'MARSDEN'S LIEUTENANTS'

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 267, 10 November 1934, Page 2 (Supplement)

'MARSDEN'S LIEUTENANTS'

MORE CHAPTERS OF EARLY HISTORY. The wide interest taken in the publication of the unpublished letters and journals of Marsden deposited in the Hocken Library in Dunedin has encouraged the Otago University Council to print a further instalment from the valuable (priceless to New Zealand) manuscripts contained in that great collection. "Marsden's Lieutenants,"' edited by John Eawsoii Elder, professor of history in Otago University, lias been edited with the same caro and discretion that marked its predecessor and all that scholarship and knowledge can do has been expended on it. Its clear printing and beautiful illustrations, taken from rare prints, make up a very handsome volume. It is printed and published for the- Otago University Council by Coulls, Somerville, Wilkie, Ltd., and A. H. Keed, Dunedin. This book, which contains the records left by Kendall, King and Hall, the three men whom Marsden left to carry on the mission to the New Zealanders, is not always pleasant reading. Much of it is. sordid and even worse. The sense of the solid achievements of the three men and their families, of tho dangers and tribulations which beset them daily and of their courage in remaining at their posts, is at times lost in the recitals of petty quarrels and jealousies which occur so frequently and which nearly wrecked the work they were sent to do. Their littleness seems to overshadow their greatness. To tho student of human nature, however, this book i.s perhaps more interesting than its predecessor. Of the three, Kendall, as he is shown either directly or by implication in this book, is the most interesting personality. Hβ was not an educated man in tho real sense of the term, but ho was possessed of very good natural abilities in some directions. Had he been more of a scholar he might have risen to some eminence in scientific pursuits. Ho li id some aptitude for languages, which was an invaluable asset to a missionary set to teach a people whose speech was unknown. Some interchange of thought was necessary, and since the ultimate goal was religious instruction, a good knowledge of Maori was imlispensablo. This was Kendall's forte, and it is one of the tragedies of the years following 1814 that his colleagues either could not or would not realise tho fact, and this nearly wrecked the New Zealand Jlission. Kendall may not have been well educated, but ho was better educated than King and Hall, and tho latter realised this and resented it. Morally, they were far superior to him, but int.'llectually it was the other way, and the pity is that they tried to keep Kendall doing the manual work for which they were fitted and trained to perform. Hence arose those quarrels and bickerings which started soon after Marsden's departure in 1815, and continued with increasing intensity as the years passed. One of Kendall's letters printed ill the book, in which he endeavoured to come to an agreement with King, alludes to some quarrel between King and Hall, and ill King's- journal the latter complains of his treatment by Kendall and Hall 'together. There is ample evidence to show that Hall was even more at loggerheads with Kendall than was King, so that the. mission settlement must have been, to use a colloquialism, a pretty kettle of fish.

All this is very unpleasant reading, especially considering that those mon were not traders but missionaries. This whole thing was discreditable to nil concerned. At the sumo, time it must be confessed that King and Hall had some, reason for their antagonism t« Kendall. J?y reason of his superior education, he seemed to take to himself the position of leader of tht? mission, which would have been rightly his if he had had the spiritual force and high moral character necessary to support such a role. Moreover, he had been appointed a magistrate, and would officially visit the ships in harbour, and if need be transact business, which roused the resentment of the others. Also, they were not slow to see the weak places in his moral armour. His quick and unbridled temper, bis over indulgence in spirits, and his weakness in other ways, diminished their respect. Another source of trouble was the exchange of arms and powder for food and other necessary things, Kendall was the chief offender, though there can be no doubt, that all of the three settlers were guilty of this practice in spite of the direct instructions of Marsden and those for whom he spoke. Marsden finally suspended Kendall and his career as a member of (he mission staff closed. In defiance of Marsden's wishes, aii'l contrary to his own promise, he remained in New Zealand, still investigating Maori languages and religious lore, and he earned the commendation of the French explorer D'Urvillo as being the only one of the. missionaries who tried to study the Maoris scientifically. This expresses the crux of the whole matter. It is the tragedy of Kendall's life, that he was dent to New Zealand as a missionary. Had ho come as a scientific inquirer with little or no restraint by others, his lapses would have passed unnoticed or condoned in the glory of his achievements as an investigator, and he would have possibly held a high place in the. world of science as a pioneer in the study of the Maori race.