THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5798, 18 September 1880, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND.

lkcturk dklivkrkd before the mkmbers of the otago institute by dk t. m. iiockex.

Tae following i 3 the second of the series of lectures by Dr Hockeu upon the above subject. It was delivered in the Albanystreet Hall, on Tuesday evenmg, before a full audience : —

You will doubtless remember that in my last lecture I gave an account of the diacoveTy of New Zealand by Taaman and afterwards by Cook, the visits of Fresch vessels, the general development of the whale trade, and consequent intercourse between the European and the Native, and concluded with the introduction of Christianity by Samuel Marsdou, in ISL4. In mentioning the various names given to this country of Staatenlaud, Terra Auatraie, and New Zealand, I omitted to say that this latter, tha one it now retains, was given by Tasman and so called after Zealand, the southernmost province in Holland, his native country. The practice of naming places by the use of the prefix " New" is almost barbarous— certainly clumsy—New Hebrides, New South Wales, New Caledonia for instance. It has descended to us in the form of New Zealand, and is perpetuated in New Plymouth, acd in the old provincial terms of New Munster, Ulster, and Leinßter, applied respectively to the three Islands. Dunedin narrowly escaped being called New Edinburgh. For reasons which will be given when speaking more particularly of Otago, I am inclined to consider that the name of Dunedin was suggested by the late Rev. Dr Burns rather than by Mr Chambers, who, in an interesting memorandum recently sent to the City Council by Mrßathgate, is mentioned as being the namegiver. Digressing still a little further in this matter of nomenclature, I may mention that persons possessed of little ingenuity and less taste have proposed from time to time various substitutes for the name New Zealand—such are Zealandia, Britannia, AustralAlbion, Victoria, Albiona, Erinia (from some fancied analogy to Ireland); and doubtless many others. The iconoclast has not, however, yet appeared who can set up a title batter than the one he would cast down And now to assume the continuity of this leoture, and to Bpeak of missionary labour. To do anything like justice to so interesting a subject would demand at least its own ■peoial lecture; but my narrative.would be quite Incomplete were I to make but a passing reference to an agenoy which has always been recognised as being one of the chief pioneers and promoters of a following colonltation. And this was especially the case in New Zealand. Missionary influence became a great power not only in the land amongit the Natives, but with the British Government, as will be seen farther on. For 30 years after Samuel Marsden'a first visit this ■way waa almost undisputed, and then it commenced to decline from various causes. The English Churoh Mission established stations throughout the North Island, from Paihia in the Bay of Islands as a centre. Amongst them were those of Tauranga, the Hot Springs, Wanganui, "Walkato, and Otaki. I have visited many of these old stations, now deserted or desolate spots, or else converted to purposes of a far different character. Nothing brought back to me so vividly thebygonepastof old New Zealandas wandering through these ruined remains. The oncepretty garden—record of the missionary's taste and solace— ohoked with weeds and undergrowth; the fences and hedges destroyed ; the quaint little church, with small overhanging belfry locked, silent, and rapidly going to decay—the house silent too, damp and mouldy, overrun and darkened with vines and creepers, now disorderly, once trim and well-oared for as they clustered round the low verandah—the authorand occupant of all this himself lying somewhere near —dead, and perhaps forgotten. Such scenes I have more than once seen, and very sad they «re—food for much painful thought and retrospect. Of acenea like these are the antin"ies of Now Zealand; and they indeed rye the name. Surely people unthinkingly s»y that New Zealand is too new a country, that it has as yet little or no historical Interest and no antiquities. To my mind associations make antiquities, rather