Report.
By the Lords Committees appointed a Select Committee to inquire into the present State of the Islands of New Zealand, and the Expediency of regulating the Settlement of British Subjects therein; and to consider and report; and to whom was referred the Petition of Merchants and Ship Owners of London, trading in the South Seas and to the Australian Colonies, praying for Protection of the Shipping Interest; and to whom were also referred certain Papers connected with the Inquiry before the Committee:—
Ordered to report,
That the Committee have met, and have considered the subject Matter to them referred; and have come to the following Resolution; viz.—
Resolved,—That it appears to this Committee, that the Extension of the Colonial Possessions of the Crown is a Question of public Policy which belongs to the Decision of Her Majesty's Government; but that it appears to this Committee, that Support, in whatever Way it may be deemed most expedient to afford it, of the Exertions which have already beneficially effected the rapid Advancement of the religious and social Condition of the Aborigines of New Zealand, affords the best present Hopes of their future Progress in Civilization.
And the Committee have directed the Minutes of Evidence taken before them; together with an Index thereto, to be reported to the House.
