Past Impressions.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 996, 3 April 1891, Page 10

Past Impressions.

No 2. (BY MR JOHN PLIMMER). ® Tor me to pretend to give anything like an accurate idea of the City of Wellington, or rather the site on ■which the city now stands and the surrounding suburbs, it would require my memory to be -renewed and my pen inspired* When the high water washed the foot of . the wood-covered hills, all along where Lambton Quay now is covered over with shops and stores, filled with goods from all parts of the globe, the transfiuration is so great that I can form no idea how it occurred. The first time I came up the beach after I landed X overtook a poor woman; she wa3 carrying a bed; there was a heavy wash on the beach so* that she could not pass, and she "'was sitting on the bank {quite exhausted, so I took her bed on my back and carried it through the water, and she followed in the best way she could, but both of us got very wet. This will give you some idea of what Lambton Quay was fifty years ago. You cansee what it is atpresent. Te AroFlat, which now forms Te Aro and Cook "Wards, and is peopled with twenty thousand persons engaged in civilised and industrious occupations, was covered with fern and flax, except that portion of it from Courtenay place up to the cricket ground, which was one impassable bog. On the beach were -two or three large pahs, with several hundreds of Maories in them. It was here that I saw the first Maori dance Which, though novel, was not a very pleasant sight. About one hundred joined in it. It began in a series of monotonous movements and ended in a mad, wild dance, the Maoris putting out their tongues and throwing out their eyeballs, and striping themselves naked, till they were quite exhausted. I thought it a weird and unholy devils’ dance, but we soon became accustomed to it.

The first house I saw building was in "Willis street. It was being built by Mr George Young. , The bush „ was growing thick about where the Presbyterian Church now stands, and Mr. Young had cut off the trees about- two feet from the ground, and was laying his plates on the top of the stumps which he utilised for piles. - This house, which was afterwards called the 4 Bed House,’ will be remembered by many. The people began to come in fast from the Hutt, and other emigrants arrived ; and the foot of the banks along Lambton was cut down, and some wood and rapu stores and houses were built and this became a busy scene. But after the emigrant ships ceased to arrive .goods became very scarce and dear, and great troubles were edging us round on every side. One stormy night, with a strong north-west wind, the houses on the beach caught fire, and destroyed not only the fragile buildings, but most of the stores and furniture that was in them. I, with many others, hastened to the beach, thinking to be of service in helping to save something from the devouring element; bub, when I came down to Clay point, about where Barrett’s Hotel now stands, the whole was one mass of fire from there to "Woodward Street, and the wind brought the flames round the point with” such heat, that I was forced to run into tbe bay up to my middle to save myself from being burnt. It was a glorious but a melancholy sight, when I came to consider its effect on our future. - Bread, meat, butter, and everything we consider necessaries, became very scarce and' dear, and often we. could get nothing to eat but potatoes and pork, and these chiefly from the Maoris. Then on June 16th, 1843, the Wairau Massare came upon us to fill up-the measure of our misery, it almost stunned us, but immediately after the first scare, we got what arms we had, and prepared to go and take vengeance on the traitorous Maories, but the Government sent down the Govermenb brig to stop, us, and it is well they dia, for the Maories immediately fled to the North Island and our journey _ would have been useless. But after this all of us who were able were armed and called out to drill, and this lasted for a long while; the young men were marched out to the Hutt and Porirua, and the married were left to guard the inlets to the city. After this there was many awful murders committed in country places, whole families were brutally cut to pieces at the Hutt and on. the Porirua Jtoad. These are only some of the

things that happened in the good old times, as the citizens now dwelling in peace in Wellington call them. lam only, mentioning those that came upon us as a whole, the private and personal miseries the effect of these we had to bear as we best could. Then came the first actual war with the Maories, on Januax-y 7th, 1855. What happened afterwards belongs to the National History of New Zealand. Yet in spite of all these drawbacks I began to like the country, and I made up my mind to stay and work hard for fourteen years. I believe the very dangers ai'pund incited me to try and conquer them. Meanwhile the soldiers arrived; this gave us confidence and courage, as well as time to pursue our different callings. Besides, they brought money and made work, and were the cause of large shipments of cattle, flour, and other necessaries arriving which were very much needed; and colonization began in earnest. You must x'ecollect at that time we had a work to do, and we were bound to do it or die. We were in the position of the ship’s crews, who, when they landed, burned or sunk their vessels, so that there may be no retreat; therefore, we had to make good our stand, and not only to possess and conquer the land, but the Maories too if they interrupted us. But Ido not remember an act of injustice done to the Moaries by the first settlers in Wellington. How we accomplished the work we had to do, the present position of the Colony will best answer the question. (To be Continued.)