LINK WITH LIVINGSTONE

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 16 (Supplement)

LINK WITH LIVINGSTONE

AFRICAN FOLLOWER STILL LIVING. MATTHEW WELLINGTON'S OLD AGE. (By A.W.) Questions about Kenya raised in the House of Commons soften remind the world how recently the Dark Continent has been made safe for democracy. One such reminder was the bygone occasion when Lord Salisbury explained to the House that the construction of the Uganda railway was being held up by the "Man-eaters of Tsavo." The most recent was when the question of a compassionate allowance to Matthew Wellington was brought up. Old Matthew is the last living link between "darkest Africa" and the fastspreading white civilisation of to-day;-He is the sole survivor of Livingstone's faithful followers, one of the little band who helped to carry the explorer's body to the coast. It will astonish most people to learn that there is a survivor of that period, arid it is a strange experience to sit under the'coconut "palms of an-African village and talk to one who knew Livingstone in the flesh, within a mile of the modern quays, electriccranes and motor transport of Mombasa. But, after all, it is only 56 years since the* explorer died on the shores of Lake Bangweolo, in Nyasaland. Matthew- says he w-as a grown man when he entered "the master's" service, and that lie was with him at least two years before his death. That makes him somewhere about 80 years of age, very old for an African native. Matthew Wellington's existence was discovered by the world at large when the Kenya Government refused to grant liim a State pension when he got past self-support. The matter was taken up in England, and the old man's cause achieved wide publicity, but little solid assistance. Needless to say, American enterprise was soon on the track of a good story. The "New York World," which sent H. M. Stanley to find Livingstone abotit sixty years ago, offered a large sum for a life history of .Matthew. One of the C.M.'S. missionaries, to whose flock Matthew belongs, accepted the offer on his "behalf, and is compiling the story. If the old man lives long enough, he will no doubt attain affluence. Not that he has ever known actual, want—local subscriptions have always supplied his immediate necessities—but it was felt that he was entitled to some more dignified means of support.' The sum he named as an adequate State pension was 1/ a day, or £20 a year. He has lived a frugal and industrious life during his 50 years in Mombasa. He was for many years an employee of the Public Works Department, attaining the dignity of a road construction foreman. From the scanty wages of a native (perhaps 30/ a month in those days)- he saved enough to buy a patch, of ground, on which he now lives, and to build a hut. When he got too old for day labour, he lived by cultivating coconuts and pineapples on his plot. Matthew Wellington, a name bestowed upon him in Christian baptism after he entered Livingstone's service, was born in Nyasaland. He was captured by slavers in his early youth and taken to Bombay. Here he was secured, with other Africans, to aid the doctor in his exploration of their native territory. After reaching the coast with Livingstone's remains, lie went to Mombasa, joining the settlement of freed slaves established by the Church Missionary Society there. That "the master" liad always impressed on his boys that his journals and records must be guarded and taken to the coast in the event of his death is clear from Matthew's statement that he warned them not to be tempted to go to England themselves in such a case, but to remain in their own country. The fulfilling of their trust involved on these untaught savages, many of whom had been ill-treated slaves before they were engaged by Livingstone, ?j, nine months' march through 1500 miles of little-known country, where they had constantly to evade or repulse the attacks- of hostile inhabitants. They delivered safely not only the priceless records of the explorer's hardly-won knowledge, but also his body for honourable burial, preserved by their own native skill. Livingstone lies in Westminster Abbey. All the faithful blacks who helped him to open up their land for the white man's benefit are dead but one. That one spends the evening of his days reading the Bible outside his palm-thatclied hut, while his eventful history reverberates round the world, but arouses no legislative compassion in his own country.