§ Sir R. Ingliswished to put two questions to the Under Secretary for the Colonies, relative to New Zealand. He wished to know what were the intentions of her Majesty's Government, relative to the colony of New Zealand generally, and also with respect to the New Zealand Company.
§ Mr. Laboucheresaid, that the Government had come to the determination of taking steps which would probably lead to the establishment of a colony in that country; but as those measures were still under consideration, he trusted the hon. Baronet would excuse him from entering further into them. A number of persons had gone out to New Zealand, and in order to protect the aborigines, and for the maintenance of good order among the inhabitants, it was thought fit that measures should be taken to establish law and peace. With regard to the New Zealand Land Companies, he need hardly assure the hon. Gentleman that these companies could not have been recognized by the Government. They had sent expeditions from this country upon their own responsibility, and without any sanction from the Government; but he was bound to a y, with an explicit declaration, that in any future step which the Government might take in reference to New Zealand, they would not consider themselves bound to recognise any title to land set up which might 829 appear to be fraudulent or excessive. He felt it better to give this explanation, because he perceived, by the newspapers, that some wild schemes were afloat, and if it should be the course of the Government to urge persons to assist in the progress of colonization in these islands, yet, at the same time, it was necessary that they should understand that, in the case of land acquired from the aborigines—a class quite unable properly to protect their own interests—it was the duty of the Government to protect them, and to see that no title to land should be set up of the kind he had described.