EARLYSEITLERS' ASSOCIATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11395, 12 April 1899, Page 6

EARLYSEITLERS' ASSOCIATION

■ Tho jubilee of Uio arrival in Otago of the ships Ajiix (January 8, 1849), tho Mury (April 11, 1849), ami the Mariner (Juno 5, 1849) was celebrated by tho Ola-go Karly Settlers' Association in the Choral Hull oil lho'22i>d, ami was very numerously attended, amongst, (hose present'being many well-known citizens.

Mr K B. Curgill, president, who occupied Ilio chair, n:iid thoy were gathered together to celebrate a reunion of tho early Bottlers who cmno out in the ships Ajiix. Mary, and Mariner, which arrived hero in January, April, ami Ji.inc, 1849—50 years ago. Among the result* attained by llioir jubilee held last year was tho gathering together of those who had taken part in (linearly settlement of Ihir, country. There was tTtei^a large assembly, notwithstanding the diflicu'ky N of getting men from rotnoto parts pf-the country who came within the definition of. early Bottlers. It waß a very interesting gathering; when; they all came together, looking one another in the face and comparing notes to'soma extent. Ho thought it was wise in the Karly Settlers' Association to resolve to gather together, in groups like the presenting, the early, settlers, so as to promote good reeling and kindly rclnemboranees, and to altyw ;of :a comparison of old experiences, such as took place to some extent last year. He thought it was a fine thing for the old settlers to hang together, and recognise the common'part thev had taken In settling tho country. ' Ho thought it was a good thing for the young'folks .to hear the old folks talking together'about what had brought them their, inheritance.''He had not' como hero till 1857, but thoy had doiie him tlVa honour last year, during his mayoralty, to elect him president of the association, and he was present in.that capacity. lick lipped .thoy would have' a pleasant and a profitable meeting, and mentioned that apologies had been received for absence from the meeting from Messrs Kenneth Bain (Timaru) -Robert Murray (Clarksville), M'Leocl Orbell (Geraldinc), Hbnrj- Sutcliffo (Sawyers' BayK-AVillianr Hay (Roniahapu). Dennis llcenan (Dunedin!. tV. J.. Filleul (Nelson), S. ■ Lindsay (Auckland), Mesdamcs, H.. J. Miller. (Oa'moru), Stewart (North Taieri), Mathe.sou (ClarksvjUc),. G. Hay ißom.ihapu), >Dallas (Duncdin). and Oakdcu- (Andorsonls.Bay). Mr Cargill then vacated the chair \n favour of Mr J. Elder Brown, the .oldest surviving passenger of the ship Ajax. " >

iMr Brown said it \vas--eertainly a proud moment for him. am] for them all, to Bee, aftfi:- a lapse o^ 50.years',,'so largo .1 number of tliose who had ■been, more or leas, connected with the ea,rlv days of Otngo. congregated together. With regard to the Aiax, ho had taken eo'nsiderable pains within the last two years to collect statistics concerning her passengers.' He,..- found there were about 118 arrived and settled in Otago, and it would rather surprise most persons to learn rijhat they could actually account for 53 as Being alive at the present time, and for 14, of whom more or less was known. That was quite 50 per cent, of those who had come out in tho vessel 50 years ;ag«" the 118 lie had referred to including men, women, and children.—(Applause,), ' He- might say that in collecting, tins..-.information ho hud communicated with-a' good "many-persons, aud had written not-less, than 20 -letters in connection with the* matter.!1 The information had been collected from lviany sourcSsTl"arid the \york was a labour'of love, andthijj'was intensified by tho , heartiness with which persons responded to tho communications sent. They eamo away.from Scotland and England at a very unquiet periodi in.lBW, when revolution was rife, in Europe, .' Which, however, the mother country avoided'being brought into. Immigration was not by any moans popular, and many people were unwilling to leave their native land. Since that time the sons and daughters of the mother, country had spread themselves over the earth'.l determined, in tho face of all obstacles, to,do thoir best, arid, extend the British Empire,., upon which the sun never set at tile present day. Coming to a now country, there were many difficulties to contend with. Where they then were was simply grown over with flax, and the lower land was a complete swanip. • On the harbour 'sides the timber was down" to the margin of the water. People started clearing little bits here and there, and did their best'. They were only hei-o lass than three years when the New Zealand Company..-surrendered their charter, and they were then in no man's land, and had to'.scratch for themselves. After this came representative institutions, such as the Provincial Council, the General Assembly, and House of Representatives. They struggled along, andeincrged, perhaps, better than they would.if they) had beeni-in plenty. They Wpuld niqst of,them'. have seen'-'the ; drticles he Wad wrilt'e'ii 'in Jttie.^Witneafr,-..add would see that there he had covered most of the ground of; the earl}', history of .Otago. .^ln the early daj's they were happy and contented, and no man was' much better off than his neighbour, and they wero willing'to'.help.-; each other. There was strict honesty among them, and Mv Jones said, after keeping a store for six years, lie had; hot1 lost a',five-pound note; If a' settler came -for anything to the store he'.was not asked, " Aro yqlij.going'ioppay for this?" It was understood lih'a,t iro'in'.hisi/fiirst money ,or produce.. h"e lia.d,. hg,'vsvoufd liquidate .his 'liability.—(Applauses.)- ';":' ": , '

