THE ALBERTLANDERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 43, 20 February 1926, Page 27

THE ALBERTLANDERS.

(Edited by HENRY HOOK.) To catch a pioneer in reminiscent mood—and the listener with time to spare—is the prelude to an hour or two of delightful story telling. It is to turn the leaves of memory and history to pages fascinating with that truth which is stranger than fiction. ME. JAMES KIRK. Enamoured with the glowing prospectus published in England by the Albertland Association, Mr. Kirk determined to make the o-reat adventure, and sailed for New Zealand in the Green Jacket, leaving Blackball Docks in August, 1563, and, after 122 days at =ea landed in Auckland on December 13 of the same year. ' Mrs Kirk's father (Mr. William Copley), who had been a passenger by the Willianv Miles in 1862, and had settled in the Kaipara, was in Auckland awaiting the arrival of the Green Jacket, and had been impressed for sentry duty, but was released when the ship arrived, and, with Mr. Kirk, went up in a small boat to Little Omaha. The latter, going ashore in high hat and long coat, and always ready to lend a hand, threw off his coat to help the sailors haul on the ropes, during which time the fashionable long coat was stolen, but was eventually recovered. He tramped across country to Maungaturoto and, Paparoa, having his Christmas dinner with " Daddy " Bowsell, who provided wood pigeons cooked in ashes, " kapa Maori " style. He found that the eighty-acre section that he and his wife were entitled to under the Crown Lands Grant was situated in the Northern Wairoa. Discovering it to be kahikatea swamp, and having no funds available for improvements, he decided to part with it in exchange for an old mare and £12 in cash, the latter becoming the nucleus of the purchase of a section in Maungaturoto, while the mare, " Nelly," was a valuable asset. Having settled in the latter district, his next purchase was a cow, paid for by cutting down ten acres of bush. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk shared the most severe of the struggles and hardships of Maungaturoto's first days. For some time the breadwinner worked for 5/ per week and food, while Mrs. Kirk employed herself as the village dressmaker and tailoress, carrying round a hand machine and a baby, as she rode from one house to another. For this work she received 3/- per day. Several of the settlers were once so straitened that they used thistles and dock leaves as vegetables.

PIONEERS IN REMINISCENT MOOD. FARMING IN HARD TIMES. STORIES OF MR. GITTOS AND LOYAL "ADAM CLARK."

To catch a pioneer in reminiscent mood—and the listener with time to spare—is the prelude to an hour or two of delightful story telling. It is to turn the leaves of memory and history to pages fascinating with that truth which is stranger than fiction. ME. JAMES KEEK. Enamoured with the glowing prospectus published in England by the Albertland Association, Mr. Kirk determined to make the creat adventure, and sailed for New Zealand in the Green Jacket, leaving Blackball Docks in August, 1863, and, after 122 days at =ea landed in Auckland on December 13 of the same year. ' Mrs. Kirk's father (Mr. William Copley), who had been a passenger by the William- Miles in 1862, and had settled in the kaipara, was in Auckland awaiting the arrival of the Green Jacket, and had been impressed for sentry duty, but was released when the ship arrived, and, with Mr. Kirk, went up in a small boat to Little Omaha. The latter, going ashore in high hat and long coat, and always ready to lend a hand, threw off his coat to help the sailors haul on the ropes, during which time the fashionable long coat was stolen, but was eventually recovered. He tramped across country to Maungaturoto and, Paparoa, having his Christmas dinner with " Daddy" Eowsell, who provided wood pigeons cooked in ashes, " kapa Maori " style. He found that the eighty-acre section that he and his wife were entitled to under the Crown Lands Grant was situated in the Northern Wairoa. Discovering it to be kahikatea swamp, and having no funds available for improvements, he decided to part with it in exchange for an old mare and £12 in cash, the latter becoming the nucleus of the purchase of a section in Maungaturoto, while the mare, " Kelly," was a valuable asset. Having settled in the latter district, his next purchase was a cow, paid for by cutting down ten acres of bush. Mr. and Mrs. Kirk shared the most severe of the struggles and hardships of Maungaturoto's first days. Eor some time the breadwinner worked for 5/ per week and food, while Mrs. Kirk employed herself as the village dressmaker and tailoress, carrying round a hand machine and a baby, as she rode from one house to another. For this work she received 3/- per day. Several of the settlers were once so straitened that they used thistles and dock leaves as vegetables.

