THE ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 4541, 3 December 1889, Page 1

THE ORIGINAL SETTLEMENT.

The Hon. Daniel Pollen wrote the following to the Auckland Herald I Permit me to point out an error into which the writer of a leading article in your issue of yesterday has fallen, in stating, cn the subject of the approaohing Jubilee celebration, that what we shall celebrate on the 29th January, 1890, 1b the first hoisting of the British F/ag, as a sign of the Queen's sovereignty over New Zealand and its real foundation aB a British colony. The event took place in Russell, etc., etc. Russell bad no existence at that time, and Kororareka was not then "re-christened." A realdenoe for the Lieutenant-Governor being required, Captain Clendon's property, situated midway between Kororareka and Kawakawa, was purchased, and subsequently paid for, mainly by a grant of 10,000 aores of land near Papaknra,ln the vicinity of Auckland. Captain Hobson occupied Clendon's house; Major Banbury with his detachment of the 80th Regiment was encamped upon the ground, and a township wbb there laid out, to which the name of Russell was given. It was not a suocess, although some allotments were sold. The removal of the Governor to Auckland extinguished its chance of progress, and left nothing but tbe name. Kororareka was In January, 1840, as it is still, the centre of business in the Bay of Islands. The official title " Rasaeli" now covers and includes it, but belongs, specifically, to the place above mentioned. The number of those whote personal recollections carry them back to the early times 1b small, and although the error whioh I point out is not very important, you may think it worth while, it being an historical inaccuracy, to pnblish this correction of t.