ZEALAND, NEW. 



ZEALAND, NEW. 



123 



to b* eoondwd netful article both in England and in New South 

 Wale*, and many rnsxils visited the iilaods to procure it The tracts 

 when the Pkormitm Umax grows in greatest abundance are situated 

 en the weet aborea of New U later ; and settlements were made there 

 in order to get oargoea for the vessels whose arrival wai expected. 

 Daring the fint twenty yean of the present century the coasts of 

 New Munster and of Cook Strait were overrun by sealers in every 

 direction, who caught many thousand seals every season ; the skins 

 were sent to China, where they fetched a high price. When the seals 

 began to fail the whale-fishery in Cook Strait was established. This 

 ledto the settlement of several Englishmen on the shores of the 

 strait, and thus a considerable number of Englishmen had become 

 domiciled in New Zealand at an early period. Host of them married 

 native females, and finding that the country possessed a considerable 

 degree of fertility, and that immense tracts were not cultivated, they 

 began to acquire landed property before a regular colony had been 

 established. Meanwhile the Church Missionary Society had directed 

 its attention to the natives of New Zealand, aud sent several mission- 

 aries in 1814. They were soon followed by some Wesleyan and Roman 

 Catholic muaionaries, and though their labours were not attended 

 with immediate success, they ultimately succeeded, and at present the 

 natives are nearly all at least nominally Christians. 



The English government having been informed that every foot of 

 ground in New Zealand was the property of somebody did not think 

 it expedient to send a colony there, and made a declaration to that 

 effect ; but the English who were settled in the island wished to have 

 some protection, and they complained that many runaway convicts 

 from New South Wales had entered the country, where they exercised 

 a pernicious influence over the natives, who were excited by them to 

 acts of violence against their neighbours and the settlers. The use of 

 fire-arms began to be introduced among them, and the conflicts became 

 more numerous and deadly than ever. This induced the English 

 government in 1833 to send there a consul or agent to decide disputes 

 between the English according to the law of their country, and to 

 remove vagabonds. 



In 1835 a French adventurer, Baron de Thierry, announcing himself 

 as sovereign chief of New Zealand and king of Nuhuhwa (one of the 

 Marquesas Islands), published a formal declaration that he was about 

 to go to New Zealand and to establish an independent sovereignty. 

 He went in 1837 to Hokianga with a few settlers, but being soon 

 abandoned by his companions he left the country. The British 

 settlers now addressed a petition to William IV., praying for the 

 establishment of a regular government in the form of a British 

 colony. In 1888 an Englishman arrived in London who had been 

 residing for some time in New Ulster, and had bought an immense 

 tract of country, which he wished to dispose of. This gave rise to the 

 New Zealand Company, which sent there the first regular colony in 

 1839. Several settlements were made in New Ulster, and on the 

 shores of Tasman Bay in New Munster. In 1810 the English govern- 

 ment made a regular settlement on the shores of Port Waitemata in 

 the Bay of Hauraki, where the town of Auckland was built. Subse- 

 quently settlements were made at Canterbury and Otago, both in New 

 Munster, the former by members of the Church of England, the 

 latter by Free Church Presbyterians; but both have ceased to be 

 exclusive. 



Neither the settlements nor the conduct of the New Zealand 

 Company gave satisfaction to the colonists. The Company had 

 endeavoured to act equitably by the natives in founding their colo- 

 nies, purchasing all the lands required, and reserving certain portions, 

 mingled with the others, as inalienably appertaining to the original 

 owners. Difficulties had however arisen. The native wars had in 

 many instances transferred districts from the conquered to the con- 

 querors. The latter had sold the lands ; the former, on something like 

 peace being restored, claimed them, and showed no disinclination to refer 

 the arbitrament to force. In addition, there were the claims of private 

 individuals, who asserted that they had purchased tracts of land 

 varying from two acres to 500 square miles, for merchandise, tobacco- 

 pipes, and blankets, often from the same chiefs who had sold the land 

 to the New Zealand Company, and in frequent cases produced their 

 signatures. Captain Hobson, who was at first only consul, but was 

 afterwards named lieutenant-governor, concluded the treaty of 

 WaiUngi with the native chieftains, by which the sovereignty of the 

 islands wan transferred to Queen Victoria ; but all the proprietary 

 rights, "the land*, estates, forests, fisheries," &c., were secured to the 

 chieftains, while the right to purchase any part thereof which they 

 might feel disposed to alienate was restricted to the crown ; it was 

 declared that any future sale by the natives, except to the crown, 

 would be null and void ; and the title of the New Zealand Company 



i their lands was left unsettled. Numerous disputes arose between 

 the natives, the Company, and the governor. In September, 1842, 

 Captain Hobson died, and his chief adviser, Mr. Shortland, carried on 

 the government till the arrival of Captain Fitzroy, in January 1844. 

