The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British ColonyBuick, Thomas Lindsay
History
The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony
Buick, Thomas Lindsay
New Zealand -- Politics and government; Treaty of Waitangi (1840)
It is not for the present proposed to appoint any subordinate
officers for your assistance. That such appointments will be
indispensable is not, indeed, to be doubted. But I am unwilling at
first to advance beyond the strict limits of the necessity which
alone induces the Ministers of the Crown to interfere at all on this
subject. You will confer with Sir George Gipps as to the number and
nature of the official appointments which would be made at the
commencement of the undertaking and as to the proper rate of their
emoluments. These must be fixed with the most anxious regard for
frugality in the expenditure of public resources. The selection of
the individuals by whom such offices are to be borne must be made by
yourself from the colonists either of New South Wales or New Zealand,
but upon the full and distinct understanding that their tenure of
office, and even the existence of the offices which they are to hold
must be provisional and dependent upon the future pleasure of the
Crown. Amongst the offices thus to be created, the most evidently
indispensable are those of a Judge, a Public Prosecutor, a Protector
of the Aborigines, a Colonial Secretary, a Surveyor-General of Lands,
and a Superintendent of Police. Of these, the Judge alone will
require the enactment of a law to create and define his functions.
The Act now pending in Parliament, for the revival, with amendments,
of the New South Wales Act will, if passed into law, enable the
Governor and Legislative Council to make all necessary provision for
the establishment in New Zealand of a Court of Justice and a judicial
system separate from and independent of the existing Supreme Court.
The other functionaries I have mentioned can be appointed by the
Governor in the unaided exercise of the delegated prerogative of the
Crown. Whatever laws may be required for the Government of the new
colony will be enacted by the Governor and Legislative Council. It
will be his duty to bring under their notice such recommendations as
you may see cause to convey to him on subjects of this nature. The
absolute necessity of the revenue being raised to defray the expenses
of the Government of the proposed settlement in New Zealand has not,
of course, escaped my careful attention. Having consulted the Lords
of the Treasury on this subject I have arranged with their Lordships
that until the sources of such revenue shall have been set in action,
you should be authorised to draw on the Government of New South Wales
for your unavoidable expenditure. Separate accounts, however, will be
kept of the public revenue of New Zealand and of the application of
it and whatever debt may be contracted to New South Wales, must be
replaced by the earliest possible opportunity. Duties of impost on
tobacco, spirits, wine, and sugar will probably supersede the
necessity of any other taxation, and such duties except on spirits
will probably be of a very moderate amount.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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