Mr. Kirk shared the heavy work common to all the settlers — bush felling, clearing, pit sawing, etc., and he was permanently injured building the former bridge crossing the Wairau Creek, below Mr. McLeod's first store. For two years, under engagement to Mr. Masefield, he carried the mails from Helensville. He was an. active worker in the Congregational Church and Sunday School, also a member of the road board for several years, and took an. active interest in the general affairs of the district. Removing to the Waikato, encouraged by the offer of a block of 1350 acres at £3 per acre 7 he recommenced farming there. Difficulties and losses multiplied. Swarms of caterpillars destroyed his crop of oats; eight acres of potatoes gave a heavy yield which he could not sell, and all rotted. Pigs were' raised, but met with no sale. Butter was worth sd. and cheese 4d. in the Waikato at that time. Times were as hard there as in Albertland. He removed from the Waikato and settled in Auckland, where he undertook some canvassing work. He occasionally gave service as a lay preacher, and returning one Monday morning from a Sunday's appointments, he found his wife distressed because of the shortage of cash for household needs. It seemed " the darkest hour before the dawn." The collection at the services (32/6) had been given him, and this he handed over to her. The corner had been turned, and from that day he progressed steadily toward prosperity. Three times he was offered the Wellesley Boardinghouse, but as £200 deposit was required, ho could not accept this business opening. Finally he managed to get a loan of £140, and was walking down Queen Street one day wondering how he could find' the rest. A friend whom he met asked him what he was doing. Mr. 1 Kirk replied, " Looking for someone to lend mc £60." The friend wrote out a cheque for the amount, would take no receipt, telling him to keep it as long as he wanted it, and, if not able to repay, to keep it as a gift. Established in business, the clouds of adversity passed, and prosperity favoured the advancing years. What chances he lost for the lack of a little capital in the early days! He was once offered 40 acres of land in Ponsonby for £40! In a green old age he is now living in quiet retirement at Remuera, feeling at life's eventide the satisfaction of " Something attempted, something done," and grateful for " the goodness and mercy which have followed him all his days." MR. GITTOS AND THE MAORIS. We are indebted to Mr. Elirk for some striking reminiscences of the Rev. William Gittos in his work among the Maoris. "Tapu" was, of course, all powerful with the natives,-and an incident happened which confirmed them in their belief. A halfcaste Maori named George and his daughter broke tapu by having tea in a hut which was under the ban. Then, going on board a boat, it capsized, and, though both of them could swim like fishes, they ' went down like stones. Mr. Gittos, wishing to break this superstitious belief, selected a convenient site for a church where the land was tapu—the father of the well known chief Adam Clark (Arania Karaka) having been killed and quartered there. After long continued persuasion, he induced Adam to enter the site and thus break the tapu. In the presence of a great crowd of Maoris, trembling in every limb and sweating at every pore, he at last crossed the boundary and broke the spell, no evil effect following. Being an influential chief, he thus rendered his missionary valuable support in proving tapu to be a mere superstition. The stories show up in an interesting light the influence of Mr. Gittos among the Maoris, his diplomacy and control in troublous times, and the loyalty and allegiance to the Europeans of the fine old chief Adam Clark. He was a Christian gentleman and Mr. I .Gittos' right hand.

