THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION AND JOHN ROBERT GODLEY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10840, 15 December 1900, Page 4

THE CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION AND JOHN ROBERT GODLEY.

In the year 1847, staying at Great Malvern for the benefit of liis health, Edward Gibbon Wakefield met John Robert Godley. who wa,s destined to play such an important part in the early history of Canterbury. Mr Godley was a native of Leitrim; was educated at Harrow and Oxford, and was afterwards called to the Bar. With a of making a deeper study of politics and the art of governing people, be travellednot only cm tlie Continent, but visited Canada and the United States. It was his ''Letters from America" that attracted Mr

Wakefield. Mr Godley, on his side, had studied with admiration the enlightening views vigorously set forth by the most, ehunent writer upon colonisation. The result of their''aoquainta—— was tire scheme for founding Canterbury, which was discussed between them at a conference held at Malvern in November, 1847. The part that devolved upon Mr Wakefield was to indue© the New Zealand Company, of which he was still nominally a director, aitd in which two-thirds of the waste Crown lands of New Zealand were vested, to dispose of a sufficient amount of the lands to the, Church colonisers to ««$ them going; and Mr Godley's part, to use the words of the late Mr James Edward FitzGerald, was the labour of bringing to the scheme a su_cient amount of influence to secure the foundation of the new colony. The original scheme, as agreed upon by Messrs Wakefield and Godlev, is outlined in,a letter that,the former. wrote oa November 30bh, 1847, to Mr John Abel Smith, a prominent director of the New Zealand Company. "'"'lt was to be a Church of England settlement, to consist of 300,000 acres, with' right of pasturage attached, to' be purchased from the Company at 10s per acre, or £150,000; the place, if possible, to be the valley of the Ruamalianga (Wairarapa), the purchasers, whether colonists or absentees, to pay to the Company, as a trustee for them, £2 10s per acre in addition to the price of lps, and, the, amount, in all £750,000, to be laid out by tlie Company on behalf of the purchasers on public objects such as emigra tion, roads, an_ church and school endowments. Why Canterbury, instead of the Wairairapa, was finally chosen as the site of the Settlement is not stated, but it was no doubt owing largely to the report sent Home to the agent of the Association, by Messrs William and John Deans", of Riccarton, as to the promising field for settlement that Canterbury afforded, and its advantages over the North Island. By the middle of 1848 the affairs of the embryo Settlement' progressed sufficiently to justify the despatch of Captain Thomas as agent and- chief surveyor with his staff of assistants, ■ under instructions to survey-tlie Canterbury land, and prepare matters so far as possible, for the arrival of the colonists; and in September; 1849, be wrote Home from Lyttelton as follows:—"We have now over 110 men on surveys, roads, and buildings. Lyttelton reseanblees a country village in England, such is its decency, its order, its regularity, and sobriety. The town is surveyed, and we have got the trigonom—rical stations fixed, and extending over 30000 acres. By Christmas we hope to complete the trigonometrical surveys of half -a, million of acres, and the surveys and maps of Christchurch and the. town at tho mouth of the Avon." About the end of 1849 the state of Mr Gcdley's health brought about the step to which the ultimate • success of the colony was mainly to be-attributed, his mission as General Manager and Superintend-, ent. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION. The Canterbury Association, it may be mentioned, had been constituted as fol-lows:—-The Archbishop of Canterbury (after whom the Province is named), was the President, of the Association. The Committee were:—The Archbishop of Dublin, the Duke of Buccleuoh, the Marquis of Cholmondeley, the Earl of Ellesmere, the Earl ofHarewood, the Earl of Lincoln, M.P., Viscount Mandeville, MP., the Bishops of London, Winchester, Exeter, Ripon, St. David's, Oxford, and Norwich, Viscount, Alford, M.P., Lords Ashburton, Lyttelton, ; Ashley, ■ M.P., Courtenay, Alfred, .Harvey, M.P., and John Manners, Sir Walter Farquhar, Bart., Sir William Heathcote, Bart., M.P., Sir Walter.- James, Bart., Sir Willonghby Jones, Bart,, Right Hon. Henry Goulbu—:, M.P., Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, M.P., Hon. Sir Edward Cust. X.C.8., the Dean of Canterbury, Charles Bower Adderley, M.P., Lieutenant-Colonel Archer, W. H. Pole-Carew, M.P., Hon. Richard Cavendish, Hon. Francis Charteris, M.P., S. Cocks, M.P., Rev. C. Coleridge. William Forsyth, Rev. G. R. Gleig, Edmund Halswell, Yen. Archdeacon Hare, Rev- E. Hawkins. Rev. Dr. Hook, Samuel Lucas, F. Alleyne McGeachy, J. Simeon, M.P., A. Stafford, M.P., Hon. John Talbot, Rev. C. M. Torlesse/ Rev. R. C. French, Yen. Archdeacon Wilberforcs, Charles Wynne, and Rev. J. C. Wyntsr. John Robert Godley was appointed Resident Chief Agent, Captain Thomas was Chief Surveyor, and Mr Thomas Cass and Mr C. 0. Torlesse were appointed Assistant Surveyors. MR GODLEY IN NEW ZEALAND. Mr Godley's first step on arriving in New Zealand was to stop ail expenditure, Captain Thomas having considerably overdrawn his means. Then, finding that the expecied colonists did not arrive, he went to Wellington to wait the course of events. Regarding this critical period of the Association's history, Mr Jas. E. FitzGerald, in his "Memoir of John Robert Godley,": says : —'■The i.irgc y.hi. of land effected at 'the founding- of Wellington and Nelson afforded reasonable'ground to hope that there. w<.nld be no difficulty in raising money in a similar manner at Canterbury. W_.u MV C'odley left England it'was in£_di ; d that •_o fiist body of colonists should sail not Liter than three or four months after him ; but these expectations were not realised. Som-> relaxation of the indispensable efforts to success appears to have taken place after his departure, ' and it was not until the whole scheme was on the verge of abandonment that Lord Lyttelton brought his strong intellect and resolute will to rescue it from destruction He became Chairman of the Managing Commifctee in the spring of 1850, and kept his hand on the reins until the end of the journey. The result of the difficulty was, however, as usual, delay. The day for selling the land and- starting off the colonists was again and again postponed, and even when the day arrived the funds fell miserably short of the anticipated and requisite amount. In this emergency Lord Lyttelton, Lord Richard Cavendish, Sir John Sin—on, and others came forward again and again with advances out of their private, fortunes, to the extent, not of tens or hundreds, but thousands and tens of thousands, to save the scheme from ruin. The motive that stimulated this liberaJlty," says Mr FitzGerald. "was th eir strong affection for the man who had induced them to join the scheme, and the determination that in his absence he should not be deserted. The work of his lifo was in peril; and. be the loss to them what it might, it should not be allowed to fail for want of timely aid. There can hardly be any stronger proof of the wonderful influence which Mr Godley had acquired over his personal friends than their wi—iigness to incur such large sacrifices for the sake, not even so'much of himself, as of his idea. Rarely, —deed, do College acquaintances ripen into such noble and absorbing friendships in after life." "In November, 1850,** continues the writer from whom we have been quoting, "he (Mr Godley) was called from Wellington by the intelligence that the first colonists had sailed for Canterbury in the September of that year; and he at once took up his abode at Lyttelton to await their arrival.

