Makers of Early Auckland—Some Names Held in Honour

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21647, 13 November 1933, Page 14 (Supplement)

Makers of Early Auckland—Some Names Held in Honour

[KE every other city, Auckland has had many makers. She stands to-day the visible embodiment of the thought and toil of thousands, high-placed and humble, poor and rich, workers with hand and brain. In the natural order of human things the achievements and even the names of these men and women have passed for most part into oblivion. Individually unknown, they are yet honoured collectively by their heirs of to-day, as witness the tablet upon the Grafton Bridge and the inscription upon the arclnvay leading to the Anglican section of the Symowls Street Cemetery, which commemorates those buried there, " who, in their day and generation, worthily upheld the standards of civic duty and the ideals of the Christian faith." On the other hand, as is also natural, somo personalities stand out boldly in the history of early Auckland, men notable for what they accomplished and for what they were. Here, as elsewhere, experience has proved that the deepest inark upon their own and later generations is made by those who contribute to the spiritual heritage of a people by their character and example.

It is well to know that clue honour is clone year by year to the memory of Auckland's founder, Captain William Hobson, first Governor of New Zealand, and to his resting-place in the heart of the city. Until the discovery a few years ago of a revealing diary and letters, Hobson was to the casual student of history a figure rather than a personality. Even as a figure he lias long been misrepresented. The best-known portrait of him shows a boyish naval officer in his twenties, and must have been made years before Hobson set foot in New Zealand. Fortunately, there is extant another which depicts him as he was in later life, and which gives a clear index to the character of the man. Hobson's record in the two years and eight months between his arrival and his death in September, 1842, is eloquent enough. Within a few days of landing he negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi, whereby the native chiefs throughout New Zealand eventually ceded their sovereign rights to the Queen. A few weeks hitor he was seized by a paralytic stroke. The illness was grave enough to have justified him in relinquishing his post and returning to Sydney and England, but he was not a man of that temper. Under the care of the missionaries at Waiinate he made his way back to partial health and carried on with the work of establishing British rule until death intervened " His best monument," writes the Hon. W. Pember lleeves, " is the city which he founded, and the most memorable verdict on his life is written in a letter addressed by a Maori chief to the Queen. ' Let not the New Governor be a boy or one puffed up,' said this petition. 'Let not a troubler come amongst us. Let him be a good man like this Governor who has just died.' When these words were written the judgment of the English in New Zealand would have been very different. But time has vindicated Hobson's honesty and courage, and in some respects his discernment. He anticipated the French, baffled the land-sharks, kept the peace, was generous to the Maori and founded Auckland. No bad record this for the harassed, dying sailor, sent to stand bet ween liis own countrymen and savages at the very end of the earth, and left almost without men or money! If under him the colonists found their lot almost unbearable, the fault was chiefly that of his masters. Most of his impolicy came from Downing Street; most of his good deeds were his own. It must be remembered that he was sent to New Zealand not to push on settlement, but to protect the natives and assert the Queen's authority. An English sailor, he did his duty." Auckland was fortunate in having among its citizens for many years two great men who were actors upon a wider stage —Sir George Grey and Bishop Selwyn. Their presence was, in the words of one of Selwyn's biographers, "undoubtedly the most wholesome of all those formative influences which gave tone to the infant nation in the critical days when the foundations of its character were being laid." Though their work extended far beyond the confines of the city, arid both ended their days in the Old Country, they were equally lovers of Auckland. Each left behind him not only memories of true greatness but also a tangible heritago of beautiful things. Sir George Grey's connection with Auckland falls into three clear divisions: His first Governorship, from 1845 to 1854; his second Governorship, from 18G1 to 18(>7, after his term in

Capo Colony, and his last period of Parliamentary activity and retired leisure, from 1870 to 1894. His two Governorships belong to general rather than to local history, but in Auckland tho influence of his strong, complex and selfcontradictory character were profoundly felt, especially during the critical period of the Maori wars. It was upon his return to New Zealand as a private citizen that his relationship with tho citizens developed to the full. In his beautiful island home at Kawau, "the great proconsul" entertained many visitors, who canio to enjoy tho charm of his conversation and to browse in his wonderful library. In 1874 he consented to become Superintendent of the province and entered Parliament as a humble private member to defend the Constitution that as Governor he had framed years before. Old Aucklanders who took part in the election campaigns of the 'seventies and 'eighties still remember tho feasts of oratory that Sir George provided. Though he had been an autocrat in office, he was a radical at heart, and it has been said that no New Zealand statesman

has ever equalled him in power to sway an audience. In 18S7, having given already an immensely valuable library to Caj>etown a quarter of a century earlier, Sir George took the erection of the public library in Welleslcy Street as the occasion for presenting to the city his entire collection of some 12,000 volumes, including medieval illuminated books, manuscripts, autograph letters and literary treasures. These, ho rightly held, were invaluable as seeds of culture in a young community. Ho earnestly hoped that these links with the learning, art and literature of other lands and times and with the personalities of great men would prove an inspiration to youth and help to make Auckland a seat of learning. By the generosity of Sir George Grey and the late Mr. Alexander Turnbull, founder of the Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand has become possessed