At the time of the Maori war, when, owing to the influence of the malcontents who escaped from Kawau, the local natives were getting restless and inflamed against the settlers, it only needed.a match thrown in to have kindled a fire that would have been the destruction of all in the Otamatea. Mr. Gittos secured the tribe's gunpowder, stored it under the pulpit, and kept guard over it there, and with the backing of Adam kept the peace. The settlers undoubtedly owed their lives to.the missionary and this loyal chief. Another instance of this loyalty may be interesting. The chief Marnkau boasted that he would build a pa and drive all the white people into the sea. Adam immediately responded, " I also will build a pa, and you must first drive mc and my followers into the sea." No more was heard of Manukau's boast. Adam was a powerful man, and he has been seen carrying four men ashore from a boat—two on his back, and one under each arm. He believed in the prohibition of the drink traffic. On one occasion some of his young men had got drunk, and he made them walk in a circle while he laid on a supplejack with all his strength until he was tired. Prohibition enforced with such vigour was effective. Mr. Gittos, like most missionaries, was not over paid, and sometimes his pay was overdue. Once, when the exchequer was low, he had invited Adam and other chiefs to dinner. When all were seated, dishes of kumaras, and kumaras onty, were placed on the table. " What is the meaning of this ? " said Adam. " Where is the rest of the food ? " " This is all I have," said Mr. Gittos, " and such as I have give I unto thee." " Come along," said Adam to the other diners, and going to the nearest store they returned with a canoe load of food. Mr. Gittos did not want after that. The chief Titarau, having been expelled for bad conduct from Hokianga, came to the Wairoa, and there worked on the sympathy of the Chief Parori, who gave him a piece of land on which he built a whare and settled down. Titarau's next action was "to bite the hand that fed him." Being a man of magnetic personality he soon had a following of natives, and assumed the position of Chief of the Northern Wairoa, superseding Parori, and selling land to the New Zealand Government. Parori called all the natives of the lower districts, including the Otamatea Maoris, to his aid, and great preparations were made for warlike proceedings. The missionary, Mr. Gittos, hearing of this, came over to inquire into the matter, and was answered, " We are going to the Wairoa to fight Titarau." " Well," he said, "if you are going up I shall go too." He ordered his own boat's crew to get ready, and soon led the way. Down the Otamatea and up the Wairoa Eiver they went; Avar canoes and boats laden with natives ready to fight. News travels quickly, and Titarau was prepared to meet them on Mangawhare beach, with the only gun available—a big brass cannon salvaged from a French man-o'-war wrecked on the West Coast some years before. Recognising Mr. Gittos' boat in the fore, and not wishing to hurt him, the natives on the beach called out, " Gittoee, Gittoee, get out of the way!" But this stout-hearted missionary sailed straight on, and landed on the beach crying, " Korero, korero." The council was held, Mr. Gittos' powers as a peacemaker being brought to bear, and it was agreed that Titarau should sell no more land without Parori's consent and signature. Mr. Gittos, thinking all had been peacefully arranged, retired to a tent to sleep, but was suddenly awakened by a great commotion. The natives had disagreed and commenced fighting. Armed only with a large kumara, he rushed in amongst them/ and again acted the peacemaker. Adam Clark, to show his respect for his friend, gave Mr. Gittos 100 acres of land. Mr. Gittos, with no thought of self, handed it over to his denomination. Adam was angry on hearing of this, as he meant it to be a personal gift. He thereupon gave another 100 acres to the missionary's wife, on the understanding that she kept it as her own. Adam Clark is described as ever a gentleman, and very tolerant to his womenfolk. His wife, Margaret, was not a big woman, but she had a big temper. One day Adam had inadvertently oifende.d his wife. She flew at him like a tigress, pulled his hair, slapped his face, and tore the shirt off his back. He sat perfectly unconcerned, making no attempt to resist her. At this juncture Mr. Gittos walked in peeling a lancewood switch, to be used as a riding whip. Speaking to the woman in Maori, he asked, " Well, Margaret, have you done ? " "No " she snapped, " I have not." " See this switch ? When I have finished peeling it, you will feel it across your back unless you stop this silly business " "Do you mean it, Gittos?" "I always mean what I say, Margaret." " Then," said she, " I'm done ! " ' Thus Mr. Gittos, as a kindly autocrat, intervened on behalf of the powerful chief who was prepared for the sake of peace to be a henpecked husband. (To be continued next Saturday.)