NEW ZEALANDS PIONEER PATHFINDERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22504, 22 August 1936, Page 9 (Supplement)

NEW ZEALANDS PIONEER PATHFINDERS

The Missionary Pioneers " were very tired and huntiry, and sore with. so much. walking over bendders and stones in the bed of the. river, ami with the incessant wailing; IOS times did we wade in this dint's march; in soma places the current teas so strong and the water so deep that ire could scarcely keep our footing. The water, ton, was icy cold. . . . Alter my return, I suffered mere than hen months from sciatica, brought on by these wndings in icy ,eater, bivouacking and want of proper nourishment.'" - —Bishop Colenso, after his expedition through the Runhine Ranges in I 843

M°rf. than half a century passed - between the first visit of Captain Cook t6 New Zealand and the visit of the first missionary pathfinder, the Rev. Samuel Marsdcn. In the year l 807, the latter went to England from New South Wales and laid the foundation of the New Zealand Mission. A portion of a fetter written in connection with this great work sets forth the sound views he held on the subject of missionaries: "Since nothing, in my opinion, can pave the way for the introduction of the Gospel'but civilisation, which can only be accomplished, among the heathen by the arts, / would recommend that three mechanics be appointed to make the first attempt to form a missionary establishment in Xcie Zealand. One of these men should be a carpenter, another a smith, and the third a twine spinner. The carpenter would teach them to make a wheelbarrow, build a boat; the smith would teach them to make all their edged tools, nails, etc., and the twine spinner would teach them how to spin their flax or hemp, of which their clothing, fishing lines and nets arc made. . . .

NEXT SATURDAY

PIONEER SCIENTISTS

The arts and religion should go together."

The appointment of those splendid pioneer workers, Mr. William Hall. Thomas Kendall and John King, and their subsequent labours at the Mission Station in the Bay of Islands, proved the wisdom of this course of action. In December, 1814, Marsden reached the northern coast, and on Christmas Day preached his first historic sermon on New Zealand soil: " Behold, 1 bring you glad tidings of great joy." The following day the natives began to build a large building for the missionaries to live in, the smith's forge Was erected, and everyone capable of working was busily employed'in erecting accommodation for the new station, and thus civilisation was brought to New Zealand.

During his frequent visits to the country Marsden made many trips into the wild country of the North, being the first European to make a systematic and extensive exploration of the inland districts. Hitherto, only the areas close to the coast had been visited by the white men; Marsden went fearlessly through all parts of the country, taking with him native guides, pushing up the various rivers whose course he had set himself to explore.

Prominent also among the pioneer path-finders of the North were the Rev. Henry Williams, minister in charge of the Church Missionary Society's station Paihia, and the Rev. William Colinso, whose special task it was to translate and'print in Maori the Scriptures and other works necessary for the mission.

An interesting account of the activities of these two great men is container! in Professor Elder's book, Explorers of N'ew Zealand," in which he describes vividly a trip undertaken by Mr. Colenßo to the blot Lakes District. Thence h e made his way in a canoe f°i" nearly two hundred miles down the Waikato River to- the West Coast. In 1 843, he penetrated through difficult forust country to the great Ruahine mountain range. " In these journeys," Writes Professor Elder," he experienced

the difficulties that confronted the traveller who sought to penetrate the mysteries of the New Zealand hush, where the only path usually led either along the banks of a stream or followed the bed of the stream itself. ' Poor C olenso had some terrible experiences during these trips, " continually wet and very cold from the icy water," he wrote in his account of the Ruahine trip, " and without the rays of the sun in the deep, narrow bed of the river. . . ." Early in 1840, there arrived in Auckland the great pioneer Bishop of New Zealand, Gcorj;e Augustus Selwyn, beloved leader of the Church for many years, intrepid explorer and magnificent coloniser. No privations, perils, nor sufferings, deterred him in his determination to travel from one end of the country to the other. He journeyed on foot from Auckland to Wellington in l 844, and from Akaroa to the extreme south of the Soutli Island in the same way, coming into close personal touch, not only with the Maoris, but with the whalers and other European inhabitants of isolated spots never before visited by any member of the Church. I le gained the love and respect of all with whom he came in touch, his zeal for the glory of God being reinforced by a love of his fellowmen and a willingness to die, if necessary, in the cause to which, he had dedicated his life. Mis influence for good upon the life of the young community cannot be over-estimated, and his departure in l 867 from the scene of his unremitting labours, in order to take up his new duties as Bishop of Lichfield, was one of deep personal sorrow in the life of the entire community. Me taught the pakeha and the Maori how to live together as brothers, and, although this great ideal was temporarily wrecked by the Maori War. the breach was healed, and the seed sown by the great pioneer bishop came to full harvest in the spirit of harmony in which the two races have lived side by .side ever since.