THE MAKERS OF OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21021, 9 May 1930, Page 10

THE MAKERS OF OTAGO

PIONEERS OF THE PROVINCE. . XVIII, JAMES ALEXANDER ROBERTSON MENZIES, 1821-18 SS, By Condor. The story of Southland as a separate political entity during the decade 186070 really amounts to a chapter in the life of the Hon. Dr Menzies. , James Alexander Robertson Menzies was born at Rannoch, in Perthshire, in 1821. Highland on both sides of the family and tracing far back into tha dark ages of Scotland, his father belonged to a branch of the Clan Menzies and 'his mother was a Robertson of Struan, one of the very oldest families in Scotland. Menzies never forgot his ancient lineage, and he displayed with pride an ornamented rapier said to have been given by Prince Charles to a cadet of the house of Robertson who held a commisison in the bodyguard of Louis XV and served under,the Prince in the Forty-five,

Menzies of Southland was educated in Eannoch, and afterwards studied at Edinburgh University, where he entered at the age of 14. He took his diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh, in 1830, at the age of 19. For some years thereafter he practised at. Rannoch, taking an interest in the affairs of the village and countryside. In 1849, for example, he was, elected a member of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland. But his ambitions were not at rest in the quiet surroundings of a country doctor. His thoughts already were wandering afar, and in 1853 he took ship to Port .Philip, Victoria and New South Wales did not appeal to him, and he crossed to New Zealand, arriving in Wellington in December, 1853. A few months later he came down to Otago, and accompanied W.,8. D. Mantell on his overland journey to 'Southland to settle with the southern Natives for the. purchase of the territory that afterwards became Southland province. Together they walked right through South Otago, reaching the Bluff by way of Henderson’s Bush, Oteramika. When Mantell had concluded hie business they returned to Dunedin in the same manner, travelling along the beach most of the way and crossing the Mataura River • at Toetoes. On this journey to the south Menzies inspected carefully the run near Wyndham which he proposed taking up. At a later date he came back overland to Mataura and took up 38,000 acres. This he carried on until 1866, when the Government decided to resume some of the runs for closer settlement. Menzies then reduced his holding to 8000 acres, and purchased the freehold of what he called Dunalister, near Wyndham, where he lived until his death. In. those days Menzies and Mievillo were the _ only two station holders' in that district, and many a traveller spying out the land or making the journey between Dunedin and Invercargill found warm hospitality at their homes. The runholders were often in straits for supplies, and more than once had to fall back upon wild pork and potatoes which they ’ procured from the Maori, settlements on the coast. Menzies did not practise medicine in New Zealand, but as-a doctor he was often called upon to advise in cases of emergency, and did so freely. Though he had a natural disposition for retirement, and the remoteness of his ’ run seemed to dictate as a matter of policy that he should withhold his attention from public affairs, Menzies felt that he ought to. accept the offer of - a seat in, the Legislative Council, which was made to him in 1857 and confirmed in January, 1858. In the event he remained a member of that body for the next 30 years, never seeking admission to the elective chamber. As early as the ’fifties he took up the cudgels of Otago against the ..dominance of the town voters and the neglect of the Provincial Council, Their grievances were real, and from being a stern critic of the Otago Administration Menzies became head and front of the movement for the ’separation of Murihiku and its erection into a new province. With this in view he gave to the New Provinces Act of 1858 his warm support in the Legislative Council. He was an out-and-out separationist. His ambition was achieved, in April, 1861. Menzies came into Invercargill to be at the centre of things, and personally guaranteed to the Oriental Bank the sum necessary to enable the new province to proceed with the elections which brought the first Provincial Council into existence. He was duly elected for Mataura, and. when the Council met on August 3 there was no opposition to bis election as the first | Superintendent of the province. | The superintendcncy was not to be a 1 bed of roses. The atmosphere of controversy in which Murihiku won her dream of independence was not the most favourable for its careful and judicious government. Nor, it must be admitted, was the temperament of some of the provincial politicians of that tactful and conciliatory nature necessary for composing longstanding differences of opinion. The sittings‘of the council were at times marked with some acerbity, and the attempt of the executive at one time and the counci? at another to harness tin? superintendent to a course of conduct in vihich ho could not always agree did not make for . harmony. A man of wide culture and stainless reputation, Menzies lacked a knowledge of business. In tlrg desire to prove that the province was well able to provide itself with facilities and amenities which it sought in vaiu from Otago, the Government' was' tempted to anticipate its means and to embark upon ventures far beydnd its resources for many 1 years to come. An extensive borrowing policy was launched to provide harbour works and ‘railways north and south for which the province was scarcely ripe. Almost at the moment when Southland broke off from Otago the discovery of gold at Gabriel’s Gully brought an I influx of miners and wealth, far beyond th, dreams of the lean years just passed. : Southland’s hope, of participating in this j prosperity was doomed to be disappointed All the goldfields of importance were outsidi of her boundaries, and the Dum-din merchants had such a hold of the distributing business that Invercargill had no hope of breaking into the charmed circle. Menzies was urged by his executive to appoint a gold receiver for the province at Queenstown and to establish

