THE EARLY DAYS

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 122, 16 February 1921, Page 9

THE EARLY DAYS

WELLINGTON IN TSE ’FIFTIES HISTORY AND REMINISCENCE Old settlers of Wellington possess a wealth, of reminiscence. The tales of the early days, handed down from generation to generation, fold to-day by men who helped in the making of the City of Wellington are of the greatest interest; and, more than interesting, they are the component parts of the history of New Zealand’s capital. At the rennion of early settlers held last evening in Dustin’s rooms, Mr. E. Pilcher presiding, there were present many old ’identities and across the hall there was unanv a discussion on matters extinct 50 years ago, yet extant in the minds of those interested. The gulf of years was bridged with the facile timbers of conweraatiou. the past lived anew in the ilalk and laughter of the present, and ’the stories told of adventure, of hardship. of fun and of sadness, were unique in this matter-of-fact age. Be£ore the cross-talk commenced, the historical secretary (Mr. W. A. Edwards) fold of the growth of the newspaper da Wellington. In about 1840. the “Britannia Gazette,’’ later known as the ’’New Zealand Gazette,” and published under the wing of the New Zealand Company, was brought into . existence, aind of fhe first edition of 400, every ■copy sohl in an afternoon, and an extra edition of 150 sold out immediately after publication. But bureaucratic influence, and the dictatorate of 'Captain (lai’er . Governor) Wakefield, then chief of the New Zealand Company, brought about the downfall of "the journal, .which ceased publication almost as suddenly as it had began. Quick on its heels came the “Spectator,” but .the worthy editors ignored the libel laws of even those tolerant times, and the right of issue was suspended. Five printers, unwilling to be •thrown out of employment, "put then beads together.” with (he result that there was published the “Wellington Independent,” in 1848, a. journal which held its head high until 1874. Incident .ally, M*. ESwards spoke of the firstTaco meeting at Burnham Water, in ”48, in which the colonists were enthusiastic over races for which the stakes were from £2O to £4O apiece!

So the story goes on. . As the city grew, conditions changed, and gradually the air of Britain grew into the embryo colonial out-station. There are men still living who remember the stockade davs at "Port Nicholson,” when Maoris with tatooed faces, brandishing razor-edged greenstone me-e.s. filled the earthen streets, terrifying the colonist women, and children. At last night’s assembly there was present the son of, a Maori princess, whose father. :an Englishman, arrived in the Dominion in 1529. when only a handful of Eu'rnpeaiis lived where Wellington now stands. “My people owned the land where the Wellington Bowling Club stands to-day, he told a DOMINION reporter last even--sng. "I was born somewhere near the Cuba Street of to-day. , . . One of my relatives, Whare Pori, a chieftain, commandeered a clipper in the harbour of Bort Nicholson, about the year 1817, and went off for a little trip with his followers. But he welcomed the Englishmen as brothers.”

He spoke of the arrival 1 of the first steamers in 1854 or 1855 from Australia, and told of the wandering crowds that thronged the foreshore where now is La nibton Quay. Another veteran colonist. Mr. H. Cook, of Karori. an officer of the Ibng-extincr Makara volunteers, whose parents landed in the Clifford in 1842, told of the stranding of that vessel on Ward Island. “She was bound for Nelson,” .. he said. “It was never intended that she should stop at Wellington; but Governor Wakefield’s daughter and my people wished to land, and tlie captain consented. However, beating up the harbour against a nor’-west wind, the Clifford ran ashore at Ward Island, and Miss Wakefield arid my people were landed in the small boat. Then the ship was floated off, and piloted across the Strait to Nelson. ... I also remember the furore when the first steamers from Australia, the Nelson and the Zingara, arrived here with mails, about '6l, or within a year or two- of that date. At that time the mails were arriving three times a year. It was six months before we heard of the death of the Prince Consort. I often laugh when I hear people complain of the present mail service from England to New Zealand” Mr. Cook also told of the great reception given to the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Alfred), who arrived at Wellington in H.M.S. Galatea in 1869, shortly after the installation as Governor of Sir George Bowen. The . town was enfete, and the Prince was feted royally.

Many were the talcs of adventure related by other old residents. One „.«n spoke of the Native raids on Tinakori Road, another of the fighting at Pahiiutanui. near Paremata, where several colonists had settled, and yet another told how his parents lived in "Kumototo Street” in the early days, the name later being changed to Bowen Street. And the reunion proved a great event to the old settlers, who could talk of the past in terms of the present.