BELOVED LEADER.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1937, Page 10

BELOVED LEADER.

ROBERT MAUNSELL.

PIONEER AND ORATOR. WORK AMONG THE MAORIS. (By a Pukekohe Correspondent.) To the older countries in the northern hemisphere a century ago seems only a yesterday in the far-receding ages during which their history has been built up — to a young community such as we are, it takes us back to Tery near the dawn of our existence. For that reason it ie fitting that our first centenaries, as they arrive, should be marked, if possible, by some permanent memorial of the chief actors of the period, so that their names may not be forgotten. There is no more lasting memorial than to give some salient feature of the landscape the name of the person it is desired to commemorate. Wβ have had many notable pioneers in New Zealand; men of courage, tenacity and foresight, and some of them have left journals and letters, the publication of which has kept their memory green. Others have been more concerned with doing things than with recording their performances, and there is great danger that the very names of many of those who did the spade work in founding this Dominion may pass into oblivion.

The Church Mission Society sent ue out many men of high character, courage and intelligence in the quarter of a century that passed between the coming of Maraden and the arrival of Hobson, but probably the doyen of them all was Robert Maunsell, a young man of Irish birth, but English extraction. After a brilliant career at Trinity College, Dublin, h» took up the law as a profession, but felt an insistent urge for the foreign mission field, and after a couple Of years' training in London, was sent to New Zealand, a field which, at the lime, was arousing much interest among churchmen at. Home, Study of Maori Life. Arriving at the Bay of Islands at the end of 1835, Maunsell spent a year in visiting the missions, which then dotted the Auckland province, learning the methods of the established missionaries, making* himself acquainted with the nitlVee, in the knowledge of tW Maori Tjtngutvge. And M» *pt a scholar was he'that he eoon became accepted as .the highest authority o%the native tongue. The. art of oratory is the dearest of all to the Maori mind, and Maunsell's proficiency may be judged by the admission of the natives themselves that none of their our public speakers could equal him. And in a few years he acquired an influence over them that was unequalled by any white man, unless perhaps by Sir Donald McLean. The year 1836 saw Maunsell's debut as a missionary; the following year he joined Mr. Hamlin at Orua, near the entrance to the Manukau. But there was not ecope for two there, and in 1838 he took over the station at Maraetai, Port Waikato, where the Rev. £. Fairburn had installed himself a year or two before. Under Maunsell's able guidance, aided by the willing assistance of two native chief*, Waata Kukutai of Te Kohanga, and Wiremu Tamehana, of Te Akau, the mission grew steadily, the primitive raupo whares which, at the beginning, had served for dwellings, church and school-houses, were replaced by sa-wn-timber buildings,' and by the middle 'forties there was a- most flourishing establishment at Maraetai. During these years Robert Maunsell, almost unaided, performed the gigantic task of translating the Old Testament direct from the Hebrew into Maori. The great work was almost completed when it was destroyed by a fire, which consumed his house. Undaunted by this catastrophe which would have broken a lesser man, he set to work again, and by 1848 the whole of the Bible was ready for the Maoris in their own language, they having had Williams' translation of the New Testament some years before. But Maraetai was not as prosperous as it appeared to the outward eye. Though the summer population w»:« r. large one, for Port Waikato woe the favoured seaside resort of the natives of the interior, the permanent residents were few in number, and there was but little land in the vicinity upon which the natives could be taught the arts of agriculture. For some years Maunsell had had his eyes fixed upon Te Kohanga, 10 miles up the river, where 600 acres of eminently suitable land was awaiting his acceptance; but it was not till 1833 that financial circumstances enabled him to make * start there, and even then it was ©nhr by the free use of his own money that he found it possible to carry out hie project. But once the move waa made, so ready were the natives to help that in a very few years it was one of the 'most prosperous stations In the colony, with commodious dwellings and school buildings, a large church, and several hundred acres of land cleared, fenced and under tillage. And before the end of the decade so far had they, advanced, not ority was their own flourmill supplying their own needs from wheat of their own , growing but there was an exportable surplus to send to Auckland by way of the Waiuku portage and the Manukau Harbour. Pedestrian Feats. Maunsell must have been a "tiger" for work. Hie original district extended from Raglan Harbour to Port Waikato, and inland as far as Pukekawa, but it kept growing and growing till it included the whole of the Awhitu Peninsula. : •■■ In addition, he had to visit and exer'eise general supervision over Mr. Ashswell's station, at Taupiri, and over Mr. Morgan's, near Te Awamutu. Little extras he allowed himself to indulge in were services for the early, white settlers at Mauku and Waiuku, and for the Maoris at Patumahoe; and at time's he even crossed, the Manukau and held aerviees at Cornwallis, where a number of European ptt-aawyers were at work. 1