an escort to Invercargill, but he spurned tht proposal aa an unfair intrusion upon the domain of the mother province. The Condition of Southland by the expiration of the first provincial council was sufficiently deplorable. In eight months revenue there was a deficiency of £46,000. The liabilities of the province were £379,553, and the council was told by a committee iu December, 1364; ‘‘The province is in a prostrate condition, and unable to meet its engagements without the .assistance of the General Assembly.” Rightly or wrongly the newly-elected council showed a disposition to hold Menzies responsible for its straits. Day after day it declined to re-elect him superintendent. Eventually, on January IS, 1865, the Gordian knot was cut by Menzies casting his vote in favour of J. P. Taylor. Ho himself sat in, that council as member for Invercargill. At the general election in 1867 he was defeated, being sixth on the list of eight candidates, but he was again returned to the council at the elections in 1869, By this time it was obvious that Southland had no alternative but to return to tbe fold of Otago. The mother province was willing and even anxious to take back tbe erring child, but the die-hard element in Southland fought with Highland doggedness, and William Wood, the third super intendent, had a difficult task to steer the reunion proposals through the council. Southland as a province ceased to exist in 1870. Menzies was amongst the members elected to represent, the extinct province in the Otago Council, in which he continued to represent the Mataurn electorate until the provinces were abolished. Menzies was a man who might have made his mark in the wider politics of the colony if his energies had not been wedded to the welfare of Southland. In tha championship he.was single-minded, and he could see little virtue in those who differed from him,’. At one time he mdved in the Legislative Council to have the very name Invercargill changed as being distasteful to the inhabitants. There is something quaint in the naivete with which he confessed that, having made the personal acquaintance of the veteran superintendent of Otago, he found him by no means a monster, but a man of broad views and human kindness by whose friendship he was honoured. Menzies was a- man of unblemished honour, infinite charity, and inexhaustible A political opponent once said of him: “No mean action, no dishonest thought could have found harbour in_ his mental calibre. Indeed, his very chivalry of soul militated in great measure with the successful compass of the position of superintendent His misfortune was that he did not understand business.” He was a tall, stalwart, commanding figure, generally distinguished by some remnant of Highland garb. After, tbe death of Southland, Menzies continued to take his. part in public life. In 1875 he was-presented by the people of Southland with a valuable service * plate for services rendered to the province. Four years later he turned the first sod of the Edendale-Toetoes railway. He was h member at different times of the Blutt Harbour Board, the School Commissioners of Otago, and the Southland Education Board. ' Ho was a strong supporter of th'i Caledonian Society, of which for many he was presideit, and it was chiefly owing to his foresight that the fine park was reserved for the town of Wyndham, where in 1926 memorial gates were consecrated to commemorate his work. A Presbyterian of the old school, Menzies maintained throughout life the old Scots habit of family worship. He was a strong supporter of the Sunday school, in which.he taught for many years. He felt it almost as a personal injury when the Education 'Act was passed in 1877 making the education of the colony secular; and at every opportunity he endeavoured to have this feature of the law amended. In his last Parliament he carried to its second reading a Bill to enable School committees to introduce Bible reading. It was thrown out by a small majority. Still he persevered and moved a resolution, which was defeated by'one vote.. In a memorial sermon preached at Wyndham after Menzies’s death the Rev. Robert Wood said: “This divine movement lay near his heart. On the day he died it formed the subject of his thought and prayers. , When his breath was scant and pain shot through his frame he requested that the report of the discussion of this question in the Legislative Council should he read to him—a discussion in which he himself had taken a leading part—and when this was done he thanked God that he had been permitted to take part in this work and prayed that it, would be carried on till /success was won.” " Menzies married in 1865 Letitia Anno, daughter of Dr Featherston, Superintendent of Wellington. When he died' on August 18, 1888; he was survived by his wife, two daughters, and one son. The elder daughter, Frances L. F,, married J. M, L. M‘G. Watson, a leading barrister of Invercargill; the second married Duncan Murray - Menzies. farmer, of Djpton. The son is Mr D. R. Menzies, of Wellington. After her husband’s death Mrs Menzies lived most of her time in Wellington, where- she died on March 27, 1920. Even late in life she was a very beautiful woman.