than great lapse of time. The grey§rown mini of the Rhine are bat of yesteray when compared with the ' eternity of that river upon whose banks they crumble to decay ; and yet do these banks and that river excite the idea of antiquity? The thin mists of two or three ages, or of a century, are quite sufficient, to my way of thinking, to invest the past with the desired halo. When thicker, they become more impenetrable, and it Is then difficult to conjure through them visions of the dead and of their deeds. When treading the steps that "Captain Cook and Samuel Marsden and these old missionaries trod, I can readily see what they saw, hear what they said, and look upon the life that was around them. Bat the old abbey does not ■o readily recall to me the procession of cowl-clad monks whose solemn chants once filled its aisles. Perhaps I cannot see far enough through its atone walls : a prejudiced fondness for anything New Zealand may partly blind me; or perhaps, after all, my swans may be but little better than geese. The Wesleyan Million originally commenced their mission in 1822, at Wangaroa, the scene of the "Boyd" massacre, bat they were driven from this foothold and then selected Hokianga, on the West Coast, as the centre of their operation*-. It was then agreed between themselves and the Church Mission that the latter should oooupy the East and the former the We«t Coast of the Island. The Roman Catholics established a mission at Kororareka, in the Bay of Islands, in 1838, when Bishop Fompallier arrived Amongst the numerous minor dangers and trials to which the early missionary was exposed may be counted that to his gravityhad this been lost the remits must have been disastrous to his influence and the success of his work. An amusing instance of this, and relating to the appearance presented sometimes by the New Zealander when at church, is well told by the Key. W. Yate, one of the early superintendents ot the Church Mission, and must have taxed to the utmost the gravity ef the missionary. He says :— "The importation of European articles of dreiis has much' increased the wants of these people. At times they cut a most grotesque appearance in their new clothing, as how many articles soever a man may possess he will frequently manage to have them all on at once. His trousers, perhaps, will be tied round his neck, his shirt pat on as trousers, and his jacket the wrong way before, or turned inside out. The women, if they happen to have two or three gowns, will pat them all on; and they will manage so to arrange their dress as to have some part of each article visible. I Lave seen a person come into the chapel at whose monstrous appearance I htd the greatest difficulty to restrain a smile. The sleeves of an old gown have been drawn on as a pair of stockings, two small baskets fastened on the feet as shoes, and one gown over another so placed that you could see the flounce of one, the body of a second, the sleeves of a third, and tha collar of a fourth; with a piece of an old str'pad shirt thrown carelessly over as a shawl, or a pair of trousers hung round the neck as a boa, but so arranged as not to conceal tiny other article of dress. I have seen a person thus deoked and adorned enter a chapel In the micUt of service without exciting the slightest attention from the assembled congregation, to whom it did not appear at all strange." From this extract we may conclude that vanity and the passion for dress exist as strongly in the bosoms of our brown as of our fair sisters. A few of tbe old missionaries still survive, bat no lfcDger missionaries by name, for they have: long ceased to perform their original functions Amongst; the few still remaining I may mention Ihe Bishop of Wellington, Ootavitu Hadfield, a zealous man, and one of lofty oharac er ; Archdeacon Maunscll, now of Auokland, who compiled a New ZeaUnd Dictionary, and was b, if not the, principal translator of tbe Old Testament into Maori; tbe Venerable Bishop William Williams, author of "Christianity amongst the New Zealanders," who wbb in Dunedin a few years ago at the Church of England Synod, will, no doubt, be well remembered by most here. He was one of the earliest New Zealand missionaries, arriving in 1825, to join his brother, Arch-