From December 16bh, 1850. to December Ist, 1852, when lie sailed for Kngla—l, he was, in all but name, tho governor of the s_tleme_> which he had originated aud 'formed:" Such a carser is not granted to —any in th is life. Most men are but the agents to carry out the schemes of others, or are compelled to see the plans they have formed put into action by agents who but partially comprehend them. It was given to Mr Godley to design Caritexbury. and to be the agent of his own design. What he was amongst us during the first two Years of tbe settlement some of us remember, and most of us know by tradition. Not with coffers full, and factlitiss abundant; but in poverty of funds, amidst great difficulties, amidst much discontent, amidst the disappointment of many sanguine expectations, and the ill-concealed hostility of a Government, which appeared vexed at the additional trouble imposed on it by the founding of a new. colony within its jurisdiction, Mr Godley guided the infant fortunes of C_rterbury in the full and entire conviction of the' result which must one day come." Before leaving Canterbury Mr God—y was asked to stand for the office of Superintendent of the provmce; but he declined, as he had only made arrangements for leaving England for three years, and as his work was done, lie felt entitled to obey the call from family and fri—;ds, which required his presence an.England. He fill—: several Govt—an—at appoints—_ts in London, including that, of the first English agent for the province, but in 1850 the disease in his thro—, which had almost disappeared under the genial climate of New Zealand, made its appearance again, and finally proved fatal. In spite, however, of months of pain and suffering, Mr Godley did his work to the last, and literally died in harness. MRS GODLEY. Of Mrs God—y, Mr FitzGerald writes in the following graceful terms:—"Mrs Godley's residence in the colony was not necessarily an agreeable' one.' It was not an enviable position for a lady who had always lived amidst the luxuries which accompany wealth, and the gentle courtesies which surround birth, to submit to the discomfort and —convenience inseparable from the founding — a new settlement. It has often been our misfortune to hear many ladies in this country, even those who have left straitened circumstances and precanous prospects at Home, for rough .plenty and the promise of wealth here, grumble in no mea--sured terms at the indignities to which they considered them— lyes to be subjected—'so different from what we bave been accustomed to.' Those who knew Mrs Godley, not only casually, and, as, it were, under the disguise of company manners, but. in tho meet retired.' relations of home, never heard her utter a complaint, or pretend to despise ■■ the tasks in which she had to engage, or the people with whom she was often compelled to associate.;.. : She, like her husband who is gome, ■could understand how the little oflices of daily life become sanctified, and ennobled by the name of duty. She too, believed in the nobility of work, and what her hand found to do she did it with all her might. She teft us the example, how it is possible, in the midst of harassing cares and unwonted discomfort, to be gentle and serene, and cheerful and uniformly courteous to all, and how little it needs of worldly- wealth to create the purest type of an English home upon the shores of a scarcely inhabited island." MR E. G. WAKE_IELD. The following brief account of the latter years of Mr Edward Gibbon Wakefield's life, written by his son, Edward Jerningham, is taken from "The Founders of Can : terbury," a book published in Christchurch in 1868: —"When the New Zealand Constitution Act had been obtained, my .father packed up for New Zealand. * He arrived at Lyttelton in 1853, with lus. pure-bred bulldogs, in the ship Minerva; landed a heifer which he had brought from England, and a bull (this animal was accidentally drowned near Rangiora), and went on to Wellington, where he took up. his permanent abode. There, instead of re thing frc— • politics, he plunged into the very thickest of them, opposing, with all his might, the delusivs 'oheap land' scheme, of Sir George Grey. In this cause he became .-both a member of the Provincial Council of Wellington, : and •a member of the House of Rep—sen—tives for the Hutt district; and accordingly sat through the first session of the General Assembly of New Zealand in 1854." .In driving from the Hutt to Wellington in a southeast gale he took ill, and lingered for seven years in the privacy of a sick room, and died in May, 1862, at the age of sixty-six: years. EARLY DELIBERATIONS OP THE COLONISTS. In the minute book of te "Society of Canterbury Colonists," which has been lent, for exhibition, the Historical Committee/ of the Jubilee celebrations have secured a relic of the beginnings of the Canterbury settlement of great value, and of absorbing interest. Within the parchment covers (one of which, by the way, shows signs of having been cut) of tins foolscap volume are indicated the aspirations and ideas s of the men who