PIONEERS AT PARKE ISLAND.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XII, Issue 237, 19 September 1922, Page 2

PIONEERS AT PARKE ISLAND.

(To the Editor.) Sir. —At the Synod of \Vaiapu Diocese, on September 13th, it was stated that 80 per cent, of the inmates of the Old People’s Home were there through drink. These figures may or may not be correct. My concern is not so much With the figures as with with their compiler. lam quite satisfied that no one of those clergymen present at that meeting compiled that list. Who then was it who raked the police records throughout the country for this miserable purpose? He would he well advised to take a gentle hint and burn his collection immediately. Are the hardships of the pioneer days, the burdens oi bringing up a large family, long and faithful services to the community, failing health and increasing years not to count for anything? The persons who compiled the list are the offenders, not the hapless clergyman who read them. Why, there have been men in this institution who in the early, days left their clothes aboard ship, and swum ashore.. When they gained the shore, behind them the waves were roaring on the beach and the pifie forests stretched away as far as the eye could reach. Had it not been for the kindness of the Maoris they would have starved. Later they just had to take their chances of a bullet from the hostile natives, day by day. They had to barter their crops and their whale oil for a keg of rum and a box of tobacco, else they would have been denied the bare necessaries of life which the visiting ships had to offer. There were no railways, no roads, and no bridges. When they came to a river it was a case of jump, swim or sink. There were no churches, no hospitals, no police protection, no reading rooms, no clubs, no theatres, no music halls, no moving pictures, no race meetings, and no afternoon tea parties. They had to just take their chances. They brought up large families of splendid half-cast men and women, and even prospered in a humble way. True, there was the social gathering round a keg of rum. But those kegs of rum were few, and those gatherings were far between, and it must he remembered that the ideas of that day and generation did not altogether coincide with the present day ideals. No doubt they were told that heaven is a jolly place and perhaps it occurred to them that it would be just as well to get in a little practice beforehand. For, be it noted, it wasn’t an uncommon sight in those days to see even a clergyman being assisted home. I don’t mean to say that he was drunk—just a little overcome by the heat, undue exertion, etc. Could the early pioneer be blamed for his one weakness?—l am, etc., F. ROSS, Parke Island. Sept. 17. 1922.