THE COMMITTEE'S REPORT.

The Select Committee appointed "to inquire into the State of the Colony of New Zealand, and into the Proceedings of the New Zealand Company," and to report the Minutes of Evidence, and their Opinion thereon, to the House, and to whom Two Petitions were referred, have considered the Matters to them referred, and agree to the following Report :— The duty assigned to your Committee of inquiring "into the state of the Colony of New Zealand, and into the proceedings of the New Zealand Company, and of reporting their opinion thereupon to the House," they have found to be one of no ordinary difficulty and delicacy. An attempt at colonization upon a very great scale, and of the success of which high expectations had been formed, has hitherto failed to realize the sanguine hopes of its projectors. Instead of obtaining those advantages on which they had confidently reckoned as a reward for their enterprise and the privations to which they have submitted, a large body of British settlers are at this moment in a situation giving ground for very serious anxiety, while the lives of several of their number have been unfortunately sacrificed. These unhappy results have moreover been connected with differences which have arisen not only between the settlers and the colonial authorities, but also between the New Zealand Company (which reckons among its members many gentlemen of high station and respectability) and the Executive Government at home. Under such circumstances, it will be obvious that a very heavy and very unusual responsibility is thrown upon your Committee when they are called upon to express an opinion as to the causes of a state of things so greatly to be lamented ; and, though we have endeavoured to execute this task to the beat of our judgment, we submit the result of our deliberations with much diffidence to the House, and the more so because the evidence before us, oral and documentary, is so exceedingly voluminous, that we feel it would have required much more time than was at our disposal to have digested it as thoroughly as we could have wished.

It appears to your Committee that the difficulties now experienced in New Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the fact, that, in the measures which have been taken for establishing a British colony in these islands, those rules as to the mode in which colonization ought to be conducted, which have been drawn from reason and from experience, have not been sufficiently attended to. When it was first proposed to establish New Zealand as a British colony dependent upon New South Wales, Sir George Gipps, the Governor of the latter, in a very able address, laid down the following principles as those on Which he had framed the bill which it was his duty to submit to his Legislative Council for the regulation of the in

fant colony of New Zealand The bill is founded," he said, "upon two or three general principles, which, until I heard them here controverted, I thought were fully admitted, and indeed received as political axioms. The first is, that the uncivilized inhabitants of any country have but a qualified dominion over it, or a right of occupancy only ; and that, until they establish amongst themselves a settled form of government, and subjugate the ground to their own uses, by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to individuals not of their own tribe any portion of it, for the simple reason that they have not themselves any individual property in it. Secondly, that, if a settlement be made in any such country by a civilized power, the right of preemption of the soil, or, in other words, the right of extinguishing the native title, is exclusively in the government of that power, and cannot be enjoyed by individuals without the consent of their Government. The third principle is, that neither individuals nor bodies of men belonging to any nation can form colonies, except with the consent, and under the direction and control, of their own Government ; and that from any settlement which they may form without the consent of their Government they may be ousted. This is simply to say, as far as Englishmen are concerned, that colonies cannot be formed without the consent of the Crown."

Referring to the speech of Sir George Gipps for the argument in support of these rules, it may be observed, that, with reference to New Zealand, they were, to a certain extent, infringed by the irregular settlement of British subjects on the shores of these islands, which began malty years ago ; but they seem to have been first openly and deliberately departed from when an attempt was made by the NewZealand Company to establish a colony, not only without the sanction, but in direct defiance, of the authority of the Crown. This attempt led at once to a violation of the law, by the first settlers entering into a voluntary agreement for the establishment of an authority by which they hoped, in the absence of any legitimate power, to maintain order amongst themselves. The illegality of this arrangement was pointed out to the Company by the then Secretary of State ; but the expedition sent out to found what was to be, in fact, though unauthorized, a British colony, had already sailed. It is to be regretted that more decisive measures were not adopted for preventing the sailing of the expedition under these circumstances • since it appears intportruit, with reference to the future, to observe, that such unauthorized attempt, at colonization cannot be permitted without leading to the most serious inconvenience. When large numbers of British subjects have established themselves in distant regions, inhabited only by barbaroas tnbes, it is impossible for her Majesty's Government to leave them exposed without protection to the dangers which their own rashness may draw down upon them, or to allow them to exercise without control, and perhaps to abuse, the power which their superior civilization gives thena over the rude natives of the soil. Hence every new establishment of this kind involves a new demand upon the military and naval resources of the empire ; but the undue multiplication of such demands must occasion a very heavy burden on the nation ; and it therefore follows that enterprises of colonization should only be entered upon with the sanction and under the authority of the Government. In this instance, the irregular and precipitate mode of sending out the first settlers had the unfortunate effect of placing these settlers and the agents of the New Zealand Company, from the very outset, on unfriendly terms with the officer whom her Majesty's Government found it necessary immediately to despatch from England for the purpose of establishing the authority of the Crown in the islands of New Zealand ; and there can be no doubt that this want of a good understanding between those whose cordial co-operation with each other was so essential to the welfare of the newly-established colony has been one of the main causes of the difficulties with which it has had to contend. In order to avert these difficulties, which were soon seen to be likely to arise, a Charter of Incorporation was afterwards granted to the New Zealand Company with the hope of placing that body in friendly relations with her Majesty's Government ; but this attempt was defeated, partly by the jealousies created between the respective servants of the Crown and of the Company, by the error originally committed by the latter, partly by other causes of difficulty which afterwards arose. These are chiefly to be traced to the means which were adopted for establishing the authority of the Crown in New Zealand.

