LONDON LETTER MARSDEN AND GODLEY RELICS COMING TO N.Z.

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28155, 19 December 1956, Page 14

LONDON LETTER MARSDEN AND GODLEY RELICS COMING TO N.Z.

(From PETER FABIAN. London London, December ' 7.—Valuable relics of New Zealand’s early pioneering days, many of which were not known to exist until they were put on exhibition in New Zealand House in June, are being sent to New Zealand for display. The relics are mainly those of Samuel Marsden, senior chaplain at Botany Bay, who arrived at the Bay of Islands in 1814 after persuading the Church Missionary Society in London to establish a New Zealand Mission. Relics of John Robert Godley, founder of Canterbury, have been sent to the Canterbury Museum under terms of the will of Miss Francis Godley. the last -surviving daughter ot Godley, who died at Malvern, m Worcester, a year ago, aged 101. With the Marsden relics will go a fine collection of 40 early New Zealand paintings from the collection of Mr Rex Nan Kivell, the noted New Zealand collector. These paintings have not previously been displayed in New Zealand and do not include any paintings of the Captain Cook and early settlement series which were seen in New Zealand in 1953-54. Nevertheless, they are of the pre-1840 period. The earlier collection is now in Canberra. The Rev. R. E. Marsden, a great-great-grandson of Marsden, is the present owner of the relics and he has consented to their being sent to New Zealand for display in the Dominion Museum and the Turnbull Library, but it is possible they will be displayed in the other main centres before being returned to Britain. Among the relics is a seven-foot carved model of a canoe, presented to Marsden by a Maori chief, a carved Maori featherbox, a communion set which is believed to have been used by Marsden at the first Christian service at the Bay of Islands in 1814, a tortoise-shell watch, his reading glass and spectacles, together with a small stack of sermon notes arfd letters. The Maori carvings are probably of the Ngapuhi or the old Ngati Raumati tribe, which was decisively defeated about this period by the Ngapuhi. The carvings are fine examples of the art of the old Maori carver and show his skill with stone tools. Photostat copies have been made of all important letters as well as many other documents of early missionaries for the Turnbull Library, and they may prove of immense value to New Zealand historians of the early settlement. All the Godley relics should be m New Zealand by the end of January and should prove one of Canterbury’s most valuable links with its founding. As agent for the Canterbury Association. Godley had a full-dress uniform with much gold braid and a cocked hat. It is in a good state of preservation. Also in the shipment are a watch of Godley’s. a number of period dresses of Mrs Godley. and a day bed which they took to New Zealand in 1850 and brought back to Britain on their return two years later. Among other items of furniture which should prove of considerable interest in Christchurch are two sfna’l occasional tables presented to Mrs Godley before she left Canterbury. They are made of New Zealand wood and are posibly the earliest examples of Christchurch furniture-making still in existence. It is likely they will be housed in the new section of the museum at present under construction Maori Weapons A collection of Maori weapons and carvings auctioned at Sotheby’s in Bond street this week drew considerable interest. A greenstone mere mounted on a wooden panel was sold to a dealer for £l6 while a lot comprising two greenstone meres—one a particularly fine slender weapon of a late period and the other an earlier weapon which had been mended — were sold for £42. They were purchased by Lord Reynolds. A New Zealand dealer now resident in Britain, Mr K. A. Webster, put in bids up to £25, whereupon an Auckland man intent on returning such fine weapons to their land of origin took the bidding up to £4O. The weapons had been in private collections in British country homes for a considerable period. Two greenstone tikis were sold for £2O and £3O respectively. A fine carved Maori canoe bailer was sold with an Australian bowl and a New Guinea wood carving for £l7. Cartoonist's Success The original of a cartoon drawn by a New Zealander. Mr Keith Waite, of Dunedin, which was published in a London newspaper, will be on board the replica of the Mayflower, which will sail to America early next year to commemorate the voyage of the Pilgrim Fathers. At the time of the Earl's Court motor show Mr Waite drew a cartoon depicting the Mayflower loaded down with the latest British cars sailing to America. It typified the frustration of the manufacturers at the lack of shipping available to take British cars to the American market. The cartoon is to be presented to an American pioneer organisation.

Shakespeare Theatre Yet another season has concluded at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon with some 360,000 people attending in the eight months from April to the end of November. The five plays presented this year, “Hamlet.” "The Merchant of Venice,” “Othello,” “Love’s Labour Lost,” and “Measure for Measure,” as usual proved most popular. Since the company toured New Zealand and Australia recently there has been a noticeable increase in the number of visitors to the theatre from the two countries The Name Was Zzzu A new issue has been made of the fourth volume of the London telephone directory, which covers the London postal area. The former issue contained an impossible-to-beat-“last.” The name was Zzzu. Now the last name on the back page is Mr Lewiz Zzymbzla. Another change from the old is noticed under “The.” In the last issue there were 69 entries under “The,” but this year there are only three, The Court Tailors being one of those still listed under the definite article. There is an unusual entry under Y—Ye Royal Oake, an inn evidently quite distinct from any of the eight which are listed in a commonplace way under “R.” The four volumes of the London directory total 3632 pages. Dickens Hotel An old coaching inn, the Royal Hop Pole Hotel, at Tewkesbury, Gloucester, which was the scene of a dinner party described by Charles Dickens in “The Pickwick Papers.” has been sold for £10,750, after being passed in at a sale in London in March, 1954. after a bid of £27,000 had been offered. The reserve figure on the property then was £40.000. The hotel

Correspondent of “The Press”) is near the centre of Tewkesbury and has 43 bedrooms. Its reception rooms include a “Pickwick bar.” Port for Toasts Sticklers for tradition had a happy moment recently when the loyal toast at. the recent dinner by the Army to the Queen was drunk in port wine. The tradition that toasts should be given in' port wine dates from the Napoleonic wars, when French wines were not available. But the two great wars of this century have so upset tradition that port firms in London welcome every visible confirmation of the old habit. Port is nowadays taken more frequently in France than in England. To celebrate the Queen’s visit to Portugal in February one ancient city-firm plans a “link with Portugal” exhibition. It will display decanters, small and solid, dating from 1680. long before the days of wine bottles. Poodles and Diamonds The latest item among the lists of fantastic goods which are being produced to loosen the purse-strings of the wealthy, is a diamond-studded dog collar. A collar made of red morocco leather has been studded with diamonds valued at £6OO by Mr Phillip Brazier, a London manufacturing jeweller. He is quite confident of a ready sale to the owner of some French poodle or dachshund of formidable pedigree in the United States. “Judging by the way film stars decorate their pets,” said Mr Brazier this week, “there may certainly be a good market in Los Angeles for diamonds for Fido.” Mr Brazier owns two dogs himself, but they wear collars of plain austerity leather.