OTAGO'S JUBILEE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2300, 31 March 1898, Page 1

OTAGO'S JUBILEE.

Build me, straight, O worthy Master, Staunch and strong a goodly vessel, That shall lautrh at all disaster, And with wave and whirlwind wrestle. THE PROLOGUE. IE Jubilee of Otago was inaugurated on the opening of the Industrial Exhibition by His Excellency the Governor, Tuesday evening, the 22nd inst., a week of jubilation extraordinary being indulged in after the completion of the ceremony ; while mild enjoyment, calculated to keep in remtmbrance the sanctity of the occasion, and mark it in men's

minds with a white stone, may be attained by visits to the Exhibition up to the 4th of June next. THE HEBREW JUBILEE AND THE MODERN JUBILEE — A CONTRAST. What is a jubilee, and why should so large an expenditure of moneys be incurred, so much time be devoted to its arrangement and conduct, and so great a measure of enthusiasm be indulged in ? Philologists tell us the father of our word jubilee is the Hebrew yokel, the blast of a trumpet ; while churchmen state that it is of Divine origin, and that in Leviticus (chap, xxv.) it is not only directed that the fiftieth year shall be proclaimed a jubilee by the sound of the trumpet, but that in consequence of this jubilee certain conditions of things shall obtain, amongst the most important of which is assuredly the clear instruction, " In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession" ; and again, "Ye shall not oppress one another." From which it is argued that besides the restoration of lands and buildings to the original owners, all money debts — such as mortgages, debentures, unpaid bills, overdrafts at banks, &c. — are cancelled during this happy time, a^d any three months' promissory notes falling due within the period are considered settled. In point of fact it is a case of "As you were !" No wonde", under the circumstances, they who had everything to gain and nothing to lose sounded the trumpet " throughout all the land." It is not recorded whether those who by frugality, energy, and business capacity b.id acquired these lands and

money securities were as anxious to indulge in this fanfaronade. BANKERS, OWNERS, AND MORTGAGEES DECLINE THE YOKEL! Be that as it may, it is safe to conclude the Otaero Jubilee was not built on these lines. There has been, doubtless, a considerable blowing of trumpets, but, so fc.r as we can gather, no properties have been pleasantly returned to original owners ; while we are credibly informed that those having overdrafts at banks have not received official iniimation from the managers of these institutions that their liability wa=s settled by the yokel, or year of jubilee. Bank managers are " kittle cattle," and in such matters singularly deficient in devotional sympathy with Divine instruction. Mr Garrick, in IS4B, chose the section now ornately occupied by the Bank of Zealand. He sold it, in 1849 (with a long, low building erected on it), to Mr Macdonald for £100, who ran the tenement as the old Koyal Hotel. He re-sold it to Mr George Smith in 1852 for £300, who again sold it to Messrs Young and M'Glashan in 1861 for £1600, who re-sold a portion of the land to the Bank of New Zealand for £9000 in 1863. We have not heard of any gracious desire on the part of the directors of the corporation of that bank to ascertain the whereabouts of the heirs of Mr David Garrick, with the view of requesting them to take possession of the premises and land now in the occupation of the bank, in terms of the instruction contained in Leviticus, chapter xxv, their respected progenitor having originally invested a few pounds in the purchase of the freehold in A.D. 1843. The fin de siecle proclivities embrace the acquisition of the property of others — lawfully or illegitimately, so you acquire — rather than yield possession of that you have. Notwithstanding the comfortable doctrine, cheerfully enunciated, that all humanity is born in sin, " the heart being deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," philosophic students of human nature have concluded that in mortality en bloc — possibly in the animal kingdom — there is a touch of the divine hand — a footprint of God's angel — left in some unappreciated visit : a subtle essence of purity caught from the breath of seraph wing, as unseen, though possibly not unfelt at the time, it hovered around us : some kindly visitant from her shining home, who had known and loved us when a tenant of a lower organisation. With a slow and noiseless footstep Comes that messenger Divine, * Takes the vacant chair beside me, Lays her gentle hand in mine.

* •;.- ■!•- Uttered not, yet comprehended, Is the spirit's voiceless prayer, Soft rebukes, in blessings ended, Breathing from her lips of air. fcTHE QUEEN'S JUBILEE. Jubilees in this our day are dictated by sentiment of the highest description : sentiment built on the best of primary rocks, reverence — a solemn estimation of all that is good, pure, and lofty in human character. Throughout the British Empire there has been lately held a bright jubilee in honour of the great woman, Queen and Empress, who has for so long, and to the enormous advantage— not merely of her subjects, but the whole known world — occupied the throne of the most generally beneficent Empire the world has seen, and this, not because she is Victoria the Great, but because she is Victoria the Good. During the long and memorable drive through London streets to the door of the great historic cathedral and return to her palace, the many thousands of eyes that devoured the Royal carriage did not see the little woman with face clouded by an emotion too powerful to be kept in perfect restraint, as, running her dimmed eyes along the vast concourse, memory, with magic wand, flashed across her