deacon Henry Williams, who arrived in 1823. He died at Napier about four years ag<\ lie completed the translation c"f the New Testament. Many interesting storieß did he recount of the early times when he, in common with his brethren, indeed carried his lif« in his hands; the Eev.

Mr Bailer, author of the recent work "Forty Years in New Zsaland", and the father of De Jiuller, the ornitholog'Bt; and the B=v. W. Oolenso, of Napier, go valued a contributor to the Transactions of the Institute. Missionary iniluenoe was a phrase much In m«o'« woutiu forty yearn ago »«4 later.. Uy

thoirenemieß the missionaries were accused of being avaricious, greedy of land be light from the Natives ;t small valuation, inhospitable, desirous of establishing a sort of hierarchy, ami of endeavouring by cvtry me.'»nß in their power tj hinder the settlement of the country by Europeans. The outbro&k of tho parly Native hostilities, tho difficulties besetting the purchase of laud from tha owners of the soil, and tho initiation of C4ovornmtnt measures distasteful to the earJy settlers were attributed to missionary influence. That some of the number became unfitted to discharge their high functions and were diemissed from the body in consequfnee is quite true ; but it is equally true that we who have como after are to an extent indebted to them for the, at any rafco, partially succi tsful <ff>rt of civilising the Notivfß and of teaching them the peaceful arts. Was it not their duty to step between them and the landsharli—as he was then first culkd —and prevent tbe sale of thousands of acres of valuable land at the price of a few hatchets, blankets, and a little tobacco? Were not their fears well founded that the fruits of their many yearB1 labours would be destroyed by » tide of migration which might bring in its flood the scum of European population and of ex-convicts from the neighbouring Colonies, specimens of which they so frequently saw ? Were they not right in endeavouring to stem Buch a possible torrent ? And when an English Government was founded, new to its position, from whom could it eeek better counsel than from the missionary ? Scantily recompensed as he was, exposed to many a danger, and with little oppsrtunity of educating hia children or "of bringing them up to professions, did he not exercise but common prudence iv making provision for them by the purchase of laud ? In Now South Wales it was customary to mako grants of land in favour of the early missionary's family, who had left the comforts of home and of society. All this and more must be fairly pleaded In their favour, and yet I must conclude, from research and

from much conversation with men of educa-

tion and integrity, that the missionaries often assumed an altitude unwarranted by circumstances, and savouring of suspicion, if not of hostility to the settlers. Some of the more highly educated missionaries were far above entertaining any such feeling. In England the hostility of the Chnrch Missionary Society to the movement of British colonisation in New Zealand was decidedly of the moat open character. Mr Danderson Coatee, its lay secretary and mouthpiece, declared that he would oppose the step by every means in his power. In it he saw the gradual but certain deterioration and ex-

tinction of the Native race, and the thwarting of the missionary's best-laid efforts for their moral and religious advancement. Representations such as these had great weight with the British Government, and

threw most serious obstacles in the way of the New Zealand Company. At all events, religious labours amongst the Natives have long waned ; indeed for many years past they have almost wholly or entirely ceased. In 1867 I remember Bishop Selwyn, when leaving these shores for hisLichfield diocese, mournfully deploring that this should be so. He did not seek to explain it, but, like a true Christian, bowed his head and left tho mystery in the hands of God. Often the missionaries complained that they were like men crying in the wilderness. Perhaps the seed fell on sterile ground. Perhaps, »nd probably, the advent of Europeans and their habits imparted none of their own virtues and all their vices. And perhaps some thoughtful men may see in Christianity but a lever introducing the civilisation of a dominant race, and that the leverage is cow accomplished so far as New Zealand is concerned. When Hawke's Bay was erected into a province some clever satirist proposed that this should be its seal : —ln the background was the westering sun, whose face was covered with a broad grin; towards it were hurrying a missionary and a Maori, the latter still clad in his native mat. In the foreground facing to the east was a settler, at whose feet was a plough. Ciever, severe, undeserved. The fits!; book printed in New Zealand was by him. It was printed at Palhia, at the newly erected Missionary Press, in 1835, and is a translation of

the PhilipplaDß and Ephenians. Previously all necessary printing was done at Sydney, by G. Eagar, of King street. These facts are mentioned as of some historic interest, and this will be the proper place to say that the New Zealand language was reduced to law and .order from chaotic confusion, and rendered ' susceptible of being written by Professor Lee, of■ Cambtidga, in 1820, who subsequently imposed on the vowels the open or Italian sound. J Previously the phonetic qualities of the vowels were represented by the writer in accordance with his own idea of their orthography. Hence the clumsy appearance of Poonsmoo, Wytangjr, Wycatto, Hourackee. Some Native names

in use among us to this day offend against the canons laid down by Professor Lee. The language is particularly soft and sweet, abounding in vowels, and every word terminating with one ; so fair a tongue deserves the full beauty of the Ittlian dresp. It was Mr Kendall, one of the fint of Mr Marsden's missionaries, who, visiting England in 1820, assisted Professor Lee in his

