MARSDEN HIMSELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21278, 3 September 1932, Page 1 (Supplement)

MARSDEN HIMSELF

REVEALED IN HIS JOURNALS

BT MATANGA

No more notable book on New Zealand has appeared than Professor Elder's "Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, 1765-1838." Its writer, who was at one time lecturer in British History at the University of Aberdeen and has proved since his appointment to the chair of history in the University of Otago his interest in the story of his adopted country, has done excellently a valuable piece of work. It is not flawless; nevertheless, great skill and careful diligence are evident on every one of its 550 pages, and it must become one of the standard books of its fascinating period. Its publishers for the Otago University Council— Messrs. Coulls Somerville Wilkie, Ltd., and A. H. Reed, of Dunedin—are to be congratulated on their share in the work. Behind them and the compiler is the late Dr. Hocken, to whose unflagging zeal in seeking and securing early manuscripts this country owes more than to any other. But for him, the data for such a book as this would not have been available. His enthusiasm for Marsden, and so for collecting material directly and indirectly bearing on the pioneer missionary's service to this country, leaves it ever in his debt. Back of all the moderns in this task of profound interest is Marsden himself, with his wonderful thoroughness in recording us well as observing. This amazing man has been well known for many a day. As was inevitable, every attempt to tell the tale of the first colony in New South Wales has given some space to him; earliest assistant chaplain of the convict settlement and from 1800 its senior, chaplain, a magistrate and administrator who was afraid neither of capricious Governors nor of the least law-abiding ruffian, a founder of Australia's pastoral and agricultural industries, he did much to redeem the life of that time from utter chaos and criminality. That he should have done so much here as well is more remarkable than the frequent telling of it. Nicholas, Woolls, J. B. Marsden and others had their say ere last century was scarcely half over, and they said it so well that the recent book by S. M. Johnstone did little more than tread familiar ground. Dr. Elder's book, fortunately, is of another class, the sort of book to which the student will turn with an eagerness equal -to that of the feneral reader. As the title suggests, Marsen speaks for himself; yet throughout there is a wealth of annotation, sidelights from other records, corrections of mistaken impressions, and verbal and pictorial illustrations that add materially to the sum of information.

Marsden left no journals of the fifth and last of his seven journeys from Sydney to New Zealand, but from his letters and other reliable sources Dr. Elder has been able to supply this lack. A wellrounded story, from the beginning of the New South Wales chaplaincy to the death of Marsden in 1838, is the welcome result. Exacting Tasks With the earlier pages most New Zealanders. of to-day may not be inclined to dally, for they belong chiefly to Sydney and Parramatta; yet none anxious to understand the man, and therefore his handling of difficult situations as they arose in thet New Zealand mission, can safely pass them by. Those earliest days of New South Wales were shockingly evil; one does not go to Marsden's letters and journals for evidence of that—it is painfully written wherever the story has been told in official and unofficial description. No . more severe test of Christian courage and mundane sagacity can be imagined. How Marsden bore himself in that test —not always to the satisfactfon of his superiors and colleagues, and naturally to the displeasure of many under his legal authority—will always be interesting for its revelation of the man faced with other but not altogether dissimilar trouble as his New Zealand enterprise developed. On both sides of the Tasman he had

detractors and, on both as devoted admirers as any man could be privileged to have. Dr. Elder is content with a few shrewd comments where the story takes these turns, leaving the documents themselves to bear most of the burden of fact and testimony. With adequate justice, the points, of view taken by those with whom Marsden was at variance are given in their own words. It is the right way, and helps the bo6k to render its best service. Survivals of early controversy will not be stilled by summary judgment on any point left still in dispute. Power and Poise It would be a mistake, however, to think of the "Letters and Journals" as offering, in the main, a new battleground for old quarrels. Of course, pained and perplexed as he often was, Marsden must needs write much and often to the London committee of the Church Missionary Society about the misfortunes of the venture. To have hidden any disappointment would have been wrong and unhelpful. Yet he is seldom overborne by adversity. All things considered, his poise is marvellous, and there is an obvious anxiety to be just that wins warm approval as the trying days are reviewed at this useful distance. For his great task—a wholly voluntary one, it ought to be remembered —he had the heart of a lion. A little thing shows. He was a poor sailor, always prone to distressing sea-sickness, yet he came again and again, in different vessels—his Active so small that the boisterous Tasman tossed her about like a cork; and on the last journey, taken to see how things were going after days of shine and shadow for the mission, he was well over seventy and had to be carried in a litter through many miles of hilly bush country. The maps of his coastal and inland journey 3 tell in impressive way a tale of dauntless activity; the journals treat lightly conditions of hardship that would have broken the resolve of all but the most enthusiastic and heroic. Here was a man! He does not say so. These things were all in the day's work. But the mere narration of them, by way of report to the London committee, is enough to let the truth about his fibre of mind and soul leak out. Keen Observer

Of high value are his descriptions of the country itself, some parts of which he was the first white man to -see. Even more valuable are his accounts of Maori ways of life; not always exact in remote detail but marvellously true and enlightening for so early a research. Dr. ElcLer has crowded into his comments a wealth of confirming fact, yet kept an orderliness that occasional repetitions serve rather than destroy. To give a summary of the book's contents is impossible. Even to pick out a highlight of its picturing of some activity or person would do it injustice, for Marsden's judgment was a living thing, always undergoing modification as time passed and fuller knowledge came. It will be quotable to a degree, but its users should have a care lest they bo confounded by something they have overlooked. Its indexing—a need in such a book—has been done fairly well. Further attention to this should be given when another edition is required. Some slips of nomenclature have defeated obvious care. There is a representation of the Marsden memorial, at the famous Oihi Beach, that shows the cross as it was before injury and alteration; and the site is noted as at "Russell," an unhappy error twice committed. The blemishes, however, are but spots on the sun, so much there is of light and warmth throughout the intimate telling of a story that is the most splendid in oui; aDnals..