THE FRIST PLOUGH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19321, 7 May 1926, Page 15

THE FRIST PLOUGH.

USE OVER CENTURY AGO. LINK WITH EARLIEST DAYS. A FORGOTTEN ANNIVERSARY. The firrf, plough used in New Zealand is said to be that used by the pioneer Anglican missionary, the Rev. John Butler, at Kerikeri. Bay of Islands, in 1820. His grandson, Mr. W. Barton, of Wairarapa, is at present on a visit to Auckland, and stated yesterday that he had been informed that the old plough was still lying near the wharf at Kerikeri. Mr. Butler kept a diary which is one of Mr. Barton's valued possessions, and in this diary is an account of the first ploughing done in the new land. At the request of Sir Edwin Mitchelson, Mr. Barton has had a copy made of the diary tor inclusion in the Old Colonists' Museum. Ihe high hopes that inspired the missionary when he first put the land to the plough 106 years ago are recorded in a firm, clear hand, as shown in a photograph of a page in the diary. Mr. Butler wrote: "On the morning of Wednesday. the 3rd of May. 1820, the agricultural plough was for the first time put into the land of New Zealand at Kiddie Kiddie (Kerekeri), and I felt much pleasure in holding it after a team of six bullocks brought down by the (H.M.S.) Dromedary. I trust that this auspicious day will be remembered with gratitude and its anniversary kept by ages yet unborn. Every heart seemed to rejoice in the occasion. I hope it will still continue to increase arid in a short time produce an abundant harvest." The 106 th anniversary of the first ploughing fell on Monday of this week, but there were probably few in New Zealand who remembered the pioneer's work. But his lead has been followed, until to-day New Zealand is one of the principal agricultural countries in tile world, with hundreds of thousands of acres" tamed and made reproductive by the plough. If, as Mr. Barton believes, the. old plough still remains at Kerikeri, it is in close company with the oldest wooden house in New Zealand, and the old stone store that also stands near the wharf on that arm of the Bav of Islands, which is justly styled the "nursery of New Zealand." Air. Butler himself was the first ordained minister to settle in the colony, being appointed by Samuel Marsden.