A WELLINGTON PIONEER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 56, 7 March 1911, Page 6

A WELLINGTON PIONEER.

DEATH OF MR T. W

McKENZIE.

'VETERAN SETTLER, PRINTER,

AND JOURNALIST.

Mr Thomas: Wilmor' McKenzie, familiarly known as the "Fathor" of Wellington, passed away at 9 o'clock on Thursday morning, in his eightyfourth year. Of this period1 ho bad lived seventy-one years in Wellington. "With his death, it might woll be said, is severed one more of the links, that bound the past with the present, for there was none among the later band 'of colonists whose life had been so closely associated with the destinies of the capital city. AN' EVENTFUL YEAR.

The deceased (reports the N.Z Times) arrived at Port Nicholson m March, 1840, in the ship Adelaide. TJiat was an eventful year in the history of New Zealand. It was only a month before his landing that tha Treaty of Waitangi was signed, and three- months later came the .proclamation of sovereignty over the islands of New Zealand. That year, too, the British flag was hoisted tat Akaroa by* Captain Stanley, and the deceased was old ©nough-—thirteen—to remember the hoisting of the British flag at Auckland. In the September previous to his landing there had arrived in Port Nicholson the preliminary expedition of the New Zealand Company, under Colonel Wakofield. He h.ad lived through the terms of office of every Governor New Zealand lias had from Captain Hobson onwards'; and had seen the rise and fall of every Ministry that has reigned <in this country, for it was not until ho had been fourteen years in New Zealand thlat the first Parliament was opened. His mind was a great storehouse of interesting reminiscences of the stirring pioneering days, .- of statesmen and soldiers who Liid the foundations of the Dominion, and a talk with hhn in his later days, with his mental capacity strong to the last, was of more than ordinary interest. PIONEER NEWSPAPERS. Mr McKenzie passed little of his childhood in London, where he was born, for at an early agejie went with his parents to St.. John's, Newfoundland. On the death of McKenzto pore, the family returned to England, though soon after -tb«jy embarked in the ship Adelaide with the Port Nicholsor. emigrants of the New Zealand Company, the fourth ship of the contingent, which reached here in March, 1840. On his arrival young McKenzie was apprenticed to Mr Samuel Revans, proprietor of the Now Zealand Gazette and Britannic Spectator, which was subsequently changed to the Now Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, on a change pf site being made from Petone to Lambtoti Quay. The first two, editions of this paper were printed in London beforo the despatch of the colonists. He was one of the first men to recognise the disadvantages of the Petone site, and one of the first men who slept on the land now actually occupied by the city of Wellington. The other man was £he late Mr E. Ticehurst. On that occasion they were found by a, chief named Porutu in occupation cf one of his whares, and by him they would certainly have been killed, had it not been that one of tho chief's wives threw her mantle over them as they were lying on the grass,.thus creating a tapir which saved them "When one of this woman's sons met Mr McKenzie in later life, he invariably addressed him as brother. ■',-_-A Having completed his * apprenticeship or five years, the deceased'worked on the same journal a® <ai compositor. Then the land attracted him, and he acquired" some property at Makara, which lie worked in conjunction with hisltrade. When the paper changed hands, Mr McKenzie and his -fellow workers were thrown out of' employment. As a. result,"-the Wellington Independent was started, the proprietors being Messrs W. E. Vincent, T. W. McKenzie, George Fellingham, and James Muir, and under* this proprietaiy it was published for, some time, until Mr Vincent left for Sydney, and Mr Fellingham havina died. Mr McKenzie purchased MiMuir's irierest, thn* becoming soie ownct. The Independent was conduce od by the deceased for many years, under his own personal supervision. There were no telegraphs- and cables in thoso days, and for news from the outside world the proprietor ■ had to depend on sailing vessels from Homo and Australia. This -\ .often entailed great hardships in putting off in boats to meet tho vessels, and of these hardships tho deceased had his full share. ' Glancing cursorily at a file of th<y Independent of those days (Octobeuf 1855, for instance), one* reads: " py tlie brig Thomas and Henry, whiciVarrived in this harbor on Saturday last, we have received Sydney papers up lo the sth inst. English news of the 14th October is quoted in the Sydney \ papers. Several interesting accounts of tho Battle of Almia are given, which, according to all accounts, appears to have been equal to anything of tho kind that hs>& ever taken place in the Peninsula War." In the. same issue appear letters on public questions by William Fox, E. Jerninghaiv. Wakofield. and Qctavius Hadfield. The deceased afterwards established the New Zealand Mail, and also the Wellington Almanac. The three properties were subsequently sold to the origiPAl New Zealand Times company, the n u rae Wellington Independent being changed to New Zcalad Times, <-f • which Mr McKenzie became manager and secretary. He was actively associated with the public life of the city and province through all the earlier years and: was a member of the City Council from 1881 to 1867. The deceased was the first Freemason intitiatcd in New Zealand. He was New Zealand's oldest Oddfellow, and h". introduced tho first legalised friendly society into the colony. In connection with the Manchester Union of Oddfellows ho started the Widow an Orphans Benefit Society, and it was only a few yearn ago that he relinqui&liec! the secretaryship, having held it -continuously for fifty-eight years. He was the originator of the Mechanics' Institute, which becam-j the Athenaeum, and was subsequently merged in the Free Public Library. SENT TO GAOL FOR COMMENT.