labours on the language, He was accompanied by the celebrated chief Hongi Hika, the Napoleon of New Zealand, »s he was called, also a friend of Mr Marsden's, and one who, as you will remember, so greatly aided in the introduction of Ohristianity. Hongi, whose visits to Sydney and association with the white man hud fired his curiosity,1 was restless to visit England, and thither he went with Mr Kendall, in his own words, "to see King George, end bring back missionaries, carpenters, blacksmiths, Europeans, and 20 soldiers." In England he was invited to visit the King, from wh«gi he received a present of a suit of armour. He saw the greatness and grandeur of the kingdom, its soldiers, and its military preparations ; he heard the stcrie3 of Napoleon's battles, with which all Europe then rang; and, inflamed with all the warlike spirit of his race, he exclaimed, "There Is but one King for England : there •hall b9 but one for New Zealand."

No doubt this waa the first idea of a Maori king—an idea which yearn afterwards, carried to its conclusion in the person of Potatiu, cauaed so much war and bloodshed amongst our fellow settlers, and has so seriously impeded the progress of affairs in the North Island—a condition of things which unhappily yet remains in the newer forms of Hannauism and of Te Whiti's dogmatism. Thenceforth Hongi directed all his energies to the proenrance of guns and gunpowder. He begged them from his new-foand friends, and he converted his numerous and valuable presents into them, and immediately on his return, he armed a great war-party with the deadly weapons, and with them be carried death and destruction to the moit distant tribes—the Thames, Waikato, Taranaki—who could bat ieebly contend with their own Native clubs and spears. Where ■ ever he went he was victorious, and for seven long years he carried on this bloody warfare, in which it is computed that between 20,000 and 30,000 fell. ' Baskets of human flesh were sent as presents to his distant friends, and cannibal feasts were more numerous than perhaps they had ever. been. But out of this evil good came, and further preparation waa made for coming colonisation. The vanquished saw they mutt fight tbe victor with his own weapons, and to procure these they left no atone unturned. A rapidly, increasing trade for these implements of wsrfare sprang up with Sydney. The Governor of New South Wales tried in vain to stop the bloody traffic. Arms and powder, and nothing but them, would they have for baiter. Twenty or thirty muskets would purchcsaasmallshipload of fl»xdreseed. la 1830, vessels of 6000 tons In the aggregate cleared out cf Sydney for New Zealand, and returned with between 2000 and 3000 tons of flax—a quantity indicative of an immense amount of labour on the part of the Natives. To our shame be it said that another form of baiter wan for preserved and tatooed heads, which were kept as cariosities, or sent to distant museums.

Not only were the heads of those Bold who had fallen in battle, but still further to meet the traffio, the slaves were elaborately tabooed—a lengthy and oruel operation— and when the process was complete, had their heads cut off and preserved by smoking, and these were then sold.

To stop this, Governor Darling inflicted a fine of 1,40, with the publication of the offendtr's name if caught. Home of tho shp captaics were a dis-

grace to the ninie of British sailor : for hire tluy wonld catry in their vessels from cno part of the islands to another war. par lie?, nnd would aid and abet them in their au lden sud unexpected attack on the dafenccle&a stiacger. One instance of this, and I hays done with these tales of horror. Ido but recount them that you may form some idea of the barbarous feuda that disfigured this beautiful land, within the memory of many now living, and that you may readily see how any project to colonise such » country wh no sooner formed than »b«jdoa«l. 10. IS3O, Stewart, eaptaiu