The sovereignty over these islands had, at an earlier period, been formally disclaimed, and their independence had been distinctly recognized, both by the Crown and by Parliament. This course had been pursued because it was considered (and by no means upon light grounds) that it was not advisable to extend British dominion in these distant regions: but in adopting this policy it was overlooked, both by the advisers of the Crown and by Parliament, that it was impossible to check the tide of emigration which set so strongly towards the shores of New Zealand, and that the regular establishment of British power was the only practicable mode of guarding against the evils which could not fail to follow from permitting a large number ot Europeans to settle among its uncivilized inhabitants, without being subject to any legitimate authority or control. Looking back at what was then done, with the light to be drawn from subsequent experience, there is no room to doubt that it would have been far better if British dominion over these islands had been asserted as early as 1832, or even 1825; but a different policy having been at that time pursued, it was considered, in the year 1839, when Captain Hobson was sent out, that the difficulties which had thus been created could only be got rid of by obtaining from the Natives their assent to the extension of the authority of the British Crown over New Zealand. Acting under the instruations he had received, Captain Hobson, therefore, immediately on his arrival at New Zealand, at the beginning of the year 1840, concluded, with a large number of the chiefs of the Northern Island, a treaty known by the name of the Treaty of Waitangi; by which, in return for their az:knowledgment of British sovereignty, they were promised protection, and guaranteed in the possession of all lands held by them individually or collectively. The evidence laid before your Committee has led them to the conclusion that the step thus taken, though a natural consequence of previous errors of policy, was a wrong one. It would have been much better if no formal treaty whatever had been made, since it is clear that the Natives were incapable of comprehending the real force and meaning of such a transaction ; and it therefore amounted to little more than a legal fiction, though it has already in practice proved to be a very inconvenient one, and is likely to be still more so hereafter. The sovereignty over the Northern Island might have been at once assumed, without this mere nominal treaty, on the ground of prior discovery, and on that of the absolute necessity of establishing the authority of the British Crown for the protection of the Natives themselves, when so large a number of British subjects had irregularly settled themselves in these islands as to make it indispensable to provide some means of maintaining good order amongst them,. This was the course actually pursued with respect to the Middle and Southern Islands, to which the Treaty of Waitangi does not even nominally extend ; and there is every reason to presume that, owing to the strong desire the Natives are admitted to have entertained for the security to be derived from the protection of the British Government, and for the advantages of a safe and well-regulated intercourse with a civilized people, there would have been no greater difficulty in obtaining their acquiescence in the assumption of sovereignty than in gaining their consent to the conclusion of the treaty ; while the treaty has been attended with the double disadvantage, first, that its terms are ambiguous, and, in the sense in which they have been understood, highly inconvenient ; and next, that it has created a doubt which could not otherwise have existed, and which, though not, in the opinion of your Committee, well founded, has been felt, and has practically been attended with very injurious results, whether those tribes which were not parties to it are even now subject to the authority of the Crown.

Your Committee have observed that the terms of the treaty are ambiguous, and in the sense in which they have been understood have been highly inconvenient : in this we refer principally to the stipulations it contains with respect to the right of property in land. The information which has been laid before us shows that these stipulations, and the subsequent proceedings of the Governor founded upon them, have firmly established in the minds of the Natives notions, which they had then but very recently been taught to entertain, of their having a proprietary title of great value to land not actually occupied ; and there is every reason to believe that if a decided course had at that time been adopted, it would not have been difficult to have made the Natives understand, that while they were to be secured in the undisturbed enjoyment of the land they actually occupied, and of whatever further quantity they might really want for their own use, all the unoccupied territory of the islands was to vest in the Crown byvirtue of the sovereignty that had been assumed.

