British sovereignty and laws would be extended over the whole of New Zealand.

In the mean while, however, those portions of territory which had not been ceded to the British crown must be treated as the possession of an independent sovereign; and all British intercourse with the tribes inhabiting such lands, must be regulated by treaty. The government of the British settlements, representing the crown of England, might, indeed, exert a persuasive influence amongst the yet independent tribes, for the repression of native wars, and also for regulating commercial intercourse between natives and British subjects in general. And it would be no infraction of the principle of native independence of the rule according to which native consent should precede every exertion of British authority upon unceded territory-if the government of the British settlements were authorised to seize, try, and punish British subjects, for crimes committed on native territory, and to seize runaway convicts who had settled there.

In order to avoid any infraction of the principle above stated, it would only be necessary to provide, that the authority in question should not be exercised except as regards districts where the native tribes had, by formal treaty, agreed to its exercise. In all probability, there is not a single tribe in New Zealand, but would gladly accept such protection from the misconduct of lawless rovers, subjects of the British crown. And in this way, although British dominion should be always confined to spots where

the natives had freely become British subjects, yet British protection for the natives would be extended to the whole country. We know not of any other unobjectionable “method to rescue the natives of those extensive islands from the evils which impend over them, and to deliver our own country from the disgrace and crime of having occasioned or tolerated such atrocities*."

* Lord Goderich's despatch to General Bourke.

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CHAPTER V.

MODE OF COLONIZING BRITISH TERRITORY.

Lands ceded to the Crown to be sold at a uniform pricePower to sell in England-Fixed proportion of Purchasemoney for local improvements-Remainder to be an Emigration Fund-Ordinary Revenue from Taxation-Anticipation both of Emigration Fund and of Ordinary Revenue, by means of Loans for public purposes-Illustration of the System-Claims and existing rights of British Subjects to New Zealand land.

ADHERING to the principles of Lord Howick's regulations and the South Australian Act, it is proposed,

1. That land ceded to the British crown, excepting always a portion reserved to be held in trust for the use and benefit of native chiefs and their families, shall be declared public land, and shall be open to private appropriation by British subjects, in unlimited quantities, upon terms of perfect equality, and upon one condition only-that is to say, payment in ready-money of an uniform price per acre, to be determined from time to time by competent authority.

2. That the authority charged with the disposal of public land shall be empowered to sell the same in England, giving receipts for the purchase-money, which receipts shall entitle the holders thereof, or their agents, to select land in the settlements, in the same way, and to the same effect, as if the purchasemoney had been paid there.

3. That, with certain exceptions hereinafter set forth, the whole of the fund received as the purchasemoney of public land, be devoted to the purpose of defraying the cost of the emigration of labourers from this country to New Zealand; with provisions in detail for enabling buyers of land to nominate labourers for a free passage to the settlement in which the land has been purchased.

4. That the cost of purchasing cessions of territory from the natives, be defrayed out of the fund received as the purchase-money of public land.

5. That some small fixed proportion of the purchase-money of public land be employed, always in the district where the purchase has been made, for such local public purposes as the making of roads, and the building of school-houses and places of worship.

6. That, for the purpose of defraying the ordinary public expenditure of the settlements, the governing authority there be empowered to impose duties, rates, and taxes.

7. That in order to defray the cost of conveying labourers to the settlements, until the emigration fund, derived from sales of land, be sufficient for that purpose, and also in order to defray the cost of establishing settlements, and of governing them until their ordinary revenue shall be sufficient for the latter purpose, a loan or loans be raised upon the joint security, both of the ordinary revenue of the settlements and of the purchase-money of public land, in all time to come; but that, although both funds

collaterally should be made the security for the whole of such loan or loans, yet that the portion thereof which may be expended for emigration, be a particular charge upon the public land fund, and the portion expended for general purposes be a particular charge upon the ordinary revenue; the joint liability of both funds for the whole loan, being intended only to provide for the case in which either fund should prove insufficient to meet its own particular charge.

In order to explain the operation of this system, let us suppose, that persons intending to settle in New Zealand and others, are ready to purchase orders for public land to the amount of 50,000l., and also to advance upon loan the sum of 100,0007.; that half of the loan, that is, 50,000l., were expended on the emigration of labourers, and the other half for general purposes. The buyers of land would thus receive back the full amount of their purchase-money in the shape of labour and population; and government would be established; while the 50,000l. which had been paid for land (deducting a small portion for local improvements, and also what was paid to the natives for land,) would provide interest on the loan until more land had been sold, and a colonial revenue had arisen. With a provision for the regular payment of interest, the whole loan would be expended in improving the security on which it had been advanced.

Supposing that the operation were not repeated, the loan would either be paid off, half of it out of the produce of future sales of land, and the other