OLD WHANGANUL

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 61, 11 March 1916, Page 14

OLD WHANGANUL

By T. W. DOWNES. W. A. Parkini and Co., Hawera; 12/6. f\' V { •'■The-airlhbr l7 flfis alre I made two valuable "coatribulions to | early history of, the districts adjac ; to Wanganiii, and - the, Maori iri ■ which inhabited them: 7 The'present w $ is pretty equally-divMed "between. | account of -Maori traditions relating 1 the. Wanganui tribes.arid a history | the events .which followed: the first jt pearance of Europeans on.'the:riverß 1831. In an. interesting preface, Mrfip Percy Smith, president cf the Polynea|§: Society, reminds us that "prior to & coming to New Zealand,.the grand rffjf we are largely supplanting had a histjpf of ite own, of wondrous >.terest —a lijfe tory of daring voyages, surpaseingfc§ : intrepidity those of any known under the same conditions of cuit|g and whose extraordinary knowledge?:the sea and the art of navigation fe abled them to cross wide spaces of.ojp and finally discover ;and settle oritSfr shores. This was probably some -wp before William the Norman crossedKf English Channel and fought .the Bfp of Senlac that ended the Saxon supJE'; acy in England." Mr. Smith is of opiK? that' by the middle of the jthirttfc

century the North. ..Island, ..from

North Cape to Egmont on. the * Coast, and to the. furtherjimits ojfc'•■'.. Bay of Plenty on the Weat Coastid been occupied by a race of PolyneM ; who were crossed . with Melaneii. Then another branch of. the Polyn|» race, further advanced in arms and?K made their appearance from the Ear* Pacific, to be followed in, the'fourttftV century by a larger party in sixlfe canoes. Within a few generatiojiol the arrival of the lastrimmed part*/ had either assimilated or. extirpat&M original ..... ] Mr. Downes undertakes to sketiik* history of the Wanganui tribes frd?fi» earliest period, and his gcnealf of some of the chiefs who' have lii|jcontemporary times, starts . with *»• ,o-?r^. ho came in t-he-Aotea ca£i» UoO— how many British, peers ca J tr«« then- ancestral tree so far back! Tn«" story relates mainly to tribal w$ _i tlie. achievements of notable wiriolS and in this respect it differs veflitti* ' frem the.early histories of morc-|vilW people. Intermingled with• these Fstwi* however, we gather a great del of* formation regarding the :nWrs M customs of the people, their supei'titiom, modes of thought, and their poiry." To the general reader, noiiou*, Put li., which deals with events a'ter tin coming of the pakeha, w.iU jrole .-most ■• interesting. The first recorU .ittitr who.came to Wanganui appeah:tol»« been a man named Joe Rowejfiho w* ' engaged in the disgusting trafc.'irtriea human heads,.which ultimatcl! £ii'M»pressed by the British .Govern| c it;niJ intruder left his own h'ead'.t W«r ganui, together with that of i'-COBf* 8 ' ion, and these were in.due'cojlradrd by the Maoris, who thus dealtoutf"** a poetic justice. The real bkjaw'rf . colonisation, however, began with'-tlw * advent of Colonel Wakefield, ifho'M* menced negotiations for tlie'-pujeb—«o f land on behalf of the New. Zealjii Co* nany. Mr. Downes revie'wi-fuUy;'tie* transactions, and the trouble t*,t««* out of them. He gives i h^rf 4 missionary effort in the district,'*- 1 the native disturbances which? «t oif tl threate «ed to arrest 'the Ss* of European colonisation. Thein'irl* of a number of members of the (JilflW family i n 1847 i and the burning p f fl«r y homestead, which ..caused a grit ''r* ' Banon at the time, are fully H««Sl. and the book is illustrated by tions of many sketches by Mr. (jjifgfe* A who was one of the earliest .artf s (» ii iNew Zealand who pourtraved'ijwri We. The book makes a very \ilß# addition to New Zealand historicu tt* ature.