Your Committee have already mentioned that it is one of the funds* mental principles of colonial law and policy, which they believe to have been correctly laid down by Sir G. Gipps, that " the uncivilized inhabitantS of any country have but a qualified dominion over it, or a right of occupancy only ; and that, until they establish amongst themselves a settled form of government, and subjugate the ground to their own uses by the cultivation of it, they cannot grant to individuals not of their own tribe any portion of it, for the simple reason, that they have not themselves any individual property in it." Unfortunately, the original instruction' given to Captain Hobson, when he was sent out for the purpose of establishing British dominion in New Zealand, were not sufficiently precise upon this important point: they contained directions as to the manner in which he was to proceed in purchasing land from the Natives, and they did not (as your Committee think they ought to have done) clearly lay down the rule that sovereignty being established, all unoccupied lands would forthwith vest in the Crown, and that, except in virtue of grants from the Crown, no valid title to land could be established by Europeans. This mode of framing the instructions seems to have led the first Governor into the error of acting throughout upon the assumption that no part of the extensive and unoccupied territory of New Zealand was to be considered as belonging to the Crown, or available under its authority for the purposes of settlement, until first regularly sold by the Natives : this is not indeed distinctly stated in the Treaty of Waitangi ; had it been so, this treaty would probably have been attended with less injurious consequences than it actually has been, since in that case there can be little doubt that it would have been at once disallowed by her Majesty's Government. At least, it is clear that the treaty could not have been understood either by the Governor of New South Wales or by the Secretary of State, in the sense put upon it by Captain Hobson, since both expressed their approbation of it, though the former had previously laid down the very different principle upon this subject already quoted ; and the then Secretary of State, Lord John Russell, after he had received and approved of the treaty, adopted in the most formal and authentic manner the views of Sir George Gipps. By the advice of Lord John Russell, in the month of December 1840, a Charter passed the Great Seal, by which New Zealand was erected into a separate and independent colony ; and this charter was transmitted, together with instructions under the Royal Sign Manual, to the Governor, Captain Hobson. In this charter and instructions, "actual occupation and enjoyment" are clearly pointed out as alone establishing a right of property in land in the Natives ; and the rule is laid down, that all other lands must be considered as vested in the Crown, in virtue of the sovereignty that had been assumed ; and that they must be dealt with accordingly. The Treaty of Waitangi (which had previously reached England and been approved), it may therefore fairly be assumed, must, when this charter and the instructions which accompanied it were forwarded to the colony, have been understood as bearing a meaning not inconsistent with the terms in which they are couched. The lands held "collectively," of which the possession was guaranteed to the aboriginal inhabitants of New Zealand, must, therefore, have been regarded as the lands actually occupied by them, and cultivated in common by a tribe, in the manner frequently practised, and the forests as those actually used for cutting timber.

This is the interpretation which, consistently with the ancient and ac knowledged principles of colonial law as laid down by Sir George Gipps, and consistently also with the terms of the charter of the colony and of the royal instructions to the Governor, ought to have been put upon the treaty. Had it been so, the most serious of the evils which have since arisen would have been avoided. If Native rights to the ownership of land had only been admitted when arising from occupation, there would have been no difficulty in giving at once to the settlers secure and quiet possession of the land they required, and they would thus have been able to begin without delay and in earnest the work of reclaiming and culti

vating the unoccupied soil. The proceedings of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the claims to land would also then have been short and simple: they would have had to inquire merely whether lands actually occupied by Natives had been fairly sold to settlers by the occupants, and with respect to wild lands, whether Europeans claiming to have purchased them had done so at such a price, or had incurred such an expenselin respect to them as to give to the supposed purchasers not a right to the lands (for they could not derive a title from parties who did not themselves possess one), but a claim on the consideration of the Crown to have granted to them as an indulgence more or less, according to circumstances, of the lands they bad nominally purchased. With respect to the New Zealand Company, as the extent of land to which they were entitled had been already settled by a special agreement with the Government and the award of Mr. Pennington, they would at once have been put in possession of all that very large proportion of the land on which they proposed establishing settlements which was previously wild and unoccupied ; and the question to be determined by the Commissioners would have reduced itself to that of whether those inconsiderable portions of land "actually occupied and enjoyed" by Natives had been fairly sold by the occupants,—a question the decision of which, one way or the other, would have been comparatively unimportant.

To have proceeded in this manner, and to have assumed at once all unoccupied land to belong to the Crown as a right inherent in the sovereignty, would have been attended with no sort of injustice to the Natives, and would have been conducive to their real interests. The unoccupied land, previously to European settlement, was of no value to them ; they were neither a pastoral people, nor one living, like the North American Indians, by the chase, and therefore requiring a great extent of country for their support ; they derived their chief subsistence from the produce of the soil and agriculture, rude as it was, and, according to the witnesses who have been examined by your Committee, hardly a thousandth part of the available land was thus made use of by them.