Except on the few trips that could be made by canoe, the only way of getting about in his parish was on foot. In his pedestrian feats he had only one superior, and that was his indefatigable bishop, Selwyn, whose forced marches were the wonder and admiration of his contemporaries. In the meantime Te Kohanga was growing into a model establishment. In its palmiest days it had a staff of no fewer than 18 white people, including, in addition to clergy and school teachers, a farm manager, ploughmen, carpenter, miller and general farm hands. The domestic side of it was most capably run by the second Mrs. Maunsell, and in spite of his peripetetic occupations in his extensive parish, Dr. Maunsell found time to extend a guiding hand over the whole of its activities. In addition, he often had to play the part of host, for a visit to Te Kohanga was a favourite relaxation for the Governors and politicians of the time, and for distinguished visitors from overseas. The Scourge of War. Also, during the years that Te Kohanga was climbing to the zenith of its prosperity, the movement among the Waikato and Rohe Potai tribes was working for its downfall. The first shot in the campaign of 1863 was the knell of its prosperity. Maunsell's influence kept the local natives loyal to the Queen, but in a few months they felt unable to guarantee the safety of the white inhabitants of Te Kohanga, and early in 1864 the mission had to be evacuated, never to be occupied again. The destruction of his life-work was a terrible blow to Maunsell, but, unlike most of his brother missionaries, he had none of the prevailing illusions that war might have been averted by a policy of give and take, which being translated into plain language meant that the pakeha was to give the Maori everything he demanded and take from him every insult and oppression he chose to use. He knew the native character well enough to understand that a generous or forbearing action was liable to be construed by them as a sign of fear arad weakness, and that a clash of arms might be delayed, but coivd not be averted. And, his work at Te Kohanga being thus forcibly interrupted, he joined General Cameron's little army as chaplain and advanced with it till the fall of Orakau Pa ended the campaign. With him, ministering to the needs of the Presbyterian soldiers, was his friend, the Rev. Thomas Norrie, a man almost as full of courage, energy and tenacity as Maunsell himself. The adventures of these two men between September, 1863, and April, 1804, would make as interesting a volume as has ever been written about New Zealand; but they were doers, and not recorders, and most of their experiences are lost for ever. / Memorials of Work. ' Dr. Maunsell had yet before him many years of work as vicar of St. Mary's, Parnell, and Archdeacon of the Waikato, and even his nominal retirement did not end his activities, especially among the Maoris at Orakei. It merely remains to mention the steps that have been taken to perpetuate his memory. Close to the original mission station at Port Waikato a point, really the toe of a huge landslip, runs out into the Waikato River. Looking down upon the broad lands of Te Kohanga station stands a volcanic cone, long the burial ground of the.Nga Tipa tribe. To commemorate the work of the pioneer missionary the Raglan County Council has taken steps to alter the names of these two landmarks to Point Maunsell and Mount Maunsell respectively, a nd only the formal assent of the SurveyorGeneral is now required to complete the change. A little later it is hoped to place an inscription on a stone to be erected near Port Waikato, and to have an unveiling ceremony, but that will depend upon sufficient funds being avail-