of a whaler, conreyecl the celebrated ch;ef Rauparaha and 80 warriors to Banks Peninsula, thofe to avengo the death of their friend Te Pahl. Arrived there, they hid below in tho cabin of the vessel. Ste'-vart falsely represented himself as trading for flax, and invited the unsuspecting .Natives on board, amongst them being the chkf Tainßih&ranui, bis wife and daughter. Desceudiogintotheoabin this chief met face to face the cruel Rnuparaha, who, drawing up Tatnaiharanui's lip, .laid, "Thsro are the teoth that ate my father." Instantly all wero massacred except Tasnaiharanni, hiß wife and daughter, who were kept for torture. Rauparaha's warriors then landed, and slow right and left. Captain Stewart then put to sea, ho himself, it is said, partaking of the human flesh which was cooked on board. The most fearful orgi.a wtre kept up, during which the three poor c*ptlvo3 had to witness the indignities passed on their dead relatives' bodies. Ihe distressed mother, by her husband's orders, strangled her daughter, a beautiful girl of 10. This act so enraged Rauparaha that he sucked Tamaiharanui'B blood from a flowing vein, and killed him by thrusting into hia body a red-hot ramrod. Stewart was afterwards tried at tho Supreme Court, New South Wales, for hia Bhare in the matter, but escaped punishment, for want of evidence. New Zealand had been a dependency of New South Wales since 1814, when Mr Kendall, the missionary, and the chiefs Hongi and Ruatara were made magistrates, and this was tho first germ of British rule in New Zealand. Such lawless doings of Europeans as have already been recorded necessitated a farther extension of legislation, and consequently in 1823 and 1828 Aots of Parliament were passed whereby the powers and jurisdiction of the various Courts of New South Wales wero extended to the British subjects in New Zealand. As can readily be imagined, the difficulty and expense of procuring evidence rendered these Acts almost a dead letter and useless. Crime wag frequent in the little European settlement?, and went unpunished unless by the rude and extemporised la* of Judge Lynch. The missionaries were few and scattered, and almost powerless except amongst the Natives, with whom their exempUry lives and their knowledge of the useful arts secured them high favour and influence —an influence which the whalers lost no opportunity of undermining. And amongst other causes it is certain that the evil deeds which the missionaries were constantly witnessing at the hands of the lowest of their countrymen led them years afterwards to offer considerable opposition to the settlement of the country by the colonists. The first real attempt at founding a settlement in New Zealand was in 1825—a year of much speculation and of much misery. A Colonel Nioholls, of the Marines, had collected a great deal of valuable information respecting the country, and submitted his plans, but unsuccessfully, to Lord Bathurst, then Secretary of State for the Colonies. Thus unfortnnate, he succeeded in interesting his uncle, Colonel Torrens, whose nephew of the same name is co well and favourably known in connection with the Land Act. Through Colonel Torreus' exertions a company was formed in London, composed of 15 influential members, with the Earl of Durham as chairman. The views of the Company were expressed to Mr Haskisson, the president of the Board; of Trade, who gave his sanction to the proposal and promised a Royal charter in ewe the preliminary expsdition should prove successful. A ship—the Roiann*, I think, was her name—was fitted out under ths oharge of Captain Herd, the company's agent, and sailed with about 60 settlers —artisans chiefly. The site of the settlement waa chosen n«ar the month of the Hokianga River, on the West Coast—indeed, the spot is known to this day as Herd's Point—aud here a purchiaa of land was made. Unfortunately for the expedition, the Now Zealanders were enjoying their usual pastime —at war With some neighbouring tribe— and this, together with the terrifying scene of a war-danoe in which they waa engaged, so alarmed tho would-be settlers that, like Tasman 200 years before, they tripped anchor and sailed for Sydney. L 20.000 was lost in this speculation; and thus disastrously ended the fiist attempt at colonisation. Many of the artisans, however, less terrified than their loaders, returned to New Zealand and became sawyers. As yon have already learnt, a small but increasing European population was disseminated amongst the Natives in various parts, but principally in the numerous inlets of the Bay of Islands and of the rivers discharging there. That part of the bay called Kororarekk— the pUoe of shags and cormorants, and now called Russell, where the Union Steam Ship Company's steamers coal—was the favourite resort of whalers for refreshment: indeed, for