A very different policy, with respect to the ownership of land, has been pursued, and has been attended with very unfortunate results. Mr. Spain, who was sent out from this country by Lord John Russell to investigate the claims to land of settlers in New Zealand, appears to have been furnished with no precise instructions as to the object of the intended inquiry, and the mode of conducting it ; and as he, in common with the Governor and the other Colonial authorities, adopted the conclusion that no land could be considered as vested in the Crown, or in the New Zealand Company by virtue of an agreement with the Crown, which could not be shown to have been fairly purchased from the Natives, there was begun a protracted and most unsatisfactory inquiry as to the nature of these purchases. It was impossible that the inquiry, having this object in view, could be of a different character, since, if the point to be determined was the validity of purchases from the Natives, it followed that it was necessary to ascertain not only the bond fide nature of the supposed sale, but also the title of the vendors to the property of which they claimed to dispose. The difficulty of arriving at any satisfactory conclusion upon either point was insuperable. The evidence as to the reality of alleged sales was almost invariably contradictory and confused, as might reasonably have been anticipated, considering what imperfect means of communication there were between the parties, and how little one of them understood the nature of such transactions. As to the title of the vendors, the case was still more hopeless ; the evidence before your Committee, both oral and documentary, leads to the conclusion that the Natives of New Zealand, till they had learnt to do so from Europeans, attached no idea of value to unoccupied land, and that though they had some vague notions of certain circumstances (frequently connected with their peculiar superstitions), giving preferable claims to particular tribes over particular districts, yet, practically, the right by which territory was held was that of the strongest. Your Committee need hardly point out the manifest absurdity of attempting to apply the notions of English law, with respect to landed property, to such a state of society, and the utter fruitlessness of anendea

your to disentangle the complicated and conflicting claims set up by different tribes to wild land, this inquiry having to be conducted by Europeans, ignorant both of the language of the Natives, and of their barbarous and superstitious customs, on which the claims to land very frequently depended. The policy adopted of entering into such an inquiry, and of acknowledging the claim of the Natives to payment for the unoccupied lands, has had effects very injurious to the interests both of the settlers and of the Na tives themselves. With respect to the settlers, by preventing them for se long a period from obtaining possession by a secure title of the land they required for cultivation, it has given a most serious check to the progress of improvement, and very greatly retarded the arrival of the time when the colony would have been able to produce food enough for its own con

sumption, and also something to export in payment for the various 81113, plies it requires from the mother-country and from other quarters. To the Natives this policy has been still more injurious : it has created a strong feeling of irritation between them and the settlers, from the existence of which they cannot fail ultimately to be the chief sufferers ; the large amount of property they have received in payment for land which was of no real use to them before, instead of being of permanent advantage to them, has been speedily and improvidently consumed, and has only served to excite in them the passion of cupidity, and to produce quarrels amongst themselves, which, in one case at least, have broken out into open war. Even Mr. Clarke, the chief Protector, who has insisted so much upon their obtaining a very high price for their land, has admitted that the "sudden affluence" to which they have been raised has had " an unfriendly influence on their moral improvement." The worst consequence of all, as it appears to your Committee, of the course which has been pursued, is, that it has lowered the authority of the Government over the Natives, and given rise, on their part, to claims which it is greatly to be feared they will not peaceably be brought to forego, and which yet cannot be allowed without the sacrifice of the principal means of promoting the advancement of the colony. We beg particularly to refer, in support of what we have now stated, to the long report of Mr. Spain, the Commissioner of Land Claims, dated 12th September 1843, and to the despatch of the acting Governor of 30th October 1813, and its enclosures. On reference to these documents, it will be found that the effects attributed by your Committee to the policy which has been pursued are distinctly recognized by those of the public servants in the colony by whom that policy has chiefly been maintained. It is also peculiarly deserving of remark, that precisely the same difficulties in establishing to the satisfaction of the Natives the validity of sales of land alleged to have been made by them, which in the case of the settlements in Cook's Straits have been attributed to the careless mode of proceeding adopted by the Company's agents, have since been experienced to fully as great an extent with respect to purchases made on behalf of the Government in the Northern part of the island by the Protector of Aborigines himself. In the letter of Colonel Godfrey (one of the Commissioners of Land Claims) of 10th February 1843, will be found an account of the embarrassment created by the positive denial by the Natives of the validity of a sale of land which Mr. Clarke reported had been made to him, as agent to the Government, with every possible precaution, in the year 1840. If these and similar claims are rejected, we cannot but apprehend that, after the concessionsalready made, much dissatisfaction, if not resistance, is to be anticipated from the Natives : on the other band, if the claims are admitted, we see no security whatever that additional payments now made for land formerly supposed to have been sold will give any permanent satisfaction, and will not, on the contrary, serve as a stimulus to still more unreasonable demends hereafter ; while, even if such payments should be final, we cannot but regard it as a great misfortune that large sums of money should be so applied. In Mr. Spain's report, already quoted, he estimates that from five to six thousand pounds will be required to compensate the Natives for the blocks of land already surveyed by the servants of the New Zealand Company in the Southern part of the Northern Island ; and in making. this estimate it appears (though this is not very clear) that he contemplates leaving them in possession of the grounds they actually occupy. If this land is to be paid for at so high a rate, it is obvious that it will create in the minds of the Natives an expectation that similar prices will be given for the land that will hereafter be required, and thus an enormous charge will be entailed upon the progress of future settlements. While we were considering our Report, additional evidence of the magnitude of this evil has been laid before us.

