EARLY NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19382, 17 July 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

EARLY NEW ZEALAND

THE LIFE OF THE PIONEERS.

BY E.H.

No. I. The pioneers, the early settlers, the founder's of the highly developed community which we aw to-day! When we .in these years, after nearly a century has passed, think of those adventurers into a forest-clad land peopled by a race of warlike savages, what types of men and women or what conditions of life have we in mind ? While we enjoy all the comforts of modern life and complain of the hardships of bad roads, of wrongly managed railways and difficulties of marketing, should we not recall the sacrifices callpd tfor to make our present conditions possible ? I hope by a few sketches, records of observations and reports of stories told in my boyhood long years ago by such pioneers, to recall something of the conditions of early colonial life and the characters of those adventurous spirits to whom We owe our happy and prosperous Dominion. Let us imagine first the quiet English homes, their staid traditions, the generally uneventful life of the people and the custom, generations old, to follow on in that station of life to which they had been called. Vague reports from returned missionaries and travellers' tales were the only information to guide them, fine stimulation to adventure, but what courage was displayed by men and women with families to embark on shipboard with months of comfortless voyaging ending in almost complete separation from all family ties and in unknown conditions.^ Great Expectations. Yet.they came, young men and old and tenderly nurtured women—with what expectations, what visions—who can tell ? They were of all sorts and conditions, adventurers risking all for the mere love, of it, wealthy men with wildest hopes of fortune and of power, artisans with their few hundred pounds saved feeling the call for a wider field, labouring men aud women with visions of a higher life than the daily round of toil from the cradle to the grave. Creeds many, hopes varied, expectations indefinable —in my experience of them united by a great earnestness of purpose and the will to succeed. And then, the arrival! I have tried to put myself in the position of one of a family standing on the beach watching the vessel which brought them standing out to sea, leaving them in their utterly strange surroundings, with the vast ocean stretching between them and all their traditions of life and fellowship.

Naturally among the men and women who left the traditions of centuries and the peaceful certainties of life in their native land for the vague adventures in an unknown sphere there were all varieties of original and even eccentric characters. But looking back upon the personalities that impressed my youthful mind, the outstanding feature is their deep earnestness of. purpose. They had faith in their power to overcome, and as to creed—that which they believed they believed absolutely. Their religious observances were manifested less in creeds and professions than in a regular observance of devotional exercises simple in form and in acts of kindly consideration for others in the many difficulties and occasions for mutual aid incidental to pioneer life. I recall a cheerful optimism which might -almost be called resilience and generally a keen sense of humour. The Uncertainties of Pioneering.

How very few carried out the programme they had arranged. Ignorant of the conditions and with little market, many of those who began farming made fatal errors at the start and drifted into trade or took clerical positions. Some having ready money, partly perhaps with the kindly wish to help the needy, bought superfluous goods and chattels brought out by their fellows, and finding this their metier, continued in trade and became prosperous merchants. Some with genius for winning favour with the Maoris made deals in goods, food or land and thus acquired a standing ensuring future success; sometimes honourably, at others by questionable tactics.

Apropos of this uncertainty, it is interesting' to note that when "a happy band of pilgrims" established the settlement of Port Albert an enterprising journalist printed a newspaper and referred •in friendly terms to the rival settlement at Auckland, expressing the kindly hope that as time brought about the growth of population the relations between the towns would continue friendly and free from the bitterness of jealousy! * We know that, in common with the majority of the settlers whom a sanguine Government placed on the open lands in the Northern Peninsula, the Albertlanders found the struggle a hopeless one. Then like a new dawn came the discovery of gold, and at once there was work for all and market for all produce; and the foundation of Auckland's prosperity was firmly established. Meanwhile, the fertility of lands further south in Canterbury, Wairarapa, and Hawke's Bay had been proven, and the suitability of those districts to rear sheep opened a new avenue for enterprise. A great debt is owing to those pioneers who explored these lands on foot, who negotiated with the Maoris and caused them to be opened for settlement. Sir George Grey died a disappointed man as a politician, but in earlier years he did great service to this land by securing the waste lands from the natives, advising settlers and inducing English capitalists to lend money on these far-off securities at fairly easy rates of interest. His is the credit for the start in life of many who became land-kings. A Sad Record of failure. Naturally the easy success of the first men caused a rush, and tho poor, lighter and broken lands in the interior were settled. But of these the record is a sad one of failure succeeding failure. Year after year their efforts to establish pasture were destroyed by the overwhelming growth of bracken fern, their stock died from unknown causes or escaped wild into the limitless bush. Finally, their means exhausted, they failed. Some siild to a successor, some died of despair, others left to seek a fortune on the gold field or elsewhere, and not a few obtained employment from more successful neighbours," and with wages saved and experience gained took up land again and won. I fourtd a pathetic interest in tracing the history of relics which remained a few years ago—a lonely rough stone chimney, an ancient fruit tree or pine or an unconnected name as Sutton's Hill or Speedy's Creek. And the result? Usually that some Englishman of good family had taken up a block of land, built a hut with the stone chimney, spent the best years of his life and some thousands of pounds in a vain endeavour to subdue the wilderness, and'gone ! Many such there were who gave their al! and failed in the deceitful attractiveness of North Hawke's Bay and the Waikato. But to the failures of the efforts of these men we ov»a much of our success to-day. When we look with envy at the wealthy landowner let us realise that he is one of only a few survivors of an immense company who strove and lost. While giving honour to the . successful pioneers let us not omit to pay tribute to the memory of those who ventured much and bravely failed.