EARLY NEW ZEALAND.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 501, 7 May 1909, Page 6

EARLY NEW ZEALAND.

HISTORY OF THE SOUTH ISLAND. LECTURE BY MR. E. M'NAB. Mr. Robert M'Nab lectured in the Town Hall Conoort Chamber last night on a subject which he has made his own—tbo early history of the South Hand of New Zealand. The room was fuUj both-upstairs and. below, and the .lecture was received with every mark of interest and appreciation. Mr. M'Nab has a pleasant style, and his remarks were well illustrated by a series of excellent lantern pictures, taken from contemporary sources. His address was the first of the new series of free lectures organised by the Library Committee of the City Council,, and the Mayor (Dr. 'A. K. Newman) presided. Our Exceptional History. _Mr. M'Nab said that the history, of New Zealand was exceptional in that it began before the establishment of a settled Government. Thero was an immense mass of historical material relating to New Zealand,, and dating from before the Treaty of Waitangi. It had to be sought in the countries from I which the early whalers and sealers came to New Zealand. In this search ho had visited I and the seaport towns of the New England States/called on their historical societies, and examined their records, ?? d A 0 also Pnraw* l the'same quest in the Mother Country.: He would begin that night with the dawn of New Zealand history. He did not believe the'coast of this country; was discovered before Tasman reached it' in 1642. Tasman's chief pilot, Visscher, drew a_ranarkable chart- of part of ' the coast. (The chart.' was here reproduced on the screen.) .Tasman ■ and his 'officers discussed the question whether the North and South Islands, as we now call them, were one stretch of land, or whether there was a strait between them.: Only one of the'charts made in connection with Tasman's voyages showed Cook.fitrait, and that was the one on the Screen before them. The original was in a private collection in Europe, and a photograph had only just been secured.

Captain Cook. _ Captain ,Oo(^S:;fii^V"eipeditwn' v to-''Neff Zealand,_and the scientific) work organised by -, B^_'!» osepn0sepn Banks, were next described .and:illustrated..: Until the time'of Cook, it was supposed. that New Slealand extended eastwards to Staten Island, t forming a great continent. . Cook established' the: fact that New Zealand "wasnot a <iontinerit, but a series of islands. -Cook's (Expedition .to the Antarctic Circle, starting from Queen Charlotte Sound, was next dealt with.. Cook himself .and his ship,spent six weeks: at Pickersgill Harbour, on Dusky Sound, and there remained to this day in'the bush some • ™° o stmn P s °f ;C oo k ) s old. clearing, made m 1773. The; thick growth of creepers'had kept the stumps, together. \ •.'■ . A Valuable Find. The discovery of the islands to the 'south and south-east of New Zealand was next related, beginning with the Bounty Islands: discovered -by Lieutenant . : Bligh, ih 1788 ?™, rge -Vancouver .visited Dusky Sound in 1791, with: two'vessels, which afterwards went on to discover the' Snares and Chatham Islands. ; The Britannia came: to Dusky Sound in 1792, land established; the first sealing gang on the coast-of Now Zealand, lno lecturer showed: some entries from the Jog of- -the: Britannia, i: which ' was of great value for the light it threw 'on New Zealand history. He had found it in,the Jissex Institute,'Salem,,Massachusetts.-. The final fate of Cook's ship, the Endeavour, had long been-unknown, but tho log showed that the young officer of the Britannia; who had kept the log in great detail, had joined the Endeavour, and that she-.had been' abandoned on another voyage to ' Now . Zealand; One-lantern slide from tho log showed a quaint sketch of a J'sawpit, fixed up on shore by tho same officer. Ho had written under it, '/Murray's Patent Sawpit.": :"If I were a bottingman," 'saidMr.-M'Nab, ''I would ; wagor that this is the earliest illustration of .tho great sawmilling, industry of Now Zeal?f . log also siowe<i that tie'first ship which was built ( in Australasia of Aus-tralasian-timberi: and which sailed away from Australasia, v .was .constructed'. at 'Dusky Sound, Now Zealand. This, same young officer went away in'it, and continued the logMr; M'Nab naturally regardedthis log; as a very valuable find:'.':

"■■■■■.'' The Sealing Trade.. '-. : The sealing gang in Dusky Sound;was not a success, and-was hot followed up.' Those who remained there had to be fetched away after 20 months.-. The seaKng trade '■ was mostly confined to the extreme south of New Zealand. Had theso sealing grounds been protected like those, of-Bearing Straits'they would have been as productive as those today. The lecturer, described the fyrst sealing expedition in. 1803, and said that from'that day to this there had been: continuous trade . between Australia, Hobart, and tie south of New Zealand. The Auckland Islands'were discovered in 1806, and many ships came to search for_ sealing grounds! ; One such expedition' discovered Foyeaux • Strait. rNot long afterwards the 1 : Sounds. of■' the West Coast were discovered. From 1810; until' well into the. 'twenties .the trade of New Zealand was • concentrated, in the southern islands,' and 'especially the Macquaries.,: ■■•. It ooasedto be profitable about 1829;: '.:■.' ; : The Whalers. .' \l> ■''■' ■: 'y.'V Coming next to. whaling, Mr. M'Nab traced its beginnings to 1794, in the extreme north of New Zealand. The Kermadec. Islands* were-the.favourite whaling, grounds of the .sperm whalers of New England, some of •whose logs the'leefcurer had found at Salem. In 1829, the' first establishment for whaling in the South Island; for the right.or black I whale, was fixed at Cloudy Bay. More black whales had probably been killed at-Cloudy Bay and Port Underwood than at any other spot in the world. The trade was at its height in .1836, when 15 American whalers were anchored in the Bay, besides English,' French; and Sydney vessels and whaling depots on shore. Every bay along the coast of the' South Island had its whaling station. From 1835 to 1839 the whale: oil and other whale products taken from' New Zealand amounted, he estimated, to no less than £300,000 worth. ..- , • Who Discovered Wellington? After showing how-the Maoris camo into conflict with, the whalers, Mr. M'Nab alluded to the visit of Captain Herd to Port Nicholson and his chart of tho harbour, tho earliest in existence, was shown,' Mr. M'Nab acknowledging obligations to its possessor, Mr. Turnbull, of this city, , Who discovered Port Nicholson he did not know—possibly Captain Nicholson, who came hero in: the 'twenties, and after' who, .perhaps, the harbour, was named. The story that Captain Cook,sailed into tho harbour over what is now dry. land was a myth, pook never. camo nearer tho harbour than : his anchorage outside -the Heads.' - ".'■■ .-.: .' ~ ■■'■■. A Link With the Past. Ono very interesting picture was a sketch of H.M.S. Herald lying in Sylvan' Cove, Stewart Island, in 1840, whon she was sent tosecuro the signaturo of the South.. Island chiefs to the Treaty of Waitangi, and to t proclaim British sovereignty. Tho sketch was made by the young man who was now Mr.' Edward Marsh Williams, of To Auto, and who joined tho Herald expedition as interpreter; Only n day or two ago ho had written to ask Mr. M'Nab when his book was coming out. Thus they wore enabled to realise how, rapidlj; New Zealand had becomo what they knew it to-day.. Its prehistoric period camo within the'memory of. a man who was living to-day. (Applause.) A volb of thanks to the lecturer was carried with enthusiasm.