WAIKATO CENTENARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20716, 8 November 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

WAIKATO CENTENARY.

BY MATANGA.

MARSHALL'S MEMOIRS.

The period of centenaries through which this generation of New Zealanders is now passing brings ono of special interest to this provincial district. It is a hundred years on November 10 since the first permanent settler of the Waikato arrived to try his fortuno in trade. Ho was Captain William Marshall, and to his writing of his memoirs is due whatever detailed knowledge wo hnvo of life in the Waikato a century ago. Ho was an unusual sort of man, even in days when men were not cut to pattern and the' principle of interchangeable parts had not brought the standardised machine. Ho seems to have escaped the fate of becoming the "pakeha" of any particular tribe, but his avoidance of proprietary servitude did not prevent his boing on good terms with the Maori thereabouts, and on at least ono casual adventure ho was protected by assumed possession on tho part of a friendly chief. Freo in great measure to come and go as ho pleased, as far as Sydney on a special occasion, ho saw life on the big river in thoso epochal days, sharing its opportunities of trade, and being of special servico when tho venturesome missionaries first settled. A few other white men move in his record, but they are shadowy,, and in some instances their names aro incompletely recorded. Marshall tells of one " Captain Payno, a resident trader," living then in a sheltered nook to the southward of Waikato Heads. Only in theso memoirs has he mention. Apparently, he had been in residence there for some time before Marshall settled, for when the brigantino brought Marshall into the offing of that treacherous " port pf entry" Payne's help was enlisted by her master in getting her across the bar, to safe anchorage," opposite Te Rori a Karahi." So the " Sydney Packet" came to harbour, and Marshall and tho rest, were greeted with a typical Maori welcome, its weeping and eating both being on a scale that astonished the recorder greatly. On that voyage was a certain S. Paul, part owner of the Packet. He passes early from the story. " Logan the manservant" remains for a while. Of Captain Payne, Marshall's predecessor, some things are told, but -he made no settled stay, as Marshall did, and does not compete with the latter for the honour of recall as pioneer. Ono or two more appear in dim outline, including a man who came to grief trying to cross the island from Kawhia " to the Thames. " Resolute and Determined."

They bear the stamp of truthful narration. Early in Marshall's enterprising days, spent much in getting flax for export to Sydney, came a trip inland from the Heads, with Captain Payne and Logan, as the special exhibits of an important Maori visit to the Waipa. Everywhere they were met with hospitality, sometimes with embarrassing curiosity.. The pakeha then was a stranger indeed. Once, when a party of self-invited sightseers came from a neighbouring village to feast their eyes oil the white men, Marshall mistook their purpose for something more menacing, and only in the nick of time was prevented from firing on them. Naively lie writes, "Prom the action I had taken I gained the credit of being a resolute and determined warrior, which I believe I have retained ever since." , . _ With a strict eye to business, Payne got almost enough flax on that trip to freight the Sydney Packet for her return journcY- The dozen canoes that took a week going up the Waikato came back to the Heads in two days. As the first venture so far inland, this journey made history. What transpired in the months Immediately following is of a piece with most trading adventures in new lands, difficulties attendant on getting and shipping cargo, quarrels between rival traders, and sundry lawless outbreaks, thieatenine to bring the most astute ventures to nothing. There was a pretty quarrel between Marshall and the master of a visiting vessel over the ownership of a cannon brought from Sydney. The captain claimed it, apparently in the hope of selling it to raise money for wages; Marshall had bought it m Sydney, lhe crew stood to their captain, till Marshall sallied forth with a brace of pistols and what he calls a "mild threat, vowing to shoot the man nearest to tlie property in dispute. A grim affray was averted-think of it!—by the intervention of a chief, Te Karekare, who enforced a temporary peace by threatening to side with Marshall. t I

Maori Life. The most vivid parts of this very human document are devoted to descriptions of Maori life, written in a matter-of-fact style, but with all the more value 011 that account. There is 110 missing the truth that a hundred years ago the Maori, hangi held many a human victim, and Marshall's verbal chamber of horrors contains instance on instance. To cite them in detail would serve no useful purpose. Enough to know that the whole region of the YVaikato, a smiling pleasance today, was not so long ago the scene of many a cannibal orgy, as well a* sanguinary battle. Times have changed, with impressive raniditv. Nor was the Maori the sole provoker of concern for law; the Sydney courts, even in later clays, had occasion to deal with murder of white by white, committed in the region. But we turn from these sordid things in what Marshall calls his " hodge podge of memories M to ,pleasanter themes. One, which rnijjht have had a sorrier ending, is a journey across the island to Kopu, in search of needed stores. Marshall and another, seeking shelter on that venturesomo journey, found it in a small piece of hush, " tapu '* to the owning tribe. Their offence was unwitting but serious, and only the protection of Te Alio, a chief with whom they had set. out, saved them from death. " Why are you insulting my pakehas ? Who dares to molest my pakehas! I have shown you great favour in allowing them to visit you. Launch their boat for thern. and let them leave gladly people so inhospitable!" And Marshall says that he and his companion were glad to get away—across the Firth of Thames—" notwithstanding the boisteronsness of the weather."

Helping the Missionaries, Later in tho record is tho talc of the coming of the missionaries, tho Wesleyans to Kawhia in 1834, and Mr. Hamlin and others of the Church. Missionary Society to Marigapouri, at the junction of the Puniu and tho Waipa, a year later. Marshall tried his hand at brick-making for the chimneys of the mission house at Marigapouri, and succeeded so well that lie found somo of the bricks still sound thirty-eight years afterwards. But a handy man never lacked occupation in thoso days, and this man, as handy as any, is revealed helping' tho missionaries in teaching tho Maori how'to read and write and marvelling at the facility with which these pakeha accomplisments were acquired. Despite tho grimness of so much of the story, it has many pleasant pictures. Yet through it all, down to the days of the turbulent 'sixties, there runs a thread of difficulties facing the pakeha invasion, even when that was most kindly meant. Much water has flowed out through Waikato Heads since then, but the hazardous beginning of the spreading prosperity it has witnessed on the way ia not, so far behind.