Mi- McKenzie was the first New Zealand journalist-to suffer incarceration fo- daring to uphold the liberty■ of the Press He was reporting a casa in court, Judge Stephens presiding Two jurors were late—a grand juror, Charles Clifford, afterwards Sir Charles Clifford, and a common juror, a baker named Robinson."The two went in together, and were asked to explain their lack of punctuality. Mr Clifford said his watch was wrong, and on that was excused. Robinson, the common juror, offered the same explanation, and was fined £5. Mr McKenzie held that there was not one law for the rich and another for the poor, «nd next day gave space in his

paper lor a loiter condemning the Judge* partiality. He was haled to the court to purge his contempt. Eta refused, standing on his right of fair comment, and he was committed to Mount Cook gaol. He was there for two or thiee weeks, entertaining his friends and having a not uncomfortable time, la the luoa-ntime, particulars of the matter were sent to Sir George Grey at Auckland, who gave orders thax Mr MoKenzie should be released without delay. On his release, his fellow citizens held a mass meeting in his honor, and c&rried him shoulder high. Nob long afterwards Judge Stephens left the colons

.Mr' McKenzie was untiring in all the duties of citizenship. The Queen's wharf was origin&lly called the Public Wharf, thd change of name being made at his suggestion. He was the oldest elder of St. John's Church, and he heard the first sermon ever preached ashore in the Port Nicholson settlement —at Petone—by the Rev. Mr Macfarlane, Presbyterian. He, with Sir William Fox, Messrs Featherstou. Charles Clifford; "A! de B. Brandon, and W. E. Vincent, formed the constitutional committee ''which assisted iv framing the New Zealand Constitution, which was sent Home by Sir (jeorge Grey and accepted. He reported the meeting held to inaugurate the eight hours' system in this colony It is interesting to note that in tho last annual report of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, M.U. (Wellington District), mention is made of a church seirivoe held to celebrate the centenary of the Order, in St. Mark's Church, on November 27th last. "We were glad," says the report, "to see our respected brother Thomas McMenkie at the service, he Betting a good example to many young members by Ms presence."

THE DECEASED'S RELATIVES

Mr McKenzie, whose wife died about twelve years-ago, leaves a family, of five sons and four daughters, viz., ..Messrs Henry Alexander McKenzi,e George A. McKenzie, Earl McKenzie fPetone, late part proprietor of the Hutt and Petone Chronicle), Leonard ,S. McKenzio (president^ of the Federated Association of New Zealand Chemists), and John McKenzie, Mesdames H. A: Morris (Petone), Sills J. Gibbons (Island Bay), G. C. B. Havpar (Makirikiri, Wianganui), and Mi&s McKenzie. The eldest daughter of the deceased was the first wife of, Mr James Mackenzie, Commissioner -jf Crown Lards.