The land, it must be remembered, derives its only value from the application of European labour and capital ; whatever is paid for it to the Natives must eventually be taken from the price paid for it by the settlers, either to the Company or to the Government, and will be so much deducted from the fund, which ought to be most carefully husbanded and applied to the great purposes of promoting emigration, and of meeting the first and pressing wants of a young settlement, as, for instance, the construction of roads and bridges, and the building and endowing of churches, schools, and hospitals. For these purposes, in which the British settlers and the original inhabitants are equally interested, every shilling is wanted which the emigrant can afford to pay for land, without trenching too deeply on his available capital; and it appears to your Committee to be equally contrary both to real justice and to sound policy, that large sums of money should be taken from a fund devoted to objects of such high importance, in order to be given to barbarous tribes, who at best will unprofitably squander what is so improvidently placed at their disposal. Your Committee have found it necessary to enter more at length than we could have wished into the question, whether the ownership of unoccupied land ought to have been considered as vested in the Crown or in the Native tribes, because, in our opinion, all the difficulties which have been experienced in the colonization of New Zealand are mainly to be attributed to the erroneous view of this question which has been taken by those to whose hands the powers of government have in these islands been committed. But, erroneous as they believe the policy hitherto pursued to have been, they are sensible of the great difficulty which may now be experienced in changing it ; and bearing in mind the great distance of these islands, and the consequent impossibility of knowing what may be the state of affairs there when any instructions that may be sent out shall reach the Governor, they are not prepared to recommend that he should be peremptorily ordered to assert the rights of the Crown as they believe them to exist : all they advise is, that he should have clearly explained to him what those rights are, and the principles on which they rest ; and should be directed to adopt such measures as he may consider beat calculated to meet the difficulties of the case, and to establish the title of the Crown to all unoccupied land as soon as this can be safely accomplished. He ought also, we conceive, to be directed to grant legal titles to the actual occupants of land, unless under special circumstances of abuse, requiring in those cases in which it may seem to be proper reasonable payment from the settlers for land so granted to them. The observations already made will enable your Committee very briefly to express their opinion on the question which has led to so much discussion, as to whether the New Zealand Company are entitled to cannon.

