EIGHTY YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 17

EIGHTY YEARS AGO

LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND ;m autobiography THOME !N A NEW LAND With the diary and letters of George Augustus'-Sclwy.n,'Bishop of New Zealand for 25 .years; there has been received at the Turub'ull Library, Wellington,'an autobiography of Airs. Solwyn,'., wife of tho bishop. The story of,her life was written by Airs. Selwyn for .the members of her family, and, .so far as is known, has not been pub-i lishcd.'-. The memoirs were- courteously forwarded to Mr. Johannes Andersen, librarian of the Turnbull Library, by^ Ilio Ri:x. H. J. SiMwvn, grandson of liidiop. and Mrs. Hclwyn, and contain interesting"'-descriptions or life . and events in New Zealand eighty years ago. ; : ' Mrs. Kelwvn was born on the -nil September, 1809, at Wan lip Hull, Lei.coster. Her father was the youngest of the. three sous of Anthony liiehardson, a: West Indian merchant, lie was, in 1818,. made, a.-Judge in the Court of ; ' .Couiuiou' PJoas, but owing^to ill-health . was; obliged, to resign his "office. -After idescribhig -events in her young days, ■:.■: a-nd. prominent, personages.of the time, . :}irs;.hjclwyu..refers to the offer fit the bishopric of Xew.Zealand to .her luis- ; -liaiid, who Was consecrated bishop on 'Sunday,' 17th- October, liS-11, at the /' -..Chapel 'of Lambeth Palace. Bishop Scl- ' , wyuf learned''Maori on the" voyage out. .-." Became on.to Auckland from Sydney ahead' of:.Mrs.' Selwyn. Tho. "George" ..-..'.referred to in the text is Bishop :George ■ Augstus.-'Selwyri.s. Mrs. Solwyn writes: ' ..,..'.;::",:;:, '...'■■""' '■ ' . June, 1542. .-.-- ? On!tho.:'ethlSve-w.erc--elosc to the pic-. rituesquo" entrance to tho Bay (of Is- " '■■ lands)-; fill watching tho no.w. land, the :- now home, with great eagerness. It was oirV St.1 John- ; tho,' Baptist's Day, 24th ; Juno; that we reached tho place. I must . cpnfess\that I. was; less absorbed by .... tiie pic'turesquothan by the hope of see-: . '..ing:.a., shove.l hat in. any* boat, on the ■ water. The bay,is a large one. The little ■ township of -Kororareka on one side, : '.and-opposite the much smaller settle- " .hn'eut-of/.Paihia, where, some of the "earlier missionaries had Jived in the outset of their'career; tho senior clcr- '■■' gymaii of tho Church Missionary Society .'still Temaining in-charge of the ' district, and. --'.witli him (.Archdeacon Henry Williams) I hoped to find my husband. ■■.'•'..-.-.' ' , ... ".' :^:.%r-. . .-■ a new home. ; . A: "■ :•',■•■ ::- . ■■■■', .:' .Pailiia, 1542. : ''.' 'The.right boat, with the much-desir-ed hat, appea-ed ere long; George had ohly.reached Paihi'a tho day before, having- given much satisfaction to the . archdeacon,' who, when going to meet the bishop fan his arrival, had . found him drawing up'his boat on tho beach —recognising in that a test of suita- „ bili.ty to-his-position. There was a .'-Jarge gathering of Natives at"'the place :.vSvhoi'iad come.to meet; tho bishop ,wtih '.: much, curiosity;, and now theycong'reg'ate.d on the beach to see his wife, who '. landed■ on the shores of New Zealand' ■on St.' John^the Baptist's Day, Friday, .'. 24th June, the middle- of New Zealand • ■ winter, -equal to: Christmas", in England, ''■.'but.''very.- i : bright and warm, tho sun ■-" shining/.-iiotly .upon.,us. : : And here 'in. Now., Zealand ■ I remained for twenty* five yeafs!-And then tho leaving, it .. cracked-, many and>: many "homey". ' heart-strings ..again. .. :. - Tlio Maoris gave us. a hearty wel- : .come, ."Hapre" mai; haere mai, mata Pi- •": hopa"-r(Como - here;,^ . coino hero,' •■• Mcfther-:''.Bishop),:.---:t.ho., whole " party. ;■"■'■■ pressing; l'duiid■ to shake .hands,. which.. ■*..-wa's--a'long-process;''-1 felt'shy at air-: : ■ ing'-'niyt.Maori learning before such. ' numbers; :and. indeed, the business in ...hand; or father hands, left, little time ■ for further : amenities, the'ro'.was such .a. forest of .them on either side. — '■ iVrchdeacon Williams.received us into his hospitable home, . where his wife and eight^-of. his eleven children met ■ us.