TRADE INTERCOURSE WITH THE CAPE.

Evening Star, Issue 10896, 3 April 1899, Page 2

TRADE INTERCOURSE WITH THE CAPE.

i. ' [From Opr Own Correspondent.] WELLmQTON, April 3. Mr J. J. Stephenson, representing Smith Alricanfinns, has madeMTaagemente with tile Union Company to ship consignments S ' New Zealand produce, via Sydney and eßritnUe, in tiie Aberdeen and White Star tteamersjto the Cape,

whenhawassenito Edinburgh for^edacation, on the lie reOovedtO'Lisbte,' aMeid^e^^%%dh, where herefoafoai that year to Ifoa&mlib in meat OfHePesrifosalai Itirifetot.fe %m sste wttxa&m ym he toiled ftp# fe»N» mM*? Titan, having for feDow-toyagwr* the late;, Mr James Macandrew «ai ante, Mr Barfd Macandrew, .end the Bet, (it is a son of He latter who hat fog teawr tmis been connected wiH He Mtinel: Woollen Company as on to Hobarfc The Titan aIM «fK; Chalmers on January 17, ls6l, andffomwat date Mr Refolds became and for iw>|y mercfollife of the future then a veritable hamlet. The bogy «» which Mr Reynolds had led in the OW World did not allow him to waste his time in his new foitofo&dfoga; to, foifoedfotely the inward cargo of the Titan had hoeto disposed Of.he set 'abotiVijb fexpMtHe coastal- retllefoente in seami. of trading ports. News of the great golddisBoveries in California had jart tha foltot settlement, and Mb Reynolde was prompt to see the piteribiUtfes.of a tradeto agticnltoralproducts wife that wen for-dis-tantland. Me accordingly prooreded on foot as fat south as dacpbs River, takingwith him a shepherd as ms solitaty companion. Thus were neither roads nor traoks sort in those primitive .days. and a weary journey it wai, They fowl to depend’ entirely on a packet compass for gtudanoe as to their bearings. Meanwhile, Mr Mao&ndrew, with his cuafoi^ ; enerari had pot only secured all avahtSle produce ft* export in and around Dmmdin, tot had begun the development of the unknown iresomrces of the provincial..district by preparing time for export. Mr Reynolds took He Titan to Hobart, where he purchased a cfego of potatoes, frtnte, jams, etc., groceries (these latter were landed at Dunedin for Macandrew and tfe.), and Hen, having filled up her remaining space with barley and lime, sailed in her for San Fnfocisco. Mr Reynolds Went with her tefofofoaurm fie 'arrived safely at his destination, and ideated his freight at a profit, but found that he could not get'a retool height; so he put his vessel on He berH'for Sydney. A Cargo on Hip’s account beings secured for Hat pew. He Titan jailed Hife and HH made lor Pott Chalmers. A wonderfully profitable venture. He whole mund charter proved, He ship befog thus cleared of aU Uabflities. Hus historis vestel, familiarly known as He Iron Frigate, well not so successful in her succeeding career. A long cruise in foreign seas Was arranged, and the Titan left Port Chalmers, never to rettirn, as news was received of her total .loss on one of the South Sea Islands! Mr Reynolds, however, was not on-board wh#n«ie came to grief. On his return from California Mr Reynolds addressed a meeting of- the congregation in the First Church at Dunedin, and there gaVe a detailed account of his trip to He new El Dorado, ana of the wonders he had sfeen there. So feed were the youth of Dunedin with the glowing accounts of California as a mining field which Mr Reynolds gave that a number of them at once determined to try their luck there, and immediately chartered the schooner Amazon to sail from Port Chalmers to California,“if sufficient inducement offers.” But whether the name of the vessel terrified the young men, or whether on second thoughts they disapproved of depopulating the youncr settlement, has never beem satisfactorily explained; suffice it to say rthat ‘‘sufficient inducement” to make the projected vovage was never offered to the owner of the Amazon, which went on a southern cruise instead, and was wrecked’at the Bluff in June, 1852. It deserves to be recorded here to Mr Reynolds’s credit that ho was one of the pioneers of the export trade of He Province. To his perseverance was due the planning