her Majesty's Government to put them in possession of a large extent of land, without reference to the validity of their supposed purchases from the Natives. If the view which we have taken of the right of the Crown to the whole of the unoccupied soil of New Zealand, and of the nullity of all private purchases of land from the Natives, be a correct one—and if this were also the view of the then Secretary of State at the time that the arrangement with the New Zealand Company was concluded—it follows, as a matter of course, that by that arrangement it must have been intended to give to the Company a claim binding, in good faith, upon the estate of the Crown, to the number of acres awarded to them by Mr. Pennington; and that this claim could not in any way be affected by the character of those supposed purchases from the Natives which it was the very object of the whole arrangement to set aside as altogether null and invalid. We have already fully stated our reasons for the conclusion to which we have come with respect to the rights of the Crown ; we have, therefore, only to add, that we cannot doubt this conclusion to be completely in accordance with what were the views of the then Secretary of State, since we find that the Charter under the Great Seal by which New Zealand was erected into a separate colony, and the original instructions under the Royal Sign Manual, which were drawn up at nearly the same time that the arrangement with the Company was under discussion, were couched in terms which, as we have already observed, clearly imply that the ownership of land by the Natives was regarded as being confined to that which was "actually occupied and enjoyed by them," and that all unoccupied land was vested in the Crown ; while the acknowledgment of any claim of right on the part of Europeans to land, in virtue of supposed sales from the Natives, was in the most explicit terms denied. Upon these grounds we have come to the resolution which stands 4th amongst those which will be found at the close of this Report. The error in policy which your Committee have pointed out as having in our opinion been fallen into by the officers who have held the Government of New Zealand, in not asserting the right of the Crown to all the unoccupied soil of these islands, is very closely connected with another, to which we also feel it necessary to advsrt. It appears to us that there has been a want of vigour and decision in the general tone of the proceedings adopted towards the Natives ; measures have not been taken, as we think they ought, for making the original inhabitants understand that they are now to be considered as British subjects, and must, therefore, abstain from all conduct inconsistent with that character. The local authorities may have been guided by a desire to treat the Natives of the soil with the most scrupulous justice, and with the greatest consideration ; but we are not the less persuaded that, not only in what has been done with regard to the ownership of laud, but also in showing too much respect for native customs, they have been led to pursue a line of policy which in its consequences must be injurious to the true interests of those out of consideration to whom it has been adopted. We agree in the opinion expressed by one of the witnesses we have examined (Mr. Earp), that the rude inhabitants of New Zealand ought to be treated in many respects like children, and that, in dealing with them, firmness is no less necessary than kindness. In the first instance there was on the part of the Natives a disposition to defer with almost superstitious reverence to the authority of the Government ; and had this authority been firmly and judiciously exercised to suppress intestine war, and all savage and barbarous customs, and to enforce between different tribes and between individuals the great principles of justice and respect for property, no serious resistance would probably ever have been attempted. But, from an over-sensitive fear of infringing upon Native rights, the authority which, had it been decidedly assumed, would, there is every reason to believe, have been willingly submitted to, has been lost ; and the consequence has been, that murder and cannibalism have been allowed to be committed unpunished, and that very serious hostilities have broken out between different tribes, while the right of the British Government to interfere has been repudiated by the more powerful party, and the want of the promised protection loudly complained of by the weakest. Your Committee are persuaded that an enlightened humanity and a regard for the real welfare of the Native tribes

require that British power and authority should be resolutely exerted to put a stop to such a state of things, to maintain internal peace, and to prevent Native customs and usages from being acted upon in a manner inconsistent with good order and morality, and with the progress of civilisation. We would beg to refer to the report of Captain Grey, the Governor of South Australia, on the best means of promoting the civilization of the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, which was transmitted by Lord J. Russell to Captain Hobson, for his guidance, as containing an able ex. position of the policy which ought to be pursued upon this important and difficult subject.

It is necessary to observe, that the policy we recommend requires, for its safe adoption in the present state of affairs, that the Governor of New Zealand should have at his disposal more power than he now possesses of enforcing obedience to his authority. We see no reason to apprehend a successful attempt by the Natives to overturn by force the power of the Government ; we concur with Major Bunbury in thinking, that " the jealousy and rivalry of different tribes amongst themselves would prevent their acting with any effect against the European population," and we have no doubt that civilization and intelligence, in the event of a struggle, would maintain their accustomed superiority : still we consider that it is of the 'utmost importanee, in order to avert the calamities which must ensue from even an attempt at resistance to the authority of the Governor, that he should be armed with so obviously superior a power as to prevent any such attempt from being made. Additional means of enforcing obedience to lawful authority are required, not merely against the Natives, but against the lower class of emigrants, an account of whose insubordinate proceedings at Nelson, which, from the want of force, could not be properly put down, will be found in the Appendix. Adverting to the scattered situation of the settlements which have been formed, and to the importance of their all being not only promptly pro tected whenever an emergency may arise, but also frequently visited by the Governor in person, we conceive that by far the most useful addition which could be made to the force at his disposal would be that which would be afforded by placing an armed steamer of moderate size under his orders. In addition to this, we think that a militia cocuposed of the settlers should be organized, from which we would by no means exclude such of the Natives as should so far have adopted the habits of civilized life as to be fit

to bear arms in the same ranks with Europeans : we need also hardly observe that such a force should always be kept under the complete

