EARLY RECORDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22685, 24 March 1937, Page 18

EARLY RECORDS

DOMINION'S HISTORY

CENTURY-OLD DOCUMENTS

LOAN FROM WESLEYAN CHURCH FIRST MISSIONARIES' REPORTS [BY TELEGIIAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] "WELLINGTON, Tuesday A contribution erf tlio first importance to the records of the early colonisation of New Zealand, particularly from 1819 to 1855, has recently been secured by the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt, of Christchurch, from the archives of tho Wesleyan Church in London. The papers throw new light on various episodes in the history of the young colony from the coming of the first missionaries until the beginnings of self-government, and have much to toll of the relationships of the whites and the Maoris. No historian has hitherto made a thorough examination of these documents, either from ignorance of their existence or from failure to appreciate their significance and genuine historic value. The Internal Affairs Department and tho authorities at tho Turn bull Library, Wellington, describe them as the most important acquisition for 20 years. Priceless Material Mr. Rugby Pratt, who is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society of London and custodiaji of the early records of the Methodist Church of New Zealand, has the documents on loan for two years on condition that they shall not in any circumstances be allowed out of his possession. They are sufficient to fill a case. A cursory examination shows that tho material is as priceless as it is irreplacable. The earliest letters are from the Rev. Samuel Leigh, who first came to New Zealand in 1819 at tho request of the Rev. Samuel Marsden to report on the Anglican Mission, then being conducted by lay agents only. Large numbers of such letters, reports, diaries and journals have been stored for more than a century in the archives of the Wesleyan Church in London. There are letters written in 1819 by Thomas Kendell, of the Anglican Mission, and large portions of journals kept by the Rev. William White, Nathaniel Turner, James Stack (father of the late Canon Stack), John Hobbs, James Wallis, Charles Creed, James Watkin and many other pioneer Wesleyan missionaries. Accounts of Stirring Times Graphic first-hand versions are given of the capture of the ship Mercury, of the attack on the Endeavour, and several accounts gleaned from Maori participants in the capture of the Boyd in ISO 9 and the massacre of her crew; the movements and activities of such well-known Maori chiefs as Hongi, Waikato, Te Pui, Hone Heke, Patuone, Tamati Waaka Nene and many others, and stirring accounts of missionary intervention in tribal warfare. There is some material throwing new light on the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. A letter sent to the Wesleyan missionaries in New Zealand in 1839 supplies confidential information about the proposed mission of Captain Hobson to New Zealand and bespeaks the help of the missionaries' influence in forwarding his project. There are copies of letters from Earl Grey concerning the conditions of the treaty, and from Lord Stanley in regard to certain land problems of a later period. Mr. Rugby Pratt is considering various methods of copying the-documents. Ho hopes that copies may ho made available not only for the records department of tho Methodist Church in Christchurch, and for the Methodist College archives in Auckland, but also for such public institutions as the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington and the Hocken Library in Dunedin.