REV. SAMUEL LEIGH

Evening Star, Issue 17920, 16 March 1922, Page 5

REV. SAMUEL LEIGH

HIS EARLY EXPERIENCES,

WARNED BY HONGI TO KEEP OUT or THE WAY, One of the treasures of the Hocken Library in Dunedin is a volume of unpublished letters from and to the liov. Samuel Marsclon. Dr Hocken purchased them at a high price,_ Historians from Australia have bid for them unsuccessfully and begged the favor of a copy. Amonst these letters are three from the Rev. _ Samuel Leigh, the pioneer Methodist missionary, addressed to the Rev. Samuel Marsdcn. Though _ the writing is a hundred years ago it stands out clear, and it is easily read. Strange to say, these throe letters are all of tho one date, 4th April, 1822. Leigh must have been in a writing mood that day; but they appear to have been commenced on the stli February. First in order is a communication from which wo take the following extracts Wo arrived at the Bay of Islands on the 22nd of January last, all well. After wo landed wo found that tho Natives had returned homo from war, and were preparing for a second visit to tho River Thames. Three weeks since more than a thousand fighting men left tho Bay, wit.i Shongeo at the head of them. Iho settlement suffered very little by them. Upon tho whole they wore quiet and civil towards us all. . . • Shongeo having cut off all tho inhabitants of Mercury Bay, I thought it not prudent to go there. Indeed, ull tho brethren advised me not to think of going to any new place by myself. • ■ - I thought it best not to go against tho general opinion. Mr Hall kindly offered us his barn, and we accepted of his kindness. . . • bhongoo objected to my going near the River Thames. He saiU Jus reason \\ as tiiat 1 should bo in iiis way iu tue time of war. . • ■ Airs Leigh and 1 have been very comfortable with -Ur and Airs Hall) but Air Kendall lias treated us with the greatest uukuiduoss, and, as i conceive, witn cruelty.’” Shongeo, the warrior referred to, is, of course, Jtiongi. Tho :ur rveudall above mentioned was the Rev. T. Kendall, of Hie Church Missionary Society. The relations between Kendall aim some ot Jus colleagues were not harmonious. Kendall was roundly charged with trafficking with the Maoris and with other conduct that was not approved of, and the portion of Leigh’s letter that are omitted above mate mainly to evidence given by Leigh in support of the accusations against Kendall. There are m tho volume examined one or two letters from Kendall, iu which he states his defence and makes couutor-chaiges against his opponents of being ecclesiastically in the wrong; and on the same shell in the Hocken Library is a volume of unpublished letters from Kendall that probably deal with tho same subject. As part of tho same controversy there is a letter from Leigii to Alarsden, in which Leigh encloses a copy of a letter scut by Kendall to the Rev. Josiah Pratt;—” These arc io request you to inform tho secretary of tho Wesleyan Missionary Society that tho Rev. Samuel Leigh has not only settled himself here without obtaining leave from me, but is assisting my colleagues, Messrs Hall and King, in forming a separate meeting—a place of worship—during tho time of divine service upon tho Lord’s Day. It is impossible tor me to sanction such a measure and permit Air Leigh to remain quietly in this settlement, which professes itself to, be a Church missionary establishment.” The follows Leigh’s reply, giving tho reasons for his intervention, and Leigh proceeds thus: —“Airs Leigh gets on well in tho language—much better than I do. However, I creep on. Our work is our delight, . . The carpenters have nearly finished with Air Butler, hut we are not to have any assistance Irom them,’’ Leigh seems to have been defiant as to Kendall's authority, for ho writes: “ 1 have not asked leave from Mr Kendall to remain here, and I do not intend to ask him.” in another letter Leigh writes:“There is not one child under instruction iu cither of your settlements. . lam attempting to teach four young men to read. Mrs Leigh has four Native girls twice a day—she teaches them to read and pray.” Tho correspondence as a whole shows that Leigh and Marsden had a very trouWesomo time over internal affairs as well as over their relations with tho Maoris. , The matters referred to may bo or some interest to those who are participating in the celebrations of the Methodist centenary. If they wou.d like to know tho particulars, the priceloss and well-preserved manuscript letters in the Hocken Library are the most direct ?. nd probably tuo host authority.