SUPREMA A SITU-A WINNING MOTTO

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 33, 8 February 1935, Page 16 (Supplement)

SUPREMA A SITU-A WINNING MOTTO

WELLINGTON'S early municipal history is unique. Looked back on over the few , years that have passed, for New Zealand ■ is a young country, it is a comedy of red tape, and ■ the frowns of officialdom upon a town that in- ; sisted on being a town. Red tape won for over ■ twenty years, but Wellington won and became the Capital City. Suprema a Situ! Had W. S. Gilbert known the story, he and Sullivan could not have missed so-splendid a plot, so complete a story,, and so picturesque a background, and, moreover, they would have presented the facts imaltered, though a little dressed out, excusably, withextra gold.lace and pomposity of dialogue. Necessarily, too, they would have introduced more music than Wellington had time to think about in those serious years when the early settlers and their children were busy with their comedy, too close to facts to see that it was comedy.

In 1839 the New Zealand Company began in earnest to colonise New Zealand,.already with some population of whites in the north, and the Mother Country, which had at that time more doubts than ' certainty about colonial policy,,and had placed New Zealand under the distant and not too warming wing of New South Wales, decided that it was time to look more directly after her own and so dispatched Captain William Hobson, R.N., to New Zealand, via Sydney, where he would receive detailed instructions from the Governor of ' New South Wales. Thus almost direct touch was made between the Home Government and New Zealand, at least more'direct touch than;

had been established when, six years earlier, - James Busby had arrived with authority from New South Wales, as.British Resident, at the

Bay of Islands, the headquarters of the missionaries and the gathering point of traders and whalers. Apart from the need among the Natives, the Bay of Islands might profit well from the guidance of the missionaries: the whalers, seamen, and traders made it lively. Merchants, ship fitters, deserters, and others had by then begun to build a township, of about 300 whites, at Koiorareka, the principal settlement, and there were smaller settlements at other points. Wellington had yet to make a start,'and naturally Mr. Busby, in 1833, and Captain Hobson, as Lieutenant-Governor, -in 1840, made the Bay of Islands their station. . It was on January 30, 1840, that Captain Hobson declared that New South Wales. had been empowered to annex New Zealand as a part of its territory. The famous Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the following month, but that is a separate story, and though die signing, of course^ affected Wellington's history, it had no immediate, bearing upon the development of the new town. ; RUSSELL. Captain Hobson was not particularly pleased with Kororareka as the site for the capital, and so purchased land a few miles distant, had Government offices erected, and named it Russell. Apparently no one, not even Captain Hobson, was_ impressed .with that selection of the ideal capital, and the site was abandoned after a few months, but dignity was saved by renaming Kororareka Russell—and Russell it has remained—and setting up^Government there. Still it was not a satisfactory solution, and inquiries were made further afield. Travelling overland was difficult and possibly dangerous, but the ideal site had to be found. Hokianga Harbour was explored and found disappointing. The^ Waitemata Harbour was visited, and here, Captain Hobspn was advised, was the ideal situation. The isthmus between the Manukau and Waitemata Harbours charmed him and all his suite, but particularly it was considered suitable "because of its centrical position." There was no question of the magnet of population, for when Captain. Hobson made his choice the white population numbered just two, Messrs. Brown and Campbell. Soon, however, the capital became the magnet and drew population toitself.

Auckland became "the official town, and Russell fell into that long, peaceful, sunny doze from which Zane Grey, Captain Mitchell, and other lesser fishermen have only recently awakened it, and Wellington, which had by then made a real start and already had a population, scattered round the shores of Port Nicholson, of 1500, began to think about it.

Wellington and the north were worlds apart by land, though by sea the distance was not so very much greater in time than now, but formal communications, so largely taken up by the dignity of official circumlocution and long sentences beginning "Whereas—" do not take the place of first-hand discussion. The north, did not know what Wellington thought, and Wellington did notknow what the, north thought. The settlers about Port Nicholson did have: a definite idea

THE LIGHTER VIEW OF . .THE CITY'S STORY . .