and carrying out ol the initiation of a direct trade wife' « foreign port, and that the enterprise wai carried to a successful issueoeas entirety owing to his pluck. There was not muoi gb-aheadism among the folk who at that date had settled He plains of Otago, and it wai the entrance amongst Hem of more ardent; progressive minds that gave Otago her first lift commercially, and secured to her foi many years afterwards He pre-emfoenct which she gained as a trading port, Moving married and settled in Dunedin, Mr Heynolds found time to busy himself withjhi Cares of .State in addition to Hose of business. The promulgation of He new “Constitution " had set everyone agog, and wouldbe legislators were almost as numerous then as they are at the present day. The Provincial Council was called into existence, and among He first members Mr Reynolds found a seat as one of the representatives oi the country. Payment of members did not prevail in those unsophisticated days, and the representation was necessarily limited, because very few could afford to give the time required to attend the sessions of the Provincial Council, which often lasted four months, and once occupied eleven months out of the twelve. When the New Zealand Land Company relinquished their charter all public works in the Province were stopped, and it was found that a number of workpeople, with their families, were on the point of leaving the settlement by a cattle ship then on the eve of sailing for Sydney. Mr Macandrew and Mr Reynolds went among these men, and persuaded them to stay; and between them managed to provide employment at the wages Hen current for all needing it, and so aided in preventing an exodus of the “bone and sinew” of the place. Along with the Macandrews, be brought out Mr Daniel Campbell under a three years’ engagement, with He object of starting an.independent newspaper. On their arrival in Dunedin, they found that the ‘Otago News’ had ceased to exist. A company was formed to start the * Witness.’ Mr Reynolds became one of the principal shareholders in the new venture, and he transferred Mr Campbell’s service® to the new concern, without receiving any return for his outlay in bringing He printer, and his family to the country, but some time afterwards the shareholders presented the goodwill of the paper and' the entire plant to He late Mr W. H. Outten. In this connection it may be mentioned that Mr Reynolds was for a short time an active journalist. Mr Cutten had been elected a member ol the General Assembly, whose meetings were held in Auckland, and during Ms absence at the seat of Government Mr Reynolds discharged the editorial duties, and with such success that the circulation of the ‘ Witness ’ was materially increased. To return to Mr Reynolds’s political career. Early in 1853 he became a member of the Provincial Connell, and field office successively under the Superintendencies of Captain Cargill, Major Bichardsori, Mr J. Hyde Harris, and Mr Thomas Dick. On no occasion did Mr Reynolds take the salary pertaining to his post, bat drew that allowed to non-official members of the Executive. In the days when Captain Cargill was Superintendent the wheels of the governmental machine did not run smoothly, and there were “high jinks n ~played in the Provincial Government offices at Hat period. At all events. Here was considerable friction, and an appeal to the constituencies in 1855, when Mr Reynolds was retfimed as member for Dunedin. A strong detire for an sionto the population or the Proiince having been expressed, Mr BreniSfer was induced By his colleagues to visit Victoria as honorary Emigration Agent, and he visited that colony in He same capacity a year later. On boH occasions he went over at hit otn cost, the Provincial Government not hong called cm to foot a tingle BID,, alHctigh He Provincial Council had voted foods for the purpose. The outcome of hit mission was feat nearly 600 people came qyer and settied in Otago, most of Hem hanging: capital retying in amount from RIOCTto £27500. Sevetal ol Hem at onw purthqeqd food.