were the backbone of the infant settle—snt. The writing in which the minutes are recorded varies, but is still as legible as when it was penned. The minutes -i 3 really those of two societies—the Society of Canterbury Colonists, which existed prior to the departure of the Canterbury Pilgrims, and oi the Society of Purchasers of Land in Canterbury, which took the place of the other society when the settlers arrived at Lyttelton. The inscription on the first page of tho book reads: —Minutes drawn up by the first body of the Canterbury colonists at their rooms, lA, Adelphi Terrace." Then follows:—"Tlie Society of Canterbury Colonists, April 25th, 1850." The first meeting, the minutes of which are recorded, was held on March 18th, 1850, and amongst the j decisions arrived at -was:— ,'| "That"meetings be held every Tuesday and Thursday at twelve o'clock for the purpose of making suggestions and expressing j tbe opinions of the colonists upon matters i elating to the welfare of the proposed colony." Another resolution placed ."on record the colonists* high sense of the services rendered j by Mr W. G. Brittan by his constant attendance at the rooms and the trouble hs j had taken in answering enquiries of personsi calling and writing for information. The minutes of the next meeting, held i on April 25th, record the names ot those present, who were noted in the following order: —Messrs Hart, Sewell, Phillips,, j Rowley, Felix, Wakefield. W. Laurence) ' James Tcrwnsend, Edward Townsend, C. L. Rose, Edward Ward, W. G. Brittan. Clifford, J. Longden, FitzGerald, W. F. Eldin, ; H. Diaper, Wm. Bendett, C. Fooks, C, B. ' Fooks, Carrington, Alfred Wills, J. B. Austin, J, J. W. Cookson, Dampier. Lieu- j tenant-Colonel Campbell, Harman, Gerard, j Spooner, Joseph Dickin, C. T. Moule, H. F. Way, Rev. J. Paulson, Heniy Ward, H. j Le Cren, Edward Power, Captain Martin, j Henry Barrett, Arthur Jackson. At this meeting the Society apparently i took definite form, and those present were j constituted the first members, aud the foi- j lowing were appointed a Committee of Management : —Messrs W. G. Brittan, Lieu-tenant-Colonel Campbell, James Edward FitzGerald, Rev. Dr. Rowley, Henry Phillips, C. L. Rose, Henry Sewell, and Edward

Ward. The following, who were-stated to hay? sailed for tho settlement—though in subsequent..'minutes it - is'shown, that at least the Bishop-elect had nob sailed—-were elected honorary members: —-The Bishopelect, the Archdaacon ajid clei-gy; Messrs John Robert. Godley, Augustus Percival, FPollard, and Henry Taucred. At .this meeting a letter was read from the secr—ary of the .Canterbury Association (Mr H. F.<Alston) in which the Committee expressed their pleasure on learning of tlie formation of the Colonists' Society and of—ring them the use of the Association's rooms for general and Committee meetings. Having deeid—, to form a library for the .new settlement, the first gift of books, which was from the, Rev. 0. Mathias, was acknowledged at this m—ting. Afterwards, when it -was decided to have a library in connect ion with the proposed college, the Society resolved to hand over all the books they had received'as gifts to th s college library, on the understanding | that the books would ba accessible to the settlers. At the next m—ting gifts of books ; from Messrs Rose, Edrwaid Gibbon WakeI field, and Va_; were received, Mr Brittan was the chairman of the' meetings, and the rapid increase in the attendance is shown by the fact that on May 16th tliere were about fifty present (including Lord Lyttelton, tho Dean of Canterbury, Lord John Manners, and Sir Walter James); on June 15th there were ninetyseven present, and-a week later there were 112 in attendance. At the meeting on May 16th a letter was read from, the Association, annoimcing .their intentions with regard to the endowment of a college. Lord Lyttelton addressed the society, and introduced the Bishop-elect, the Right Rev. Thomas Jackson, who also gave an address. : THE NAMING OF CHRISTCHURCH. Ono can almost imagine the simmer of excitement at the next meeting (May 23rd), when the chairman' announced that two ships "had been taken up," and recommended applicants to.engage. The fares were stated to have been fixed at: —Chief cabin, £42; intermediate, £25;. and steerage, £15. Each passenger was to be allowed half a ton measurement of cargo space. At this meeting a letter was read from Mi- Frederick Moore, on the subject of steam communication with New Zealand, and it was decided to —commendf the subject to the Association. Subsequently, the society petitioned Pari—ment on the matter. Mr Brittan gave notice at the meeting, on May 30th, that ho would introduce the subject of the name of the capital town of the Settlement. He proposed, on June 6th, that the capital. should be named Lyttelton, and mentioned that some objected to the'proposal to —11 it Ch—stelmire h. Mr FitzGerald said that as there was to be a large college in' the Settle—ent the name "Christchurch" fliad been oh—en, and, also, partly because that was the name of the cathedral churc h of