OLD OTAGO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 6

OLD OTAGO.

HIL.E the work of colonisation in the North 'J'rl rl island was being carried on in the face of '*\ \ i\ almost insurmountable difficulties, a lucrative JL IJX> whaling trade was being carried on along the Vv "V V coasts of the South Island without molestation by the Maoris, who rather helped on the industry, which gave scope in another direction to their daring.

The whaling industry was established on our coasts very early in the century, and before that whaling ships frequented New Zealand waters. The seas contiguous to these islands were the resort of innumerable whales, both the right whale and the sperm whale abounding. The earliest whaling station appear* to have been established in Dusky Bay, as the old whalers termed ii, or Dusky Sound as'it is now called As early as 1829 Captain Peter "Williams owned a whaling vessel, and established a whaling station at Preservation Inlet, or Raki-tuma, as the Maoris termed it. At the same time he purchased a large tract of land from the Maoris, but as none of these purchases were recognised when New Zealand became a Crown colony, the purchase was never ratified. Captain Williams subsequently went to Auckland in 1841 and stayed a short time, afterwards coming to Otakau, where he made himself a home about a couple of miles inside the heads. Captain Williams was a familiar figure in Otago at the time of the arrival of the first settlers, and Pilot Driver, who was exceedingly fond of a practical joke, used to show Williams' pigs to the immigrants who inquired after wild pigs. Some of them got into trouble by taking Driver's information for gospel and shooting the captain's pigs. When the Palmer brothers (Edward and William) came to New Zealand in 1832, Captain Williams was in charge of a whaling station at Dusky Bay. The station was owned by a Mr. Bunns, of Sydney. There had been sealing stations established at the Auckland Islands before that. In 1834 a Mr. Moles, of Sydney, had a whaling station at Dusky Bay, and John Jones and Edward Palmer sxibsequently bought Moles' schooner and outfit. About the same time Joseph Weller established his whaling station at Otago Heads. Whaling stations were established at Waikouaiti and the Bluff in 1835, and in 1839 John Jones had practical control of the whaling trade at the abovementioned stations, as well as stations at Riverton, Tauhikei, Taieri and Moeraki. The whaling industry soon attracted a number of adventurous spirits, as well as some who left their country for their country's good. The latter were attracted by the prospect of living a lawless life with unrestrained intercourse amongst the Maoris. But although the Maori remnant in these parts represented the survivors of conquered tribes, yet the dissolute white men soon found that they had to conform to Maori law in some respects. For one thing, the Maori marriage laws were very strict, and the old whalers found that they had to take Maori wives in the Maori fashion, as promiscuous intercourse was an abomination to the Maori. At the time of the arrival of the first settlers in New Zealand, a good many of these Pakeha-Maoris were living with their Maori wives, and their descendants constitute an important part of the population at the present day. When the whaling industry was iv full

swing, the take along our coast was very large, Mr. J.Jones sending as much as 1800 tuns of oil to Sydney in a single season. The profits were enormous, and we need not marvel that John Jones soon became very rich. He equipped the whaling stations, each under a competent manager, and allowed the parties of whalers a tun for the oil, the price being paid in clothing, provisions and rum. Of the latter the consumption was large, so that all they earned the dissolute whalers could easily consume As Mr. Jones got about a tun for the oil, to say nothing of the whalebone, he soon amassed a large fortune from this industry.

John Jones, whose name is so intimately connected with the whaling industry and the early days of the Otago settlement, was born in Sydney in 1809. His father had been the master of a trading vessel, and when the colonisation of New Zealand was attracting the attention of Sydney people, Mr. Jones came across to Wellington. But the trouble the early settlers had there with the Maoris soon made him turn his attention to the peaceful south. He came to Waikouaiti, and acquired the whaling station there, besides purchasing a large area of land from the Maoris, principally paid for in goods, not excluding rum and tobacco, for which the native race soon acquired a taste. Mr. Jones, although not an educated man, was a shrewd man of business, and as his lucrative whaling trade had left him well supplied with the sinews of war, he was ready to take advantage of any business opening as it occurred. It speaks well for his general cuteness that the land he acquired from the Maoris was all of the very best description, either for grazing or grain growing. At one time Jones laid claim to a very large area of land, extending from the Waikouaiti River to Pleasant River, one large estate having been purchased, it is said, for a bag of black sugar. But when the Treaty of Waitaugi, the Magna Charta of the Maori race, was enforced, Jones had to part with a lot of his too easily acquired acres. Mr. Jones had trading schooners on the coast in the early days of the northern settlements, and during the time of the trouble with the Maoris in 1846-7, these vessels were made use of by the Government for carrying stores to the troops in the field.