Dr Hocken said he ha-d bean asked to refe'r to a few incidents that had taken place inconneetion.with the early days;' and he would read the speech delivered by Captain Cargill at the ;.6|i"amng of the . 'ilfiyal Hotel, which 'was at "that time regarded as the1' most southern in her Majesty's dominions. It was situated where the Bank of; New Zealand now stood. The frame of it was brought out by Mr Garrick in'the ship John Wickllffo for a private rofiidonce, but'was sold to Mr John M'Donakl for £100, and...tho latter turned it into a hotel. There was-a.great dinner when it was opened. About 30 were present,- Captain Carß'ili being in the chair, and Air Strode was vice-chairman. Wonderful to relate, thoEe present paid for a'seat at that dinner the sum of one guinea per head. He did not know where the 30 found the guinea, but they did find it. The dinner began-at 6 o'clock, and he did not suppose it ended till some time 'next mornintr.—(Laughter.) Captain Cargill spoke on. the labour question, which was even then ii rather troublesome one. Th* other incident was the publishing of'-the first piece of poetry—so called, —of the merits of which they should judge for themselves. It was about Otago. He, didj'n'ot know who wroto it, but if Mr Andrew. Mercer had been present, lie would have- blushed,., or felt i very proud. Tho speaker 'mentioned: that the son of Captain Bellairs was sending»out a lot of pictures of Dunedin done by .his father, which he (the speaker) hoped/ tu show them at a .future meeting. >Mr Bollffirs had also proimised to send out a portrait of his father, ■Which would, be hung in -the. Town Hall. The doctor then proceeded to read, the speech and the poetry lie had referred to. . The speech was as follows:'—"Captain Cargill proposed the health of 'the labouring classes of Dunedin. There was no toast lie could propose with greater satisfaction. It suggested one or two hints, however, which, with the leave of the company, he would mention. The la-lxmring class is. our mainstay; and we are all greatly, indebted to them; ■ but many of them have come out here .with an exaggerated belief that they were to have large wages and short .hours of work, making them in reality mere drones. On board of our vessel we had

several meetings about the wages aud the hours of labour, the difficulty being.how to

hit tho lino aud keep the wages at a figure sufficiently low to allow the land proprietors to benefit by it, and from the best information

we could obtain wo came to the' conclusion that, as labour at'-Homo was generally about 12s a week, if we added 50 per cent, and madeit 18s, it would be a fair, average wage. With regard to the hours of labour, the general hours of out-door labour at Home were 10 hourc a day, or 60 hours a week. " We therefore made them 55 hours ; thus adding 50 'per

cent, to the'weekly wages' and deducting 12£ per cent, from the hours of. labour—working 10 hours each day for five days and allowing the labourer half of Saturday for his.own use.

This was considered affair and reasonable thing then, but many fancy that their bourn should be shorter than; this even, and their wai>os proportionately higher. The arrangement I commenced with has been regularly carried out, and will be continued, as I think it just to tile labourers and to the land purchasers. On the whole, however, we have a noble set of labourers, and I- drink the toast with all m.v heart," :

Mr Piugh Calder gave! an account of his trip out iii the ship Mariner, which left London on the- Ist February, 184-9.

