CAPTAIN JOSEPH PRICE AN ENTERPRISING PIONEER

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29756, 24 February 1962, Page 8

CAPTAIN JOSEPH PRICE AN ENTERPRISING PIONEER

Sailor, Whaler, Farmer And Adventurer

[Specially written for "The Press” by GLADYS COMBER! THE name of Captain Joseph Price was a x familiar one to me, right through my childhood, because I spent many holidays at Birdling’s Flat, where my uncle had a fascinating holiday place—a cave, set high in a hillside, where the only water to be had was obtained from the ceiling of a constantly dripping smaller cave.

The larger cave had been boarded in, having windows and a door, and contained a stove, table and chairs, and beds. It was not until many years later that I learned that this place was rich in old Maori history, and to the Maoris a tapu place.

By passing down a narrow path to the shore of Lake Forsyth and crossing a paddock, my cousin and I used to come to a farm-house, hidden by tall pine and macrocarpa trees. This was the home of Mr and Mrs Charles Price, who had seven daughters, all with long thick plaits of hair. The windows of the big house were without curtains because of the danger of fire from lighted candles, there being no electricity there at that time. I remember talking through an open window to Mr Price, as he lay in bed during his last illness, but I did not know then that this man was one of the six sons of Captain Joseph Price. My uncle often alluded to Captain Joseph Price. He said that Captain Price had told him in the early days, he knew the lake as Maori Harbour. It was then permanently open to the sea. For many years it has been necessary to open Lake Forsyth to the sea by artificial means. Captain Price attributed the change to the cutting out of the luxuriant bush that once clothed the surrounding hills, with a subsequent loss of moisture lowering the level of the lake. Joseph Price was a man of many parts. A man of daring and great endurance, he was in turn a trader, explorer, navigator, whaler, and farmer, and for many years I took a part in local administration, being for considerable time a member of the Little River Road Board. Born at Newcastle-on-Ty.ne in 1810, he ran away to sea at the age of 13. serving on a trading vessel plying between England and France. He sailed for the colonies five or six years later, trading along the coast of New South Wales.

Trade In Dressed Flax

Early in 1828, he arrived at Port Cooper (Lyttelton Harbour) as trading master of the barque Victoria, employed by a Mr Marsham, a rope-maker of Sydney. During this period there existed a large trade in dressed flax, which was bringing £3O a ton in Sydney. The beautiful hand-dressed flax was taken in big canoes up the Waimakiriri River, and then by sea to Port Cooper. Trading vessels came to New Zealand with enough goods to barter with the natives, who were content to receive muskets, powder, blankets and tobacco. Because of tribal war, they were most anxious to obtain powder and muskets. Journeying overland, Price and a companion became lost while looking for the entrance to the Waimakiriri River. They were received most hospitably by the Maoris, sleeping in the great fortified pa at Kaiapoi before its destruction by Te Rau-

paraha. Price has recorded that the Maoris provided them with fish, potatoes and shelter.

A man of enterprise. Price persuaded one of the Kaiapoi Maoris to act as his pilot, and sailed the Victoria as far up the Waimakiriri as it was safe to go. The Maoris gave him presents of pigs and dressed flax, and he in exchange gave them muskets, powder, blankets and tobacco. It is stated that at this early date, 1828. he went through ' the ceremony of hoisting the British flag, thus anticipating by 12 years the official declaration at Cloudy Bay of Queen Victoria’s sovereignty over the South Island in 1840.

From Kaiapoi, Price went to Akaroa, where he found there were only two white men in residence. One was a sailor, who later sailed on the Victoria for Sydney, the other an escaped convict with a tattooed face. Here the Maoris again extended to him great hospitality.

For some time Price traded between Sydney and New Zealand, taking whale oil to Sydney, and returning with stores, whaling plant, and ready-made clothes, bedding etc.

By the end of 1830 there were a number of Sydney firms engaged in the spermwhale trade. The whalers noted the many bays on the New Zealand coast, which the whales visited to calve. Observing the period when this took place, the whalers gradually forsook the open sea, and commenced shore whaling in these bays. About this time. Price found himself aboard the Roslyn Castle, carrying 140 women convicts to Sydney. He left this ship in June. 1830, and in the same year came to New Zealand as chief mate of a whaling ship called the Harriet.

