LOOKING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 230, 28 September 1935, Page 19

LOOKING BACK.

NOTABLE EVENTS.

nE XT WEEK'S ANNIVERSARIES

ROBERT COVE, OF INDIA.

(By M.P.W.)

The founder of Britain's Empire in India. Robert Clive, was horn 210 years to-morrow. His was a colourful life. It had its triumphs and its disasters, hut the disasters were personal, ffhile the triumphs were England's.

There was a time when this great soldier, the conqueror and administrator of a mighty nation, tried to take Ijlj own life. The drudgery of his life as a clerk in "John Company" discouraged liim so greatly that he decided to end it all. The pistol missed fire twice. He flu n o ft from him, exclaiming: "It appears I am destined- for something. I will H vc -"

dive's seizure and subsequent defence of Arcot was followed by his great victory of Plassey in which 3200 men, twothirds of them Sepoys, defeated ' Suraj ud Dowlah's 50,000 with 40 or 50 French (runners. Unfortunately Olive's reputation suffered through certain financial dealings. The enemies ho had made through his strict administration of the company's affairs seized on this dark incident of his career, and he was censured by Parliament, although a rider was added that he "did at the same time render great arid meritorious services to his country."

The rest of Olive's story is simply told—Sickness, opium, mental depression. On November 22, 1774, Clivo died by his own hand. It is well that with the passing of time his great services to the Empire are remembered. His failings are forgotten. Reign of Terror.

The anniversary of the murder on October 1, 1865, of Charles Brouglitoii, a Government interpreter, at Otoio, Patea River, recalls the brief period when the fanatical Hauhaus enjoyed their brief reign of terror in the North Island. Brougliton was murdered by Hauhaus and this killing was only one of many carried out by these savage Maoris in their ruthless campaign.

Hauhauism rose among a section of the Maori race just at a time when it was hoped to conclude peace after the campaigns of 1863 and 1864. It was a etilt which mingled the worst elements of primitive religion with a debased form of Christianity. Its adherents made a rallying point for the implacable section of the Maoris and acts of revolting cruelty were carried out under the banner of Hauhauism. • The influence of the movement was felt early in 1804 in Taranaki and Wanganui, whenco it spread to the East Coast. In April, the Hauhaus were severely defeated at Sentry Hill, near New Plymouth, and in May, descending upon Wanganui, they suffered' another defeat at' the hands of Maoris frifendly to the British. They were~flnally suppressed after arduous and Jl&roic campaigns in which Majors Mair and Ropata, the latter a Ngatiporou chief, distinguished themselves with the colonial forces, assisted by the Arawa and Ngatiporou. , Statesman's Birthday. Thursday will be the fifty-seventh birthday of the Secretary of State for the Dominions, the Rt. Hon. J. H. Thomas. Caricatured by David Low as "the Rt. Hon. Dress Suit" and lampooned in print by that brilliant satirist A. G. McDonnell, Mr. Thomas is one of the most familiar figures in British politics.

Mr. Thomas' parents were labourers. Ho started life with no advantages and went out to work as an errand boy at nine years of age. « Hi 3 next job was cleaning engines and he advanced through the railways service from cleaner to fireman and from fireman to driver. In 1910 he was elected to Parliament and he has represented Derby ever since, up to 1931 in the Labour interests and since then as a Nationalist.

Honours have fallen thickly upon this bluff, genial son of the people. Ho has been Lord Privy Seal, Minister of Employment and both Cambridge and Oxford have conferred honorary degrees upon him. His career in the trade union movement alone would fill a substantial volume.

Mucli. has been written of Mr. Thomas' absent-minded attitude towards aspirates in his speech. That is as it may be, but some shrewd observers are of opinion that Mr. Thomas need not drop quite so many "li's" if he did not think it good tactics. People expect it of him and he is not One to disappoint his supporters. Captain James Cook. On October 5, 1769, Captain James Cook, tho greatest of all English navigators, first landed on the shores of New Zealand. His three voyages into the unknown waste of the Pacific were among tho most brilliant fe&ts of seamanship of all time. He took back to England accounts of Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, the Society Islands, New Caledonia, tho Sandwich Islands, and many other of tho southern ocean's myriad atolls. Cook, strangely enough, started in life as a haberdasher. No shop counter could hold him for long, and the call of the sea was not to be resisted. In 1755 ho joined the Royal Navy, and it was soon plain t&t ho was a man who would go far. 1r^'17,04 he was appointed marine surveyor of Newfoundland and Labrador. The charts and' observations which he drew up on this expedition attracted tho attentioif of the Royal Socicty and lie was invited to take part in an expedition to observe the transit of Venus over the face of the sun. Captain Cook accepted the offer and set sail for the southern ocean in the Endeavour. After fulfilling his scientific obligations Captain Cook pushed southward to New Zealand and Australia. He was received with enthusiasm on his-'return to England and it was not long before he again set out for the south, this time in command of the Resolution. Eor three years he cruised a]b6ut the Pacific, and it is an indication of hi?" quality as a wise leaderjithat in n,U tljis time ho lost only one man tlii'dHigTi'iffiiess. His next voyage was another try at the ofjt-attempted quest for the northwest passage. A wall of ice blocked his passage to the ~ northward and lie returned to the Sandwich Islands (Honolulu).! There he met his death at the hands iof treacherous natives. His comrades 'could find only his bones, whicJi they reverently laid to rest in tho deep.