mind the sad scenes of the buried past, the blessings and joy of the living present. They saw an august and beneficent Sovereign, with a countenance ennobled by purity of thought, nobility of action. They felt the presence of a heart, great in its catholic benevolence and warm sympathy with sorrow and suffering. They acknowledged the powerful mind that had assisted her councillors in steering the huge Galleon of State through the troubled waters they had logether encountered during the long voyage that had been achieved, and that, in its instinctive wisdom, had avoided the rocks they, despite their trained intelligence, would have fouled. Realising all this, the great heart of the people went out with no let or stint to the good woman, the beneficent Queen ; and fervently joined in the prayer the late laureate had breathed in his dedication to the '« Idylls of the* King " shortly after the sorrow of her life had seized her : ' May all love — His love, unseen but felt, o'ershadow thee, The love of all thy sons encompass thee, The love of all thy daughters cherish thee, The love of all thy people comfort thee, Till God's love set thee at his side again ! And it is well for the British nation that this enthusiasm was evoked. Keverence for that which is good, noble, courageous, pure, is akin to the' quality of mercy. . . . It is twice bless'd ; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. Woe worth the land where the heart of the mass of its people is dead to honesty, truth, and nobility of purpose, for of a verity the of the public plunderer shall obtain within it, and the voice^of the liar shall never be mute. OTAGO'S JUBILEE. The desire to hold a jubilee in honour of the worth, courage, and enterprise of the great men who founded the Scotch Free Church)* colony of Otago was in every way honourable and to be commended' jsi for the founders of this settlement were in a comparative sense great. j'JThe man of to-day, with most of the refinements and luxuries of an old civilisation within his grasp, wots not of the giant dimensions of difficulty, aye, and danger, those early, hardy, determined adventurers faced in literally carving a home out of the wilderness ; nor is it possible for them to realise'it.

to-day's difficulty in appreciating yesterday's labour. The chariot of the sun has travelled for fifty years along the tracks of Time, and even in Europe reveals a civilisation so different to thatfof the long ago that could the great lexicographer Dr Johnston find himself with his faithful henchman Bozzy in Fleet street once again, he would, with Dominie Sampson, exclaim " Pro-digious I " and probably be run over by a hansom or electric cab before he had completed the exclamation. In intellectual progress, mechanical advance the last fifty years far more than equal in age the 300 that preceded them. Distance, to-day annihilated by the electric cord that embraces the globe, and contracts conversation with the faraway Home to a matter of hours, was fifty years syne the difficulty of months ; connection with the base of supply, now reduced by the exertion of the Cyclopean arm of steam to a quick certainty, till man can rise up in his pride and cry aloud to the winds in their wrath, " Blow, blow, thou wintry winds, and crack your cheeks," and to ocean in its day of power, "It is naught ! It is naught ! " was, in the bygone time, an event of weary months, and the dangers of the deep wore a fierce reality in very earnest. The immigrant of to-day — a stranger in a strange land — on arrival doubtless feels a sinking at the heart as he realises the unknown preoccupied faces hemeets can have no interestin his movements or careforhiswelfare ; and