The Rev J. F. H. Wohlers, late missionary of Ruapnke, in his memoirs, mentions landing at Waikouaiti early in 1847 in company with Mr. Tuckett, who was then exploring for the site of the projected Scotch settlement. The missionary sa3's: "Waikouaiti was at the time the seat of John Jones of Sydney, celebrated for the extent of his kingdom. He was without cultivation, and not without rudeness, but he understood how to make money and acquire land after the manner of the worldlywise, which covers a multitude of sins." Wohlers says the Europeans employed by Jones were chiefly reckless people from Australia, whither England at that time transported great criminals, and they brought the Maoris no virtues. Mr. Jones , with characteristic shrewdness, saw the advantage of inculcating some religious principles amongst both his European and Maori employees. He applied to the Methodists of Sydney, and they sent him Missionary Watkin, who was on furlough from Fiji. . Iv 1847 Mr. Creed came to Waikouaiti and Mr. Watkin went to Wellington. When Mr. Creed arrived at his destination his predecessor came on board, and shaking hands with him said, half jokingly, " Welcome to purgatory." Jones soon acknowledged the good work of the missionaries, but complained that his best men would not work on Sundays. It is remarkable the respect even the more dissolute men paid the missionaries, and the first Otago settlers remember yet how the old drunken whalers used to lift their hats to Mr. Creed whenever he passed by. The whaling business was passing away when the first Otago settlers arrived, and the ever alert John Jones directed his attention to them as a probable source of profit. At the time of the settlement he was a well known figure, with his black cloth coat and orthodox silk hat. He was a man of medium height, very strongly built, and with piercing black eyes. He had a most violent temper, and could brook no interference with his will, as many a one who had received severe personal chastisement at his hands could tell. On one occasion being worsted in a law case Jones took his defeat so sorely that he was confined to his bed for some time. Of .his trading in the young settlement of Otago we shall have something further to say as the narrative proceeds. In 1828 he married Miss Sarah Sisemore, and had a family of eleven children, of whom now only three are living. Mr. Jones died of heart disease ia March, 1869.

The whaling trade brought to New Zealand a few devotees who, from their skill and daring, were considered men of note at that time, and whose fame was known up and down the coast. Among these were the Palmer brothers, Edward and William, and a half-caste New Hollander, called Chasland. When Mr. Tuckett visited Otago, it was Edward Palmer who piloted the vessel into the harbour from Waikouaiti. Palmer had been engaged in the whaling and sealing industry, and knew all the harbours of the east and south coast well. He had besides been in charge of one or two of Jones' whaling stations. In common with the early whalers settled in New Zealand both the Palmers took to themselves Maori wives, and their descendants are, many of them, still in Otago. At the time of the founding of the settlement a tall, fine-looking man, well dressed, and wearing a high silk hat, was often seen visiting Dunedin from the Taieri. That was Edward Palmer, who purchased land at Otakia and lived with his European wife till a ripe old age. William Palmer, after a life of adventure and hardship on the New Zealand coast, also settled at the Taieri, near Henley, and married a halfcaste wife, by whom he had a large family. It was one of his sons, Harry, who distinguished himself by his bravery at the wreck of the Wairarapa, on board which ill-fated vessel he was a seaman. Old Bill Palmer, as he was familiarly called, is still living at the native village near Henley. The old man, though 84 years of age, is in the full possession of all his mental faculties, although unable to walk abroad, having lost the use of one of his legs. He can recount terrible scenes amongst the Maoris, and declares that he was witness to more than one cannibal feast.

Tommy Chasland was one of the bravest whalers amongst a race of men distinguished for their contempt

of danger. For some time he had charge of the Tautuku station for Mr Jones, and no manager killed more whales or filled more barrels of oil than the intrepid Chasland. It is related of him that getting at too close quarters to a whale once, the whale struck the boat with its flukes, cutting the boat in two. Chasland, who harpooned the whale, when he saw the impending blow, jumped overboard. Three of the men were never seen again, but old Sam Perkins and another clung along with Chasland to the over-turned stern half of the boat. As a thick fog had closed around them, and fearing they would not be rescued bj' the other boats, Chasland volunteered to swim ashore and get help. Some time after he had left a boat picked up the two men, who were almost unconscious b}' this time from cold, it being the month of July. Some hours after the boats returned, having failed to find their lost chief, and towards dark a figure was seen moving on the beach. The spy glass revealed Chasland wholly devoid of clothing coming towards the station, after his exhausting swim of some six miles. Like the rest of the old race of whalers, Chasland had a great weakness for rum. They were hardy were those old whalers, and many of them must have ha<l constitutions of iron, for it was their practice to drink rum without stint out of a bucket with a pannikin. They did that freely as a regular practice, and that without often becoming intoxicated. But time has played sad havoc with these hardy and brave, if dissolute, men, and very few of them now remain to tell the story of the olden days. When the first ships arrived in 1848 there were still a good many of the whalers and those associated with them boatbuilding, storekeeping, etc., living. The following is a list as complete as we have been able to make it from those still living who knew them at that time : —

