LEADERS OF THE PAST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21876, 11 August 1934, Page 8

LEADERS OF THE PAST

NOTABLE FIGURES EARLY NEW ZEALANDERS SIR FREDERICK A. WELD BY GUT H. SCHOLEFIELD . (Copyright) Weld, who was Premier of New Zea land at a very critical period, and was afterwards governor of three British colonies, is a very striking figure in our history. Born in 1823, he came on both sides of prominent English Catholic families. His grandfather. Thomas Weld, gave hospitality to many monks driven out from France after the Revolution, founded convents and missions, established Stonyhurst College, and received into his own house (Lulworth Castle) the fugitive king of France, Charles X.

Frederick's delicate health disappointed his aspirations for a military life. He went to Stonyhurst, enjoyed his poetry and English, became fond of games and fishing. Then to Firiburg University (Switzerland), with many relatives—Vavasours, Cliffords, and Welds. He left Friburg at Easter, 1843, and declined a nomination 1:0 the Austrian Army as he desired to remain under the British flag. His relatives, Petre, Clifford and Vavasour, had already gone tcf New Zealand, and in the end Weld bought an order from the New Zealand Company for 100 acres of country land and a town lot and sailed by the Theresa in 1843. He landed at Wellington in 1844, and, finding that hia cousins had entered into negotiations with some Wairarapa chiefs, he offered to help them with their sheep round to the station at Wharekaka, Palliser Bay. There he remained for months shepherding and growing crops of English vegetables. Farmer and Explorer When hostilities broke out in the Hutt Valley in 1846, Weld guided the force across the hills from the Hutt to Porirua and showed great courage and resource. The constant exposure in the Wairarapa and the impossibility of expansion prompted Weld to look for new pastures, and early in 1847 he began exploring in the South Island. He found suitable country and established Flaxbourne. There were no neighbours within 40 miles, but the country was good and Weld (as an expert yachtsman) was closer to Wellington than at Wharekaka. Weld and Clifford, in partnership, took down 2000 sheep and another 500 on a share arrangement. Weld delighted in breaking in the country and building his home, planting " English trees, and erecting a Roman Catholic Chapel. The demand of the colonists for selfgovernment attracted Weld's support in 1847, and he complained of Grey'a obstruction. Grey, for his part, offered Weld a seat in his legislative Council, but it was declined in the belief that the council as then constituted was merely a blind. Soon after Weld joined / the newly formed Settlers' Constitutional Association.

In 1850 Weld spent some time exploring the approaches to the proposed Canterbury settlement from the north, and returning to Flaxbourne on foot. Another of his expeditions disclosed a pass through the Kaikoura mountains, connecting Canterbury with the Wairau Plain. He also discovered some fine country which he and Clifford took up together under the name of Stonyhurst. Then he paid a visit to England and spent months yachting, visiting relatives and collaborating with Sewell, Fox and Wakefield in the discussions at Hams Hall which led up to the New Zealand Constitution. Entry to Parliament

In the first House of Representatives weld was elected member for Wairau. Shortly after Parliament met the famous controversy arose over the opening prayer. The "Roman Catholic members resisted strongly anything that might give predominance to any religion, and since then prayers in Parliament have always been ssiid by the Speaker. The first Government, consisting of Fitzgerald, Sewell, Bell and Weld, resigned when Wynyard would not accept the responsible principle.

The House was prorogued and Weld, with the Hon. James Stuart Wortley, made a long journey through the North Island. In 1854, hearing of the eruption in Hawaii, they chartered a sailing vessel and made an adventurous examination of the volcano of Mauna Loa. Having resigned his seat in ™'» nt Weld went on to England. In 1858 he was again elected member for Wairau. Later that year he left tor England, where he was married in March, 1859. A serious illness detained xr m -® n ß^ an d, and he did not reach New Zealand until early in IS6O. Ministerial Responsibility

Weld s principle of treating • the natives was: " At all risks be just; at all risks be firm." At the moment of nis return the Waitara war broke out, and a few months later Stafford invited cl S « s as a mein ber of the executive. Stafford relied upon his advice, especially m the attempt to bring about a peace at Waitara. The Ministry went out of office in 1861, and for the next rew years Weld was free to live the life °L a c /> untr y gentleman and to look alter the improvement of his estate. Late in 1864, being sent for by Grey to form a Ministry, Weld laid down firmly his conditions, namely, real responsibility for native and European aitairs; an amnesty to natives who had resisted the Government; the confiscation of rebel land; and the removal of t" e se] ?t of government to Wellington torthwith. Grey accepted the terms cordially and W 7 eld took office with Sewell, Fitzherbert, Richardson and A Man of Honour Though in power for less than a year the Weld Ministry succeeded in inspiring the country with fresh confidence. Resolutions were passed terminating, with the greatest goodwill, the employment of British troops in the colony, and thus at the same time the unseemly friction that had existed between the Governor and the general officer commanding The self-reliant policy was ushered in by a series of operations by the volunteers and militia. But opposition grew on such measures as the Otago Reserves Bill and the stamp duties, and when the Government was defeated in 1865, Weld gladly advised that Stafford be sent for. Bell said of him: "He held the place of a man whose word was never doubted, whose honour was never questioned, whose advice was always sought, and whose counsel was never refused in cases of public difficulty." In 1867 Wild left for England. He was later Governor of West Australia, Governor of Tasmania and Governor of the Straits Settlements. He received the honour of K.C.M.G. in 1880, when he left Tasmania,

Weld stands out in the public life of New Zealand as a chevalier sans peur et sans reproche—a fine sample of the best type of Catholic aristocrat. Gisborne says he was "thoroughly genuine, with an attractive manner, which was frank and outspoken to a fault. He was the soul of honour, and he had a chivalrous sense of duty."