OLD SETTLERS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume XXII, Issue 1675, 2 August 1892, Page 2

OLD SETTLERS.

MR. THOMAS WHITE

Mr Thos. White, though he must be over 80 years of age, is very hale and hearty, and lives with his son'Mr Geo. Wiight in their pleasant home at the head of Holmes' Bay. Like many of our pioneers he is an old sailor and also a whaler, and in his long acquaintance with the Peninsula has seen it advance from a Maori populated resort of occasional whalers to the pleasant home of 5000 Europeans. Mr White is an American having been born at RhodeIsland. He became' an orphan at a very early age, his father being killed in one of the Mexican wars, and his mother dying, and his youthful days were spent under the roof of a friend of his dead parents.; Rhode Island as many readers know is a great place for shipping, and at fourteen Mr White went to sea. He learnt the ropes in-several uneventful voyages, the only part of which he seems to care to dwell upon being a quarrel w.ith, the hi ate of a whaler at Rio Janeiro which ended In his Jeft at,that' . por.t; y wHehce he* shippelT toTEtigland, '■ arriving on the Thames off the very day of King William* the fourth's coronation. He shipped in a London whaler called the Timour, and in her he spent three year?, one of his shipmates being our own Billy Simpson' now living in the Akaroa hospital. The first part of New Zealand he visited w.a,s.the Bay of Islands to which' placet lie came from England in a,whaler called the Achilles. He left her at this place, and went to Sydney in Ihe Sir William Wallace. In Sydney he'joined another whaling brig called the Genii and spent thirteen months in her on the New Zealand coast. His next vessel was the Caroline belonging to. Johnny Jones, of Otago, and on her being sold in Sydney he came to Wakaouiti in a, brig commanded by Captain James Bruce a_ a passenger. This vessel landed 23 horses which were amongst the first brought to this colony. From Wakdouiti went to Otago and was there engaged by Paddy Wood to go fishing at Oashore, and Jived at that place some years, working for Price sume part of the| time. During this time Bloody Jacki's men killed a North Island boy, but otherwise all was quiet, the whaling being very profitable sometimes and an exceedingly poor game at others. Went to Port Levy, and from there made a journey to Riccarton for food, getting 15 bushels of wheat from a store deposited by Gilbert and Harridge, At this time there were only two Maoris at Port Levy and none in Pigeon Bay, but they kept coming in' their sea-going canoes; many being from North Island, and soon there were quite strong settlements at both places. An o'd man named Jack; Duff sold some bone arid had money in his possession about this time and mysteriouslyxlisappeiired.'His wife last saw him in the company of a Spaniard and a man known as 'Flash Harry,' Provisions were very dear-at; times, .25.dollars being sometimes given for a barrel of flour. The Maoris as a whole ! were very good to the Whites, and Bloody " Jack himself was a very good lellbw indeed. Once he came to White's house and l demanded feed. It" was given him of course, and a short time after a hog was sent as a present in return. At Port Levy Mr White married, and soon began to have a family around him. A tragedy took place when hia son Harry was a baby. A Dutch whaling ship put into Port Levy, and the carpenter and several others deserted. The third mate made himself very, active in arrest-, ing the men; and caught two, and got thejn back to the >hip. The carpenter : came to White's house, and the mate' after him- White was oh the verandah ; with Uar_rj,.jtha b.aby,.in.hjs arms, and the carpenter and two runaways were sitting at ajtable inside the house. Th«* mate ordered the carpenter aboard, but instead of "Obeying, he shot" him through ;

the heart. witli.H pistol that was in.his J possession. Word was sent to Wellington, but the ship was away before any .Bteps : .were taken, and so nothing was .done. Had the doctor of the ship remained behind; no doubt the man would bave been hung. The natives used to travel over the hills easily in those days of no roads. White has known a party, to take two tons of dog fish to Little -River, the Maoris there bringing/in exchange two tons of eels. An old Maori 1 bearing the pleasant name of Rakikakinoki was specially celebrated for the way in which he travelled the hills. White was at Port Levy when the Flemings came out, in 1855, bnt a few ypars later went to Pigeon Bay. The Bay was full of sawyers at tliat time, and a man named Billy Webb, who kept a shanty at a place called the Pillar on the road between Pigeon Bay and Holme 1 , Bay, had sometimes as many as forty boarders. of. these boarders fell,:over on the foofcs smashed,his head, and the question of foul play waß raised, but it is probable it was a pure accident.' Several vessels were built at Port Levy and Pigeon Bay.' White himself assisted in building one eighteen-ton craft, and Damon built several. " A vessel was built for the natives at Nelson, and on her arrival Damon offered them twelve cows for her, aud cows were' cows in those days, but they would not sell. The Maoris grew many vegetables, and kspt ni.ny pigs in those days, and as a whole dealt fairly with the Whites. There was a big plantation of kumeras near where Mr Menzies' house now stands, and it appears to be the only place where these roots have ever been successfully grown on the Peninsula. Mr White's life has been uneventful in Pigeon Bay. He has reared a large family, who have lived happily together till, in the ordinary course of things, they married, and went to houses of their own. After the whaling, White took to sawing and other work like the rest, and eventually settled on a small farm, ~ Aliar&yand enterprieing pioneer, he : lias -done his share in reclaiming the wilderness and peopling it, and in spite of his advanced age, is still hearty. Let us hope that he has still many years of quiet happiness before him, amongst his children and grandchildren. .