EARLY HISTORY

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 99, 23 October 1924, Page 14

EARLY HISTORY

A SERIES OF LECTURES

The first of a series of lectures and "talks" about tHe early history of New Zealand, -with particular reference to Port Nicholson, was given on evening in the Early Settlers' Hall by Mr. W. A. Edwards. Mr. C. W. Tanner was in the chair, and there was a good attendance. , Mr.. Edwards stated, in an introductory lecture, that it would, be .as-well to refer briefly to the earlier records we have in reference to New Zealand. These come under three headings—discovery, first, by the Polynesians, and down to the later settlement by the Maoris;'discovery by Europeans, Abel Tasman, followed by Captain Cook; and leading, down to the whalers and traders;: thirdly, the missionaries and their work, all leading down to the one point, and preparatory to the systematic . settlement brought, about by the New" Zealand -Land Company. The discovery by the; Polynesians, the first people known to have reached these isles, dated- about 900 A.D., when Keepe and Ngake two voyagers from Tahiti, made these shores founds them uninhabited, and finally returned to their own lands. The first settlers must have been those people' known as Mouriuri; When'they came and whence, neither history or tradition told us, but those, peoples were here when the first of the Maoris to settle here came some six hundred years ago The ; firat settlement in the Wellington district was on Somes Island, some four hundred odd years back, followed ' by Miramar Peninsula, then an island, and gradually spreading onward, tribe replacing tribe, constant' changes through inter-tribal wars.and conquests until at the time of, the arrival! of our first European settlers the shores of Port Nicholson were occupied principally by Tarariaki tribes. ..- *•■■... The discovery by European voyagers and their visits to these shores were too well known to need repetition.- With the settlement of New South Wales in 1788 began a new era in New Zealand history. Many of the free traders called at these islands and did considerable'1 trade in flax, timber '(spars), nephrite (greenstone),, potatoes, pigs,- etc. Whalers .became' acquainted with its harbours, especially the Bay of Islands,' till we found m the 'twenties of last century some hundreds of Avhalers,. of many nationalities, gathered there 'in the season. Gradually shore'wlialing . stations were established, the greater number being in Cook's Strait. These peoples, from, their associations with the Maoris were of great assistance to the early settlers, when the latter arrived later. The arrival of the.missionaries dated from 1814, when the Eev. Samuel Marsden landed in the Bay of Islands. Their work gradually developed and extended through the North Island, although not until.after the arrival of Colonel Wakefield m Port Nicholson did any of the Church of England missionaries visit this part. Reference was niade to the visit of the Wesleyan Mission Society i to Port Nicholson in 1839, and especially to the Native lay preacher, Richard Uavies, and the good work he did here ,in those early days.. . .Events' leading up to the formation of the New Zealand Land Company, the able support given by the Earl of Denham* the guidance, of, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, etc.,- their:many disappointments, and,, later, the secret departure ,pf the Tory with the. advance expedition mnder.Colonel. Wakefield, the principal agent, of the company,-were referred to; then,the arrival bf our first colonists their-first disappointments and troubles, brought the narrative down to well in the year 1840; . ■:■-■,. These lectures,,are to be given every Monday evening. AH are welcome to at- i tend. Next week the gradual formation of and establishing of the town of Wellington, the establishment of law and order, and enforcement thereof, will be dealt with. .. . •