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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

Enclosure A. — Captain W. Hobson to His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir Richard Bourke, K.C.B., Governor of New South Wales

Enclosure A.
Captain W. Hobson to His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir Richard Bourke, K.C.B., Governor of New South Wales.

Visit of H.M.S. "Rattlesnake" to New Zealand. H.M.S. "Rattlesnake," Port Jackson, 8th August, l837.

Sir,

I have the honour to acquaint you that His Majesty's ship "Rattlesnake" in her late cruise page 11visited the Bay of Islands and several other ports on the eastern coast of. New Zealand, and in Cook Straits.

It affords me great satisfaction to assure your Excellency that the European settlersat the Bay of Islands repose the most entire confidence in the friendly disposition of the Natives, notwithstanding the existence of war between the two tribes settled in their immediate neighbourhood. I am aware that the British Resident is not free from apprehension; but from the intercourse I maintained with the Missionaries, and all other classes of British subjects, I am free to assert that he stands alone in the opinion he has formed.

Tribal War at the Bay of Islands.

The war between the Bay of Island tribes under Pomare and Titore is the only one now prevailing in New Zealand, notwithstanding that many of the auxiliaries enlisted under the rival chiefs have come from considerable distances in every direction; but this does not appear to disturb the harmony of those who remain behind in their pas, although the nearest neighbours are engaged on opposite sides.

Reverting to the position in which our countrymen stand in regard to these factions, it is a remarkable fact, and worthy of imitation by more civilized Powers, that the hostile forces have repeatedly passed through the very enclosures of the Missionaries at Paihia, on their way to and from the field of battle, without molesting a single article belonging to the whites and in one instance the two parties, by mutual consent, removed the scene of action to a greater distance from our settlements, lest a white man should by accident be injured. How long this feeling may continue, it is impossible to say. I only know that those who have everything at stake—their lives, their families and their properties—entertain not the slightest apprehension of any change.

I heartily wish I could report as favourably of their situation with respect to the abandoned ruffians from our own country who have, from time to time, found their way to the Bay of Islands. From these, indeed, there is much to be dreaded. An instance of a most daring burglary occurred in my absence on the East Coast, in which a British settler was extensively robbed, his life attempted, and the females of his family most brutally treated. I am happy to say, two out of four of the perpetrators of this outrage have been apprehended and banished by the Natives, and were brought to Sydney in this ship. I sincerely hope the 9th of George the Fourth will be found applicable to their case, and that they may be made an example to many of a similar character who remain behind to disgrace our nation even in the eyes of savages.

In our cruise on the eastern coasts I visited Puriri and Waikaitewa, on the Thames, the Island of Waiheke, at its entrance, and Cloudy Bay, in Cook Straits. I intended to have called at Entry Island and Mana, where a Mr. Bell has settled, but the boisterous state of the weather prevented any anchoring. I stood close in to both islands, and feel convinced that the very appearance of a man-of-war in that quarter will have considerable weight, from the terror in which we are held by the Natives in consequence of the severe chastisement inflicted on them by the "Alligator," and the detachment of H.M. 50th Regiment, in 1835; and, for the same reason, I have no doubt but our visit to the Thames will also be productive of benefit, for there the Natives are in a more primitive state than at the Bay of Islands, and when engaged in war have not always been so scrupulous about the property of British subjects, although in no instance has any violence been done to their persons. I will suggest to the officer who may succeed me on this station to open a further intercourse with the Natives on the Thames, which will soon place our settlers there in a state of as perfect security as in any part of the Island.

On the northern shores of Cook Straits a most powerful tribe of Natives have collected, under the celebrated warrior Rauparaha, but it does not appear they have in view any warlike object: indeed, if they had, our countrymen, with the exception of Mr. Bell and his small party on the islands, would have but little to fear, for the only other places to which the whites resort are Cloudy Bay and Queen Charlotte Sound, where they are so numerous, and so confederate by their pursuits (which are exclusively whale-fishing), that no tribe of Natives whatsoever dare molest them. The only danger they have to apprehend is from themselves, and that is in a great measure neutralized by the counteracting influence of their own reckless and desperate character.