his mind with lightning speed reverts to the happy, comfortable home in the far away, and pictures the mother, the one kindly soul, on whose dear face lie has never gathered a frown since his mind could grasp the potentialities of life, whose lips quivered as he, her eldest-born, had announced his determination to launch his canoe on the great river of life, and whose eyes dimmed, as with gentle hand she caressed his cheek and softly whispered a prayer that the good God would guide and protect her boy, " so that he should come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." But he finds himself amidst a civilisation little inferior in progress and comfort to that he had left behind, and his spirits rise as he remembers he has good letters of introduction to influential residents. Such is the gloomiest picture of the present ; let us cast a glance at the pioneer of the THE NIGHT BEFORE THE BATTLE. His native hills that rise in happier climes, The grot that heard his song of other times, His cottage home, his bark of slender sail, His glossy lake, and broomwood-blossom'd vale Rush on his thought 1 If the new arrival of to-day, with a civilisation at high pressure around him, finds himself casting a lingering retrospective glance at the ancestral roof, and feels the qualms of home-sickness assail him, with what a bound would memory o'erleap the thousands of trackless miles that separate from the home of his forefathers him who had landed on March 23, 1848, from the John Wickliffe? Standing on the lone seashore, a very Ultima Thule. of eiTilisatioi), and facing the lofty hills covered to the water's edge with pathleas forest, a feeling of the desperateness of the adventure, the fierceness of the coming fight, the long continuance of the onslaught, might well cast a tremor through the stout heart, and quicken the remembrance of the mountain glen he had left, rich in storied legend and fruitful with early affections. That wonderful instrument the mind photographs for him witi instantaneous fl ish the playmates of his childhood, the companions of his youth, the friends of his maturer years, " the old folks at home," and as the pictures fade again into nothingness, cold fingers seem to grasp and squeeze his heart as it is borne into his brain that he has looked his last on the wellbeloved faces and time-honoured surroundings of his ancestral home. The wanderer of to-day knows that, like Noah's dove, he can easily return to the comforts of the Ark should he find no dry land on which to plant his feet. A few pounds at the worst will give him as comfortable a passage in the steerage of some steamer as probably obtained in the cabin of the John Wickliffe. The pilgrim of '48 knew when he landed he had burnt his boats ; that for him and those with him it was victory or an exile's grave. The. fight must be ever and onwards. No temporary truce ; no patched-up peace. It was a perfect subjugation of the enemy, or death to the soldier 1 As in the brave old days of Rome the Roman mother in handing the shield to husband or son on the eve of battle adjured him either to carry it home himself or be borne home on it, in significance that there was to be no surrender, so these great-hearted soldiers in the peaceful army of progress, fighting a Voutrance, marched on to victory ; and we have entered into peaceful possession of their conquest To hearts such as these, and only to such, do the words of Horatius, as given to us by Macaulay, strike sympathetic chords : — J To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better ♦ Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods All honour to the brave phalanx that, shoulder to shoulder, without beat of drum or fl ire of shawms, slowly, surely, with never a halt, never a whisper of surrender, never a backward look to the fle-jhpots of E^ypt, march d on in defiance of the opposition of man, the antagonism of Nature, fc THE FIGHT — WITH MAN A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand spears in rest, A tuou&and knights are pressing close behind the snow white crest ; And in they burst, and on they rushed, while, like a guiding star, Amidst tne thickest earn ige blazed the helmet of Navarre. With what pride of our lineage and glory iv our race we read of a great battle fought — a brilliant victory snatched from the teeth of an almost impossible opportunity 1 How the pulse quickens as the mind pictures the serried ranks, the thud of hoofs, the gallant charge, fie shock of meeting squadrons, the shout of victory, the wild cry of despair 1 A people rise in acclamation, and greet with frantic huzzas the hero of the fight 1 In their hysterical impetuosity they exalt him iuto a demi-god, and in liberal acknowledgment of service They gave him of the corn-land, Thai was of public right, As much as two strong oxen Could plough from morn till night And they made a molten image. And set it up ou high. They bold a jubilee on the anniversary of the great victory — a -jubilee which is not a Hebrew yokel, but which is, as explained in dictionaries, "a season of great public joy

and festivity." All this is natural, and well is it it is so ; it were unnatural were it otherwise. Moreover, sentiment dictates this jubilation al-.o — the sentiment of excitement. Yet the epitaph of most battles may be read in : " But what good came of it at last ? " Quotb little Feterkin. " Why, that I cannot tell," said he, " But 'twas a famous victory." The battle with Nature, in the establishment of a colony, carries its own cenotaph — " Advantage to all time." Such is a picture of the fight betweeu man and mao. Let us look with sober eyes, dispassionate judgment, on THE FIGHT — WITH NATURE! In the first, bravery, endurance, determinatiou are of necessity required ; but the pomp and circumstance of war excite and assist in maintaining sucn feelings. In the campaign about to be undertaken the features of the country you have to travel are delineated in carefullydrawn maps, and familiarised by scouts. Communicatioa is preserved with the base of supplies. The sick and the halt are provided with ambulance and hospital ; and when at last you face your enemy, the countenance of your fellows, exhilarating music of bands, the dlan of a battlefield, put you en accord to do and dare. In the campaign agaiust Nature all these condiments to stimulate to exertion and sustain continuous effort are wanting. A.s the Teasel that has dumped you dowa on a perfectly unknown and inhospitable shore on her return to the land of your nativity and yearning affection slowly fades from the horizon of your anxious gaze, you turn to your fellow-exiles for suppor*, aid read in the surrounding faces the anxious thought, the carking care, the clouding doubts, that are the unwelcome guests that have against your will intruded themselves and taken an abiding occupancy in your mind. The excitement of departure, the novelty of ocean in her various moods during the voyage, the occupations, anticipated requirements the coming campaign dictate, and, above all, the flittering tales that God's great blessing tn man — hope — tells as week afier week the consummation of her suggestions draws, as you anticipate, to an ample fulfilment, are buried in the casket of their birth that you have just watched disapp -ar from the plane of your observation. Y"ou turn for solace to Nature, and you find

