REPORT OF 1850

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26266, 10 November 1950, Page 2

REPORT OF 1850

ORIGINAL BREAKFAST ON RANDOLPH

“A VERY INTERESTING ' FESTIVAL ” “On Tuesday last a very interesting festival took at Blackwell. The occasion was the approaching departure of the body of colonists who are proceeding to found the settlement of Canterbury in New Zealand." So began the account of the original “breakfast on the Randolph" printed in the “Illustrated London 'News" in 1850. “This first expedition is to consist of four ships of the first-class, of great site,, each of which will convey about 250 immigrants. ..." "On the lower deck of the Randolph four tables were laid, occupying the whole length of the ship, and covered (by Messrs Bathe and Breach of the London Tavern) with an elegant dejeuner a la fourchette for 340 persons. Of the company, which assembled at 2 o’clock and occupied every seat a little after three, we were informed that about 160, reckoning ladies and children, consisted of actual colonists, whose passages are taken in the ship.

“The daily journals almost express surprise at the absence of ‘emigrants’ and seem to have been unconscious of the presence of so many ‘ppionists.’ We may, therefore, state that passengers of the labouring class, usually termed emigrants, are to be regaled separately, just before their departure, on the old English fare of roast beef, plum pudding, and John Barleycorn; and that those to whom the fete of Tuesday was given are exclusively cabin passengers—purchasers of land and their families—who have helped to form the plan of the colony and are going out as leaders to carry it into effect.” The narrative then discourses on the motives of the colonists: a nobleman proud of “contributing a son to this honourable enterprise,” the large body belonging to “the gentry class at home" who the journal was satisfied were distinguished “no less by high personal character than by their social position,” not driven from the mother country by pressure* of adverse circumstances but attracted to the colony “by prospects which its singular organisation holds out;” earnest and thoughtful men whose obvious motive In emigrating is "to find social room for their progeny without depriving them of the best social refinement? and enjoyments. ...” Lord Lyttelton took the chair and grace was said soon after 3 o'clock. "We have no room for the Interesting speeches delivered. . . . These occupied several hours and were listened to with the closest attention and by some of the company (departing colonists, we presume) with manifest emotion,” says the “Illustrated London News."

"Later in the evening dancing took place on the upper deck of the Randolph to the music of the band of the Coldstream Guards; but, notwithstanding this pleasant close of the entertainment, we observed throughout the day and amongst the company generally a tone of serious thought, not in the least melancholy, but of a manly and dignified cheerfulness suited to the occasion and to the character of the English, now the only nation in the world capable of planning and accomplishing such enterprises."