MAKERS OF WELLINGTON

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 66, 14 September 1929, Page 10

MAKERS OF WELLINGTON

PIONEEES OF THE 'FORTIES

; • . VIII. SAMUEL REVANS

180S-188S,

(By. "Condor.")

Amongst.all tho claims to being the first of this arid'that ' there can be no question that Samuel Revans was the father of the.Press in Wellington. The first issue of. his paper actually made its appearance from his office, 16, Little Pulteuey street, St. James's, London, on 6th September, 1839. On that same day Eevans was appointed secretary under the provisional constitution drawn up by tho intending emigrants for their.own governance when they should land in a country which at the moment possessed no organs of government whatever. The next issue of the.paper was-to appear as soon as possible after the. landing of the newspaper, plant .which Revans took with him in the Adelaide.

Re vans, was born in England about 1808, . the son of a doctor-apothecary, who brought.him up to the printing trade. From;his early years he was a militant radical. In 1833, with his friend, ■- H. 5... Chapman . (afterwards

Judge of. the Supremo Court in. New Zealand), he went to Canada, and together they ran. the "Montreal Daily Advertiser,"--which -was the first daily newspaper. in British North America. Being' advanced Liberals, the proprietors, were generally at loggerheads with the official. ;and wealthy classes in Canada, ■ and . the paper was never a paying venture. In 3,834 Chapman was sent by the Liberal Party in Canada on a political mission to England. The paper closed down, and Revans stayed on in Canada, <to become involved, it 5s said, in the rising in 1837 under Papirieau. The rebels were defeated at St. \Eustace and Toronto; some were captured and one or two were hanged.' Rcvaris made'his way; it is believed, into the United States, and thencoto England,

At this, time "the chartist movement was fit its height. Chapman was prominent amongst its organisers, and Kevaas also became'associated in a humble capacity. with . Henry Vincent, Roebuck, and Cobden.

Evidently. Eevans was something of a stormy petrel, for we find him acting ■'.s second to Roebuck in a duel fought .with Mr. Black, the editor of the "Morning Chronicle," at Christehureh, Hants. ■ Shots .were exchanged twice without effect,,except to precipitate an altercation in which Eevans offered to fight the other second. It is interesting to find • that Ee.vans is alleged to have fought a duel some years later at Pipitea, about where the Wellington Girls' College now is, over a discourtesy he believed had teen oKered .to a lady. On. that occasion also, rumour says, pistols; were : used without blood being shed. (The narrative of Eobuek's duel.and Eevans's part in it cannot be impugned; but as it occurred in 1835 it seems to suggest that Rovans had returned to England before the Papineau rising in Canada.) Quite naturally Eevans imbibed from his associates in the late 'thirties an interest in the colonisation of New Zealand, and as a result he sailed in the Adelaide.iv 1539 and a few months later landed.with his.Columbia printing press on the ; beach of Pito-one. There, on 18th April, 18-10, he brought out tjiesecond issue: of the "New Zealand Gazette," which he produced really in the interests and in the employ of the INow Zealand Company. (One of his staff then was Thomas "Wilmor M'Kcn'zie, who' himself' is entitled to be regarded as- a. ■ founder of New Zealand journalism.) : A few months later, when the; settlement was moved to the Lambton cud of the harbour, the x^aper was called:the "New Zealand Gazette and Britannia1 Spectator," to indicate that it still retained its interest in the original township, and that Eevans remembered hs old friend Eintoul, the editor of the "Spectator." From the very outset of his life.in New Zealand Eevans took an important position in the young community of Port* Nicholson. The provisional council met for the first fciine on 4th April, 1840, and all of its official documents until it was declared illegal by Governor Hobson were signed by Eevans as secretary. In 1843 he published the first Wellington Almanac, which for many years was an accurate chronicle of the events of the province, and a mine of information. In the same year Eevans sold the paper to a, company, and Fox became its new editor. The founder for a while devoted his energies,_ to tho importation of merchandise from England and cattle from j Australia, In 18i6, after tho hostilities" in the "-Hutt Valley, he presided over the public meeting he?d to consider measures of defence.

In. 1547 Bevans quite severed his connection with journalism, and joined Captain Smith in the ownership of a large run in the. Wairarapa. At one time they had'22,ooo acres of freehold and 30,000 'acres-'held-on lease for a period of 25 years. During this period Bevans took a keen interest in politics. He was member of Parliament for Wairarapa and Hawk.es Bay in 1853-55,' and for Hutt front 185G-58. In provincial politics he was member for Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay, then a very largo cistrict, of which the latter part was demanding separation from Wellington. He was its member from 1853 to 1857, and on two occasions held office in Featherston 'a Executive. He was a member of tho Provincial Council's first committee on education in 1853.

The run was not always successful, and Bevans turned his attention to other pursuits now and again. In 1851, for example, when there was a great demand for certain • commodities on the new diggings of California, he chartered the barque Thames and loaded her with tifnber, potatoes, etc. Owing to cargoes from other quarters forestalling him, the timber was not a success, but tlie potatoes met with a very good market. On this • venture John Jury, • of., 'Wairarnpn, accompanied Bevans. 'they both returned wiser and settleddown in, Wairarapa. When, the. leases fell in about 1872 4p»rt o^.tfc* peopesfg passe**, in4g ihe.

hands ot tho Hon. G. M. Waterhouse, at that time Premier of Now Zealand (and formerly of South Australia). This included Waihenga and Wharokaka Plain (the original Pohangina block). Another portion, whore Martinborough. now stands, became the property of the Hon. John Martin. Revans continued to reside with his partner at Woodsido, the Huangaroa portion of the property being managed by one of the young Smith!!. Rovans and Smith were almost the lirst to take an interest in the timber industry in the Wairarapa, but the want of a "railway killed the industry at that time. Revans died ou 15th July, ISSB, at Greytown, where- he had resided for some years with a brother. , '