FOUNDING A CAPITAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21912, 22 September 1934, Page 1 (Supplement)

FOUNDING A CAPITAL

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

BY MATANGA

On a September day in 1840 Auckland had its first fete in celebration of the choice that made it, for about a quarter of a century, the capital of New Zealand. When the various birthdays of the Dominion —a land of many scattered beginnings—get properly sorted out, September 18 will get its due share of remembrance on that account. There was ceremony of the approved order: landing of an official party, hoisting of the flag, salutes of guns, a Koyal health toasted, cheers and more cheers, a luncheon for the- elite and a regatta for all and sundry, including the interested and hospitable Maori. Let us set things out in order. At the end of January the appointed Lieutenant-Governor had arrived at the Bay of Islands. A week later tho initial negotiations of tho crucial treaty of cession were well in hand. Before February passed, Hobson was testing on the spot the advice of Henry Williams that southward —Tamaki or Waitemata —a good location would be found for the needed headquarters of the Government. Hobson's illness caused somo delay in this project. Then in June, aboard the revenue cutter Hangei, he was again bound from the Bay of Islands, temporarily his seat of authority, for tho favoured location. Ho gave it general approval. The precise spot had yet to be chosen and purchased from its native owners in terms of the treaty, these steps soon being taken. So wo come to the joyous September day. In the meanwhile Hobson continued to administer affairs from his temporary scat in the far north. That he meant to leave it as soon as the chosen place was ready is clear from the decisive tone of references in his despatches. " In the choice I have thus made," he writes in one of them, " I have been influenced by a combination of circumstances: First, by its central position; secondly, by tlie great facility of internal water communication by the Kaipara and its branches to the northward, and the Manakou (Manukau) and Waiknto to the southward; thirdly, from the facility and safety of its port, and the proximity of several smaller ports abounding with the most valuable timber; and, finally,, by the fertility of tho soil, which is stated, by persons capable of appreciating it, to be available for every agricultural purpose." The New Era At Port Nicholson these reasons were derided, for its inhabitants deemed their claims to the capital unanswerable, but dispassionate historical judgment approves the choice then made. However, there was scarcely anything on the site but bracken, and so it remained until the expedition in September got well into the pioneering task. '•'A capital!" writes Sir John Logan Campbell recalling his earliest days there, " a few boats and canoes on tho beach, a few tents and breakwind huts along the margin of the bay, and then —a sea of fern stretching away as far as the eye could reach." The gala day began the work that was to say goodbye to all that. What happened is amply recorded. The official party arrived on September 15 in the ship Anna Watson. Sho first came to anchor where satisfactory soundings had earlier been taken, to the westward of the present wharves. Then, further soundings having revealed a deeper channel to the east, the vessel was moved next day to an anchorage there, near what was later named Point Britomart (colloquially Soldiers' Point), destined to bo levelled long afterwards in foreshore alterations. Eastward of the point the official staff took up its quarters in a temporary encampment. Hence the name Official Bay. Adjacent was Mechanics' Bay, equally well labelled. A Contemporary Account As the great day has become important in discussion of a moot point, contemporary accounts of it are worth citing in their actual words. The New Zealand Advertiser and Bay of Islands Gazette of September 24 gave the ceremony space:

The barque Anna "Watson, having on board several officers of the Government, mechanics, labourers, etc., anchored in the Harbour of Waitemata. on Tuesday, the 15th instant, and the site for the intended Settlement on its shores having been selected by the Surveyor-General, on Friday, the l"tn September, at 1 p.m., the ceremony of taking formal possession in the name of Her Majesty was duly performed. The -whole party having landed, the British Flag was hoisted on a staff, erected on a bold promontory commanding a view of the entire harbour. The Flag was immediately ealuted by twe.nty-one guns from the Anna Watson, followed by a salute of fifteen guns from the barque Platina, after which Her Majesty's health was drunk at the foot of the flagstaff, and greeted by three times three hearty cheers. The Anna Watson then fired a salute of seven guns in honour of His Excellency the LieutenantGovernor. which was responded to by three hearty cheers and "one cheer more" from those on shore. The party then returned to the Anna Wat-son. and, after partaking of luncheon, a regatta took pliice between a five-oared gig belonging to the Surveyor-General and a six-oared gig belonging to tho Anna Watson. both pulled in excellent style by amateurs. This was followed by a match for a purse of five pounds between two whale-boats pulled by sailors, and by another between two large canoes paddled by Natives. And thus concluded the ceremony of founding the first British Settlement established under the auspices of the Government in this part of New Zealand: a ceremony the more interesting as this settlement is intended for the future Capital of what we may venture to predict will one dav become a mighty empire. The Officers of the Government present, on So occasion consisted of the Police Magisate, the Colonial Surgeon, the Harbourmaster, the Superintendent of Works, the Sub-Protector of Aborigines, and the Sur-veyor-General and his lady. " Government House" This press account had noticd in Port Nicholson, and afterwards Edward Jerningbam Wakefield, in hiii "Adventures in New Zealand," made caustic comment upon it. The share of the Platina in the proceedings was probably somewhat galling to the New Zealand Company and its settlers in Cook Strait. She had been chartered by the company to take provisions from England to Port Nicholson, but at the request of the British Government her departure was delayed in order that she might carry the materials for Captain Hobson's house. Thereupon tho provisions were transhipped to tho Brougham, and the directors sent Colonel Wakefield instructions to have the house —it was virtually complete, needing only to bo put together—carefully forwarded to any place the Lieu-tenant-Governor might name. They made no attempt to disglliso their hope that the place would be Wellington, and intimated their wish that Colondl Wakefield should allot a suitable site for this first "Government House" and render all possiblo assistance in its erection. By the time the Platina reached New Zealand waters it was known that Hobson had chosen the Waitemata, not Port Nicholson, and the vessel accordingly went on northward. She arrived in the Waitemata two or three days Lefore the Anna Watson—the first English merchant vessel, it is said, to enter and was on hand with thg Governor s house and a salvo in honour of the place he had chosen. Did anyone in Wellington, hearing afterwards that the Platina had made the chartless harbour bv the Motuihi Channel and got aground on the Bean Bocks, bemoan her floating off, uninjured, at the next tide ?