FOUNDING WELLINGTON.

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 10, 13 January 1926, Page 9

FOUNDING WELLINGTON.

SELECTING THE SITE

EIGHTY-SIX" YEARS AGO

SOME INTERESTING INCIDENTS

RECALLED,

It will no doubt be considered appropriate to tho celebration of Wellington's 86th birthday to refer to some of the lesa known circumstances accompanying tho inception of the settlement. At that timo New Zealand generally was an appanage of New South Wales, with a Lieutenant-Gover-nor, Captain Hobson, who operated from the Bay of Islands.

Shortly afterwards, however, in November, 1840, New Zealand became a separate colony, with Captain Hob*on as Governor. Going back to the beginning of things, however, Captain Cook himself had suggested the colonisation of New Zealand. Irregular and small settlement schemes resulted in the dispatch of some settlers to Hokianga and the Thames, but at length an important company, the New Zealand Company, was formed in 1839. The English Government was not favourable to any of these schemes of settlement, and considerable trouble was experienced in getting proper formal approval of the colonisation schemes. Before all this trouble, however, had been settled the first body of the company's officials, in charge of Colonel Wakefield, had sailed for New Zealand. POST NICHOLSON SELECTED. Writing on board the ship Tory, in Cloudy Bay, 10th October, 1839, Colonel Wakefield informs the New Zealand Company that it is his intention to plant the first settlement at PoTt Nicholson, where he had ordered several houses to bo built. His reasons for the selection were principally two: its remoteness from the irregular settlements in the North, and the superior eligibility of the district. He took formal possession under a salute, and hoisted the New Zealand flag. A war dance and a big meal were the Kativc contributions to the occasion. The first immigrants sailed from Gravesend towards the end of 1839 in tho ships Aurora, Oriental, Roxburgh, and Bengal Merchant. The Aurora arrived in Port Nicholson on the 22nd January, 1840, the passengers disembarking at Petone. The tirst town, namrd Britannia, was to have been located at the lower end of tho Hutt Valley.

la his diary, undor date 19th September, 1839, Colonel Wakefield describes his arrival at AVellington in these terms: "On entering tho harbour, a fine expanse of water presents itself to the view. The distance from the reef and from tho top of the harbour inside to tho beach at the bottom of it, is about six miles, and three or i'our in width; over tho whole of which is found anchorage ground; and in tho deep bay which forms the real harbour, perfect shelter from all winds. ... "V. ro had not anchored, when we Tcccivcd on board two canoes full of Natives. .Epuni, an old chief, eagerly inquired the motives of our visit, and betrayed the most lively satisfaction ••:t being informed that we wished to buy the place, and bring white men to it." DEED OF PURCHASE SIGNED. After examining the land around the harbour, Colonel "Wakefield writes on Friday, 27th September: "The deed, drawn on parchment, was then brought upon deck; and after a full explanation to all present of all its contents, was signed by the chiefs and their sons, whom they brought up to the captain, in order to assure me that ihey looked to the future, and to bind their . children in the bargain made by themselves. ... After the execution of the deed, the goods were placed in our boats and landed at the different settlements." The first deed of purchase, dated 27th September, 1839, defines the boundaries of the land purchased from the Natives, which included considerably more than Wellington City and suburban area. The consideration given was: 100 red blankets, 100 muskets, 2 tierces of tobacco, 48 iron pots, 2 cases of soap, 15 fowling-pieces, 21 kegs of gunpowder, 1 cask of ball cartridges, 1 keg of lead slabs, 100 cartouche boses, 100 tomahawks, 40 pipe tomahawks, 1 case of pipes, 2 dozen spades, 00. steel ases, 1200 fish-hooks, 12 bullet moulds, 12 dozen shirts, 20 jackets, 20 pairs of trousers, 60 red nightcaps, 300 yards of cotton duck, 200 yards of calico, 100 yards of check, 20 dozen pocket handkerchiefs, 2 dozen slates and 200 pencils, 10 dozen looking glasses, 10 dozen pocketknives, JO dozen pairs of scissors, 1 dozen pairs of shoos, 1 dozen umbrellas, 1 dozen hats, 2 pounds of beads, 100 yards of ribbon, I gToss of Jew'sharps, 1 dozen razors, 10 dozen dressing combs, 6 dozen hoes, 2 suits of superfine clothes, 1 dozen shaving boxes and brushes, 2 dozen adzes, and 1 dozen sticks of sealing wax. HUTT SITE PREFERRED. In his first report to Colonel "Wakefeld, Captain W. Mem Smith, Snr-vcyor-General of the New Zealand Company, said: "I arrived in. Port Nicholson with my staff on the 4th of January, 1840, in the ship Cuba. I made roconnaissa-aeea of the land round Lambton Harbour and the valley of the Hutt as far as I eonld go in a frail canoe, with the view of comparing them as sites for tha future cHy. The first site appeared to me to be too small, while the flat at the mouth of the Hutt afforded abundance r.f room to carry out the instructions J had received from the Court of DiTCftors, and it wn.3, moreover, at the terminus of tho valley through which 1 thought, and think still, we shall hereafter find the best line of communication with tho interior of the country. On your return you agreed with me in my opinion, and I commonoed operations. In the month of Jlarch the river rose and overflowed fhe banks to the gTeat alarm of some «■£ the people residing there. A public meeting was called, and I was requested to make a further examination of the valicr and tho river, and to report the result to you, whi--,'; T dirt in writing. I stated that I iiad found more difficulties than T had anticipated, but I thought that the rirw

might be rendered secure against future flood waters into the other rivers.'' ' CHANGE OF SITE. The responsibility of the change of site for fae future city from the Hutt Valley to its present situation was accepts! by Colonel Wakefield. The subsequent earlier history of the town ir chiefly that of the pressure of the settlers to get their sections laid out. but it includes also considerable difficulties in persuading tho Natives to give up thoir isolated cultivations scattered over the site of the town, and to accept in place of them tho places suggested in the ordered B.;heme of the surveyors. This for a lonf; time was a very acute question, but was finally settled by the appointment of Colonel M'Cleverty, whose awards in the City of Wellington and surrounding districts have all been embodied in Crown titles.