The quarrel between the Bay of Island tribes is supposed, by the best-informed, to be in a fair train for adjustment. When we sailed, the loss sustained by the conflicting parties was more nearly on a par, not from the numbers slain, but from the possession acquired by the Ngapuhis (as Titore's people are called) of the dead body of a chief of the opposite party, on whom atonement was made for an insult that was offered to two of their chiefs, who had been killed in battle and found by the enemy. There are other causes too that, it is hoped, will lead to pacification. Nene, a powerful chief from Hokianga, who has embraced Christianity, has brought his tribe across the island with the full determination to compel the contending parties to make peace; and, as he is known to possess both courage and power to turn the scale on either side, his mediation is not likely to be slighted. The scarcity of provisions and the necessity for agriculture will also operate favourably towards the same object. On the other hand, the excellent chief Titore is dead, and his people are under the direction of a perfect savage, who thirsts for war; and Pomare, the head of the opposite tribe, is likewise a violent fellow, who claims a right to the land of Kororareka, which was once his, but was ceded to Titore at the peace of 1830. The gentlemen of the Mission maintain a constant intercourse between the parties, and are received by both with the greatest respect. Their efforts to promote peace are unremitting, and of late they have felt confident of eventual success.

Social Condition of the New Zealanders.

In reporting to your Excellency my views and observations on the social, condition of the New Zealanders, I cannot repress a feeling of deep regret that so fine and intelligent a race of human beings should, in the present state of general civilization, be found in barbarism; for there is not on earth a people more susceptible of high intellectual attainments, or more capable of becoming a useful and industrious race under a wise Government. At present, notwithstanding their formal declaration page 12of independence, they have not, in fact, any government whatsoever nor could a meeting of the chiefs who profess to be the heads of the United Tribes take place at any time without danger of bloodshed. How, then can it be expected that laws will be framed for the dispensation of justice or the preservation of peace and good order, even if Native judgment were sufficiently matured to enact such laws or to carry them into execution?

Whilst the disunited state of the tribes, and their jealousy of each other, render it impossible to enact or execute laws, it also lays them open to the designs of turbulent individuals, and destroys all confidence in the permanency of the peace.

That their wars, which are fast depopulating their beautiful country, may sooner or later be extended to our countrymen, is a circumstance that it would be the height of rashness to doubt; and as British subjects are fast accumulating, and areevery day acquiring considerable possessions of land, it must become a subject of deep solicitude with the British Government to devise some practicable mode of protecting them from violence, and of restraining them from aggression.

Heretofore the great and powerful moral influence of the Missionaries has done much to check the natural turbulence of the Native population; but the dissolute conduct of the lower orders of our countrymen not only tends to diminish that holy influence, but to provoke the resentment of the Natives, which, if once excited, would produce the most disastrous consequences. It becomes, therefore, a solemn duty, both in justice to the better classes of our fellow-subjects and to the Natives themselves, to apply a remedy for the growing evil.

Establishment of British Factories desirable.

It has occurred to me that if factories were established at the Bay of Islands, at Cloudy Bay and Hokianga, and in other places, as the occupation by British subjects proceeds, a sufficient restraint could be constitutionally imposed on the licentious whites, without exciting the jealousy of the New Zealanders, or of any other Power.

I will not presume to enter too deeply into the details of such a measure, but beg simply to suggest that sections of land be purchased, enclosed, and placed within the influence of British jurisdiction, as dependencies of this colony.

The heads of factories should be magistrates, and the chief factor should, in addition, be accredited to the united chiefs of New Zealand as a political agent and consul. All communications with the British Government should take place through the chief factor, with whom alone the local factors should correspond.

All British subjects should be required to register themselves and their landed property at the factories.

Two or more of the most respectable British residents nearest to each station should hold Commissions of the Peace to assist the factors.

Prisons should be constructed within the factories, and legally proclaimed in the colony.

A treaty should be concluded with the New Zealand chiefs for the recognition of British factories, and the protection of British subjects and property.

To meet the expenses which the establishment of a system of factories upon the principle I have mentioned would necessarily entail, funds might be obtained from a variety of sources, such as a small fee on the registration of the purchase of land from the Natives, on the entry and clearance of British shipping, and a small percentage on goods and produce imported and exported. The greater security which would result from this system would, it is conceived, readily dispose the British subjects resident in New Zealand to conform to such an impost.

I am aware of the necessity of a British Act of Parliament to give effect to the whole system, to impart to the colonial Courts of New South Wales, more perfectly than at present, jurisdiction over offences committed by British subjects in New Zealand, and to the colonial Legislature to enact such laws in respect thereof as the more complete local knowledge of the country might from time to time suggest.

The benefit that may be supposed to result from the establishment of factories in New Zealand is not confined to the mere legal protection they are calculated to afford but we may hope they will be the means of introducing amongst the Natives a system of civil government which may hereafter be adopted and enlarged upon. Nor is it to be overlooked that in times of intestine war they will afford a safe retreat to our fellow-countrymen, who will become powerful by concentration.

I trust the imperfection of the foregoing details may not be allowed to militate against the measure I have the honour to suggest, but, if the principle be approved, that it may be modified and arranged by abler hands, so as to adapt it to the exigency of the case.

I have, &c.,

W. Hobson, Captain.