"TAURARUA."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 189, 11 August 1928, Page 10 (Supplement)

"TAURARUA."

MRS. SELWYN'S MEMORIES AUCKLAND IN THE 'FORTIES. THE BISHOP'S DRESSMAKING. An intimate account of the life and travels of Bishop Selwyn and liis wife in New Zealand more than seventy years ago, is found in Mrs. Selwyn's autobiography, a copy of which veposes in the Turnbull Library in Wellington. Excerpts from Mrs. Selwyn's writings have been published in the "Evening Post," and the following are of particular interest to Aucklanders:— "When the time came foq ( George (Bishop Selwyn) to start on another long bush journey, he took me to Auckland (from the Bay of Islands) with Willie (their son), to stay with the Martins (Judge Martin), at Taurnrua (Parnell, Auckland). It was my first visit to that hospitable place, and the coming ther was my first introduction to the charms of a fore-and-aft schooner! Both Auckland and the life at Taurarua seemed highly civilised after our community life as to meals, at the Waimate; also, ladies and gentlemen coming to call; a papered room and a return to old familiar habits impressed me strongly. "George went round to Taranaki by the Government brig, thence down the coast to Wellington, crossing over to Nelson. This was years before the Canterbury settlement and Christehurch were thought of. 1 think lie touched the lowest depth in some of the fore-and-afters he had to sail in. lint he always made merry over his experiences.

'"Rut. alas! the visits to the English settlements were very sad one®. There had been a disastrous collision at the end of last year between the English and the "Maoris, ending in many English being killed, at the Wairau. T do not enter into the causes: but trio exasperation of the English was great--it was probably so on both sides, for the Maoris felt themselves unjustly treated bv the New Zealand Company. The effect Wiis that among the Enorlisli no one had a chance who stood nn for tl>c natives: so they were not very civil to the Bishop, who spoke out very boldly for them. Vet nothlpff onenched the hospitality of the malcontents. Judge s'artin. Meanwhile I, with little Willie and Mary Crump remained at Taurarua. The Judge (afterward Sir William Martin; was an old college friend of the Bishop, a delicate until as to health, a regular student in his tastes, very learned in languages and literature, never at fault when you asked for information on any snbiect. like-minded with George in the welfare of the Maoris. <iuitc ready to do battle for them as he was, an.l entering into all the Bishop's far-sighted plans for them, and for laying the foundations of the Government and of the Church in New Zealand on a sound basis. In after days, he entered as heartily into the Melanesian Mission, especially the philological part, and was a warm ally of Bishop Patterson, who by nature was a student. He heartily entered into the fun also, and when the day's work was over used to read pleasant books to I.ady Martin and me in the evening over the wood fire.

"The Attorney-General, Mr. Swain«on. lived clo«e by Sir W. Martin, also in the little bay of Taurarua, his hon-e bein« divided from that of the judge bv the little ravine that led to the bay.

"Taurarua is just at the beginning of the Waitemata. a long wide inlet, a few bays up which the town of Auckland was • built—in those days of wood. Opposite to Taurarua was the North Shore, ending, at the entrance of the harbour, in a lone piece of low land with a hill on it, where was the flagstaff overlooking the open sea, whence incoming vessels were sienalled. How I used to watch that flagstaff: and when George was coming back—in the Undine nt first, then the Border Maid, and lastly the Southern Cross from Melanesia: and also for any vessels from England likely to bring letters! . Carrying the Baby. "Mrs. Maunsell and her little baby Eliza (afterwards Mrs. Bicc) were also with us, George having carried the said baby all the way from the Kerikeri. She was wrapped in his maud, and strung round his neck. "Our Wainiatc home was broken up at the end of the year, in October. We went with the Martins to Auckland, where George rented a house pending the building going on at St. John's College, our future home. The students and the Maori school, as also a few English scholars, were'settled at Purewa with Mr. Cotton. Purewa is a pretty spot at the head of Otakei Creek, St. John's, College being more inland. Huts were put up, and a great barn served as schoolroom and hall. Here the party remained till the autumn of 1845, when they and their buildings moved up to the college. . . ."

Later the party went to Wellington, and from there to Waikanae, "in primitive style—George (Bishop Selwyn) on foot; I mounted on Mr. Hadfield's very nico horse, accustomed to bush journeys.; the two maids with one between them, ride and tic; little Willie in a large potato kete (basket) aflixed to poles and carried by two men; and about four Maoris, also on foot." Pork —Hot and Cold. About May, 1846, the pioneers returned to Auckland and lived at St. John's College. "Here for the next year or two, we regularly ate hot pork three days in the week and cold pork four days; only in towns was the luxury of mutton available in those early days, and we had no poultry then. But J think the pork added to our glory at Home, being erected into a kind of hardship. The New Zealand pigs were clean-feeding animals, living much on roots and any vegetable food, and so less rich than in England. Our next change was to beef—this is anticipating, however; we were in the pork period now. When the land about us was brought into cultivation, the grass laid down, and horses came into play instead of oxen, then we ate the team; it was a tough job, and took sortie time. We could turn the beef to more account than the pork. I liked t to go into the kitchen and instruct the Maori cook in the art of making stews—poor stews, however, for lack of vegetables or flavouring." . The ship Border Maid arrived from the New Hebrides and other islands on October 21, 1852, at Kohimarama. "The party at St. John's College was then intact, and there was always great excitement at the return of the ship. Many went down to meet the voyagers. I always waited for the quiet welcome in the house; but we could watch them coming—the crowd of Maoris and English ; then the train of Melanesians, new and old; then the There was much speculation this time as to the quaint figures on either side of him, I

coming gravely along as if dressed in the height of fashion; but these two girls, for such they were, had very skimpy petticoats, made, as we eoon learned, by the Bishop himself out of a coloured counterpane, together with white Russia duck tippets—Canazeno, George called them—which he, after deep reflection recalled to mind having seen his sister wear, though not made of duck. I doubt if they were an exact copy, but not that they were a great work of art elaborated by him and his sailing-master, Champion. They cut them out upon the deck with a knife in the approved fashion; and the garments answered their purpose; but thej- were funny. These girls were the first of their kind that came as scholars. Wabisana and Wasatrutrue, of Nengone, were they; the first as thorough a lady as her fiance Siapo was a gentleman. They were assigned to the care and instruction of Mrs. Abraham and myself. We dressed them like other girls—George's canazeno being (metaphorically) put under a glass case as an encouragement to future bishops in dressmaking:"