SEVENTY YEARS AGO.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 579, 6 August 1909, Page 5

SEVENTY YEARS AGO.

■! HOW WELLINGTON APPEAUeB. . EXTRACTS PffOM A JOURNAL "DICKY" BARRETT AND HIS FRIENDS. I. ; Among tho interesting records 6f the New Zealand Company which have been received in Wellington from tho Colonial Office, England, as stated in another coitiltin, is the ihanusoript journal of Coloflol William Wakofiekl, writtek in a fair, round hand from tho wooded shores of Cook Strait seventy years ago. It was Colonel Wakcfield; who, ' coming to New Zealand in the little Tory, purchased the future city of Wellington and '• onvirohs from tho Maoris on tile company's' behalf for 135 stands of arms, 21 kege of gunpowder, one cask of ball cartridges, nightcaps, pipes, a gross of jews' harps, 1200 ( nsk-.hooks, twelve sf.icke of sealing wax, and i other equally useful articles. Colonel Wakefield's journal was apparently overhauled, to support the recolloction« of his nephew, Edward Jorningham Wakefield, recorded in his lively book, "Adventure iii New , Zealand," but a host of entertaining observations and attractive details given lix the diary find no place in tho more odedeused work. The first chapter of the diary that concerns this district is written from Ship's Cove, ( Queen Charlotto Sound, Cook's ''Straight," and dated August 17. 1839, Ihe contrast of "sovonty yoars ago" is strong' . In tiie first paragraph, and in tho formal endorsement which the document kis received, Tie chapter takes the fofm of a letter 1 ad- •' drtwed, "William Wakefield-to John Ward, , ro Honduras to Sydney, October 11, j 1839," and after this address is the endorsement, "Received 2nd May, 1840, | J.W."—only seven montis later, i "My last letter to you," - Wakofield begins, "and tho only ono I have hud an opportunity of sending since we left England, was daled June 3, and was shortly to inform you of tho safo progress of tho expedition nearly , .to the equator. The hopo I expressed therein of reaching Now Zealand within , a hundred i days from England has been realised." , ! .rhere wore no linera in those days. ■ ' Come Unusual Maoris, Before landing, Wakefield made his acquaintance with tlid Maoris, several ol whom >' dambcrod on board thfc alu'p from their Canoes. Ashore ho beheld their warliko pro- > parations, but soon had evidence that in \ theory, at least; they % t!ould appreciate tho , blessings of peace. "A schooner from tho Bay of Islands had been hero with an English and ( missionary, whether of the . Church or Dis- | senting Society did'not appear, and had j transformed these fighting cannibals into ! catecliists or soilf-styl-ed missionaries. Our i friends asked for Bibles, and talked of tho ' morrow being Sunday with uplifted eyes, but begged hard for muskets, and spoke-of'the-' recent fight and subsequent horrors with rap-' ture. They are a fino race of luen, infinitely superior in appearance to those of the north'" em part of the other island, Very intelligent/ ■ and capablo of being extremely Useful to • settlers as labourers, fishermen, and Bailors. They behave, with strict decency, but are half naked from # want of clothes, for which they evince a decided preference to powder o'r ornaments. They have been much spoiled . by their intercourse with the nuniereiia vhaloships in the ports in tho Strait, With tho acquisition of bad habits. tllfly have Hot. lost those of tho savage, mid of the savage of " New Zealand in particular. They are bus* pieious and susceptible to the greatest de- : gree, grasping the unfortunate, cunning, ■ treacherous, and revengeful. The rising generation, however,' promises much better things." A vivid picture of the simple life which teas then lived on shoves of Cook Strait is given in succeeding pages of the Journal. Barter arid .Birds. Writing Under tlato Monday, August 19, Colonel Wakcfield says-:--"Tho storekeeper