LEGACIES OF COURAGE

of 26 years. To-day, as then, he stands forth as a born leader, strong in mind and body, careless of hardship and danger, and unswervingly devoted to the cause he served. This very devotion earned him much unpopularity among the colonists during the period of the Maori wars, and in Auckland this feeling was probably stronger than elsewhere. Selwyn held that he was called to minister to both Maori and European, but that the Maori was his special care. He accompanied the troops in the Waikato as chaplain and succoured the wounded of both sides under the heaviest fire and utterly regardless of bullets. When hostilities ended he was awarded a soldier's medal for the campaign. His example of courage and self-sacrifice bore fruit, and although much of his work for the Maoris had been wrecked, his advocacy of their rights was seen in its true worth. When ho finally left to take up his new work as Bishop

of treasures which otherwise sho could scarcely have hoped to own. In his last years in the colony, Sir George was aptly described as " the only person in New Zealand to whom everybody took olf his hat," for the very good reason that lie was also " the onlv person who took ofi his hat to everybody." Until his departure in 1894 for England, where he died fo'ir years later, Jus venerable figure was a familiar sight in Auckland streets. "It was an amusing sight to watch the gravity and courtliness with which the great pro-consul returned the salutes ot even tiny children," writes one of his biographers, Murray. " Little shy boys, pulling off their hats to him in a shamefaced way, saw him in return bare his venerable locks with the same gesture with which he would respond to the greeting of an archbishop.' Auckland cherishes the memory of Sir George Grey and will never forget the debt it owes him. As a minister of religion, Bishop Selwvn came directly into contact with the people of Auckland throughout his New Zealand career

of Lichfield, he carried away "the esteem of all the enmity of none." His material legacy to Auckland was a number of beautiful little churches and other buildings which are now" recognised as gems of architecture and are lovingly preserved as memorials of a great and good man. In the front rank of those who helped to mould the destiny of Auckland is Sir John Logan Campbell, the young Scottish surgeon who settled upon the shores of the Waiteniata before the city was founded, who witnessed its birth, was one of its chief citizens for three-quarters of a century, and in the closing years of a Jong life was one of its most generous benefactors. Sir John's many splendid gifts to the city and the Dominion, including ;ho beautiful pleasure-ground of Cornwall Park and his endowment for a chair of agriculture, now held at Massey College, have tended to overshadow the service that he rendered in helping to establish the infant city upon sure foundations of good government, trade and finance. As Superintendent of the Province, 1855-56, as a member of the Stafford Ministry, 1856-61, and in many other capacities, he did much public good. In the course of over half a century he figured

as chairman, director or trustee of over 40 Auckland and colonial business and financial concerns, many of which have played an important part in the progress of New Zealand. Nevertheless, it was rightly said of Sir John that his interests were artistic rather than commercial. For him " Tamaki of the Hundred Lovers " never lost the beauty and romance which he had found in it before the days of settlement and which fill his " Poenamo " with pages of lyrical prose. Among early Aucklanders who combined the man of action and the idealist, none better deserve remembrance than Josiah Clifton Firth. A Yorkshireman, he reached Auckland by way of Australia, and with two partners founded a prosperous fiourmilling business. In 1866, when the effects of the Waikato War were still being felt and the vicinity of the Maori king's border was far from safe, he purchased from the natives 25,000 acres of land in the Upper Thames Valley, naming it the Matamata Estate. This he proceeded to bring under cultivation. For years his employees had to go armed, and it was only his good relations with Wiremu Tamehana and other friendly chiefs that prevented loss of life. Three times the women and children had to be Eent to Cambridge for safety, and a concrete tower or blockhouse was built as a place of refuge. On one occasion Mr. Firth met the rebel Te Kooti arid courageously tried to persuade him to surrender. He opened up water communication between the estate and the sea, and built 20 miles of road to Cambridge. Unfortunately, after nearly 30 years of effort, the venture just failed to outlast the economic depression of the 'eighties, and Mr. Firth lost the estate in 1594, just as better times were beginning to dawn. To-day his former property is one of the finest dairying districts in New Zealand and carries a large population. Another pioneer cast in the same mould was Kobert Graham, a Scot who arrived in 1842 by the Jane Gifford. His friendship with Hone Heko enabled him to save his trading stock before the burning of Kororareka. As early as 1844 he purchased the Waiwera hot-springs from the chief Te Hemara and established a spa there. In later years, and long before the Government took any interest in the thermal regions, ho opened a sanatorium at Ohinemutu and also developed Wairakei. A successful man of business, he entered. Parliament in 1852, and was aboard the White Swan when she was wrecked on the East Coast ten years later, and practically all the records of the Government, in transit to the new capital in Wellington, wore lost. His energy and courage were mainly responsible for landing the ship's company in safety, and he led a party through the territory of turbulent tribes to Wellington to obtain assistance. On the return journey to Auckland in the Lord Worsley, he was wrecked near Waitara. By strength of character alone he prevented the natives from massacring the whole of the 60 castaways. After getting them to safety he returned and suoeeeded in browbeating the chiefs into giving up £6OOO in gold-dust which was contained in the ship's safe. In the same year he was elected Superintendent of Auckland and served his adopted country well until his death in 18S5,