SETTLEMENT OF CANTERBURY

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26198, 23 August 1950, Page 6

SETTLEMENT OF CANTERBURY

BRITISH BACKGROUND DESCRIBED

The spur of a different past as well as the attraction of a rosy future had been a force leading to the colonisation of Canterbury, said Canon A. H. Acheson, speaking on “The British Social and Economic Background of the Canterbury Settlers” last evening in the third of a series of centennial lectures on the history and life'Of Canterbury arranged by the Workers’ Educational Association. Canon Acheson outlined the situation in England -in the early nineteenth century which had led io the various schemes for colonisation. • The political factors, he said, were the Napoleonic War and its aftermath, which had left England exhausted in manpower and deeply stirred by political thought; the Reform Act of 1832, which had set the direction for future development and had made the landed class fear for the future; and the accession of a young, conscientious girl qs queen in place of the profligate old kings whose courts were a fashionable round of cynical entertainment, which led to tfie encouragement of idealistic and optimistic ventures.

The industrial revolution was well under way and the new inventions and harnessing of steam power led to the redistribution of population, to the growth of towns and coalfields «and to work in the mines, mills and factories instead of at home on the farm, and thus to the growth of slums. Canon Acheson said.

Canon Acheson emphasised the influence of the Irish background on the schemes for emigration. It was a secondary influence of considerably more importance than was realised, he said. Wakefield’s scheme contemplated that there should be many speculators who would buy land in the new colonies but who would not go out immediately. How far were he and the speculators influenced in taking up land by the sight of so many Irish absentee landlords living in London on the proceeds of their estates’ It was significant that when Wellington and Nelson were founded, there was a good proportion of absentee landlords. In Wellington, of 1000 sections of 100 acres sold. 595 were bought bv absentee landlords and in Nelson 352 of 432 Sections of 150 acres were sold to absentee landlords. But. referring to the Canterbury settlement. Wakefield had written in 1850 that “Strange to say there was not a single absentee or speculative buyer.” The Irish famine, which had been a terrible tragedy for landlord as well as peasant might have provided the reason for this. This was an important factor in the success of the colony and in the comparative speed with which the early difficulties were overcome.

, The migration of Irish labour to England for the harvests was also a factor in the emigration tn the colonies. Canon Acheson said. This low priced labour which had been available in large quantities meant a disturbance in i English, rural life and proved a spur ■ to the colonial projects.