This extract from "Instructions from the Secretary of State for War
and Colonies, Lord Normanby, to Captain Hobson, recently
appointed H.M. Consul at New Zealand, concerning his duty as Lieutenant
Governor of New Zealand as a part of the Colony of New
South Wales, dated 14 August 1839." was posted to soc.culture.new-zealand.
Although it is excerpted from a book, which interested
readers should, of course consult, it is a direct quote from an Official
British Government Document.
[Begin quote]
... a very considerable Body of Her Majesty's subjects have already
established their residence and effected Settlements there, and
that many persons in this Kingdom have formed themselves into a Society,
having for its object the acquisition of Land, and the removal
of Emigrants to those Islands.
Her Majesty's Government have watched these proceedings with attention
and solicitude. We have not been insensible to the
importance of New Zealand to the interests of Great Britain in Australia,
nor unaware of the great natural resources by which that
country is distinguished, or that its geographical position must in
seasons, either of peace or war, enable it, in the hands of Civilised
men to exercise a paramount influence in that quarter of the globe.
There is probably no part of the earth in which Colonization could
be effected with a greater or surer prospect of national advantage.
On the other hand, the Ministers of the Crown have been restrained by
still higher motives from engaging in such an enterprise. They
have deferred to the advice of the Committee appointed by the House
of Commons in the year 1836, to enquire into the state of the
Aborigines residing in the vicinity of our Colonial Settlements; and
have concurred with that Committee in thinking that the increase of
national wealth and power promised by the acquisition of New Zealand,
would be a most inadequate compensation for the injury which
must be inflicted on this Kingdom itself, by embarking in a measure
essentially unjust, but too certainly fraught with calamity to a
numerous and inoffensive people, whose title to the soil and to the
Sovereignty of New Zealand is indisputable, and has been solemnly
recognised by the British Gov[ernmen]t. We retain these opinions in
unimpaired force; and though circumstances entirely beyond our
control have at length compelled us to alter our course, I do not scruple
to avow that we depart from it with extreme reluctance ...
The necessity for the interposition of the Gov[ernmen]t has however
become too evident to admit of any further inaction. The reports
which have reached this Office within the last few months establish
the facts that, about the commencement of the year 1838, a Body
of not less than two thousand British Subjects had become permanent
inhabitants of New Zealand, that amongst them were many
persons of bad or doubtful character - convicts who had fled from our
penal Settlements, or Seamen who had deserted their Ships; and
that these people, unrestrained by any Law, and amenable to no tribunals,
were alternately the authors and the victims of every species
of Crime and outrage. It further appears that extensive cessions of
Land have been obtained from the Natives, and that several
hundred persons have recently sailed from this Country to occupy and
cultivate those Lands. The spirit of adventure having been thus
effectually aroused, it can no longer be doubted that an extensive
Settlement of British Subjects will be rapidly established in New
Zealand; and that unless protected and restrained by necessary Laws
and Institutions, they will repeat, unchecked, in that corner of
the Globe, the same process of War and spoliation, under which uncivilised
Tribes have almost invariably disappeared as often as they
have been brought into the immediate vicinity of Emigrants from the
Nations of Christendom. To mitigate, and, if possible, to avert
these disasters, and to rescue the Emigrants themselves from a lawless
state of Society, it has been resolved to adopt the most
effective measures for establishing amongst them a settled form of
Civil Gov[ernmen]t. To accomplish this design is the principal object
of your mission.
I have already stated that we acknowledge New Zealand as a Sovereign
and independant State, so far at least as it is possible to make
that acknowledgement in favour of a people composed of numerous, dispersed,
and petty Tribes, who posses few political relations to
each other, and are incompetent to act, or to even deliberate, in concert.
But the admission of their rights, though inevitably qualified
by this position, is binding on the faith of the British Crown. The
Queen, in common with Her Majesty's immediate Predecessor,
disclaims for herself and for her Subjects, every pretention to seize
on the Islands of New Zealand, or to govern them as part of the
Dominion of Great Britain, unless the free and intelligent consent
of the Natives, expressed according to their established usages, shall
be first obtained. Believing however that their own welfare would,
under the circumstances I have mentioned, be best promoted by the
surrender to Her Majesty of a right now so precarious and little more
than nominal and persuaded that the benefits of British
protection, and of Laws administered by British Judges would far more
than compensate for the sacrifice by the Natives of a National
independance which they are no longer able to maintain, Her Majesty's
Gov[ernmen]t have resolved to authorise you to treat with the
Aborigines of New Zealand for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereign
authority over the whole or any parts of those Islands
which they may be willing to place under Her Majesty's Dominion. I
am not unaware of the difficulty by which such a Treaty may be
encountered. The motives by which it is recommended are of course open
to suspicion ...
[End quote]
Source Information
From: Neil Newman (neiln@pinn.gen.nz)
Subject: Annexation of NZ to NSW
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 1995 19:30:03
I found this the other day at work, in a book called
"Speeches and Documents on New Zealand History" edited by W.D.
McIntyre and W.J. Gardner (Oxford 1971 no ISBN).
These are the "Instructions from the Secretary of State for War
and Colonies, Lord Normanby, to Captain Hobson,
recently appointed H.M. Consul at New Zealand, concerning his duty as
Lieutenant Governor of New Zealand as a part of
the Colony of New South Wales, dated 14 August 1839." (C.O. 209/4, pp
251-81)