LONG YEARS AGO.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 17, 21 January 1913, Page 11

LONG YEARS AGO.

BRITAIN'S CONSCIENCE. SCRUPLES AGAINST SETTLEMENT.

Many a u pen in recent years has ; pricked the public ear about old times. The Post has ever striven to keep the memory of the pioneers clear>and dear to their successors, and therefore deeds of derring-do have been recalled. Therefore this narrative -will not be a repetition of much that must be familiar. The purpose is to give a picture of the past by reference to the teat of records, official and unofficial, -which have been out of print for many a year. First, then, let it be said that Great Britain was the principal opponent of this part of "-Greater Britain," less than eighty years ago. The statesmen of the day had a conscience. They had the wit to see the possibilities of these islands as jewels of the Crown, but they , hesitated lest Natives' .rights should suffer by British settlement and sovereignty. Britain had, to be badgered into action for the- country which was to give a> Dreadnought in the- year 1910. • LYNCH LAW. One fact which helped the definite colonising movement is given in a lotter dated London, 6th July, to the Earl of Durham by Dr. John DunmoreLang, Principal of the Australian College, and senior minister of the Church of Scotland in New South Wales. "Lynch law/ he wrote, "is at present the only Jaw among the numerous Europeans in New Zealand, there being no authority to appeal to in the island, and no redress procurable for the most atrocious injuries but by an appeal to physical fbrce. A^few weeks before the period of my visit to the island, a European hud been tarred and feathered by some of his countrymen for some misdemeanour, either real or < imaginary ; and another had been tied up to a- tree md flogged, and afterwards compelled to sign a note acknowledging that he tad not only received the flogging, but that he richly deserved it. The note was demanded under the idea that it would secure the fiagellators against legal -consequences." l A MOVE AT LAST. Similar reports of witnesses of _ the disorder in New Zealand were received by the Colonial Office, which was stirred at last. On 14th August, 1859, the Marquis of Normanby, Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote from Downing-street to Captain Hobson; — " Her Majesty's Government have Watched these proceedings with attention and solicitude. We have not been insensible to the importance of New Zealand to the interests of Great Britain in Australia, nor unaware of the groat natural resources by which that country is distinguished, or t that its geographical position must m seasons, either of peace or of war, enable it, in the hands of civilised^ men, to exercise a paramount influence in that quarter of the globe. 1 , There is probably no part of the earth "in which colonisation could be effected with a greater or surer prospect of national advantage. On the

other hand, the Ministers^! the Crown have been restrained still higher motives from engaging in such an enterprise. They have deferred to the advice of the committee appointed by the House of Commons in the year 1836, to enquire into the state of the aborigines residing in the vicinity of our colonial settlements; and have concurred with that committee in thinking that the increase of national wealth and power, promised by the acquisition of New Zealand, would be a most inadequate com* pensation .for the injury which must be inflicted on this kingdom itself, by embarking on a measure essentially unjust, and but too certainly fraught with calamity to a numerous and inoffensive people^ whose title to the soil and to the sovereignty of New Zealand is indisputable, and has been solemnly recog r nised by the British Government. We

retain these opinions in unimpaired force; and, though circumstances entirely beyond our control at' length, com-, pel us to alter our course, I <to not scruple to avow that we depart from it with extreme reluctance." THE FIRST GOVERNOR. Before that letter was despatched the wheels of the Colonial Office .had begun to revolve. On 15th June, " 1839, the boundaries of the "Mother State," New South Wales, were extended' to include New Zealand, and by commission dated 30th July, 1839, "William Hobson, Esq., captain in Her Majesty's Navy," was appointed Lieutenant-Governor. On 14th January, 1840, he took the oaths of office before Sir George Gipps, "CaptainUeneral and Governor-in-Chief of New South Wales and its dependencies." Laws ,of New South Wales were made applicable to New Zealand, but by an ordinance of 9th June, 1841, New Zealand's legislative independence" was established. * The Government of the day was a very autocratic body, with, headquarters at Auckland, and the Governor was indeed a Caesar. He was Governor in fact as well as in name. The Executive Council comprised the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-Gen-eral, and the Colonial Treasurer. These gentlemen, with the addition of > "three senior justices of the peace" (formidable

