GEORGE CLARKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19502, 4 December 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

GEORGE CLARKE.

BT £. WILSON WILSON.

EARLY LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND.

As a youth George Clarke played an important part in most of the events of the critical period following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi down to the end of the first Maori war. Before he was twenty-one years old he was made Protector of Aborigines, and became the trusted agent of three successive Governors of New Zealand. Notwithstanding his youth, his early training had well fitted him for the arduous and responsible position. His 6tory is told by himself in the ninetynine pages of " Notes on Early Life in New Zealand." This boob was first written for the information of family friends, and was not intended for publication. To his printers, Messrs. J. Walsh and Sons of Hobart, he says, " At eighty I suppose I am pbout the only old man who can tell of these early days in Maoriland from direct and personal knowledge." George Clarke's childhood was spent at Kerikeri, in the Bay of Islands, where his father was stationed as a missionary His home was the old house which, hav ing weathered over one hundred years, still stands in good condition—the oldest house in New Zealand Across the inlet was Hongi s great pt», Kororipo, surrounded on three sides by water, on the fourth by swamps, and practically impregnable to Maori assault Although* Hongi lived and died a heathen and a cannibal, it pleased him to give the missionaries his protection Even the loving watchfulness of the missionary' mothers could not altogether protecd their flittle onesi from the knowledge of the terrible rites that followed each of Hongi's successful raids There were times when the children were not al lowed out of doors, but wooden walls, could not deaden the screams of mortal agony that echoed from the landing. Inquisitive young eyes sometimes saw dreadful sights There was a time, after the death of Hongi, when the lives of the missionaries were threatened George Clarke remembers one occasion when the women and children were taken stealthily by night out of the creek, in a boat with muffled oars, and hurried up the bay to seek sanctuary at Paihia Understanding the Maori Mind. The only uneventful period in Clarke's youth wasi the four years spent at school in Hobari,. He returned at the begin ning of 1337, a lad of fourteen, to War mate, where his father was now stationed It was his great good fortune to continue hi? education under so able an instructor as the Rev W Williams, afterwardsi Bishop of Waiapu When Mr Williams went to Poverty Bay, George accompanied him and continued his reading Few youths of that day were educated up to the age of seventeen, so Clarke could well afford later to ignore the gibes of his Wellington detractors when thej' called him an " uneducated stripling " During the whole period of his association with Mr Williams. Clarke was in close touch with the natives, almost unconsciously receiving the best of training: for the work he afterwards undertook. His ability to read the Maori mind enabled him to avoid the misunderstandings Ithat were the first causes of iso many of the quarrels be tween the two races. "I, could estimate our perils better than many of 1 my' elders; and' could guard against them," he tells üb.' ' ' • When the seat of government was moved to Auckland, George Clarke entered the civil service in the newly formed Native Department, of which his father was bhe head The first criminal sitting of !the Supreme Court of New Zealand, under Chief-Justice Martin, wfes rendered mcist important by the- trial of Maketn. the. murderer of. Mrs Robinson and hei children The issue involved was greater than the proving of the guilt of Maketu, which was self-con fessed. In giving up the Maori mur derer for trial according to "British law, his people acknowledged the power of the law thisy had promised to accept when they signed tfy? Treaty' of Wai tangi. •" On this most critical occasion, young George Clarke was chosen as. inter preter Through him Mr Justice Mar tin carefully explained to the assembled Maoris the meaning of Trial by Jury, the special functions' of jury and coun sels, and the mode of precedure This was a new revelation of our ways and inspired the natives with the belief that the Supreme Court would be scrupulously just in the administration of the law The Wellington Land Commission. Governor Hobson was so pleased with Clarke's senrices at the trial of Maketu, that he seat huri with Chief Commissioner Spain to Wellington. Here, a lad of twenty, he had, as Protector of Natives, to withstand the imperious and subtle Colonel Wakefield and those deluded settlers of Wellington who had been put in possession o? Maori lands, either without' the consent of rightful owners or without adequate compensation being paid by the New Zealand Com pany Clarke, found the work very hard and disagreeable) and, at times, dangerous Hp knew himself to be the most unpopular person in Wellington, However, llie was able to gain . a fair amount of ;justice for the Maoris. When tliie news of the Wairan massacre reached Wellington, George accom panied the party which left for Nelson He afterwards assisted the Rev Had field in quieting the angry chief, Eau paraha, and dissuading him from his in tention of marching on Wellington In .January, 11344 the newly-appointed gov ernor,. Captain Fitzroy; met' Rauparaha neaj Wellington to inquire into the re sponsibility for the outrage Clarke again acted as interpreter, and conveyed to the Msoris the Governor's decision that the English were *n the wrong be cause ithey provoked" th«' .onflict by forcibly ta.king possession of disputed lands while the case was actually under debate; that they were furthei tc blame in that they seni- an armed party to arrest the chiefs on a trivial pretext, and at the last moment were the first to fire A B&markable Coincidence. In " Notes ol Early Life " Mr Clarke mentions a somewhat remarkable coincidence The tand foi the site of Auckland nod of several hundred thou sand acres besides, was purchased from the Maoris m 1840 by his father, George Clarke, senior • The Maor eds of transfei art? in his handwriting George Clarke, junior, assisted ColoneJ Wake fields and Mr John G symonds, police magistrate at Wellington, tc purchase the land foi the Otagc settlement, in 1844 The deeds of this purchase of more than 4(50,000 acres are m bis handwriting In neithei case was there ever any snb.se quent trouble with the Maoris in refer ence to these purchases Not a solitary representative ot the Government bad dared to remain at his post after the sacking of Kororareka George Clarke volunteered tc get in touch with Tamati Waakf Nene -md other friendly chiefs, urging then? to hold Heike in the North All through the war he remained there as Government Agent and helped Governor Grey in the negotia tion? that ted to settled peace At the -lose of the war Clarke with drew from New Zealand | olitics He went to England in s B4B and studied there foT the church. Alf his mature manhood was passed as a Congregational minister in Tasmania, where he died m 1913 at the age of eighty-nine He held the honourable position of Chancellor of the University of Tasmania His brother, Henry, was a much-trusted judge of the Land Court of New Zealaaj.