control of the Governor, and that he should always have such a proportion of regular troops under his command as not to be entirely dependent upon the militia for support. We are further disposed to believe that advantage might result from endeavouring to create a permanent Native force under European officers, but in which their own chiefs might also, perhaps, hold commands : such a force would probably afford, not only a cheap addition to the military power of the Governor, hut also a valuable instrument for gradually training the Natives to habits of order and subordination. Your Committee cannot offer these recommendations, tending to what may be thought a more severe enforcement of authority over the Natives, without, at the same time, expressing their strong sense of the duty in. cumbent upon the Government of adopting the most effective measures for their welfare and improvement. With this view, we conceive that every effort should be made to amalgamate the two races ; more particularly, the utmost attention should be paid to the education and training of the rising generation of the Aborigines : whenever their improvement in intelligence will admit of it, the Natives should be placed in every respect on a footing of perfect equality with their White fellow subjects, and, as soon as possible, they should be employed in the civil service of the Government in any situations in which they can make themselves useful. We also attach much importance to the adoption of a good system of making reserves of land for their benefit. These reserves ought, in our opinion, to be of moderate size, and interspersed with the lands destined for the occupation of settlers ; the Natives should be encouraged, themselves, to occupy and to cultivate the land thus reserved for their benefit, and only those parts of it for which they might have no immediate occasion should be allowed to be let on lease to Europeans, the leases being restricted to a moderate term of years, and the rents so obtained being considered as applicable only for their advantage. By this arrangement, the Natives established upon such reserves being scattered, a few together, amongst the European population, would be more likely than under any other plan which has been suggested gradually to adopt the customs and way of life of their civilized neighbours ; whereas, if the land reserved for them were in large blocks, and they were collected together in considerable numbers, the probability is that they would cling far more pertinaciously to the habits of savage life ; and, if so, this interesting people would too surely melt away before the advancing tide of European settlement. It is aa evil, of which the experience of other colonies affords frequent examples, that the progress of settlement is impeded by land coming into the possession of persons who endeavour to derive a profit, not from its improvement, but by suffering it to lie waste until it acquires value from the labour and capital expended in the surrounding district; it, therefore, appears to us that means should be taken to guard against this abuse in New Zealand. This will, we trust, be to a great extent effected by the regulations which will prevent property in land from being acquired otherwise than by purchase ; but, as a further security, we would recommend that some part of the colonial revenue should be raised by means of a tax upon land. On the North American continent, when a tax has been imposed upon land with the view of checking its being held by persons not really intending to make use of it, we believe the tax has generally been laid upon wild land only. Looking, however, to the difficulty of accurately determining the degree of improvement which should exempt land from a tax applying only to that which is designated as wild, and to the facility thus afforded for evading the burden, it appears to us more advisable that such a tax should be imposed on all land, whether wild or otherwise. If the tax were low (we think it ought not to exceed 2d. an acre) it would be unfelt as a practical burden on land really turned to profitable account, while even this small payment, recurring annually, would powerfully tend to discourage the retention of land by parties deriving no immediate advantage from it. Such a tax ought not, of course, to apply to land now occupied by the Natives, or to that held as reserves for their benefit. The land granted to the New Zealand Company ought also to be regarded in a different light from that held by private individuals : they have obtained that land in the dmracter of agents for the public in carrying on the work of colonization ; so long, therefore, as they adequately discharge the duties belonging to that character, they ought not to be subjected to the tax in respect of land they hold for this purpose ; at the same time, care should be taken that no privilege capable of being abused should be given to them. We would, therefore, suggest, that the lands remaining unsold in the hands of the Company should be free from the tax, so long as the extent of land so held should not exceed that which would remain to them supposing that, from the commencement of their operations, they had, one year with another, sold 1.25th part of the land assigned to them by the Crown. Should their sales upon the whole fall short of this, they might fairly be required to pay the tax upon the difference. It might also be proper to insist, as a condition for their enjoying the proposed exemption, that a fixed proportion of the proceeds of their land-sales should be applied to the promotion of emigration. Your Committee, having now stated very fully their views upon those parts of the subject referred to them which have the most important bearing upon the practical measures which ought now to be adopted, and having in their Resolutions adverted to some of those measures which do not seem to require any particular explanation, had originally intended to have offered some remarks on the complaints which the servants of the Crown in the colony, on the one side, and those employed by the New Zealand Company, on the other, have mutually made against each oilier; but, upon further deliberation, it has appeared to us that the unhappy differences which have prevailed are most likely to be allayed by our forbearing to pronounce an opinion which must of necessity involve an expression of blame on some, if not all, of those who have taken part in these proceedings : we, therefore, have thought it most expedient to abstain altogether from entering further into this part of the subject ; even as to the unhappy affair at Wairau, by which so many valuable lives were lost, we will add nothing to the resolution which we have unanimously adopted, and which will be found amongst those subjoined to this Report ; and we will only express our earnest hope, that all classes of settlers, and more especially those persons to whom important duties in the newly-established colony have been intrusted, either by her Majesty's Government or by the Company, will feel that the interest and welfare of all requires that harmony should be re-established, and that this can only be accomplished by mutual forbearance and moderation.