to 1853t0 toSiiso in feted Hat he should assist matwfewr » fWanglfog He institution Hatheufoeted to tafoch and for so many yeartfoyeDy -nourished and cherished at Ho w fore. At He election of. felM He pew Council assembling be was djae* Speaker. Aforetime He presiding pfitegr lad taken He chair in the untl the membersgenetalk»WaHhH** orooat didnot tignify. forer, on taking He Hair, donnsdthe WP and bonds, and pretentod quite a mfoiwwal ana by mistake addreoed him at "your tfane Mr Reynolds J had attained to the high fora qf popularity. The chfoen*—for Iwraodm had fiforgefeed He rank of a 4* • banquet in recognradn of Ws atepy serried, politieju. Ifod otherwise, to tiw Humanity, ana at He Provincial Hotel, m He pietimoe of a representative company, 1m received congratulations oa his election- to a Hfl Cnafr, a position which he tetafood during Jftvs sessions; but in the session of 1871 mini?' defeated by He late Mr John L GQBfe. Of his carem in a higher .sphere of pofitiet it may be inid that in 1863 he ,wm cWw to represent Dunedin and suburbs sonH hi the Bouse of Representatives (ReynMds 77, Vogel 31, Gotten JLl}. At the General Em tion fo March, 1866, Duoefen tom.** an independent representation. He renn was s Paterson 610, Reynolds 609 y Im cpsappofoted asnusnte befog Gfrurt wlq). hfiuar (214), Bireh (119). It.this tmeHew was a decided. stir fo He local world, He cry having been raised Hat He srpvfoce was not receiving her due meed of justice due from He General (hncriiinat, and Here was a strong agitetioo bogud fo favor of separation. Tne coldest Between He Centralists and the Provindaßste was waxing warm, and strange threats filled the afo Neither the Old Identity nor Ha*' •New Iniquity it likely to forget He • redemption " accorded at His time to Mr Stafford’s Postmaster-General {the late Jftnes Pater«on) and Hose Otago repreeentatives who fotpported that Prwiiiier in his insidious at-

Ifoa on provincial institeitions. Feeing in He hostile camps ran very high, and it was accentuated when Mr Reynold*—ft thorough-going Provincialist in Hose daye—handed in to Mr Speaker his resignation as one of He members for Dunedin, and Hired Mr Paterson to test thaymind He constituency on He subject by a direct appeal to He ballot-box. But Mr Paterson too dearly loved He advantages dhd emolu* meats of office, and was not to Se drawn, Mr Reynolds stood for receiving the tdl but unanimous approval Of his constituents (Reynolds 333, want 62). In 1871 Mr Reynolds waa re-elected, befog a very close second to Mr BaHgate, who headed him by two votes only. In 1872 he waa offered Ministerial rank, and joined Hi Waterhouse-Vogel Administration as Commissioner of Customs, and under Sir J, Vogel’s various Administrations he was Colonial Secretary, as well as Commissioner of Customs, retaining He latter portfolio under the several Premiershlps of Dr Poßen and Major Atkinson. After Abolition was an accomplished fact the idea somehow became fixed in the public mind that Mr Reynolds had not been staunch to hit platform pledges* and a strong reaction set in against him, leading to his rejection at Hi General Election of 1675 (Macandrew 891, Stout 865, Larnach 843, Macassey 408, Reynolds 406). Then He elections were held in batches, and Port Chalmers was able to furnish him with an abiding plaos, he befog returned fo He following January as. member for that constituency (Reynolds 241, James Green 185), and retaining that seat until he was obliged to resign Ministerial office and his seat on account ol pressure of nrivate business. In. 1878 he was ''called” to the Legislative Council by Ha Grey Government, and for a time he represented them in He Upper Chamber. Ha retained h ; s seat in the Council till He hour of his death. It is not generally known that before the assembling of the new Parliament in 1876 He Cabinet agreed to nominate Mr Revnolds for the Speakership of the House, Sir Francis Bell, He former Speaker, not bavins sought re-election, hut Sir Julius Vogel, as head of the Government, on his return to the colony, did not endorse the action of his colleagues, whereupon Mr Reynolds withdrew his consent to nomination, and. on his own suggestion, Sir William Fitzherbert was taken up as He Ministerial nominee, and duly elected. Thu* from 1863 to 1899 —thirty-six years in all —Mr Revnolds was a member of. one or other branch of the colonial Legislature. Mr Reynolds’s commercial career fo Dunedin requires a chapter entirely to itself, since it has been so closely connected with He growth of our City. Shortly after his arrival he entered into partnership with Mr James Macandrew. under the style of J. Macandrew and Co., and He partnership