Stories of New Zealand.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 235, 3 October 1936, Page 23 (Supplement)

Stories of New Zealand.

(Continued from page 34.)

Maclean directed, not only native affairs, but also military policy in the last Hauhau wars. In three years he brought peace to the land. He was the man for that troubled day. It was in the 'fifties that Edward Gibbon Wakefieid called him "the Great Maori Mystery Man," because of his peculiar success in dealing -with Maori problems. The secret of his success which many did not understand was his patience and his perfect sincerity. He was a diplomat, but an honest one. The Maori tribes, whether friends or opponents, trusted his word. He neither bluffed nor deceived them. He never hurried them into bargains. There was always another day. His Celtic mentality gave him a thorough understanding of the Maori, who, in his thoughts and customs.-resembled so much his own Highland folk. He looked to the day when the Maori would increase and live in amity and on terms of perfect equality with their pakeha fellow New Zealanders. On his death at only 57 years oE age, he was mourned for as the srreatest benefactor and guide and counsellor of the people. "Te Makarini," as they called him. was loved and revered by them. On the broad lawn in front of the old Maclean home, resting among its tree groves on Scinde Island heights, hundreds of Maoris gathered at his death to make oration and dance war dance-j and fire the "gunpowder of grief" ovpr their greatest of chiefs. The pakeha population, too, all over New Zealand greatly honoured Donald Maclean. A Land for Scots, During Donald Maclean's early life in his native country the infamous Highland clearances had sent tens of thousands of Scots overseas. The hard-dealing lairds of some clan 3 had depopulated the glens and straths to make room for sheep and deer. On Maclean's own isle of Tiree the population in 1821 was returned as 4181. The evictions by the Duke of Argyll reduced even that small community by hundreds of people, most of whom went to America, and the reduction continued until, in 1881, the population was 2733. Maclean himself was not affected by those clearances, but hs had a keen sympathy for his distressed fellow Highlanders, and when he attained a comfortable position in New Zealand he wrote frequently to his people in Scotland explaining the advantages of the colony as a, home. Hawke's Bay, he regarded as an exceptionally suitable land for Scottish folk who sought a newcountry. particularly for sheep farming. and when several shiploads of Highlanders from Nova Scotiaarrived in the Auckland district, he wrote urging that they should settle in Hawke's Bay, where there was abundant land free of forest. But the Government had given the clansmen, led by the famous Rev. Norman McLeod. bush land at Waipu and other North Auckland districts and there they remained. "