In conclusion, we beg to submit to the House the following RESOLII TIONS, as containing a summary of the opinions we have formed on the whole subject.

RESOLUTIONS.

1st. That the conduct of the New Zealand Company, in sending out settlers to New Zealand, not only without the sanction but in direct defiance of the authority of the Crown, was highly irregular and improper.

2d. That the conclusion of the treaty of Waitangi by Captain Hobson with certain Natives of New Zealand, was a part of a series of injudicious proceedings which had commenced several years previous to his assumption of the local Government.

3d. That the acknowledgment by the local authorities of a right of prepert,/ on the part of the Natives of New Zealand in all wild lands in those islands, after the sovereignty had been assumed by her Majesty, was not essential to the true construction of the treaty of Waitangi, and was an error which has been productive of very injurious consequences.

4th. That the New Zealand Company has a right to expect to be put in possession by the Government, with the least possible delay, of the number of acres awarded to it by Mr. Pennington; that the Company has this right as against the estate of the Crown, without reference to the validity,

orotherwise, of its supposed purchases from the Natives, all claims derived from which have been surrendered.

5th. That the Company, in selecting the land to be granted by the Crown 'within the defined limits, cannot claim the grant of any land not vested in the Crown.

6th. That means ought to be forthwith adopted for establishing the exclusive title of the Crown to all land not actually occupied and enjoyed by Natives, or held under grants from the Crown ; such land to be considered as vested in the Crown for the purpose of being employed in the manner most conducive to the welfare of the inhabitants, whether Natives or Europeans.

7th. That, in order to prevent land from being held by parties not intending to make use of the same, a land-tax, not exceeding 2d. an acre, ought to be imposed ; that all parties claiming land should be required to put in their claims, and pay one year's tax in advance, within twelve months.

8th. That such tax ought not to be considered as applying to the whole estate of the New Zealand Company, so long as they shall continue to sell not less than one twenty-fifth of the land granted to them annually, and to expend a fixed proportion of the proceeds in emigration.

9th. That such a tax ought also not to be considered as applying to lands now actually occupied and enjoyed by the Natives, or to reserves set apart and held for their benefit.

10th. That reserves ought to be made for the Natives, interspersed with the lands assigned to settlers, with suitable provisions for regulating their alienation and preserving the use of them for the Natives as long as may be necessary ; and that these reserves ought not to be included in calculating the amount of land due to that Company.

116. That, as it appears by evidence that the non-settlement of the land-claims has been productive of great confusion and mischief in the colony, it is expedient to adopt measures for granting legal titles with the least possible delay to the actual occupants of land, unless under special circumstances of abuse.

12th. That the prohibition to all private persons to purchase land from the Natives ought to be strictly enforced, except that land which may have been purchased by Natives they should be at liberty to sell again, provided the transaction be sanctioned by the Protector.

13th. That it is highly important that the Governor should have more effectual means of enforcing obedience to his authority, and also greater facility for visiting frequently the different settlements ; and that with this view it is expedient that an armed steamer, of moderate size, be placed at his disposal.

14th. That it is expedient that the settlers should be organized as a militia, under the orders and control of the Governor ; Natives, under proper precautions, being allowed to serve in it.

15th. That it is expedient that an attempt should also be made to raise and discipline a Native force of a more permanent character, officered in general by Europeans, but in which any of the Natives who may be found trustworthy may hold commands.

16th. That the employment of Natives in the civil service of the Government, in any situations in which they can be useful, is highly desirable.

17th. That efforts should be made gradually to wean the Natives from their ancient customs, and to induce them to adopt those of civilized life, upon the principle recommended by Captain Grey in his report on the mode of introducing civilization among the Natives of Australia.

18th. That the principles on which the New Zealand Company have acted in making the reserves for the Natives, with a view to their ultimate as well as present welfare, and in making suitable provision for spiritual and educational purposes, are sound and judicious, tending to the benefit of all classes.

19th. That the Committee, upon a review of the documentary evidence relating to the loss of life at Wairan, (without offering any opinion upon the law of the case), deem it an act of justice to the memory of those who fell there to state, that it appears that the expedition in question was undertaken for a purpose believed by the parties to be lawful and desirable, and which also example in analogous cases had unfortunately led them to expect might be effected without resistance from the Natives. The Committee cannot withhold the expression of their regret at the loss of life which occurred; especially the loss of Captain Arthur Wakefield, whose long and distinguished services in the British Navy are recorded in the papers before the Committee, and of Mr. Thompson, the Stipendiary Magistrate, Mr. Richardson, the Crown Prosecutor, Captain England, Mr. Cottersll, Mr. Patchett, and Mr. Howard,