lasted until June, 1858. Daring the early part of that period the firm were He means of keeping the infant settlement afloat. When the settlers had put in five or ten acres of potatoes or grass, they would go to Macand ew and Co. and ask for an advance till their crop had come off He ground; and their request was invariably complied with. Nor were they under bond fo any shape to dispose of Heir produce to He firm, who never charged interest on He advances. The firm also took the setttlers’ produce by purchase, or shipped it to foreign ports on their own account. The part Hat Mr Reynolds played in Hus early developing the export trade of Otago was not generally known, though the fact was that he was the principal, partner of the firm, and was responsible for He action which Hey Hen took. In He very early days Macandrew and Co. owned several small craft, some cf which were locally built by day labor; and for yeara Hey carried on the lightering Hade of He port, as well as He coasting trade of He Province. Hus owning up trade between Dunedin and the Taieri. the Clutha, and New River. They erected the feat store at Invercargill, as well as at He Clutha. In Hose da vs profits were not equivalent to the risks that speculative men of He stamp of James Macandrew and William Hunter Reynolds were called on to bear, and there is little doubt that had they, Hke the late Mr John Jones, looked mors to Heir own material advantage and less to the public good Hey and Heir descendants would have benefited largely by the immense rise in values which ensued on the discovery of gold. Mr Reynolds’s connection with He firm of Macandrew and Co. ceased in 1858, tod he then entered on fonldnig operations on a large scale in Dunedin. Be secured an extensive ares of what was Hen unreclaimed ■land in the vicinity of Jfetir street, reclaimed it, and co tike site erected premises V&fc tom W b ®ea replaced It He ware-

V andothei districts; 4 indeSdi- he held landin • -■ wrsy ’pMt cf the Province, iiiQih( ■ WMWOQt 401»< Withperfect thith, that -li to cast a Vete forevery member who : nuntinHd dtto to the Provincial Council or the House of Representatives. -- Ko man in Otago worked harder than Mr Reynold* toseenre to tha people of the Pro- * vines the magnificent estate surrounding the City of Dunedin which is theit heritage for all time, and .no one did so orach ,as no to mawnre that heritage intact. “It was an article of Mth with him that every purchaser of land within the Otago Block had equal rights in and over the Belt with the residents of the City, and that the reserve was to be used for no other purpose than the recreation of the people, and he was the eelf-constituted guardian of those rights. Many people did not agree with what be did, hat none' withheld admiration of his courage in opposing the action of the City Council, in placing a Fever Hospital pa the Belt mairr years ago, or in resisting the attempt* of‘the City Fathers to extend the Northern Cemetery. It should alsp be mentioned that Mr Reynolds was mainly instrumental in establishing the Town Board, and Ip.egtaaitshing muhidpal institutions In Oiagfc Me also secured for the City, of Dhnedin £36,000 oiit 6f the provincial half a million loan, with the help of the late Me William Mason and Mr Arthur J. Burns successfully; resisted the attempt to oolOnialin the municipal reserves. For vears he agitated in favor of what was known as the South Australian or Torrens’s system of land transfer, and eventually persuaded ihe Government of the day to place each a measure on our Statute Book; and - . he took a large share in passing the Ballot and Contractors’ Debts Acts. While holding the portfolio of Marine and Customs he was instrumental in getting a training ship for boys stationed at' Konimarama (Auckland), Mr Reynolds being a. firm believer in the efficacy q| that method of dealing with juvenile crime, and if he had been allowed his wav, the experiment would have been triad in other parts sf the colony. But ■« his wml-meant efforts in that direction were never given fab play, and the political skinflints cut off supplies, with the result that the Konmarama establishment was broken up. N w must it be forgotten that as Provincial Secretary Mr Beynolds introduced and carried the ordinance which established the Otago system of education. That measure contained a provision authorising the Super- ■ intendent to levy a poll tax not exceeding £1 per head, if the Provincial revenue did pot pVove sufficient to meet the salaries of the teachers, who were to be brought from the. Old Country. This tax was regarded with great dilf&vpr in Dunedin, and Mf Reynolds was the recipient of a