TWO NEW BOOKS OF N.Z. HISTORY

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 99, 21 January 1935, Page 3

TWO NEW BOOKS OF N.Z. HISTORY

Marsden’s Lieutenants

A SHORT SURVEY FROM TASMAN TO MASSEY

(Reviewed, by A. J. Campbell, M.A.) “Marsden’s Lieutenants,” edited by John Rawson Elder, M.A., D.LitL (Abdn.). (Dunedin: Coulls, Somerville Wilkie, Ltd., and A. H. Reed, for the Otago University Council).

This book, the sequel to the “Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden,” shows once again the debt New Zealand owes to Dr. Elder and to the late Dr. Hocken. To the forethought of Dr. Hocken, in collecting valuable manuscripts, dealing with the early life of New Zealand, at a time when they were not considered valuable, this work owes its existence. Because of Dr. Elder’s scholarly gifts and experience as a research student Dr. Hocken’s collection of documents of early missionary enterprise in New Zealand has been presented to the public in a most readable form. “Marsden’s Lieutenants ” is even more interesting than the “Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden.” Here ■we have a moving story of three men, Thomas Kendall, a schoolmaster, William Hall, a carpenter, and John King, a flax spinner and shoemaker, taken from their normal surroundings and sent to act for the Church Missionary Society in a distant land peopled by advanced savages. Their reactions to the new conditions of life are vividly portrayed in their letters, which have been excellently arranged by Dr. Elder. The most interesting letters are those written by Kendall, the best educated and certainly the most capable of the three men. He alone attempted to gain a thorough knowledge of the Maori language and the Maori religion. Already middle-aged and the father of a large family by the rime he began his missionary work in New Zealand, he found the strain of the new life too much for him. Through indulgence in strong drink, step by step he fell from the high standards demanded by the work he had undertaken, until we find him eventually leaving his wife and family and living with a native woman. His own letters dealing with his downfall and asking forgiveness of the Church Missionary Society are most pathetic. In Dr. Elder’s words, “The inner conflict revealed in his correspondence, as he strove to reconcile his mode of life with his continued, teaching of Christian ethics to the New Zealanders, is a psychological study of the most intense type.”

It is also interesting to find how the difficulties of this pioneer mission effort in New Zealand were intensified by the lack of common interests among the three men, Kendall, Hall and King. Apart from the fact that they were all employed by the Church Missionary Society there was nothing to bind them together. Very soon bickerings led to estrangement and open quarrels. This unhappy state of affairs is brought out very vividly in the letters of the three men and in Dr. Elder’s connecting passages. This volume is a valuable acquisition to the steadily growing' collection bf New Zealand literature. To all interested in the early history of our land, and to those interested in the missionary enterprise of the nineteenth century, it will be a storehouse of valuable facts. The volume is well illustrated and the Index full and accurate. In editing the letters Dr. Elder has shown as he did in the “Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden,” his exact scholarship.

“New Zealand from Tasman to Massey,” by N. E. Coad, M.A., (Well-

ington: H. H. Tombs, Ltd.)

That there is a need for a book dealing with New Zealand history smaller in compass than Pember Reeve’s’ “Long White Cloud,” and Shrimpton and Mulgan’s “Maori and Pakeha,” few will contest. Miss N. E, Coad is to be recommended for attempting to fill this want. It Is a great pity that her effort, so admirable in many respects, is marred by inaccuracies of spelling and dates. These faults ill become what claims to be an authoritative work in history. The heading to chapter X will be most annoying to all good Scots who read the book—“Otago—A Scotch Settlement.” As the Concise Oxford Dictionary says, “The Scots themselves usually prefer the form Scottish, also used by the English, especially in dignified style or context.” Most of the mis-spellings appear to be due to careless proof-reading. Hockstetter for Hochstetter, Randolph for Randolph. McCoombs for McCombs, Wycliffe for Wickliffe, Cotterill for Cotterell, are most noticeable. Hobson’s arrival at the Bay of Islands is given as January 20. 1840, just a few days after the New Zealand Company’s settlers arrived at Cook Strait. The date does not agree with Miss Coad’s later statement that thg company’s settlers arrived on January 22, 1840. Again it is stated Wiremu King!, at the head of his Ngatiawa lollowers, came back to Taranaki in 1849. This event took place in April, 1848. In writing of Seddon’s Labour legislation it is stated, “In making Giese changes §eddon had the support of a sympathetic Cabinet. William Pember Reeves, it is true, had been appointed Agent-General in London, but other stalwarts remained.” This is hardly fair to Pember Reeves. The main items of the Liberal-Labour programme had already become law before 1896, the year Reeves became Agent-General. In fact in this whole chapter Reeves, quite wrongly, is put in the shadow of Seddon’s dynamic personality. In a book published in 1934. a fuller estimate of Reeves is expected.

It is to be hoped that the next edithan can be said of some history books, errors of omission and commission. It is interestingly written, contains new material and is of a handy size. It, Is certainly worth revising, which is more than can be said of some history books.