Within the, compass of one life's span— a trifle of seventy-three years — modern Wellington, a port of many ships, electric tramways, wood=blocked streets, a wireless station, and many other appointments which make for comfort, has risen: in the place of the forest primeval. To-morrow will be the sevcnty=third anniversary of .the pioneer ships' arrival, and Wellington has advanced so far beyond the plans of the first settlers that the people today are apt to forget the toil of the brave folk of old to prepare the way for to-day's greatness. It is well to look back now and then as an aid in going forward, and that is one reason why the citizens have this special issue of The Post. The articles reveal features of an honourable past, the busy present, and the lines of probable development. Nature ordered mail to fight hard for an Empire City by a harbour which was plainly destined for supremacy. Nature was splendidly generous with the salt water — a beautiful bay of about thirty square miles; but was niggardly with such land as the most imaginative agent could describe as "magnificent building sites." Here was a great port at the centre of New Zealand, but hills ran down to the waterfront as if to' repel an 'invasion of the ocean. The land was on guard against the sea, and the pioneers sadly noted the hostile pose of the wooded uplands, ■ This was ( why their ships' prows were turned northward towards the mouth of the Hutt River. Here at least was space for a tent and a hut, and a promise of rich land for corn and pasture to be won from the dark green forest. In 1840 those hardy men from Britain had a vision of a city, "Britannia," to be the pride of the southern ocean, on the ground where Petone and Lower Hutt are now prospering near the river. It is a common belief that floods alone caused a stampede to the Lambton quarter. No doubt the river's turbulence did promote a wanderlust, but apart from the insurgent water's churlish con= duct, the leaders of the little colony had decided that the. southern shores of Port Nicholson would be the better situation for a large city. The trek was made before the surveys were finished, and by the end of 1840 "Britannia" was merely, a vivid memory to the great majority of settlers. Strokes of the axe had to follow the strokes of the pen which shifted the , site of the future capital. As time went on more slaughter of the forest was done than the practical needs demanded, but the builders, with some excuse, acted on the principle that it was better to be sure than sorry. Therefore, when' the. fear of Maori hordes was hard upon the little, com* munity.of Europeans, the axe' bit' into the .heart of the totara and mata!* and the startled birds flew far for new 'homes. , >: .m » . i' -■ ) ' ; -» A peculiar friend arrived fn 1855. This was the miglffy earthquake", wflich was regarded as a calamity. It did some damage' certainly; but time has proved a credit side far in excess of the debit. < Those titanic forces below the surface lifted up the shore. A great area of swamp on Te Aro flat had its drainage made easy, and the rise of the! sea's bed close to the hills in other parts enabled reclamation to be done,- cheaply. "Made ground" figures importantly in modern Wellington. The old beach was along the line of Lambtonquay and Willis=street, and then eastward,' a little to the left of Manners=street. From the outset the residents of Wellington had to be energetic and ' resourceful. They had to back into the barriers. They had to win habit* „ able land by war on the hills and the sea ; the "spoil" from one enemy was used in the conquest of the other. The stranger in the gates to-day marvels at the obvious impress of man's heavy hand on the heights, but the alterations that he sees are only a fraction of the achievement. Year upon year the picks and spades have been busy, and many long vistas of work lay ahead. More territory is to be annexed from the tides, and the flanks and . crests of hills are to be assaulted. The "bustle of Wellington" is an accepted phrase to-day. Wellington folk were compelled to move in the old times to find a footing by the scarps that frowned upon them, and ,the spirit of brisk action has continued. That fighting against odds was good discipline, excellent national training. The - monument to the patience and perseverance is a Greater Wellington of over 70,000 people, close to populous districts of immense resources. "Britannia" ihas multiplied wonderfully into Wellington City, Onslow, Karori, Kilbirnie, Mlramar, Seatoun, Eastbourne, Petone, Lower Hutt. Always the houses are rising around the shores of the harbour and inland. Transportation facilities— with two railways, a tramway system of wide radius, and a ferry service — have improved remarkably within the past decade, and the next few years promise further important developments.

men in those times), constituted the Legislative Council or Parliament, and "Hansard" was embodied in the Gazette.