about, how they might fare should the New South Wales Government pass a Bill nullifying all titles of land save those allowed by the Queen's representatives. A long enough search of old records might show whether they had full grounds for that fear, but the fear was there. If Captain Hobson was far removed, however fast official documents were by dispatch boat, New South Wales was further, and, by and large, Wellington's settlers considered that they were well able to look after themselves. In good faith they took the first step—all the previous short history being suitably summarised in musical comedy form by the chorus—on to the stage in the opening scene of the disheartening comedy. ' DIGNITY IS AFFRONTED. Before the New Zealand Company colonists left England for Port Nicholson a "committee of colonists" had been selected, and by the most natural steps in the world the committee became a council of colonists on arrival. Having become, a council, the council took on the full dignity essential to look after the affairs of the settlement. Taxes were levied, Magistrates were appointed, and without any great fuss and with no proclamation the rights of Government were taken over and applied in bringing into working order the few resources and ample courage of the' colonists*. Imagine it! The Government in the north, and Wellington establishing a Government of her own! These things simply are not done, and when the Lieutenant-Governor (still in the Bay of Islands) heard of the impertinence— worse, black high treason—of Wellington, he was amazed. Recovering, he sent his Colonial Secretary, Mr. Willoughby ShortlandL and thirty troopers and five armed constables to Wellington to.put an end to that sort of thing. Old records would here again be interesting as to the arms served out and the orders ■ issued, but 'no records will recall the heat of the indignation in the north nor the tears wept on troopers' shoulders as they stepped aboard on a desperate mission. The constables, whose duty it was to be. to take the illegally appointed officials in charge after the bloodshed was over, were probably in less sentimental case. Still, none knew what, lay ahead. As a punitive expedition it was not a success, but as a pleasant surprise the descent upon Wellington exceeded everything. It was thrilling to Wellington and a social gathering for the troopers. Wellington turned out to the last man, woman, and child, and welcomed the Colonial Secretary and his 'armed forces in a way that made ball cartridge just ridiculous. Everyone enjoyed the visit immensely, and when the first mutual astonishment was over the usurpers of dignity explained convincingly that theirs was simply an "interim Government,"

Twenty years is a very long time in the life of a town only 23 years old, almost all its infancy, and it would be a dull scene in the stage presentation, but the chorus could bridge the gap, quickly and brightly, leading up to the next act and the happy ending, for in 1863, the year in which Wellington was recognised as being existent, it was decided that the Capital City must be removed to some more central place. But Wellington was not even mentioned. How could that be expected, when for twenty years it had not existed by the book and in the same year had to_ start as a babe among boroughs? However, when Auckland was chosen as the Capital City in 1841, it had a white population of twp, and Wellington had not given up hope. In 1863 Wellington's population had grown to several thousands, and in the twenty years the hope had hardened into conviction. The selection of the site was left to three Commissioners appointed by the Governors of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania— outside arbitrators—and they decided unanimously in favour of Wellington, The old faith of the first settlers was fulfilled, but, even so, the comedy of officialdom was not quite ended, for from 1863 to 1870, Wellington, the Capital City, was still ranked as a town district. In 1870 Wellington was again proclaimed a borough. The stage presentation ends with the grand ensemble, on the last Wednesday of September, 1870;, in the centre of the front rank Mr. Joe Dransfield, seated in the Mayoral chair, flanked and supported by eight councillors, the first of the official City Fathers, and behind them, packing the stage, the burgesses, and below, the Government orchestra, lifting the roof with the final chorus, "Suprema a Situ.".

and that they would be most pleased to hand' over control and all that they, acting unconstitutionally perhaps, but with the best intentions in the colony, had been able to achieve. As a means of bringing about a real understanding the expedition was a success. The settlers took the opportunity, also, of repeating their representations that Port Nicholson really was. the natural and most suitable location for the capital. Indeed, the New Zealand Company and those who sailed in the company ships to New Zealand had been convinced before ever anchors were lifted that Wellington would be the capital, and one of the ships brought out the materials for Govemmenf House, believing that the official residence and offices would be erected on a site at Port Nicholson which Colonel Wakefield had been instructed by the company to reserve for that purpose. RECOGNITION AND A CRASH. Wellington had already offended and had perhaps pressed too consistently upon a LieutenantGovernor with his mind upon a northern "central" capital and a vast amount of worrying work and doubt and red tape before him. At any rate,.Wellington's representations were not successful, but two years later the settlement was proclaimed a borough by the Lieuten-ant-Governor, and the first municipal election took place. Mr. George Hunter was Mayor, and was succeeded in the following year by Mr. William Guyton, but not for long, for the whole municipal structure prashed when, the Home Government removed the foundation. The Home Government, after thinking Hobson's proclamation over for two years, decided that from the very beginning Wellington had no official existence as a borough, whatever the several thousand people who thought' they were sound enough burgesses might think about,it. At about this stage of the comedy the curtain' should mark the closing of a very bright and successful act. BLANK OF TWENTY YEARS. Here was a beautiful fix, such an obviously impossible position that it could not last, but it did. It had taken Shortland two minutes to recognise that his troopers were not needed to end Wellington's black treason, except to add to the general social and comedy effect. The Lieutenant-Governor had put things on a workable footing in about two years,. but it was twenty years before the determination of the Home Government that Wellington did not exist as a borough, population or none, was grudgingly withdrawn and Wellington was allowed to make a very modest civic restart as a town district, under a;town board, in 1863, on the lowest rung of the ladder, as a lot of good, people start.

The unappreciated comedy was a heavy handicap on Wellington, but the straggling seafront settlement became an ordered, businesslike port and township, the township a town, and the town a city, in spite of discouragement and hard times. -Wellington had to grow.

It seems perhaps improbable, as the outlook is today, that Wellington can continue to developj to be retransfbrmed, during the next halfcentury, as it did during the last; but that, too, must have been the general impression in any of the years while Wellington was fighting a slow fight for bare recognition. In less than a hundred years Wellington has become a modern city, with advantages and charms not rightfully claimed by many older cities. There are other centuries ahead. '•■''\--L--