Canterbury. On his suggestion, in which Mir Brit—n agreed, further discussion of the subject was postponed. On June 13th, Mr Brittan's motion was, on a show of hands, agreed to: The society then recommended the adoption of the; name "Lyttelton" to the Management Committ— of the Association, which arrived at tlie following decision": —"The Committee, although they do not themselves see the neceesity or expediency for the change of name, in compliance with'the expressed wish of the intending colonists, 'will readily assent thereto—it being understood that the college,. which will be established in the Settlement, will be called" Christ Church." In the. minutes of the Society of Pur_.asexs of Land in Canterbury, the conclusion of this question is found, when, on December 20—, on the motion of Messrs Phillips and Ward; it was resolved): "That this meeting is of opinion that of the two sites offered "to: their selection by the Association for the capital, that 'marked on- the map by the name: of Christ Church is the more eligible, and that Mr Godley be requested to declare immediately that the capital of the Settlement will be fixed on that site." SOME INTERESTING MINUTES. V: On turning back to the minutes of the Colonists* Society, tlie following interesting entry is found in tho record of the meeting of May 30th: —"The chairman read to the meeting the minutes of the Committee of Management, of May 25th, explaining the present and future relations between the Association and the colonists. "Mr Simeon, M.P., a member of the Association present, addressed t*h_ meeting, on the principal object of the document just read, which, he explained", originated from the anxiety which the Association felt to give everything, and to place every power they could, into the hands of the colonists, consistently with the engagements which they (the Association) had contracted with the Government. It was impossible entirely to shake off the responsibilities which they had incurred in undertaking to ; found such a Settlement as that of Canterbury, as far as a certain degree of control and management went; but he could assure the colonists that the principle of the Association's action (so far as he was at liberty to divulge) was. that of securing distinct colonial self-govern-ment : the only principle on which he (Mr Simeon) would ever have taken a part in a colonisation society." - — At subsequent meetings-the question'of the appropriation of the eccles_sticaLand educational funds'of. the Settlement was discussed, and at the meeting on August 22nd a lengthy communication was received from the Association, which dealt with the matter clearly and evidently satisfactorily. The following items, taken from the minutes of different meetings are interesting:— On June 13th a letter was read from Mr Luck, of Oxford, which accompanied the gift of a handsome alms-box for the use of the first cathedral church in Lyttelton. July 18th—On account ofthe death of the New Zealand Association, the Canterbury Association were taking steps to-'get'ija, bill passed through Parliament giving them sole authority over the land in the Canterbury Settlement. "■ August Ist—A letter was read from Mr Ravenscroft concerning the establishment of a paper in Lyttelton. The chairman supported the suggestion, which he o—sidered a most important one, and one which would greatly affect the future interests of the colony. After discussion, it was decided that a paper should be established. August 22nd—The last meeting prior to ! the departure for the colony. A motion expressing the- deep obligation of the colonists to the Association was passed. Mr Simeon returned thanks on behalf of the Association. At a meeting on June 27th a motion had been agreed to that after the sailing of -the first ships the meetings of the Society shall j be adjourned until the arrival of the first ship ' at Canterbury. The first meeting of which anything is re- j corded, held after the arrival of the settlers, ! Was on December 20th, 1850, and it details the proceedings of the Society of the Purchasers of Land in Canterbury, Tlie minute-* of the proceedings of this Society have quite as much of interest in them, but space only permits of a few extracts: — December 20th—-Mr Godley, in reply to questions, stated—That Sumner was not re-

served for a port town. That the Am6a tion's boats were let. out to private si** lators, who should be free to charro »k." ' own prices—tire maximum only -w scribed, via,, 20s 'per ton to Sumner, hfcf J Sumner to dhi-istch— t;h, add Is for r>AA* gets to and from ps harbour. **" '*" ' In a. letter read at a subsequent r_ef Mr -Godley wrote:—A run shall sidered as stocked if one breeding « We { every twenty acres, or one head of br_jw cattle for every twenty acres, be upon it. Tho printing press was evidently not i before it started operations, for pasted"-" the minute book are the.printed ruW the Society. The last minute reeorclfc] °* the book is of a meeting held on Jauu-."! 22nd, 1852, and it briefly records th&t i& W. G. Brittan was appelated ."* the Society. v **