THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
283

prosecuted this war should be carefully dis-
tinguished from those who by circumstances,
connexion, or sense of honour, or other natural
temptation, have been unwillingly drawn into
it, and still more pointedly from those who
have on the whole adhered to the British
cause. Even in the case of the most culpable
tribes the punishment should be such as to
inflict present humiliation and inconvenience
rather than a recurring sense of injury, and
should leave them with a conviction that their
punishment, if severe, has not exceeded the
limits of justice, and also with the assurance
that for the future they have nothing to fear,
but everything to hope from the Colonial Go-
vernment. With this view, the punishment,
however exemplary, should be inflicted once
for all, and those who may have suffered
from it should be led to feel that they may en-
gage in the pursuits of industry on the lands
which remain to them, with the same security
from disturbance which is enjoyed by their
most favoured fellow-subject. And I should
hold it as a great misfortune if the punish-
ment were so allotted as to destroy those germs
of order and prosperity which have been so
singularly developed in some of the Waikato
tribes.

I do not dispute the right of the Colonial
Government to obtain from the punishment
of the insurgent natives some aid in defraying
the expenses of the war; or, in other words,
of including in the contemplated cession or
forfeiture lands to be disposed of by sale, as
well as lands to be devoted to the purposes of
military settlement But these expenses have
been mainly borne by this country, which has
therefore a right to require that the cession
or confiscation of territory shall not be car-
ried further than may be consistent with the
permanent pacification of the island and the
honour of the English name. I must now
invite your attention to some difficulties to
which such a scheme would appear to be liable
if carried into effect too suddenly, and on too
great a scale.

I think it may be generally said that there
is not much modern experience of a successful
military settlement. In the present case, it
can scarcely be hoped that the 20,000 persons
whom it is proposed to place upon land will be
entirely of the most desirable class; and not-
withstanding the intention expressed by your
Minister to provide for the introduction of
married settlers with their families, it is to be
expected that there will be a great preponde-
rance of males amongst them—a circumstance
which is always productive of many causes of
strife in such a state of society. If the set-
tlements should be scattered at a distance
from any natural centre, and in the heart of
a disaffected country, they might prove
unequal to their own defence, and their protec-
tion would be extremely expensive, while it
would hardly be possible for the Colony to
abandon the territories which it had occu-
pied. Lastly, as the immigrants would be
without special experience or capital, bound
to a distasteful military tenure, and perhaps
exposed to the hostility of the natives, it is to
be feared that they would have to undergo
much hardship, and would be soon attracted
from their farms by the high wages of Aus-
tralia or the still nearer gold-fields of Otago.
I am strengthened in these apprehensions
by observing that the difficulty of enforcing
Military Service upon Colonists has pressed
itself on the notice of yourself and the New
Zealand Representatives. In your Despatch
of the 24th July, 1862, you express your fear
that labourers and artizans could not be
induced to remain in the Colony if liable to
Militia Service. And a somewhat similar
anticipation is expressed in the memorial
addressed to Her Majesty by the Houses of
Representatives, and mentioned in your
despatch of the 6th October, 1862.

This is a matter which more properly
belongs to your own advisers on the spot,
responsible as they now are for the conduct
of Native Affairs; and I do not urge these
objections for the purpose of discouraging
within moderate and practical limits a scheme
from which you expect the best results, but
only trust, in order to ensure success, these
limits may be carefully considered in the first
instance.

I shall have occasion to recur to the subject
of lands taken for sale in considering the
proposal for a guaranteed loan.

Considering that the defence of the colony
is at present effected by an Imperial Force, I
should perhaps have been justified in recom-
mending the disallowance of an Act couched
in such sweeping terms, capable therefore of
great abuse--unless its practical operation were
restrained by a strong and resolute hand--
and calculated, if abused, to frustrate its
own objects and to prolong instead of termi-
nate war. But not having received from you
any expression of your disapproval, and being
most unwilling to take any course which
would weaken your hands in the moment of
your military success, Her Majesty's Govern-
ment have decided that the Act shall for the
present remain in operation.

They are led to this conclusion not merely
by a desire to sustain the authority of the
Local Government, but also in no small
degree by observing that no confiscation can
take effect without your personal concurrence,
and by the reliance which they so justly place
on your sagacity, firmness, and experience,
and your long-recognized regard, as well
for the interests of the Colonists as for the
fair rights and expectation of the Native
Race.

I have, therefore, to convey to you the
following instructions, as embodying the
decisions of Her Majesty's Government :—

It is in their opinion very much to be
desired that the proposed appropriation of
Land should take the form of a cession
imposed by yourself and General Cameron
upon the conquered tribes, and made by
them to the representative of the Queen as a