ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Grey River Argus, 22 November 1939, Page 5

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO

HOKIANGA BEFORE 1840. The Bay of Islands is so well-known as a resort of whaling and other i ships in the roaring days before the establishment of British rule in New 'Zealand in 1840 that the economically important settlement of the banks of the Hokianga River is sometimes overlooked. This settlement was certainly scattered, but every few miles there was a flourishing group of white sawI yers, living under the protection of a Maori chief and exporting the magnificent timber to which the deep river gave them access. Unlike the , Kororareka settiers, who lived chiefly on European ships, they mainI tained themselves by hard and regular work. Characters like Lieutenant McDonnell, who exported t'mber for the British Admiraltv from ’ his home al Te Horeke, and F. E. Mailing, well-known in later years as the author of “Old New Zealand," stand out among the white settlers. It was on the Hokianga River that Baron do Thierry had hoped to found his little k’ngdom. The Maori population under those two worthy chiefs, Pat none and Waaka Nene, was far less spoiled than that of the Bay of Islands by European contacts, because the difli-l cult bar at the mouth of the river i made it unsuitable as a port of call , simply for refreshment. A pilot, Bob ; Martin, lived near the Heads. H? had published a set of warning flags wh'ch.he would tly to show shipping whether or not the bar was in a lit slate to take.

SOUTHERN WHALERS. 1 In 1843 when Edward Short land visited Waikouaiti on official business, he found that whaling settlement in I flourishing cond tion. It had been ] bought in 1838 by that celebrated selfmade man, Johnny Jones, who Irad begun life as a hand in the South. Island sealing trade, and had worked himself up to a position of such importan’2 that he could enjoy the luxury of going bankrupt. He failed in h ; s considerable Sydney ventures, and thereafter concentrated on his New Zealand whaling station. But he was still able to live in some style—“on mv arrival al this, the then ‘ultima thule’ of the colony, my ears were astonished at the sounds of a p’ano, and mv eyes at the black ‘cutaway’: and rid ng-whip of a. young gentleman. lately of Emmanuel College,] Cantab., but now acting tutor to Mr. ! J.’s son and heir." Shortland did not think many of, the employees at Waikouaiti would rise in the world. They were mostly | content to receive the payment for their dangerous work in rum and over-valued goods. But one man, Stephen -Smith, had saving habits. He had a fenced garden of two or three; acres, and possessed seven catt'e, as i well as a Maori wife. He was an | example of the new spirit of colon- i ‘ration. I

In contrast to Smith’s habits of ndustry was the hand-to-mouth but. | contented life of a solitary whaler, j living at Purakanui, whom. Shortland called upon. “This man welcomed me with the hospitality of his class, although he possessed I'ttle but the mud and sticks of his hut, an old musket, and the clothes which cover-

ed him. He set himself to work to shoot some pigeons for my dinner; but as he used small stones for shot, I was obliged to ho very careful in eat'ng, to avoid breaking my tee’h. My bed was made from the slender branches of ‘manuka,’ wh'ch are both soft and fraerant. I never had a better.” Next morning Shortland was awakened by a deafening chorus of bell-birds.