100 YEARS AGO

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 18, 22 January 1940, Page 6

100 YEARS AGO

THE DAY WE CELEBRATE

LANDING AT PETONE

THE AURORA PIONEERS

"We prepared for landing. Richard Samuel Deighton and myself were the first to land, opposite the Native village or pa at Petone. We strolled a short distance to the edge of the bush, observing, perched in one of the trees, several wood pigeons. Each of us the same instant shot one of the fine birds. The first great object of attraction was the venerable old chief Te Puni, his interesting and beautiful wife 'Victoria,' and his handsome daughter Aena, the princess, together with some sons and endless,relatives, and a pa full of Natives who were lighted to greet us with 'Kapai-te-Pakeha,' Tena-koe, and other expressions of greeting. Our tents were soon pitched, huts were built by the Natives, and what we termed the city of 'Britannia' formed." ,

These simply words, taken from the diary of Mr. J. Howard Wallace, under the date of January 22, 1840, have a striking significance today. They bring to the mind of the present generation a picture of the scene enacted on the beach at Petone one hundred years ago today as there landed from the barque Aurora, 550 tons, just over four month's out from\ Gravesend, the first of that adventurous band of immigrants who were to bring reality to the colonisation dreams of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. ■ .:'■. *. ...;. '■■■■■ • In these days, when science has conquered distance and has brought the amenities of an advanced civilisation within the reach of all, it is well to look back. What were the feelings of those early pioneers as the Aurora, safe from the perils of; a four months' voyage across twelve thousand miles of ocean, sailed ' proudly into the friendly waters of Port Nicholson andanchored under Somes Island? Re-sponding-to the call of adventure, as their forbears had done for centuries past, they had left the world they knew for a world unknown, inspired by the hope that in the new land of the South Seas they would find a freer and better life; As the immigrants crowded the deck of the Aurora -nd gazed on the scene before them, feelings of joy that the long from England had been safely accomplished must have been tempered by feelings of doubt about the future. What future did this new land hold? And then, no doubt, the spirit of optimism and adventure that had led them to leave their homeland would once more become uppermost.: In that spirit they landed on the shores of Petone on that summer day a hundred years ago; and in that spirit they faced the task of building a new Britain of the south. "SLOVENLY AND SCRAMBLING." - The difficulties which faced the early pioneers were those that have faced every effort at colonisation. Giving evidence before a Select Committee of the House of Commons in 1836, Edward Gibbon Wakefield said: "We are, I think, going to; colonise New Zealand, though we be doing .so in a most slovenly and scrambling and disgraceful manner." Those who blazed the trail of white, settlement in New Zealand had every reason to agree with Wakefield. They had every reason to apply Wakefield's words to Wakefield's own company, for there were times in the early days of New Zealand when the settlers, already surrounded by almost insurmountable problems of their own, gave way to feelings of. despair at the way they were, neglected by those who had, brought them to the new land. Requests for assistance sent to the authorities at Home were either made in vain, or there was such delay that the settlers almost lost heart. One example is the negotiations which took place over the settlement of the Wairarapa. At a meeting held in Wellington in 1843 it was resolved "that the settlers of Port Nicholson require immediately an extensive district in, which to depasture their increasing flocks and herds; and that the company's principal agent be requested t<> adopt forthwith the measures "necessary to render approachable and to open for sale the district of the. Wydrop (Wairarapa):" In forwarding this resolution to his* Court of Directors, Colonel Wakefield wrote: "I have brought under the notice of the Court of Directors the importance of opening the Wairarapa Valley by means of a road up .that of the Hutt. 'A very respectable deputation from the settlers have again urged upon me the want of room for depasturing flocks - arid herds in this wooded district, and the great advantages to the settlement to be ensured by laying open for sale a large block in1 the above-mentioned open,* grassy plains. Numerous applications for the purchase of land, and for licences for depasturing cattle there, have been made to me, and I have no doubt that either by means of an inland settlement formed upon a similar system as this, with a small town, or -by selling the larid here and in England simultaneously, the resources of the company might be very sensibly increased. Nothing, however, can be effected towards this end unless a communication to the district be made." This was a start —but only a start. Wakefield's good intentions were so slow in assuming practical effect that the stettlers became dissatisfied and decided that the only way they could hope to achieve their desires was by taking the matter into their own hands. So the Wairarapa was first settled in defiance of the law. ' In other respects, too, the settlers found that good intentions are one thing and performance another thing. But determination to succeed, is a wonderful antidote even to official lethargy and, as in the case of the settlement of the Wairarapa, the pioneers found that self-help is the surest way to success. "ONE THOMAS" SiPEAKS. But it must; not be thought that the early pioneers.. allowed themselves to give up hope. They were ' not built that way. From the earliest days of the settlement of Wellington there was a spirit of optimism abroad, and even if the authorities did not do all that they promised to do-^-what authorities ever have? —there were few signs that those who had answered the call of adventure had any regrets. • Let one Thomas speak for the residents of Wellington in 1842. Here is an extract which he wrote to friends in England: "We have a hut on the* shore, and T earn £2 10s a week. We drink plenty of wine and other liquor. Susan has bought two new gowns, frocks for Emma and Anne, and new half-boots for self. Mary's new shoes cost 10s. We drink sugar in our tea, and eat welJ. Flour is 4d per lb; butter 2s 3d;. tea, 6s; sugar, Bd. You would laugh