OLD COLONIAL DAYS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 106, 29 January 1938, Page 9

OLD COLONIAL DAYS

Port Rivalry , There was, from a very early period, a keen rivalry which often developed into hostility, between the ports of Auckland and Wellington. When the choice of the latter as the future capital of the colony was announced, the Auckland papers were caustic in their allusions to Wellington. It was “a fishing village somewhere in Cook Strait.” The “New Zealand , Herald,” in a leading article on. July 14, 1865, wrote: “We have enlarged upon earthquakes, and have prophesied at no distant date the entire destruction of Port Nicholson in consequence of the steady and rapid shoaling of the water.” It was, of course, a very serious blow to Auckland in every way when she lost the seat of Government. The remedy proposed by some of the leaders of Auckland to restore her fortunes was a remarkable one. A cry for separation was raised. It was gravely proposed that the province of Auckland should seek separation from the rest of New Zealand, and assume the status df a colony on its own account. The Auckland newspapers advocated the quixotic project, and a public‘meeting at the end of 1864, at which there was an attendance of 2000, voted in favour of separation.— J.S. (Wellington).

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