances already made, or within the period of three years to be made to the Company by the Government, shall in that case be constituted as the Company's debt; the principal of which the Company shall be bound to repay by an annual payment of not less than one fourth of its clear profits after pay- ment of all expenses.

"V. That if at the end of the three years the Company shall be unable to con- tinue its operations, her Majesty's Government shall take the Company's assets, to- gether with the liabilities contracted by it to third parties during that period with the assent of the Commissioner, and any debt which may still be due from it to the Nelson settlers.

"That all debts due from the Company to the Government shall be remitted, in consideration of the Company's admitted claim on the Government. "That the lands now belonging to the Company, consisting of 1,048,991i acres awarded to it and as yet unsold, together with 24,491i acres held by it in virtue of purchase within its settlements, shall be taken by the Government at the rate of five shillings an acre.

"That the Company shall be entitled to payment of the sum so due to it, to- gether with interest at the rate of 3/; per cent thereon, out of the proceeds of all returns over and above the outlay for surveys and emigration accruing from the sale of Crown lands in New Zealand, but not from any other source. "That the New Zealand Company shall thereupon be forthwith dissolved, ex- cept for the purpose of receiving such annual payment.

"Vi. That neither the Crown nor the New Zealand Company shall, in any part of New Zealand, sell any lands, not previously sold by them for any sum less than twenty shillings an acre, nor expend less than ten shillings an acre of the proceeds of such sale in carrying out emigrants."