traders generally. The anchorage was excellent, and well sheltered from prevalent winds; the beach, about three quarters of a mile in length, was the best in the bay, and there was gently rising, undulating ground in the background. Here, in 1830, Benjamin Tamer, a shrewd man and an ex-convict from Sydney—or an emancipist, as they were more euphemistically called — worked as a sawyer, and, saving sufficient money, bought a few feet of water frontage from the Natives, and thereon built the first grog-shop. From this small beginning started the first town in New Zealand, acd in 1832 its inhabitants numbered 100, and consisted of sailors, who found here a paradise, where tobacco and grog were abundant and untaxed ; convicts, breathing free air once more; fraudulent debtors; storekeepers large and small, who sold every kind of article to the ships frequenting the harbour and to the Natives; beachcombers and sawyers, adventurers of every kind, all living together, and forming, no doubt, one of the moßt motley assemblages ever congregated together. In 1838 the population had increased to about 1000. It then contained a church, of course, five hotels, innumerable grog shops, a theatre, gambling-saloons, and skittle-alleys. As many as 36 whalers were anchored there at one time, and In one year 120 vessels sailed in and out; indeed, this Pandemonium beoame the favourite resort of the South Sea whalers, and from its general dissoluteness was called the Cyprus of the Southern Seas.

The Rev. Dr Lang, of Sydney, who will be remembered as having preached in DunI edin in 1874, visited it 40 years ago on his way to England, and draws a fearful picture of these soenes. On his arrival in England he addressed "four letters to the Earl of Durham," who was then chairman of the New Zealand Lmd Company, on the ttate of tbe country in 1839. In them he nrged the advisablity of colonising it, and showed how eligible it was for the purpose. Of course, quarrels amongst themselves and with the Natives were constant:, and it was useless to think of seeking ! redress in distant Sydney. Henoe the Kororareka Association was formed, whose members drew up a set of rul'.s, 15 in number. They listened to complaints of every kind, and adjudicated upon them. Every member was to have a gun, pistols, 20 rounds of bill cartridge, a bayonet, and outlast. Slight offences were punished by line, greater by expulsion, and the greatest by expulsion, preceded by tarring and feathering— or, as feathers were scaroe, by being rolled, after the tarring, in the cottony flowers of the raupo reed or of the toitoi. Thus adorned, the culprit was marched through the settlement, the whole population following at bis heels, and occasionally accompanied by such a primitive band of music as they could raise. He was put in a oanoe, with strict injunctions never to come back—an injunction never disiegarded,—and was then {.addled over to the other side cf the bay to Puihi*. where the missionaries resided. Some such form of police is necessary, and is consequently developed, in every rude and primitive community. It was so, notably, in the early days of tbe Califernun diggings. News of this rough-and-ready tnodo of dispensing jnstioe soon reached tbe owaof the Brituh Government, an 1 it was determined to take como etct.B in the mitter, but these were allowed to drop. Such waa the condition of things in tbe first town in New Z aland. I have used the term "land-

sharking." It means the voracious and insatiable appetite for earth. This disease of earth hunger txisti in a modified, though more injurious, form at the present day. Then comparatively few persons were affected by it. The capacity for land was something enormous. Oae hundred thousand acres was a small quantity to swallow, and didn't seem to be productive of much harm, owing no doubt to the counteracting effects of the few simple things used in the purchase, such sb blankets, muskets, jewsharps, looking-glasses, tomahawks, tobacco, and a very little money. But nowadays it is a much more serious affectioD, having recently been epidemic amongst all classes of the community, and causing almost certainly the effect of great emptiness in the chest. Even go small a quantity as a few quarterages, •specially when situated in townships, urn )»«a known t« )» product!?* of suipb

