526 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



for State action is to declare in what manner the land shall pass at death, 

 for herein the paramount and sole duties of Government step iu, — the order 

 and protection of life and property. We do not trust the State with a penny 

 of money, as our ancestors, since the Eebellion, found it absolutely neces- 

 sary to pass the estimates yearly. By placing this question apart from 

 Government interference, we do not interfere with private right. " Although 

 the right of bequest forms part of the idea of private property, the right 

 of inheritance, as distinguished from bequest does not." Primogeniture 

 gave the land to the eldest son. I simply wish to give it to all the sons. 



In further explanation of the third principle, or maxim, " that we cannot 

 trust the people," it is only necessary to say that this principle varies in 

 degree. The Koman Senate found that those who held the leaseholds would 

 not give them up, and in our own case here, in New Zealand, we shall find 

 that, being a hilly country, the people will become independent and cling to 

 their lands in spite of any laws the Government may pass to the contrary. 

 Such are the Swiss and the "statesmen" of Cumberland and Westmoreland. 

 It will, therefore, be found highly injudicious to attempt to withhold the 

 free individual title from the people of this Colony ; although, at present, 

 there is little necessity for any interference at all with the land question. 

 The people of New Zealand, too, must become a maritime nation, and mari- 

 time nations have a strange habit of growing very restive under any strict 

 measure of Government control. The sale of the Crown lands then by way 

 of lease and deferred payment, in order to encourage settlement, is, there- 

 fore good, and amply sufficient for our present wants. But, if we expect 

 more than that, we shall find that we cannot trust the people. They will 

 not peaceably resign their leaseholds. And should the Government attempt 

 to use force, the Government would find itself defeated. The best way to 

 treat the people of this colony appears to me to be to give them their lands 

 under the free individual title, and if alteration is required, declare the 

 custom of England previous to the Norman Conquest. The law of gavel- 

 kind is an inexorable law, by which we may trust the people, and yet divide 

 the area of the lands exactly in accordance -with the population. We 

 recognize the justice of the principle every day, for when a person dies intes- 

 tate we divide his property among his children. 



As to the fourth principle " that the area of a state should be divided 

 in accordance with the density of the population;" there are one or two 

 exceptions to this. 1. Commerce and manufactures will support a town 

 population ; and, 2. A certain number of people can be supported by usury 

 or the profit of money-lending. Thus, Manchester, Birmingham, and Shef- 

 field support a fairly large population, and draw their food supplies from 

 abroad. And the profit derived by England from the mere loan of money 



