DOMINION DAY GIFT

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 306, 25 September 1945, Page 8

DOMINION DAY GIFT

Historic Acquisition To Wellington

Dominion Day, always a day of special celebration for members of the. Early Settlers and Historical Association of Wellington, had added significance yesterday when a collection of mementoes of the early days in New Zealand, contributed mostly by-the direct descendants of settlers, was handed to the city for safe keeping. Mr. Stuart Perry, who deputized for the city librarian, Mr. Norrie, in receiving the relics from the association’s hou.secretary, Mr. W. Toomath, at a gathering of members yesterday afternoon in Wellington, stated that importance was attached to the treasured possessions of every household. Parting with them, was a wrench —but it was for the benefit of posterity. Acknowledging the splendid work being done by Mr. Toomath and association members, Mr. Perry added that they were doing what no other body could do. at no other time. The time for depositing such valuable objects in public hands and for ascertaining and recording their histories was now. He assured members of the interest and support of the city council. On display (as an example of the 31piece George Payne collection recently presented by Mrs. Payne), was an in-tricately-carved ceremonial axe, one of the 31 pieces, which were once personal possessions of Maori chiefs of the highest standing. Mr. 'William Bennett Allen, aged 98, the association’s oldest member, who later addressed the audience and described some of his childhood memories, had contributed a table, once a chest of drawers, fashioned originally from a matal tree that had stood in Carterton’s main street. His sister. Miss C. A. Allen, contributed, a manuscript account of their parents life in New Zealand more than 100 years "Among the exhibits was a heart-shaped ornament made from “the boat under John Plimmer’s shop” near where the Bank of New Zealand now stands on the corner of Lambton aud Customhouse Quays, a concert and ball programme issued in 1840, a finely-worked lace-edged black table mat, plans of Somes’ Island drawn up by Augustus Hamilton, an almost unprocurable book, "The White Street,” pencil sketches made by Mr. Allen at 90 years of age, a ceremonial Maori mere handled by every member of Royalty who visited Rotorua, from the Duke of Edinburgh to the present King, an undated personal letter from Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and photos taken at the time of the “willow pattern bridge at the Hutt. Mrs. E. C. Gillon personally presented a number of valuable additions, including a tiny capstan made from the, ship Boyd after the famous massacre in 1806, a deep-sea Maori fishing hook spiked with a human bone, and a Maori sinker more than 143 years old. She also presented an inscribed brass tray made from the propeller of the Wairarapa, the mere from -Meta Tangopoki, and a number of early photographs. A diary kept by Mr. Webb, one of the survey party on the Tory in 1831 k was presented by his son, Mr. Costin Webb. Other contributors were: Mr. F. J. Evaus (marriage certificates and the birth certificate of the founder of the -Evans family in Wellington), the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser (a chair from the reign of Queen Victoria, now belonging to the association by an Act of Parliament), Sir Harry Batterbee (autographed photos of Their Majesties). Mr. L. D. Fraser (portrait of the Dolly Varden crew, 1871-78), Mrs. J. Hutchens (historic papers and photos), Mrs. J. C. Fuller (view of Lower Hutt in the sixties), Mrs. Sinclair (manuscript letter from John Hodge in 1557), and Messrs. Byron Brown, W. B. Allen, J. Percy and A. Cheeseman.