During tho evening songs-were given, by Messrs j. Muir, Hut-ton, '. Hopcraft, and Applegarth ;a pianoforte solo, by Mr Hutton ; two mandoline duets by Messrs. Galloway and

Stokes; a clarionet solo by Mr S. George: and a banjo solo by Mr Stokes. |At intervals those present moved round the ball, and old acquaintances were renewed, many a hearty shake of the'hands'betokening the meeting of friends, probably for tho first time for many

years. Refreshments were . provided, and were freely partaken of, and the hearty singing of " Au'ld Lang Syne." brought'the meeting to a close. .Just before this, however, a vote of thanks was passed to the association for calling tliQ meeting, and Mr D. Reid, jun., in returning thanks, mentioned that a similar celebration would be probably held in connection with ihe next three ships that had arrived in 1849, in September or October. Wo have already given an extended report of the proceedings at the second reunion of the Otago Early Settlers' Associa-. tion to celebrate the jubilee of the. arrival of the ships Ajax, Mary,, and Mariner in 18+9. The event wan a most interesting one, and it may safely be said tluvt more passengers by each vessel mot each other in the Choral Hall than

have met since they parted from shipboard 50 years ago. The attendance of so many early settlers, from great distances in many cases, was a. great compliment to the association, and 4 'fc direct encouragement to

them in carrying out their objects. AVe have secured the following list of passengers by llican vrasEcte who were present: — 'Ajiix.--.fn.mea Elder Brown, Eldcrlee, Stilton; John Hay, surveyor, Dunedin; William Hay. Uomahapa; George Hay, (Jkmomnru: Mrs K. P. Jeffreys, Mornington; Hies Woolle.y, Palmerston; Mrs Richard Nelines (nee V/oolley), Waikouaiti; Mn K Alloock (nco Woollcy), Waikouaiti; Mrs Hamilton (nee Woolloy), Waiknuaiii; Mrs (J. Haynes (nee Woolley), Dunedin; Samuel Woollcy, Palmerston; Robert Campbell, St. Cl.iir; Mrs James Fulton (nee Valpy), West Tnieri; Miss Valpy, CVlornington;. Mrs -Mason (nee Longuet), Outram; James Striun, Dunedin; Thomas Culling, Malaurn. : Apologies w.ere received from—AV. 0. Fillevtl, Nelson; Mrs Duncan Stewart, North Taieri; Henry Sutcliffc, .Sawyers'- Bay; Mrs W.' Mathcson (lice Brown), Clnrkfivilk; Mrs George -Hay, Romaliapa. Mary.—Mrs T. R, Davidson" (nee Lloyd), Morninglon • Mrs V. Jones (nee Lloyd), Moi-nington; Mrs H. Foster, Dunediu; G. Foster, Dunedin ; J. H. Duckworth, Higncliff; Mrs Barfro (nee Tayler), Port dial-' iners; Thos. Knewstubb, Port Chalmers; Donald Reid, North Taieri;,Mrs Chan, lteid, Dunedin; Mrs Win. Patrick (nee Simpson), Dunedin. An apology was received from Dennis Heenan, Dunedin.

Mariner.—Andrew Boyes, Cavcrsham; Mrs John Coombs (nee'Boyes), North-East Valley ; Mrs John Anderson (nee Calder), Cavercham■; .David Calder, Cavcrsham; Mrs Peter M'.fjaren, Cavcrsham ; George Caldor, Noriiv. Kast Valley :' Hugh A. Calder, Caversham ; ■John CaMer, Cavors)iain; Robert Wilson; OavershnrA • Mrs Robert ' Chisholm (nee Thompson), oslyn. Apologies were received from: Keiin ih Bain, Christchurelv'; Macleod Orbell, Geraldinc: Mi-p H. J. Miller (nee Orbell), Oamaru; Dr Lindsay, Auckland. The following are the surviving passengers who were married when the vessels arrived : — Robert Campbell, Mrs Foster, Mrs' Charles Reid, Andrew "Boycs, Mrs M'Laren, Robert Wilson. ■.■■-.-'....

The following original passengers by earlier vessels also Mionoured the meeting .with their presence: —Wm. Begc, Blundell, 1848 ; J.-R-. Monsoa",'.John Wickliffe, 1848; Lauchlnmi T,anKl'amU, Victory. 1848 ;Ai J. Burns, Thomis Walsh, Win. Duff, Mrs Wm. Duff, Mrs Bannerman. Mrs A. R. Livingston, Philip Lamg,.lß«. . ...... ' The Hhanlcs of the association are due to those ladies arid rrcntlemen who assisted +o eutertain^'the members;' also specially to Mr J. Klder1 Brown; for taking the chair..