NEW ZEALAND, PAST AND PRESENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXII, Issue 4635, 14 April 1902, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND, PAST AND PRESENT.

ME EDWARD WAKEFIELD’S LECTUBE. INTERESTING, BUT ILL-BALANCED. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LONDON, March 7. The ideal lecturer on Now Zealand has still to be discovered. Several of us went to the Imperial Institute last Monday night with great expectations that in Mr Edward Wakefield, the fluent and graceful public speaker, the practised politician, the experienced settler, the brilliant journalist, wo should find a close approach to the ideal lecturer, picturesque, terse and, above all, concise. But Mr Wakefield proved himself absolutely lacking in balance and proportion, and more discursive and lengthy than any of his predecessors An hour is the limit allotted to speakers, with half an hour for the views and the chairman’s concluding remarks. Mr Wakefield occupied an hour and fortyfive minutes in his address before ho came to the views, which, by-the-way, were a job lot of antique, atrocious, gaudily-co-loured libels on the colony. He spent so long over the pre-civilisation days that he left himself no time to deal with the modern history and legislation of the colony, from Ballauco’s time onwards, and had to dismiss New Zealand’s present condition and her destiny in a few hurried words. With apparently unconscious irony Sir James Fergusson remarked at the end of the lecture that Mr Wakefield had given himself an enormous canvas to fill and it was a wonder that he had managed to get so much in "in the last few hours.” Nor did Mr Wakefield seem at all clear in his mind how to treat his audience, whether to assume that they-knew nil about New Zealand or nothing at all. The bulk of his lecture was devoted to what were matters of ancient history to New Zealanders, but at intervals he went into reminiscences and discursions which would be meaningless to English people. Elementary facts essential for the understanding of the progress of the history were omitted, such as the Treaty of Waitangi and the result of its interpretation on the land dealings with the natives and on the wars or the explanation that the Maori wars were confined to the North Island.

A time summary of Mr Wakefield’s lecture mil illustrate his lack of proportion. He began at 8.35. By 8.55 he had reached Cook’s discoveries. At 9.5 ho had got as far as Marsdcn’s arrival. At 9.25 he was describing the settlement of Wellington. At 10 p.m. the public works policy v'as under discussion. Sir George Grey’s insurrection against quickly acquired wealth, the crash attributed to the failure of the Glasgow Bank and the sudden withdrawal of capital from the colony, the redistribution of land policy, the prosperous condition of the people, and the openings for men of energy filled in the time until 10.15 p.m., and into the next five minutes were crammed the present state of the colony and the lecturer’s idea of her destiny. Of course Mr Wakefield was always interesting, often pithy, and at times very amusing. His language was appropriate, his periods were well polished, and his point-of view impartial. The audience was especially tickled by his description of Hongi's visit to England and his reception bv.George IV much as Prince Henry of Prussia is now being treated by the United States. Hongi, ho said, was quite equal to George IV., in dignity and manners. The latter was the first gentleman in Europe, and Hongi the first gentleman in New Zealand. Mr Wakefield defended the missionaries, but for whom he said it was doubtful whether New Zealand would ever have become a British colony. His account of the simultaneous settlement of New Zealand at various points by associations each with some particular characteristic and of tho astounding fidelity and hospitality of the early settlers to one another, their generosity, chivalry and courage was very happy, Tho Maori wars, he thought, were inevitable. Sooner or later the two high spirited fightable nations were bound to figbt it out. The excellent relationship between the whites and Maoris was due to the fact that they fought it out like brave men, and then shook hands faithfully. Tho Imperial Government might well lay to heart Mr Wakefield’s method of economising when secretary to the New Zealand Cabinet at tho time of the war. "When a man brought his account for supplies to the army I cut it in two, and asked him if he would take half at once. If he declined, I put it at the bottom of the list, and its payment stood over until he finally agreed to our offer. In this way considerable economy was effected.” Mr Wakefield eulogised Sir Julius Vogel’s public works policy, which, however, led to much private speculation, and which, he maintained, had been marred by events over which the Government had no control. Sir George Grey's entry into tho arena at the head of a new movement against quickly-gained wealth and large landowners was followed by the period of depression in New Zealand consequent on tho failure of tho Glasgow Bank. This reduced the masses to poverty, exaggerated the feel’ng of discontent among the poorer classes, and stimulated what had been erroneously termed Socialistic laws, but which really were aimed at the re-distribution of land. The result was that wealth had been evenly distributed, and the people were so prosperous that you never saw a man with a patch on his coat. An ideal British community had arisen, but on totally different lines from what the founders intended. ’ ___

The country Mr Wakefield compared to Switzerland both in physical features and in the character of its people, a conservative democracy. He believed it would shortly have new impulses, and develop on ah enormous scale. Nothing had done it more good than the war, which had widened the ideas and views of the people. New Zealand was destined to be the Queen of the Pacific, the centre of a great free Island confederation. The colony, with its unparalleled water power and landlocked harbours, had an energy for electricity which no other country in the world possessed, and he looked fo'rward to her becoming a great manufacturing country, and to seeing in the West Coast Sounds cities like Glasgow and Belfast,which would send out 20 000-ton steamers, able successfully to cohtend! the competition of any foreign'country. As Sir James Pergnsson, the chairman of the evening, was detained by his duties in the House until twenty minutes after the lecture had begun, Mr Beeves introduced the lecturer in a happy, extempore speech, assuring the latter of a good hearing, if only for his historic name. In referring to Gibbon Wakefield as the founder of New Zealand. Mr Beeves said that the people did not think much of the colonies then, and if anyone had predicted that New Zealanders would shed their blood on the battlefields of South Africa —Bond cheers)—he would have been considered a madman. ’ Sir James Pergusson, in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, rightly reminded the audience that although so shoit a period had intervened since the scenes of murder and bloodshed in the early days referred to by Mr Wakefield, those ti m-s were ancient history as remote from ihe New Zealand of the present day aw the mediaeval wars of England were from the twentieth century. On his last v'sTc to New Zealand, six years ago. Sir James had noticed a great advance in the manners and courtesy of the people, which he attributed to the general education. Ho concluded with a feeling reference to New Zealand gallantry, under trying circumstances, in which less stout hearts might have given way; gallantry which conduced to a brilliant victory. The New Zealanders were