requisition signed bv nearly nine-tenths of his constituents, who asked him to resign his seat in the Council. He did not comply with that request, and when the scheme was brought into operation found that the revenues of the Province were sufficiently elastic to meet the charges for educational purposes, without recourse to the muchdreaded poll tax, which ; as a matter of fact, was never called into existence. Then the popular tide set in in Mr Reynolds’s favor once more, and at the next election he was returned for Dunedin at the head of the poll. From an early date in provincial history he urged the propriety of making large reserves for educational purposes, and it was at his instance that these were made. As junior member for Dunedin he always had charge of any legislation having reference to municipal affairs, and to bis tact/ and knowledge of parliamentary procedure was due the uniformly favorable treatment that such Bills received from the House—a fact which the City Council have time and again acknowledged by special resolution of thanks.. He was the means of defeating the passage of a Bill which would have had the effect of securing a monopoly of the gas supply to the then Dunedin Gas Company; and was mainly instrumental in securing telegraphic communication between Dunedin and the Heads, in initiating storm warnings, and cheao telegrams, by means of which masters of vessels were able for a small to inform themselves before sailing of the state of the weather at any port or roadstead—the. precursor of the department over which Caotain Edwin now presides. While Minister of Marine Mr Reynolds gave special attention to the lighting of our Coasts, and daring his official term no lessthan four lighthouses were placed on the Otago coast—to wit, Puysegur, Centre Island, Cape Saunders, and Moeraki. Many nubile duties were discharged by Mr Reynolds in his time, outside of his political positions. For years he was Lloyd’s agent at -Dunedin; he' was a director of the Dunedin Savings Bank from its foundation to the hour of his death; he. was {hairman of directors of the ‘ Daily .Tines ’ Company ; a director of the Colonial Bank, the Westport Coal Company, and of the PerKil Trustees Agency v and one of the directors of the Colonial Life Insurance Company. • Mr Reynolds was not much seen in the

social ride of Dunedin life—lie was too busy dmm for thate—but hit place hat for years fomn worthily filled by members of his family, esoedally by his wife, who has been Intimately connected with every movement of a philanthropic or domestic nature. Mr Beynolds’t instincts were strongly in the direction of maintaining the public peace, and many good stories were current in early days of his services as general pacificator. Ho was early placed on the commission of the peace, and dispensed justice at a time when honorary magistrates were even more plentiful than now, and goodness knows there are plenty of them scattered throughput! the length and breadth of the land. But in those primitive days it passed current that everv tenth man in the community was a J.P., and the puny State possessed two parties within it, known familiarly as Big and Little Enemy. The fighting element was often en evidence { the contending factions sometimes came into collision with the guardians of the peace, and often sticks and fists were brought into requisition. _On several rccasions the appearance of Mr Reynolds on the scene was known to have prevented damaged crowns or blackened eyes. And the administration of the law was subjected to very curious interpretation, which aroused the indignation of the local Jupiter. The justices held an “ indignation meeting, whereat a resolution was passed that the Press should “for ever” be excluded from attending future meetings of the GreatUnraid and reporting their proceedings. These Solons were dumbfounded at seeing in the next issue of the 'Witness’ a full report of their proceedings; 'Mr Reynolds was charged with, and admitted, authorship of the article, and the justices present adopted a resolution of censure, which was conveyed to him by the late Mr A. Chetham Strode, as chairman and spokesman for the offended magistrates. The “vote of censure,” however, had as much effect on Mr Reynolds as the proverbial process of pouring water on a duck’s back. In October, 1856. Mr Reynolds married Rachel, eldest daughter of Mr Pinkerton, who was for several years one of the sheep inspectors for Otago, and she bore him four sons (Mr I^ slie „ R^®?. lds ’ v C p E •’ Eardlev Reynolds, Mr William E. Reynolds, and Mr A. G. Reynolds) and five daughters (the eldest of whom is married to our fellow-townsmen Mr Q. L. Denmston)