(70)
effected on nominal consideration from the Abo-
rigines. On either supposition the Land Revenue
must be wasted; the introduction of emigrants
delayed or prevented; and the country parcelled
out amongst large land-holders whose possessions
would long remain an, unprofitable, or rather, a
pernicious, waste." At first sight it may, perhaps,
appear hard that the quantity of land to be gran-
ted under the new rule, should not, with the
exceptions named in the Bill, form part of the
land claimed. But.by, this means, the advantage
of the claimant, no less than that of the colony
at large will be promoted. Suppose, a claimant
of a tract of land in the valley of the Thames, or
any other, remote district, to have expended in its
purchase £25, according to the terms of the ar-
rangement with the New Zealand. Company, he
would be entitled to a grant of 100 acres. Now,
waste land in a country where law and order have
never been established, or in an unpeopled dis-
trict, remote from any regular settlement, has
scarcely any appreciable value. But, bring the
settlers together, select a locality recommended
by. its natural advantages; and direct to it a con-
tinued stream of emigration, and the land allotted
to them will at once, attain a considerable value,
and became immediately available as marketable
property. By this means, I believe that the in-
terests of the claimants may be promoted, with-
out at the same time, endangering the future
prosperity of the Colony, and that, too, in accord-
ance with the official instructions of Her Majesty's
Government. To that part of the Bill which vests
in the New Zealand Company, an immediate and
absolute title to the Town of Wellington, and the
land in its immediate neighbourhood, I cannot
anticipate any opposition. Whatever may be
their title to the large tracts of country claimed
by them, they have received a guarantee from
Her Majesty's Government, that they shall re-
ceive four times as many acres as they have ex-
pended pounds in promoting the colonization of
the country. That district having been sold by
the Company, and his Excellency having ascer-
tained, without waiting for the report of the Land
Commissioners, that by compensation to a very
few counter claimants, the district may be granted
to the Company without injustice, it is proposed
to take this, the earliest and only means, of vest-
ing in them, an indefeasible title, to the land in
question. The New Zealand Company have ren-
dered important service to this Colony. But for
that Company, I believe that New Zealand would
not, at this moment, be a British Colony. By
their instrumentality, four thousand British sub-
jects have been introduced into New Zealand.
In promoting the general objects of its coloniza-
tion they have, I believe, expended upwards of
two hundred thousand pounds, and they are now
a chartered body, body, and recognized by the British
Government as an active and effective coloniz-
ing instrument. In the language of Her Majesty's
Colonial Minister, "It is because I think their ef-
forts, their exertions, their future prosperity, will
be the means of benefiting the community at large
it seems to me desirable to give the aid of the
Government, and the support of the Crown, to
these objects." I should deem myself greatly

wanting in courtesy, were I to pass unnoticed
the Petition presented by Mr. Clendon, from the
Ladies of the Northern part of this Island. It
would seem that the Government had some in-
tituitive sense of the wishes of Her Majesty's fe-
male subjects, for it will be found that, by the
provisions of the bill most of their wishes have been
anticipated, and that they will be left in peaceable
possession of "the scenes of their domestic du-
ties and pleasures."-I think, Sir, it must now be
sufficiently obvious, that Her Majesty's Govern-
ment were driven, by the numerous and extrava-
gant claims to land in this country, as the only
means of its successful colonization, to dis-
regard all titles to lands which should not
be confirmed by a grant from the Crown;
and that this Council possesses competent au-
thority to legislate on the subject; and that the
plan now proposed for its final settlement, is
calculated to give effect to the views of Her
Majesty's Government. I rejoice that the
people of the North, no less than their country-
men of the South, have not forgotten the ancient
British privelege of petitioning for the redress of
any supposed or real greivance; but if, on any
future occasion, the Land Owners of the North
should cause their opinions to be brought under
the consideration of this Council, I trust those
opinions will be formed on a more accurate ac-
quaintance with the subject, and that they will
be couched in language more becoming to the
Crown.

Mr. Earp. It does not appear to me that any
very essential alteration is intended with regard
of the main features of the bill. Much has been
said respecting the petitions which have been
laid before the Council, but very little that is
satisfactory about the bill itself. I can scarcely,
agree with His Excellency that the 19th clause
provides for many of the objections set forth in
those petitions. With regard to many claimants
the clause will remain a dead letter. It provides
that every person who shall prove the payment
of not less than five shillings an acre, may, if he
thinks fit, retain his lands; but the fact is, very
few purchasers have paid that amount. In one
sense this clause will act as an additional hardship
to the original settlers, whom it deprives of the
recompense due to them, after encountering the
risk of colonising an uncivilised country, long
before any permanent colonisation was thought
of by the British Government. The settler of
twenty years ago, who paid only one shilling an
acre for his land, gave more than it was worth,
since it only acquired any real value from his
labour. In a few years another settler would
find it more profitable to give three shillings an
acre for land in the vicinity of that occupied by
the first comer, who would, doubtless, have
formed a small establishment, and affected many
improvements. After these came a third settler,
who gave five shillings an acre for his land, and
he alone could participate in the benefit which
the 19th clause was intended to confer, whilst
those who had paved the way for him were alto-
gether excluded. Thus the industrious colonist
who had staked his all years ago, upon the laud-
able experiment of forming a settlement in in a