CONSTITUTION FOR THE PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND.

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stitution of the New Zealand colonies, joined to the action of party government, the following Constitution was suggested to Governor Browne, and met with his unqualified approval. It was intended only for the province of Auckland, and would be well calculated to facilitate the introduction and harmonious action of a Constitution framed upon the ancient model :

:

1. A fixed civil list for the essential functionaries of Government, the administration of justice, and native purposes.

2. An Executive Council appointed by the Crown, to consist of the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, the AttorneyGeneral, and the Commander of the Forces, who should hold office quamdiu se bene gesserent.

3. A Legislative Council of not less than twelve and not more than sixteen members, to hold office during life, and to be appointed thus:-The House of Representatives, on its first meeting, after having elected a Speaker, to ballot for double the number of the Legislative Councillors-say twenty-four; each member present putting into the ballot-box a list signed. by himself of twenty-four names of persons over thirty years of age. The ballot-box to be opened in the presence of the Governor and Executive Council, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and a list of the names therein to be prepared, showing the number of votes for each name; such list to be signed by the Speaker and the Clerk of the Executive Council, and transmitted to the Secretary of State.

From this list the Governor, at his sole discretion, to select the names of twelve persons who shall be appointed to be members of the Legislative Council, subject to Her Majesty's approval.

4. A House of Representatives to consist of thirty members, to be elected for four years. The qualifications for members and electors to be,—that they are British subjects, able to read and write the English language; that they possess real estate of the value of 50l., or have occupied a house or tenement for three years, at the annual rental of 107. The members of the Executive Council to be ex officio additional members of the Legislative Council, or of the House of Representatives, as they shall be severally appointed thereto by the Governor; and to have in every respect the same privileges as the members elected by constituencies, save that they shall have no vote.August 15, 1861.

When it was finally settled that agitation would not lead to office, the turbulence of ambitious men would cease, schemes "of novel invention" would be less rife. Exempt from the

watchfulness and precautions necessary to preserve office, the holders of office would be able to attend to their proper duties, and the colonists would soon find cause to rejoice that they were under the government of the Queen, and not under the power of men to whom they owed no allegiance, and towards whom they could feel no respect. It is true that it would be in the power of the Assembly to " stop the supplies;" and such a power is one of the necessary elements of a mixed Government. But the Parliamentary Constitution having provided for the administration of justice and the maintenance of the offices essential for the exercise of the Queen's authority, the Governor could in such a case be in a condition to say to the Assembly— "That, gentlemen, is a measure which will affect yourselves and your constituents more than it will affect me. The points in dispute between the House and myself shall be referred to the decision of the Queen's Government in England, which must necessarily be final while the colony remains a British dependency. If, in the meantime, you should make it necessary to stop the public works and to starve the majority of the public servants, the responsibility of that remains between you and your constituents. I shall adhere to what my own views of duty require of me, until otherwise instructed by the supreme authority of the State from which I received my commission and instructions, and which alone has power to vary or overrule them."

PART SECOND.

THE LAND QUESTION.

IN the preceding notices of the Constitution and political transactions of the New Zealand Colonies, little allusion was made to the land question, the original occasion of all the misgovernment, and the consequent deplorable results which have afflicted those colonies. The subject was thought worthy of a separate treatment. The facts in relation to it are of such a character that they can only be expected to obtain credence, so far as they are proved by public documents of an official and authentic character. If it be impossible to prove that under an upright Administration, which respected law and right, no revolt of the Maories would have been thought of, it is believed that the following narrative will exhibit such a violation of the plainest principles and instincts of justice, on the part of those who were entrusted with the powers of legislation and administration in New Zealand, as to make it appear that, in opposing a Government capable of acting in such a manner, the Maories were actuated by the instinct of self-preservation.

In one of those revelations which it has become the fashion for our statesmen to make at public or social meetings, we were informed by Mr. Chichester Fortescue, M.P., one of the UnderSecretaries of State for the Colonies, that "the war (in New Zealand) has not arisen from any greed or covetousness with respect to land on the part of the colonists of New Zealand, but from the incurable suspicion which_unfortunately exists on the part of the native race against the Europeans who have gone to New Zealand. It is very difficult," he says, "to cure such a suspicion as that." From the perusal of the following narrative a judgment may be formed, whether the natives had or had not good grounds for their incurable suspicion.

