NOTABLE NEW ZEALANDERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22368, 15 September 1934, Page 2

NOTABLE NEW ZEALANDERS

{X.—JAMES CROWE RICHMOND (1822-98)

By Guv H. Sciiolefield, 0.8. E., D.Sc, I’.R.Hist.S.

One of the most interesting men ot action and affairs in New Zealand in tire latter half of the nineteenth century was James Crowe Richmond, the second of the baud of brothers who made their homes in Taranaki in the early fifties.

The second son of Christopher Richmond, of the Middle Temple, who was one of the counsel engaged in the drafting of the great Reform Bill, James was born in London in 1822. He too went to the Unitarian School at Hove House, Brighton, under Dr Hutton, and then U> University College, London. While training as an engineer in the firm of Sanmda, he made the acquaintance of a fellow student, John, Atkinson, and thus initiated a family relationship which was to be of vital consequence to the future of New Zealand. After qualifying, Richmond was employed for some time on railway construction under Sir Isarabard Brunei, then engineer to the Great Western, and again in later life he engaged in railway works in the Old World. While 'a young man he evinced a deep interest in art. Though he had little tuition, he studied the work of contemporary artists and showed considerable ability himself in water colours. The health of the elder brother, Christopher William, determined the family to make their home in New Zealand, and to that end James and his younger brother, Henry (then only 19), sailed in the ship Victory, which reached Auckland on February 1, 1851. After spending a few days in the capital, the brothers set out on foot for Taranaki, and thus, travelling by way of the Waikato and Kawhia, they gained their first valuable acquaintance with the Maori people. The Richmonds and Atkinsons, united by two marriages, took up farm sections together between New Plymouth and Egmont, When the others arrived in 1853 they increased the total area to 1000 acres, divided into eight farms, and to the present day there are paddocks known as Uncle Arthur’s, Uncle James’s and Uncle Henry’s. Shortly after settling down, .James returned to Europe, where he married Mary Smith, a cousin of the Atkinsons and a sister to the second wife of Henry Atkinson. Ho

spent some time on railway construction for an English company at Namur (Belgium), arid did" some painting in the isle of Arran (Scotland). Shortly after his return to New Zealand Native affairs assumed a inos.t unfavourable aspect owing to the development of the HawiriKatatore feud into a considerable tribal war. Richmond joined the Taranaki Volunteer Rifle Company, under Charles Brown, and was second only to Messenger as a rifle shot. In November, 1858, he was elected to the Provincial Council for Grey and Bell, and shortly afterwards the superintendent (Cutfield) invited him and T. King to be his executive. That he was at this time, as always, disposed to be sympathetic towards the Maori is evident from his articles in the Taranaki Herald. When /the Governor, Gore-Brown, early in 1860 wrote intimating that he intended to proceed with the Waitara purchase, Richmond and King earnestly advised Cutfield to warn his Excellency of the gravity of the step. Cutfield disagreed, but Richmond and King, on threat of resigning, carefully drafted a despatch warning the Governor that hostilities were liable to spread, but assuring him of the support of the province. When the fighting did commence Richmond was in the field as a volunteer and inspector of defences and was present at the operations at Ratapihipihi and after Waireka. His farm was raided and the stock driven off, but the Maoris preserved the house as a convenient rest place, only to be burned accidentally after the peace by carpenters engaged on reconstruction. In 1860 Richmond was elected to the House of Representatives. A dark year for Taranaki was 1801. Unsuccessfully contesting the Superintendency against Brown when Cutfield resigned, Richmond strongly advised moderation towards the Maori as potential friends of the future.

Later in the year, having been offered the editorship of the Nelson Examiner, he decided to remove with his young family to that province. In his official position he and King were already jointly responsible for £4OOO for the housing and relief of refugee settlers, and he continued his interest in 'these people after his removal, to the province where most of them were now living. In March, 1802, Richmond was appointed Provincial Secretary for Nelson, and in November commissioner of Crown lands. In this capacity he made several long journeys overland east and west and difficult voyages in the little ketch Jane. These explorations enabled him to make valuable drawings of the coal seams at Brunner and to add much to his collection of water colour sketches. Still a member of Parliament, Richmond became also a member of tbc Nelson Provincial Council. In 18G5, on the death of the Superintendent, he resigned from the executive as being inconsistent with his office as commissioner of Crown lands. The death of bis wife in the same- year caused him to move his young family back to Taranaki to he near their relatives. At the same time Weld offered Richmond a seat in his Ministry. In the few months it held office it made satisfactory progress in launching the self-reliant policy, though Richmond himself incurred odium for the future by having signed as Colonial Secretary the confiscation proclamation. Early in 180 G be returned to the popular Chamber as member for Grey and Hell, and tn August he accepted Stafford’s offer of a scat in the Ministry. Though nominally be was in charge of Customs. and the Posts, be was actually Minister of Native Affairs throughout the next three critical years; and be Jook a crusader’s interest in the task. Weeks he spent in the saddle and cauoo visiting disaffected tribes, reinstating the dispossessed and rewarding the loyal in an earnest endeavour to conciliate where that was possible. Both on the cast coast and on the west he was able to bring Important tribes back to their allegiance, so that, though the Ilaulnui rising spread throughout that year, there were still firm and loyal allies left. Richmond was constantly in the field in close associn-

tiou with the Defence Minister (Haultain), and was only dissuaded by the Governor (Sir George Bowen) from reopening friendly relations with the King tribes.

When Te Kooti reappeared in Poverty Bay from the Chathams, Richmond * showed remarkable initiative and resource. He at once inspected the stockades and garrisons in Poverty Bay, and urged strong precautions upon Biggs. Then he came up with Whitmore’s 200 from Napier and was in the field for some days, actually carrying the wounded on stretchers. From Makctu and Rotorua he brought up reinforcements to assist in the reduction of Ngatapa; he accompanied Whitmore’s column from Matata and then hurried to Wairoa to organise a third column by way of Waikaromoana. The flotilla of boats on the lake was his conception and undertaking, but the operations were countermanded when To Kooti withdrew to the westward. Only the defeat of the Government in June, 1869, terminated Richmond’s activity in the field. Native affairs then fell into the hands of M’Lean,

The rising mana of Vogel was the main factor in the next general election (1872), and Richmond contested without success a Nelson and a Wellington scat. His defeat gave him freedom to take his young family to Europe for education; to return to his old love, railway construction, in Algeria; and to spend many months painting in Great Britain and Europe. Returning to New Zealand in 1880, he settled down in Nelson, and after one more effort, to enter Parliament he lived generally the retired life of an artist. In 1883 he was called to the Legislative Council, which he attended regularly until his retirement in 1892, He died on January 19, 1898. Gisborne describes Richmond ns a man “ talented without genius, and philosophic without enthusiasm.” He had a cultured, well-stored mind, bent on refining; his opinions were moderate and sensible, and his speeches, though rather hesitating, pointed and forcible. High principles and a straightforward nobility of character were conceded even by his political opponents. A friend has said that “he detested the clamour and dust of the parliamentary arena, his temperament being ideal and poetic rather than practical.” And yet no man could have thrown himself with greater energy and resource into the native crisis of the sixties. On his tomb is an apt inscription that he adorned every one of the many tasks that be touched. Richmond left a family of three sons and two daughters. One son, Maurice, was sometime professor of law at Victoria College. Miss D. K. Richmond, the well-known artist, is a daughter.