HISTORIC DIARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23340, 8 May 1939, Page 8

HISTORIC DIARY

LIBEAEY PUBCHASE ; OLD SCRIBBLED NOTEBOOK E. J. WAKEFIELD'S MANUSCRIPT [BY TET.EGEAPH —TRESS A^OCTATIOX] WELLINGTON, Saturday An old scribbled notebook brounht in to the Turnbtill Library for inspection recently proved to be a nianuscript diary of Edward Jermnchanj Wakefield. An interesting, and. rain, able addition to the national collection of historic literature, it was purchased for £lO.

Many old books 4or the most part worthless are broaght in to the Turn, bull librarians Tilth the requests to assess their valu* or as offerings f or sale or presentation to the library. Rarely is a real treasure found among the dross. A glance at the flyleaf, however, assurer! the assistant-libra-' rian, Miss A. Wcodhouse, of the value of this ancient and battered notebook. On that page wf.s written, "E. Jem! ingham Wakefielcl, April 30, 1839." Kept for Forty-nine Yeaiß The owner of the book was Mr. J. C. Seager. of Titahi Bay. Forty-nine years ago, a Mrs. Chew, of Boycott's Farm, Hutt Vulley, the scene of a memorable engagement during the Hutt hostilities, gave the notebook to Mr. Seager's father. It has remained in the possession of the, family ever since. The Turnbull librarian, Mr. 0/ R. H. Taylor, immediately obtained authority to purchase the book. Mr. Taylor said the book formed a valuable addition to the collection of early New Zealand manuscripts at the Turnbull Library and would be of considerable interest to historians, although it added little to what had alreadv been published by Jerningham Wakefield. The notebook, which was an, ordinary shilling one, fairly' well bound, comprised a diary of Wakefield's travels between March It, 1840, and July, 1840, as wol! as further entries in 1843. They included a Maori vocabulary, coastal sailing a barter list and several pencil sketches and maps. The greater part is scribbled in now faded ink. and the rest in pencil. The first portion takes up the narrative of Wakefield's adventures in New Zealand and carries the story through some three subsequent chapters. Later entries refer to the Wairau massacre and other miscellaneous notes shed an interesting light on life in the young country. The dale on the flyleaf indicates that Wakefield purchased the diary in London a few days before the sailing of the .'survey ship Tory, exactly 100 yearn ago to-morrow

Careful Study The diary will be carefully examined and studied by research workers of the National Historical Coramittee, and it is likely that its- contents or from it will be incorporated in the literature at present being prepared by the committee for the centennial celebrations. " • ?

The monetary value of the notebook would be difficult to assess, beinp entirely dependant upon the price individual collectors w„ould be prepared to pay for such a. volume were it ererput up for sale. It may be said,%aw«, that its literary and sentimental fate here in the city which its author helped found is very considerable. It is perhaps the most important literary treasure disclosed as a result of the interest in early New Zealand history aroused by the Csntennial.

Air. Edward Jerningham Wakefield was the only son af Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the promoter of the New Zealand Company which, almost a century ago, played such a prominent part in the colonisation of the Colony, being associated with tbe founding of fire of the six original provinces, Auckland alone excepted. lloth Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield jud his son were, in 1853, elected mei abers of the first New Zealand Parliament, the first session of which was openei t in Auckland on May 27, 1854. Mr. Ji rningham Wakefield's "Adventures in New Zealand," published in England in the 'forties, earned him a prominent place in the literature of this country. I j "