-Tho house, and its outside dopen- '[':"- dencies'. was. very elastic.;."-and - another • -.--, close by con tamed his brother's family ■-.* r^Vfife^ud six or seven children—with their Maori -following also. (This bro- .., ther was afterwards' Archdeacon W. "•".; AViiliams, and later Bishop of Waiapu.) - They ,had- comc-from their- southern home'at Turanga, on the east coast, for -a.'.visit to their old quarters. ■-'Nothing could"exceed' the kindness of all, but it was. dreadfully puzzling.to know one from another, and still more to remember tho names of the ' Maoris, who liked to bo recognised. ■ FIRST ■ SERMON IN MAORI. r I ,well remember iSie first Sunday, ,the Maori service, and tho first sermon ■..-. that. George preached in Maori; for which he got great kudos from Archdeacon".W. Williams, who looked over the manuscript with astonishment. It was, I conclude, more correct in grammar than ■in pronunciation; and it was nearly the only. > one written for tho Maoris. .-■■'■ '-->Thef evening gatherings At Paihia ■ round the fire, with ginger tea and • biscuits by way. of supper, were: very pleasant. Stories of early vicissitudes . from' the two veteran brothers, anec■dotes. of the character and habits of "the\Maoris,,and how.to.deal with them : "T-M.1".8- Williams'. and her . sister-in-law chiming in occasionally; so we listen-. .: od and learned. This was the quiet : ■ t,iine f -All day thero seemed to be a cout tinuous succession of I Maoris and child- , ren."passing through tho three doors, : slamming them all. • &eorgo wished to lose no time iii - starting for a tour of inspection through ' the Northern. Island,.-as far as AVelling- "- ton;- So. he -cut up one day to the '.. .W.aimiite,..some: miles to the north "of ,' "" Pailiia,.:whero had . been among the ■ many Natives thereabouts a small colony '".'. of C.M.S. missionaries, who had built ai church" there, and somo houses .for ' themselves—weather-boarded buildings sill. Of tho staff, thero now only remained the Rev. Richard Taylor and Mr. Davis, one of the early missionary cateehists. A:houso.being vacant, and the society- agreeablo for Georgo to b'ogiri'.here, he took possession of- the mansion— lour first New Zealand homo. . So;for this place on tho 6th of. July I started with Willie and old nurse in a ■ cartj- escorted by Mrs. Taylor, after taking, leave,, on 4th July, of my.husband for, six months. He was sailing for the South,- taking Mr. W. Evans, with him, who, poor fellow, was going to Wellington, to die of.fever there NEW ZEALAND BUSH. To go back to our start (in the sort of taxed cart we went in) from Paihia on the morning of. the 6th July. It "was- the winter, and consequently the rainy season in New- Zealand. We went by • Kerikeri, where was an old catochist of the C.M.S., and his nice old wife, who had done and still was doing very good service among the Native ■women and girls. We wont on through .. the wood, where the road, which was ; astonishing 'before, seemed now a mar■vel of badness—thick clay lip to the ankles, and with no perceptible bottom, save an occasional great bump "over a stump. I wonder we aro not there still! ; But neither our nag nor his driver seemed in any way disconcerted; so why should we? This was my first intro- . ductipn to that beautiful tiling, a New 1 Zoalarid wood. Not that I thought it was.as lieautiful as an English one'-of find.-old trees with the sun glinting on their stately trunks, and green sward below, and great lofty branches overhead. • Still, the luxuriant undergrowth,

