PATRIOTIC SERVICE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume IV, Issue 237, 21 September 1914, Page 2

PATRIOTIC SERVICE.

KING'S THEATRE. HASTINGS,

There was another large audience vesterday aflei-nooii at the King s Theatre io het.r Dr. McNab deliier hi- tblre-- <,n “Each Maori History and Colonisation of New Zt tland.” The address was listened to with rapt attention and the. -peaker v. i'reqiieiith . applauded. Dr. McNab, in his opening remarks, said th:>,t the inspiring themes which had oceupud the attention of his predecessors on 1 lie platform during the last four Sundays he felt a heavy responsibility devolved upon him when he t.sked those present to bear with him while he related the matter of fact story of the first sntlt-meni of an < rganised band of Europeans among the Maoris of New Zealand. To recount the story ot tlie dais before Ism, when the I nion Jack was hoisted al Kerorareka and tlic-e island- declared part of the British Empire was no easy task. He could safeh make that statement as he had deioted his leisure hours for seventeen years to unravelling history's tangled threads, and, on a safe estiniate he could say that. Jt would take another thirteen years; lx fore the whole ground had been covered and a consecutive narrative given to the world. No Court of Justice had investigated local grievances and filed a report in some State pigeon hole for the benefit of future generations-, there was no Court of Justice and no Government official to do anjthing of the kind, and injury and injurtice had to suffer in silence. One man accompanied Marsden's expedit ion and saw it. established, and his two volume woik on tlie subject gave us a 10l of information ; for the rest we must, fall back upon the letters of the settlers to the parent body which was known as the Church Missionary Siie'et,'. He would attempt, m the short time at his disposal, to give a birds-eye view of Marsden and his campaign. As now, so a. ■ century ago, the vast, armies of Allied Europe were engaged in suppressing the ambitions of the tyrant of the tlay. Now it. is the German Kaiser, then it was the French Emperor. Now, it is Britain and Franco on the west, and Russia in the east. Them it. was Britain on the west and Gtrm.iiiy on the east. On the 31st day of .March, 1914, after enduring years of fighting and wading through seas of blood, tlie Allied Armies entered the city of Paris, and eleven days later the abdication of Napoleon took place. One solitary year of European peace followed and during that short time the. events took place in ' Australasian history which he was there that afternoon to speak about. Marsden established the first organised settlement of Europeans among the. Macris of New Zealand. Fie said no | figure stood out in such prominence ; iu the early history of New Zealand •as did that of Marsden—tlie Rev. I Samuel Marsden. He was not the 'first New Zealand missionary; lie j never was a missionary. He was not I the first clergyman to stand on these ‘shores, though probably few elergy- ! men could name an earlier one. He ! did not conduct, tlie first service in [New Zealand, though -wise authorities might hold he did ; but,he. occupied a position in connection with the first settlement, with the first church, and with the first, germ of civilised government of a country that would justify anyone in describing him as the founder of the church, the founder of the agricultural industry, and the founder of British Government, from the North Capo to Stewart Island. Dr. McNab dealt; at length with Marsdeif’s early NevV South Wales history, of his marvellous work in the convict settlement of that State. He referred at length to Marsden’s work of evangalising the Maoris, whose minds appeared to him, so lie said. ‘Tike a rich soil that had never been cultivated, and only wanted the proper means of improvement to render them fit to rank with civilised nations.” He gave an interesting sketch of the. first expedition to New Zealand, with Marsden at the head. Anxious to 1< arn what lie could of New Zealand. Governor Macquarie instructed Marsden to explore its coasts and report upon the capabilities of its soil. The expedition sailed for New Zealand from Sydneyon 19th November, 1814, and consisted of Thomas Kendall, schoolmaster and magistrate ; William Hall, carpenter; and John King, rope maker. Mrs. Kendall, Mrs. Hall and Mrs. King accompanied their husbands, anti took on board in their arms five sturdy little boys ; the roll of tlie first settlement. Accompanying them <;f course was Marsden, in supreme command, J. L. N’ichol-is, a friend of his, out for tlie fun of the thing, and Mrs. Hansen. Hie captain’s wife and her son.

The .address was under the auspices of the Y.M.C.A.. and the- chair occupied by Mr. F. E. Barley The? collection, which will be devoted to the Huntly relief fund, realised 5 -