TASMAN’S DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 87, 6 January 1940, Page 12

TASMAN’S DISCOVERY OF NEW ZEALAND

Commemorated By New Postage Stamp SPECIAL CENTENNIAL ISSUE Abel Tasman's discovery of New Zealand in 1642 is commemorated by the twopenny postage stamp issued in tlie Dominion on January 2 as part of the series of special centennial stamps. It was designed by Mr. James Berry, Wellington, and is printed with a bluegreen centre and a grey-brown border. At approximately midday on December 13, 1642, Abel Tasman, one of the most capable captains in the service of tlie Dutch East India Company, sighted tlie New Zealand coast from bis shit) the Heemskercq. The billowing surf an'd rocky shore made landing impossible. anil he altered course to the north and sailed up the coast. Tasman, who had left Batavia on August 14, 1642, accompanied by a fly boat, the Zeehaen,” was engaged in a search for new and profitable lands with which his company might trade in the custom of that day. He thought the land sighted was part of "Staten Landt,” but the country was subsequently named after the Netherlands province, Nieuw Zeeland (New Zealand).

Tasman illustrated his report with a map of portions of the western coastline; this map is reproduced iu tlie stamp. Comparison with the presentday map of New Zealand will show that, striking the coast off the province of Westland, just below Hokitika, Tasman sailed uP round Cape Farewell; lie made his second anchorage in Golden Bay. The bay was called Murderers' Bay by Tasman because of an unforsunate' conflict with the natives, but this name was subsequently changed as a result of happier associations. The large expanse of sea between tlie west coast of the North Island and the topmost extremity of the South was entered by Tasman, but he was apparently unaware of the existence of the strait now known as Cool: Strait. The point north-east of the Murderers’ Bay anchorage is Cape Egmont, now well known because of the magnificent peak, Mount Egmont. (8260 ft. which was used as a landmark by the pioneer fliers across tlieTasman Sea. Historical Controversy. Whether Tasman on his voyage saw the peak is a point of historical controversy. Close examination of the chart reproduced in the stamp will show that there is no indication at the proper position of Cape Egmont that the mountain was sighted. The peak is so prominent that, if it bad been seen, its existence would without doubt have been recorded. The opinion has been expressed that at the time Tasman passed the cape the peak was clouded over and not risible from the sea. Such: a condition frequently occurs. On Tasman’s chart, not far above the position of Cape Egmont. there is a mark which was used, authorities agree, by cartographers of the period to indicate a mountain. Whether this mark, which is shown in the stamp, was intended by Tasman to indicate Mount Egmont, or whether it represents some other peak seen by him, is an unsettled question. From the Alps of the South Island and the rugged nature of portion of the New Zealand coast, Tasman formed the not altogether correct opinion that New Zealand was a land of mountains. The centre panel of the stamp shows Tasman's ship tlie Heemskercq and the third panel is an exact reproduction of Tasman's original chart. At the base the dates 1840 and 1940 are shown on the shapes of Maori wooden hand clubs or Whatiakas. Sixpenny Stamp. The sixpenny stamp of the series depicts the ship Dunedin and the route followed when she carried the. first shipment of frozen meat from New Zealand to Great Britain. It was also designed by Mr. Berry, and is printed with a mauve border and britrht-green centre. Though crop-produetiou was tlie predominant" type of farming in New Zealand in the early days of the colony, the greater part of the farmlands of the Dominion are more suited to the growing of pasture grasses than to crop cultivation. Hence, the development of refrigerating equipment gave impetus to the expansion of pastoral production, and today the export of frozen mutton and beef is a most important part of New Zealand's overseastrade. It is fitting, then, that the first dispatch of frozen meat from the Dominion should be featured in the centennial stamps series.