m'sory and discomfort. Adventurers, and thoaa who were not adventurers, foresaw the high position that this favoured country must eventually take, from its splendid climate and its varied reaauroes. Thi-y flecked down, chiefly from Sydney, and purchased millions of acres from tho Natives at tho moat nominal prica—500 acres, as an instance, for a ponny. Messrs Catlin, after whom is c-lled Cat.ins River, professed to purchase 5.500,000 acres for £00 ; another apscnhtor, 2,000,000; Mr George Green, lately deoeaeed, 6,500.000. A purohaao was made in the North Island of a portion of land embracing a coast-line of 160 mileß, and extending into the interior as far a« the purchaser thought convenient to himself, the purchase-money being equivalent to about £ICO. Of course, scores of Bach claims were afterwards disallowed, but they will serve to show the Mature and enormity of the traffic. As far as could be defined in September, 1841, there were in this (the South) Island 38 claimants for 19,250,000 acres. of land, and in the North Island 339 claimants for six and a-qnarter millions. The legal documents— if they deserve the name—were prepared in Sydney, and specimens of them 1 now exhibit, A special feature of interest in them is that the signature of the chief, who was unable to write his name, is represented on the parchment by an elaborate drawing of the tattoo upon his face. This method of signature is extensively ueed in the Treaty of Waitangi. The missionaries did good sorvies in representing these nefarious transactions to the Britiah Government, dreading, justifiably enough, that what with internecine warfares and. their loss of land, the Native raco would soon be exterminated. The missionaries further feared the annexation of the islands by the French, of whose claims I shall immediately speik. They accordingly, in 1831, induced 13 of the principal chiefs at the Bay of Islands to apply for protection to King William. As the document is curious I trausoribe a translation of it:—" To King William, the gracious ohief of Eagland.—King William,—We, the chief* of New Zealand, assembled atthis place called the Kerikeri, write to thee, for we hear that thou art the great chief of the other side the water, since the many ship 3 which come to our land are from thee. „ We are a people without possessions. We have nothing but timber, flax, pork, and potatoes. We Bell these things, however, to your people, and then we see the property of Europeans. It is only thy land whioh is liberal towards ue. From thee als) come the missionaries who teach ub to believe iv Jehovah God, and on Christ His Son. We have heard that the tribe of Marion Is at hand, coming to tike away our land, therefore we pray thee to beoome our friend and the guardian of these islandi, lest the teasing of other tribes should com* near to ns, and lest strangers should come and take away our lands. And if any of thy people should be troublesome or vicious towards us (for Borne persons are living here who have ran away from ship*), we pray thee to be angry with them, that they may be obedient, lest the anger of the people of this land fall upon them. This letter is from ns, from the ohiefs of the Natives of New Zealand."