During 1831 he went sperm whaling in the islands of the South Pacific, spending 20 months in this area, and going ashore on almost every island. After this venture, he went to Otago. In 1839, he sailed for Ikirangi in the Luciana, taking his Maori housekeeper and their child. Ikirangi is the third bay east of the Lake Forsyth outlet, and is the site of the third oldest whaling station on Banks Peninsula. Price obtained timber from Waiwera (Little River), in order that his men might build houses. The timber was towed up the river to Lake Forsyth and from there to the beach at the outlet. Bluegums planted by Price still flourish at Ikirangi, and one of the original houses was still being used at the beginning of the century by a shepherd at Ikirangi. At Oahau, the first bay past the outlet. Price found a camp of surveyors, along with four farmers, two women and some children, who were supposed to have been landed at Timaru. This group made an overland trip with a dray and six bullocks accross the plains to Riccarton, returning each fortnight to obtain provisions from Price. At this time flour was bringing £BO a ton in Sydney. Of the whalers, one of the most famous was Hempieman, who along with Billy Simpson, was looked upon as the first settler in Canterbury

arriving In 1835. Price was here as early as 1828, but did not settle until much later.

During his first season at Ikirangi, Price took 70 tons of whale oil, valued at £9BO, and 3j tons of whalebone, valued at £6O a ton. This was sent to Sydney to Messrs Weller, but unfortunately fjr Price, they failed, and his proceeds for the entire consignment were lost, totalling almost £l2OO. With dogged determination, he paid his men by 1.0. U. and borrowed sufficient supplies to start again. His hands were mostly runaway sailors from American ships. His second consignment, valued at £l6OO was also sent to a purchaser In Sydney. This man had recently lost two ships, which went ashore at Oahau, and were wrecked. He too failed, and once more Price lost the entire proceeds. Not to be beaten, he obtained credit in Wellington for flour and meat, and began his third season. This time he sold his cargo in Wellington for cash, realising £1460 He managed to get rid of his money at a fantastic rate, often spending £6OO to £9OO in a month in Sydney. The whalers were a wild lot, though they were honest. On receipt of their pay, they hastened to discharge any debts, and spent the rest on rum, which they drank neat

Purchase Of Whaling Rights

During 1841, Price worked in conjunction with Paddy Woods, of Oahau. In 1843. by order of the court, the whaling rights of Captain Hempieman were sold to Captain Price for £52, but Hempieman is believed to have stayed on in Peraki, working for Price for some years.

While Price was at Ikirangi, he records that Captain Bruce, commanding the ship Brothers, sailed for Akaroa from Waikouaiti. About two miles off Akaroa Heads, his vessel capsized, and a woman and a child were drowned. A Maori was sent to obtain help from Price, who sent a boat, saving Captain Bruce and two passengers Some of the early settlers claimed to have bought huge areas of land from the natives in exchange for firearms and clothing. Price claimed to have bought s x square miles behind his whaling station at Ikirangi. but he was finally granted only a few acres. In 1848. he married Miss Jane Scott, of Sydney. Their family comprised 11 children —six sons, and five daughters. In 1852, after several years of whaling. Price purchased 2550 acres and took up farm, ing. His farm was known as Kelvin Grove, but it is today known as Price’s Valley. This beautiful little valley is a favourite picnic spot, with its babbling stream, ferns, and clumps of native bush, the haunt of native birds.

Price engaged mainly in dairy farming, but he also carried stocks of cattle and sheep. Frequently, he took cheese up Lake Ellesmere on a whaling boat, from Price's Valley to Gebbie's Valley. From there, he took it by sledge over the hill to Teddington, and by boat to Lyttelton. In those days Lake Ellesmere was controlled by the Maoris, who, wishing to ensure good supplies of eels, used to let it out to sea only once in three years. At times, when the lake was high, and with a strong north-west wind blow, ing, the lake would burst itself into the sea. Price farmed his land until his death in 1901. What ad. venture was crammed into his long life. Few can claim to have followed such con. trasting callings From battling the open sea in a small boat, chasing the sperm whale, enduring hardships and privation at the shore whaling stations, daring a voyage up a wild, uncharted river, to the contrast of working a farm in a quiet valley, he knew both adventure and peace.