Living at Otakau, as the Maoris called the Heads and neighbourhood, were — Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Beal and five children, Mr. and Mrs. David Carey and five children, Mr. and Mrs. Dugald Anderson and three children, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Roebuck and daxighter, Geo Palmer (nephew of Mr. Roebuck), Mr. and Mrs. Ben. Coleman and five children, Mr. and Mrs. William

Coleman, Mr. and Mrs. William Scott, Geo. Smith, Captain Peter Williams, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart and two children, Mr. and Mrs. John Sutton, John Tompkins, Richard Driver (pilots, Jas. Ricketts, Mr. and Mrs. William Barry and three children, John Hunter, William Gairy, John Murray, French Charley (Lourdon), Watson (known as Oamaru Watson), Gibbs (carpenter), Simon McKeime (blacksmith), Mr. and Mrs Charles Windsor, Black Isaac (a negro), John Bull (Robt. Williams), Angus Cameron (shepherd to Mr. Stokes), Mr. Stokes, Robt. Hitchcock, Antonio Joseph, Octavius Harwood, G. P. Levatt, Mr. Crook, James Fowler, John Phillipin, James Loper, Charles Hopkinson, Thomas Ferguson, Black Bill (Williams), John Farrell, Joseph Hollesforth, Thomas Curts, Black Andy (N.S.W. native), David Scott, a youth named Bill (who afterwards went to Sydney), John Logan, Tom Brown (Old Tom). At Moeraki — Mr. and Mrs. Skidmore, John Hughes, J. Hollesforth, Thomson, Wm. Isaac Haberfild, Donaldson, John Neimo (aTrafalgar seaman), Jamieson, McKewen, John Duff, Peter Chevatt, Mr. Russell. At Waikouaiti — Rev. Chas. Creed, wife and son ; Dr. Crocombe, Mr. and Mrs John Jones and family, also William, Thomas and Edward Jones ; Mr. and Mrs. Kennard, Ned. Griffith, Mr. and Mrs. Glover and family, Stephen Smith, Tommy Tandy, Mr. and Mrs. McLachlan and family, Wm. Apes, Joe Shag, Geo. Davis, Andrew Moore, Scotch Bob, Dutch Harry (Wickson), Mr. and Mrs Wood and family, John Ludlow, Mr. Trotter, Mr. and Mrs. R. Sisemore and family, John Williams. At Port Chalmers— Mr. and Mrs. McKay (first inn), Mr. and Mrs. Wyllie (sawyer) and French Peter. At Molyneux Bay — Willsher and Russell. At Jacobs River — Captain Howell, Geo. Stevens, William Stevens, Ned the Nailer, John Owens, Daniels. At the Bluff— William Starling, Davis, Dellis, Spencer, Paddy Gilroy, Geo. Prince,

FIRST PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

McDonald, Jack Tiger, McGregor, William Shepherd, Archie (surname not known). At Stewart Island — Bungarie (proper name not known), Lowry, Newton (2), Wm. Roe, Ackers, Mick Collins, White Toby, Edwards, Russell, Chas. Goodwill, Owens, Cooper, Portugee Joe, a Spaniard (name not known), Connor, Geo. Moss, Ashmead, McGregor, Joss, Fyfe, John Williams, Torn Bell, Jack Combes, sVareham, Nat. Bates, Wm. Thomas, Gregory, Jack Carter, Stewart, Graham, Jack Lee, Parker, Anglem, Nicholas, Robellia. At Tautuku — Wm. Palmer, Tommy Chaslaud, John Wilson, Win. Staples, John McKenzie, Jas. Phillips, Thos. Ashdown, John Leonard, Bonuett, John Ryan, Geo. Grimshaw, Jas. Brown, John McGregor, Tom Boobu, Jas. Whybrow, Sam Perkins, Long Harry and Scotch Jack (West Coast pilots), Wm. Cooper, Robert Brown, Jim Boys, Harry McKay, Big Tom and Wm. Banker.

There were no doubt others, but at this date their names are unascertainable. Many of the old whalers and sealers were best known by some nickname, and their proper names do not seem to have been known by even their most intimate friends.