was busily employed in traffic- all the morning, and soon laid in a stock of. pigs and potatoes sufficient for all. hands an board during sis Weeks. A basket of potatoes ■ weighing 201b. sold for. a pipe, and a, blanket, which cost Bs. in London, Mchcd three pigs weighing 801b. each, and this \v&i considered ! a liberal scale of barter'oil ouVpart." A vis-it to Motuara Island, no"w the home of ' tho Agricultural Department's goats, is pleasantly, described. .." TJi'is is the island lying at the entrance of the Sound, where Cook iind his observatory and garden, and commands a vie* of, the whole northern part of tlis sound, Entry Island, and the highlands of TcrrtiwJtte. It ia covered with wild shrubs, plttiits, aiid uoivers, ■ and oven at ■ this tifne, the depth of Mi'titcr. looked as gay'.and thriving as an prfitineiitai plantation in England in sUnii«ef<' Hundreds of parrots, green and blown, wood pigeons, tuiSj and singing birds crdsseu our step's, aiid all our guns contributed to the naturalists' collection i There are also many pigs turned loose here by the Natives, but no humaninhabitants reside here." . ' ' " Dioky " BnrrGtt'fi Career. , "Dicky." Barrett, surely (ho undisputed grandfather of Wellington, if its paternity has been challenged, was, of course, an early acquaintance/ To this rough salt fell the uncommon honour of being allowed to vouch, before an impressed visitor, lor. the good . and ■ potential, greatness of ' the future settlement. Wo rtfad'that "Mr. Barrett, who has lived in New Zealand as a " whale fisherman. 10 or 12 years, and camo from Cafia (i.e., Kawhia) with tho Ngatiawa Tribe when driven from theiico by tho Waikato people, kiiou's tho Strait .and the west« ehi coast thoroughly, mid has great iiillueuce with-that part of the Ngatiawfi Tribe living at Port Nicholson, having married tho daughter' of a chief, and shared their hardships and dangers when attacked by the Cafia and Waikato Tribes.- Upon one oeca' siofl lie headed a party of 11 Europeans and 15(1 Natives during a siege of liino Weeks in a fort near Tarauake, and principally coiiir!* buted to a successful resistance against nearly 2000 enemies, somo liilhdfeds of whom fell from four field-piece's which he and'his companions manned. He afterwards migrated with the tribe to this Sdiiiid aiid Port Nicholson, where they afo nfiarly a thousand strong, ltauporo (i.e., To Rauparaha), vrhd can, by dint of presents and his namo as a warrior, iMisttr about 500 iileil, dares not attack these last, but. oCcadolially gets up a fight with the weaker party Mi this sido . of the Strait. .' '' NrohaCor; Of Wellington "t hopo by means of Mr. Barrett to open . a negotiation with tlip ellltfS 9t Port Nicholson! His description of its value as a comntofeial port is quite equal to that glVdil by all voyagers wild have vioited it. The whalers l\ere, however, are anxious to see an English settlement established here, when tho land they have acquired in the manner I before related will, of course,.bo.df great value. The works hero for melting tho blubber are considerable-) but of late ydars few whalos have been' takeii in , tho Strait by shore parties, in conseqlicriOe of the number of ships going , to Cloudy Bay, and <m tho eastern coast as far s6uth as Port Cdupef in Banks Peliinslila. ( . . . The rumours of tho .Government being p.boiit to colohisd this country, and of various projects of settlement, havo induced the Sydney and Hohart Town speculators to appropriate lfti-RO tracts of country, which might hare been desirable for tho crtiiipaiiy, 'Two instances of purchases of this Hatiito have come to ltly kilowlerjgo liorc; the first iii wiiicli Jtr. JdMs. of Sydney j iibpfi tho tepbfts nboi'c iiamdd, bought for. £10 40 tnilcs on the Patersoh River, to the Eoiithwfifd of Otago} and.the second of, an oqilally extoisivo quisition noar Bnnks's Peninsula." (To bo CtilitiilUcd.)