 In the meantime an event had occurred which produced a long and 

 duastroui i war with the natives. A dispute had arisen respecting the 

 lands in the valley of the Wairau, near Cloudy Bay, on the opposite 

 side of Cook Strait, in New Munster. Two of the most powerful 

 cluefs, Rauperaha and Rangihaeta, had used force to prevent a survey 



the district being taken, and had burned some of the dwellings, 



and a magistrate's warrant was issued to arrest them on a charge of 

 arson. On June 17th, 1843, Captain A. Wakefield, one of the magis- 

 trates, and a party of the settlers, amounting in the whole to 49, 

 attempted to execute this warrant, but the Maori chiefs, as might 

 have been expected, laughed at the notion of submission to the 

 authority of the law; and, when told they would be compelled, 

 Rauperaha replied that he " did not want to fight, but if the white 

 people fought he would fight too." An attempt was made to arrest 

 the chiefs. A conflict took place ; and though the natives did not 

 number more than 80 or 90, only half of whom were armed with 

 muskets, Captain Wakefield and 21 others were killed, several after 

 they had laid down their arms and offered to surrender ; many more 

 were wounded, and all who escaped did so with difficulty. This affair 

 inspired the natives with yet greater boldness, which was not lessened 

 by Captain Fitzroy's declaring, after an interview with Rauperaha, 

 whom he visited to hear his statement, that the settlers were in the 

 wrong, and ought not to have continued the survey at Wairau. In 

 June, 1844, Heki, another chief, and previously a missionary student, 

 proceeded to cut down the British flag-staff at Russell, in the Bay of 

 Islands, at the northern end of New Ulster, and plundered and 

 burned the town. This gave rise to hostile proceedings, which con- 

 tinued for more than a year. In November, 1845, Captain Fitzroy 

 was succeeded by Captain (now Sir George) Grey, who came as 

 governor-in-chief, with a force augmented to 2500 men. Within a 

 month he succeeded in tranquillising the north. He then turned his 

 attention to the south. Rauperaha was suddenly seized in his pah, 

 or fortified village, and kept for a considerable time as a prisoner at 

 large. He [cleared the valley of the Hutt, near Wellington, of the 

 intrusive natives, and he pursued Rangihaeta and his people till they 

 were subdued and forced to submit. During these dissensions a great 

 portion of the native population adhered faithfully to the British side, 

 and were of the greatest service, particularly in the latter part of the 

 war, when tracking Rangihaeta through the pathless and almost im- 

 penetrable forests. An attack on Wanganui in the spring of 1847, 

 which was easily repulsed, was the last hostile conflict of the European 

 and native races. The governor employed the military in laying out 

 and completing a number of roads. The natives now mix on the best 

 terms with the British ; they live amongst them, they found towns, 

 build churches, and have projected newspapers of their own ; they 

 have elevated themselves to an equality, perhaps more for it is 

 stated, that so eager are they for knowledge that there is scarcely a 

 Maori who cannot read and write. 



The New Zealand Company have given up their efforts at colonisa- 

 tion. They resigned in 1852 their claims to the government, upon 

 receiving a compensation for their outlay to the amount of 268,3702., 

 to be paid out of the sale of waste lauds in New Zealand ; an arrange- 

 ment which excited much dissatisfaction in the colony. 



Government. The government of New Zealand has hitherto been 

 intrusted to a governor (till 1845 he was only lieutenant-governor, 

 subordinate to the governor-in-chief at Sydney), with an executive 

 council, consisting of the colonial secretary, the treasurer, and the 

 attorney-general ; and a legislative council consisting of four colonists, 

 nominated by the governor. The seat of the government is at Auck- 

 land. In 1852, by the act 15 and 16 Viet., cap. 72, a new constitution 

 was provided for New Zealand. By this act the following provinces 

 are established in New Zealand, namely, Auckland, New Plymouth, 

 Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury, and Otago, the limits of the same to 

 be fixed by the governor of New Zealand ; each province has a super- 

 intendent and a provincial council, and the colony at large has a legis- 

 lative council and a house of representatives. The waste lands are 

 under the superintendence of the General Assembly, but arrangements 

 with respect to lands held in common by the natives cannot be entered 

 into except with the crown. 



New Zealand was created a bishopric in 1841, as suffragan to Sydney, 

 when the Rev. G. A. Selwyu was appointed, whose residence is at 

 Auckland, and who has been indefatigable in the discharge of his duties. 

 A second bishopric, that of Christchurch, was founded in 1854. 



The government revenue in 1849 was 48,5892., in 1850 it was 

 57,7432. ; of the increase 40002. arose from the customs, and 50002. 

 from the land. There has been always a deficiency in the revenue as 

 against the expenditure, which has been made up by a parliamentary 

 vote by England. In 1850 this vote was for 20,0002. ; but in 1849 

 there was a decrease in the expenditure in New Ulster of 50752., and 

 in New Munster of 11,5872., a total decrease of 16,6622. 



Towns and Villages, The chief towns and villages in the colony are 

 the following : 



Auckland, the seat of the government of the colony, is built on the 

 southern shores of the harbour of Waitemata, which opens into the 

 Gulf of Hauraki. The harbour has sufficient depth for vessels of con- 

 siderable burden. The town stands on cliffs of sandstone of moderate 

 elevation, backed by rising ground. Several volcanic cones rise in its 

 immediate neighbourhood, at the base of which are hard scoriae, fit 

 for buildings and roads, and easily worked ; the sandstone of the cliffs, 

 though soft, hardens by exposure to the air, and is also a good building 

 material Some of the caves that occur in the cliffs have been used 

 by the natives as places of sepulture, and the bottoms are covered with 

 human bones. The houses in the town are mostly of wood. The 

 town is situated in a part of the island where the soil, though light, 