On the 6th February, 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was negotiated by Captain Hobson, of the Royal Navy, acting under the instructions of the Marquis of Normanby, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the behalf

of Her Majesty, and the principal chiefs and heads of the powerful tribes of the Ngapuhis, and of other natives in the northern parts of New Zealand, in a public meeting numerously attended by British settlers as well as by Maories. The vast majority of the tribes throughout New Zealand subsequently became parties to the treaty, through the instrumentality of the missionaries settled amongst them, the number of chiefs and heads of tribes who signed it being 582; and it may be truly said that no national question was ever submitted to the suffrages of a people in which so vast a majority of those who were entitled to express those suffrages concurred, the chiefs who signed expressing the decision of their respective tribes.

It was acknowledged by Captain Hobson in letters addressed to the local secretary of the Church of England Missionary Society, and to the late British Resident, respectively, that he was indebted for the success of his mission to their aid and influence with the native chiefs. To the late Rev. Richard Davis Captain Hobson addressed the following letter, dated May 20, 1840:

Sir,-The period having arrived for proclaiming the sovereign authority of Her Majesty over these islands, it accords no less with my public duty than it gratifies my personal feelings to acknowledge, in the most ample manner, the efficient and valuable support I have received from the resident members of the Church Missionary Society in carrying into effect with the native chiefs the views and objects of Her Majesty's Government. As the official organ of that body, I beg you will accept and convey to every member of the mission in New Zealand my cordial and hearty thanks for the very zealous and effective assistance they have rendered me in the execution of my duty.

(Signed)

WILLIAM HOBSON, Lieutenant Governor.

To Mr. Busby, the late British Resident then at Sydney, Captain Hobson wrote as follows:

Government House, Russel, Sept. 1, 1840. Sir,-In acknowledging the receipt of your communication of the 28th July, it affords me much pleasure in being able to bear testimony to the very valuable assistance that I derived from your influence with the native chiefs in enabling me to carry into effect the views of Her Majesty's Government on my arrival in these islands.

I beg further to add that through your disinterested and unbiassed advice and to your personal exertions I may chiefly ascribe the ready adherence of the chiefs and other natives to the treaty of Waitangi; and I feel it but due to you to state that without your aid in furthering the objects of the commission with which I was charged by Her Majesty's Government, I should have experienced

much difficulty in reconciling the minds of the natives, as well as of the Europeans who have located themselves in these islands, to the changes I contem. plated carrying into effect. I have, &c.,

(Signed) W. HOBSON, Lieutenant-Governor.

It appears of importance to call attention to these letters, because the parties to whom they were addressed were the chief sufferers, as will hereafter appear, under the oppressive measures which inaugurated the establishment of British government in New Zealand, and the treatment they met with first awoke the distrust of the natives. The Treaty of Waitangi has been severely criticised on various grounds. It has been asserted that the chiefs did not possess sufficient intelligence to understand its provisions, and were, moreover, not competent parties to such a contract-as not possessing the rights of sovereignty they professed to convey. On these grounds it was urged by the New Zealand Company that it should be considered in no other light than as "a praiseworthy device to amuse savages for the time." It was alleged that the sovereignty of Great Britain had been proclaimed by Captain Cook, who took possession of the islands in the customary form by right of discovery, and that Governor Macquarie, of New South Wales, had on two occasions exercised the rights of sovereignty by appointing magistrates to keep the peace in New Zealand, as being within his jurisdiction. In reply to these representations, which were urged with great force upon the Government by the New Zealand Company and by petition to Parliament from a number of merchants in London, representing the necessity of maintaining the sovereignty of Great Britain, in order to prevent its being taken possession of by France, Lord John Russell showed that the British Statutebook has in the present century, in three distinct enactments, declared that New Zealand is not a part of the British dominions; and secondly, that King William IV. made the most public, solemn, and authentic declaration which it was possible to make, that New Zealand was a substantive and independent State."* To the suggestion that the treaty, when it proved inconvenient to the New Zealand Company, should be treated as a 66 mere device to amuse savages for the time," Lord Stanley made the following reply:

"Lord Stanley is not prepared, as Her Majesty's Secretary

*See Parliamentary Paper of 8th April, 1840, where these Acts and their objects are specified at large, as well as the diplomatic proceedings in relation to the appointment of a Resident.