and the mosses of lovely ferns are beautiful and surprising; ferns of endless variety; tall trees and parasites of all descriptions covering the stems, shooting up to the top; and then hanging down either in long shoots or t'estoons. ... On mu-hing the Waimale wo found some cleared iields and grass growing round the weather-boarded houses already mentioned, with cattle in them. The little tiny spire of the church, out of all proportion to its size, still .looked most comfortable, and so also was the kind hospitality of good Mrs. Taylor to us for the next few days, till we could^ get some ot' our furniture out of-the great store at Kerikeri; just, enough, for wo could-not feel sure that we should'remain permanently. at the j Waimatc. .. -. We had the piano, up j from Kerikeri; the lirst effect of which was, when I played to him, to make a benevolent (Maori) visitor in a blankpt think that I had got a man inside, clamouring'to get out! . . . BEHAVING I'PKETTY." In some ways 1 was sorry not to have things prettier and brighter. I felt it 1d bo desirable to keep up, so far as might be, an atmosphere of. polish among the ?(iitn;.f men.- .1 think 1 was like Ihe lady in "Sir Charles (.irandisou," whose main object it was always to remember her punctilio;! but people so easily sank ,in those days ' into rude habits and rough demeanour in out of the way places in the colonies that I felt it a duty to-help George's young staff in "homey" ways lest their influence should bo lowered. So we assembled in evening.attire,at our tea without milk, and our bread without butter, and made ■ourselves- agreeable according to' our lights find behaved "pretty"—as tho .nurses used.to say. All, you> see, with a. real; end.'' :' '- -" ■ • ■ ' -Mis^ Davis kindly came to teach me Maori,, the Natives who came to chaffer assisting also in my education. Those were primitive times; a largo kete (bas.kct,'1 something like a carpenter's tool 'basket) of- S any thing—potatoes, kumii:as, peaches, Cape gooseberries, quinces —all alike were one shilling each. At-intervals,.-.long:ones,, they brought a fowl-to sell also, but we almost entirely lived on pork, our diet greatly improved by the fruit when in season. VOYAGE AND LONG TRAMP. In the course of the six months that George was away I had two or. three letters from him by some chance conveyance. When he had seen to matters in Auckland: he started for the south to Wellington in Cook's Strait, first with his young friend William Evans, of Eton; who had come out with us; as also Mr. Cole, to be left in charge of T tho: parish of Wellington. George intended to visit and set in order things, wanted in ' the English settlements,.and then come back among the Maori districts." It was his first bush journey, chiefly on foot, varied now and then, but rarely, by a canoe on a river; and, in later years, sometimes by the loan of a horse! , The' party started in. a Government brig—taking with them, a fellow-pas-,! senger named Lowth'er. Some one must have carried the seeds of fever on board the brig. ; At: Wellington both Mr. Lowther and Mr. Evans fell ill.of fever, contracted, as was supposed, in the brig, and both died. Mr. Cole also suffered . severely but recovered. Tho greater part of George's time.was taken up in nursing them, and sad at heart was he at losing young Evans, and that the first letter to his father should bo to tell of his son's death. Tho long journey overland whiph followed' (from Wellington to Auckland) was better provided with attendant Maoris than in later years, and much more cumbered with "necessaries" for "thoT'6"utuig"'tjian was.Gedrgc's use" after:war'd's. "There-were no other roads up the' country "than, the Natives' paths; and-there were.no horses. . . '. The Natives, were merry fellows, and at the halting place .for the. night would sit round th' firo and recount in lively ..stylo'the doings of the day. Such a .camping out.is always picturesque, with the yfii;o ..lighting' up : the trees near at hand and.'the figures sitting round. . . . The long; rests were at tho mission stations" en, route'; but. .they halted, of course, . every Sunday close to some village—George's object being to see as inuclr of the people as he could.1 He came back with the words oft-repeated on his lips: "The lot" is fallen unto me in a,fair.ground; Yea, I have a goodly heritage.'' ' . . ; ... ..... .- (Further extracts from Mrs. Selwyn's autobiography will ..be. published later.)