WILLIAMS CENTENARY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 185, 4 August 1923, Page 17

WILLIAMS CENTENARY.

PIONEER AMONG MAORIS. CHRISTIANISING A SAVAGE RACE.

(By CANON HASELDEN.) "

Yesterday was the 100 th Anniversary of the arrival in New Zealand of Henry vniHams, afterwards Archdeacon of Wa'imate. lit is proposed to commemorate the centenary by erpctins a Divinity School fetf the training of candidates for' Holy Orde/a in tbe iliocese of Durnakal. India. Bishop Azarlab is most anxious to. have this bu.ndlnjr. and it will bo the eift of the Churchpeople of New Zealand, in memory of Hi/nrr Williams. The Rev. Samuel Marsden wa» the Apostle of New Zealand; Bishop SpN wyn was the Organiser of the CThurch of the Province of New Zealand: Archdeacon Henry Williams was the Kvangilist of the Maoris. Born in England in 1792, he came of a good Welsh family. In 1805 he entered the Navy (at the age of J4), to which profession his grandfather and three uncles had belonged. He left the Navy in 1815, when he had attained the. rank of lieutenant, after a most exciting and honourable nine yfcars of active service, during which |ie was wounded in an engagement wsth the French. He received a half-pay pension, which ho lost after some years in consequence of being a clergyman. After leaving the Navy in 1815 Williams studied for Holy Orders, and also attained considerable knowledge of surgery and medicine. Hβ was ordained in 1822. On August 3, 1823, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, and their three children, arrived with the Rev. Samuel Marsden in the ship Brampton at the Bay of Islands, and was soon stationed at Paihia. There Williams began his great work of converting and uplifting the Maori race. A STRENUOUS LIFE. - When Bishop Selwyn arrived in New Zealand 20 years after Henry Williams, I the bishop was able to write: "We see here a whole nation of pagans converted to the faith. ... A few faithful men, by the power of the Spirit of God, have been the instruments of adding another Christian people to the family of God." Williams played the chief part in this work. He had great influence over the Maoris. They were impressed by his character, his dignity, his appearance, his ability, and by his great physical strength. He was the true gentleman to them, just as much as he was "A Christian Gentleman" in the estimation of all civilised men, who knew him at all well. But the life was hard, trying, and dangerous. What the missionaries suffered can hardly be believed by people Hiving in this land to-day. On one occasion a chief upset the carpenter's chest of a man who was working for Ivlr. Williams building a vessel. The man gave vent to an oath. This made the chief so angry that ho came with a body of followers and knocked Williams, Puckey and F»lrburn down, and cut one man about ao much that he was in danger of bleed:ng to death. When at hist Williams persuaded them to be quiet ; and ask. i the reason of the attack, and -was told that the carpenter had Bworn at the chief, he said, " What is that to mc: have I ever sworn at anybody?" "No," they replied, "but the , carpenter had nothing to be taken and you had." To this Mr. Williams said, , " Had you come in a quiet manner I ! would have obliged the carpenter -to make restitution." This event had to ' be most carefully dealt with, and it was 1 some days before it was settled and peace restored. i FIRST MISSIONARY VESSEL. ' llr. Williams built a fifty-ton vessel i to enable him to visit different parta lof New Zealand to preach. The Maori 3 . were delighted at the size of the little Bhip, which was so much larger; than i their largest canoes. they tried to I cause trouble even over this. They ; i thought that she could not be launched • except by main force; and so they ; arranged among themselves that they . would not take a hand in this work— i which seemed quite impossible to them i without their aid—unless they were . paid very highly for their services. , But to their astonishment, instead of , being forced to make a bargain and ! accept their terms, Henry Williama , walked up to the vessel and named her ■ Herald, and then the shores were I knocked away and she glided into the . water, while the builders did nothing t but give three hearty cheers! In tbe Herald Mr. Williams did an immense amount of hard travelling round our dangerous coast, and when [ the Herald was wrecked another vessel ! soon took her place. His life was often ! in danger from the sea as well as from f the Maoris. After one awful night, f when he expected shipwreck, and It was only avoided by his wonderful sea- ! manship, Williams decided to buy some land from the Maoris on which to place 1 his sons, so that there might be some '' provision for them and the other mem--1 bers of his family in case of his death. ' This he did, and the land—or part cf it at least, for much is still of little use— ; became a model and profitable farm. In 1844, that is two years after • Bishop Selwyn arrived in New Zealand, • the bishop made Henry Williams Anrhi deacon of Waimate, his archdeaconry including all that portion of the island north of Whangarei. AN APOSTLE OF PEACE. Williams was a hard and successful worker, and by his preaching, teaching, and above all by his own life, he won the Maoris to the Christian faith. Hβ was an able man, tar-seeing and shrewd, and this made him see what * wonderful future there might bo for people in this beautiful land. Hβ i helped his fellow missionaries, ha helped the Bishop of Now Zealand; he helped the Government of New Zealand; he helped Maoris and white men and he saved human life by his great influence over the Maori mind; but above all this he was the Great Peacemaker of New Zealand. Many are the stories told of the way he went between contending lines of Mauris, and while others fell from tlie rain of bullets he passed unhurt. The Jay ipf Archdeacon Williams' death was th« occasion of the last tribal v.ar. lv May, 1567, a tribal war broke r-at between two Northern tribes, and in » short time the whole was'l.awn into the fighting ranks of one side or other. The day was fixed for a pitched battle. Mr. Edward Williams, the ro.-i----dent magistrate, and al! the other m>hs of the archdeacon, had Uvn -out by him to endeavour to make poaiv. l> .t their efforts were of no av.ul. Tl:. , eie at the battle-day arrived, and Ihe i icut Peacemaker, a worn and sii'k man, lie longer able to rais-e himsplt and walk between contending line.-, vi tftiago Maoris, quietly died; and when the news of his death was taken to the camps of the angrT tribes, they at once threw down their anus; and they'have never, fought siiice. Archdeacon Henry William?. the Evangelist of the Maoris, was in his life and at hie death "a man brave to | nuke peace/*