The Northern Advocate Daily WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1935. EARLY DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND

Northern Advocate, 10 July 1935, Page 6

The Northern Advocate Daily

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1935. EARLY DAYS IN NEW ZEALAND

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

It has often been lamented that comparatively little of the early history of colonisation iir New Zealand, such as the pioneer .settlers could have related, has been preserved. It is unfortunately too true that a great deal of historical literature, in the shape of private letters and diaries and semi-public documents, has been destroyed, but it is a matter for congratulation that recent years have witnessed an effort to gather together fragments still in existence and to articulate them in the of boohs. It is very interesting, and also a matter in which Whangarci people should take pride, that one of their old-time citizens is playing an important part in the discovery- and preservation of ■ early New Zealand history as told in letters written by pioneers. We refer to Mr A. H. Reed, of Dunedin, a brother of Mr F, W. Reed, of Whangarei, who has also distinguished himself in the world of letters, and a son of Mr J. M. Reed, who, despite four score years and six, is still actively occupied in caring for the extensive garden and grounds of his home in Mill Road. Mr A. H. Reed has Must published his* latest contribution to books of distinction and New Zealand interest. It is a fascinating volume bearing the caption: “Early Maoriland Adventures of J. W. Stack.” The volume is noteworthy, not only for the publicity it gives to the lives of men who made their mark during thcearly days of missionary effort in New Zealand, but for the wealth of information it provides in regard to the conditions under which pioneer settlers laid the foundation of the Dominion; Canon Stack was born in a Maori pa, at Puriri, in the Thames district, during his parents’ journey from Paihia to Mangapouri. His father, James Stack, who had come to Sydney from England, fell under the influence of the Rev. Samuel Mar&den, and in 1823, when in his early twenties, he landed at Whangaroa and joined the Wesleyan Mission, which Marsden was rejoiced to find had been established there. The heroic little band at Wesleydale held on to their post. until 1827, when the station was attacked by one of Hongi’s raiding parties. Their lives being in peril, _ it was necessary to send news of their plight to the nearest neighbours, the Church Mission at Kerikeri. Stack made a night journey of 20 miles through the bush, skirted swamps and crossed the open fern country. He obtained help, but, on the return journey, met the missionaries and their wives, who had been forced to flee. A year later he launched a new enterprise on the Hokianga, where he pioneered for three years-. He then returned to England married, and, in 1833, again came to, New Zealand.

He and his wife laboured at Manga- | s] pouri (at the junction of the Waipa tl and Punihio rivers), where they had p dreadful experiences owing to savage r tribes being at war with one another, n and cannibalism being rife. Stack, b with his wife and child, returned to a the Bay of Islands, residing at Pai- E hia. This was in 1837. Two years later they went to Tauranga. After t ministering in the Bay of Plenty, I Stack, in 1843, procedeed ot the East h Cape, where he established a new n station. By this time, the mission- t ary, though only 41 years of age, was t suffering from shattered health, and, s in May, 1848, he went to England, x where he died in 1883. 5 .We now turn to the life of John r West Stack, who was born at the i Maori pa at Puriri. Resolved f low in his father’s footsteps, he was 1 accepted by the C.M.S. as a catechist, I and returned to New Zealand ac- c companied by Tamahana Te Raupa- t raha, who had gone to London with i Archdeacon William Williams. A new era in his life commenced in 1854, when, in his nineteenth year, he, in company with Carl Sylvius Volkner (the first missionary martyr in New Zealand) joined Dr. Robert Maunsell at Waikato Heads. Following on service in the Auckland Province, he was chosen to undertake the pastoral care of the Maoris in Canterbury. There he went in 1859, settling near the Kaiapoi pa, where, he remained for approximately 30 years. In 1859 he became Vicar of Fendalton, which position he retained for ten years, when he returned to England, where he died in 1919. We have traced the journeyings of the missionaries in order to indicate the extensiveness of the area with which the book deals. When it is said that the recollections of Canon Stack provide vivid pen pictures of life and conditions in New Zealand ; approximately a century ago, and in later years, the value of the book from a historical point of view will bo appreciated. How did publication of the book become possible? It is for the purpose of drawing the .attention of North- : landers to that question that we have penned this editorial. Mr • Reed, in a preface to the book he has edited with great skill, explains that a daughter of 3 Canon Stack, who was living in 1 Sydney, on noting Mr Reed’s ininvitation, to possessors of manu- \ scripts of pioneer or missionary interest to communicate with him, informed him of the existence of unpublished MSS. relatl ing the story of her father’s early life in New Zealand nearly a century ago. The result is the first j, of what it is hoped will form j three volumes of valuable in- ■ formation told in 'most..interest-■ mg manner. Who will, provide the material for an intimate story of life in Northland in the days long gone by? Those who know of the existence of old letters or 'diaries should endeavour to unearth them. There are few living 1 links with the distant past. It is therefore the more necessary why , r’any written links should.be cherished and utilised.