This dooument evidently bears the impress of the missionary hand. We need not stop 1 to remark how carious it is that this handful of chiefs in the Bay of Islands should be taken to represent the whole Native populatioD, the'largest section of which was continually plunged in war, and had never be^n associated with the missionaries. Suffice it to s>y that the document served its intended purpose. A gracious reply on behalf of bis Sovereign was Bant by Lord Goderich, one of the principal Seoretariet of State, to the chiefs of New Zealand, and Mr James Busby was accredited to them as British Resident—a title well known in the native courts of India, and given by the East India Company, to those of their officers who were resident at those courts, and who watched over, the British interests. Mr Busby was a well-kaown New South Wales settler, and he held office frem 1833 to the assumption of British Government in 1340 by Governor Hobion. His duties were generallyj to promote peaca amongst all pvties, whether European or Native; to assist the missionaries, and to communicate anything of importanca to the Government. Unfortnnately, he had little or no means of enforcing his authority: he was singlehanded, and he was facetiously called by the gricelesa European residents "a man-of-war without guns." Two years ago, when on a visit to the Bay of Islands, I called up an Mrs Busby, widow of the late Mr Busby. She was the most courteous and stately old Jady I have ever seen, and much interesting information did she give me. Her house, whioh has stood upon its present site for nearly 50 years, is situated at Waitangi, upon a conspicuous point of land gently inclining down to the water's edge. Upon its slopes was signed the celebrated Treaty of WaitaDgi, whereby the chiefs of New Zealand ceded possession of New Zealand to the Queen of England. Here will be the proper place to refer to the assumption of authority by the French. The French were frequent visitors to this conntry, upon whose snores their countrymen, Marion and his companions met their sad fate. French whalers frequented its harbours, and men-of-war sailing through the Sonth Seas rarely omitted to visit the spot that had historic interest for their nation as well as for the British. Some efforts were made in France, and these were advocated by the journals, to found a colony and - a penal settlement in New Zealand, and it was partly to counteract these efforts that Mr Busby was installed as resident and general supervisor. Very n°arly, as you probably know, was the French standard planted at Akaroa in 1840. To this incident I shall more fully refer in my next lecture.. But the most extraordinary, indeed ludicrous, attempt of the French to taker possession of New Zealand was on the part of Baron de Thierry in 1838. The whole scheme, inclusive of its ending, has a great savour of ope of the celebrated though hairbrained undertakings of the immortal Don Quixote. The Baron de Thierry, though born and bred in England, was the son of a French nobleman—an emigre. In 1820, whilst at Cambridge, he met Mr Kendall, the missionary, and Hcngi, the chief, who were then on a vitit to England, and who were engaged in assisting Professor Lee in the compilation of his New Zatland Vocabulary. The scheme theD, no doubt, commenced to develop in his fertile brain. He ingratiated himself with Hongi, who gave him pressing invitations to visit New Zealand, and prevailed en Mr Kendal to purohaee, on his return, some large blocks of land. This it was professed was done to the extent of some 40,000 acres of land, wood, and water, for the munificent consideration of 36 axes. The deed, such as it was, was signed by three chiefs, two of whom—Fatuone and Tamati Waka Nene—afterwards became firm friends and allies of the early British Government, and fought by the side of our soldiers in their first engagements with the Nativer. It would appear that no attempt was made for some years by the Baron to tfcke possession of his territory : not, indeed, until 1535, by which time, to use their own expression, the three chiefs "had their eyes opened," and siwthat they had been grievously cheated. They accordingly repudiated the whole bsrgaiD, and very properly. In 1835 Prince Charles prepared to take posiession of his kingdom, and notified to Mr Busby that such was his intention. The document commencod thus :— " Charles, Bwoa de Thierry, by the grace of God, sovert ijn chief of New Zealand" ; and pro* ceeded to say that he w«s awaiting the arrival of *n armed vessel to convey him to the Bay of Islands. He shadowed forth the form that bis future government was to astume, and promised magistracies, with salaries attached, to those who accepted offioa under his authority. OAing to thi difficulties thrown in his way. he did not land ia New Zealand until 1838, when he brought with him bis family and n body of retainers to the number of 90, the mpj <rity r>f whom were men of the lowest description—adventurers and loafers picked up in the streets of Sydney, and w.'ih only about three weeks' provisions. Ha caihd a meeting of the chiefs, who, however, laughed at his pretensions, as did also his doped followers, who quickly left him to avoid starvation. The poor Baron, shorn of everything, was allowed to settle, by the sufferance of the chiefs, on a piece of land in the neighbourhood of his former kingdom. Years after he was visited by a gentleman who give an amuiing account of his interview. The Baron was still full of high flown ideas of past and future greatness—his excellent wifß, who. no doubt from long experience know the usolessnoßS of contradicting him, good naturedly assenting to all her husband's aeseitioiiß.

Tbero was every appearance of poverty in the household, indeed an absence of the necessaries of life. If anything were wanting, the guest was politely told that it wm simply because it cauld not be procured. There was no bread at supper, but this was •imply due to tbe foot tb»t tbc flour wm

Bni3hed tho day before, and that a freeh supply was hourly expected by tho next vessel from Sydney. There was no wine or spirits, end their absence was ingeniously accounted for on the ground that the Baron hsd quite recently beoome deeply impressed with the propriety of teetotal principles.

The Boron died a fow jears ago at Auckland, whero he had beau making a scanty subsistence by teaching music. This episode wsa followed by good results, On the receipt of the Baron's document, bigned with a great sesl, Mr Busby issuetl an official addreas to his countrymen, and calling a meeting of chiefs, informed them of this attempt upen their independence. As a consequence of Ihis ; 35 of the chiefs signed a p:»por, in whioh thay assorted their independence, and agreed to form themselves into a confederation. A facsimile of this is hero exhibited, and is the precursor'of the more celebrated treaty of Wajtungi. I have thus given a short sketch "f some of the chief events in early New Zealand history, as far down as the year 1838. With the next chain of events —that relating to the active and real colonisation of New Zetland, we here are intimately linked, and its consideration I shall now defer until the next lecture. I can only re. gret that the exigencies of professional work have allowed mo no oppoitunity whatever of revising what I have written, or o? presenting_ to you many additional interesting facts This consideration, however, gives me little anxiety, believing as I do, that your goodnature will pardon unavoidable faults.