the great mother, possibly in kindly sympathy, has shrouded from your shrinking gaze the stern solitude of surrounding precipices in clouds of mist, that presently, as in overburdened grief, dissolve into rain — the gracious tears wrung from her in sorrowing pity for your misfortune. You retire to your tent or whare, di.mp with her inconveaieut demonstration — that occasionally intrudes to an extent exceeding comfort, — and you are piped to bed with solitude's wild lullaby — the croak of shag, the whistle of wood hen, or erie scream of seagull. As "Nature's sweet restorer" settles down upon your brain, tired with the disappointments of the present, worn with anxieties for the future, your last thoughts are of Selkirk sadly wailing— CHsolitude 1 where are the charms That sages have seen in thy face ? Better dwell in the midst of alarms, Than reign in this horrible place ! [TAKING THE FIELD. Thine, Homan, is the pilum : Roman, the sword is thine, The even trench, the brisrling mound, The legion's ordered line ; And thine the wheels of triumph. But the long campaign has been begun, aud the child of Caledonia, stern and wild, who turned his back on doughty foe is not numbered with soul of living man ! Onward, hoi is the watchword of Scotiish pluck, Scottish dour determination. The slogan of Snowdovvn's graceful knight, Come one, come all ! this rock shall fly From it's fiim base as soon as 1, nasties proudly through Scottish heart, nerves Scottish hand, braces Scottish soul, and gives elan to Scottish step, as ttie little band marches forth to victory. It is a long, lung, toilworn march, however, with no correct chart of the route, no scout needed to help disclose the nakedness of the land ; for behold it is ail naked, and He, the j^oung and strong, who cherished 1 Noble longings for the strife, By the roadside fell and perished, Weary with the march of life! t THE BALANCE TREMBLES. From morn to dewy eve the struggle wage*. Strong though the arm and clear the brain that strikes the blow, the earth, like the daughters of the horse- leech, ever cries for more, till, almost overborne by continuous strife, the fainting spirit rebellious, cries Why are we weigh'd upon with heaviness, And utterly consumed with shaip distress, While all things else have rest from weariness f All things have lest ; why should we toil alone 1 We only toil who are the first of things, Anil make perpetual moan. 10 TKIUMPHE 1 Soft as remembrance of buried love, or tune warbled in childhood's sunny hour by mother's lips, and treasured as holy relic in memory's haunted house, there steals across the strong masculine mind the remembrance it is not for himself alone he toils and tights. He is a world-builder — an instrument chosen by Omaipotent design to erect an I fashion a home of many mansions for a generation yet unborn : a people who may perchance light -a torch of lib-rty as yet undreamed of ; a beacon whose fires shall ascend as a sweet-smelling incense to the foot of the Eternal Throne. Is not this a work that kings and kaisers might well take pride tmf And shall nofc he continue his endeavour? For the structure that we raise. Time is with materials tilled Our to days and yesterdays Are the blocks with which we buildj "'II BONO 1 Victory achieved, the wilderness made blossom as the rose, how- ehall these brave sol iiers of the battalions of peace obtain the meed of toil — the guerdon for years of self-sacrificing hardship ? To fight Nature in her callous youth is bad enough ; but she is honest : her face may at wont be hard as the Black Death, but she wears no mask, and she as a rule proves bountiful. But what to do with the results of their efforts and h«r retura wts one of the toughest problems the pioneer had to solve. He vras at tie mercy of the buyer, who, from time immemorial, has said, "It is uaught ! It is naught ! " while the prices he had to pay for necewaries outside his power of productiou were oa an inverse ratio. Thore was besides THE BURTHEN OF OTAGO. The early times within the block purchased for a Free Church Settlement were disturbed by the big enemy outside and "little enemy?' vrithin, as described in our Jubilee Number, and more particularly delineated in Dr. Hocken's admirable and reliable historical work, " Contributions to the Eirly History of New Zealand," just issued. In point of fact society had declared against it, and it was not fashionable. In the colony itself it was incontinently snubbed. Auckland was the seat of Government, and considered

itself iv consequence the creme de La crdme ot tbe colony Wellington and Nelson, being the proteges of thf Nev Zealand Company, belonged in their own estimation to ar atmosphere superior to that of the Settlement. Thus diffi culties for which there was no occasion were thrown in tb< way of the little band of pilgrims, and made their burder heavier — the battle harder to fight. If, however, it was anticipated that the aggregation of embarrassments wouli tend to extinguishment, the enemies of the settlement countec without tbeii- host. Those early pilgrims belonged to th< good old corps of "fight-hards," whose peculiar idiosyn crasy was an ignorance of the knowledge of defeat. The ole Covenanting blood that permeated their constitutions stooc them in good stead during the battlp, and, actuated by honest] of feeling, belief in the purity of their purpose, and aeon viction. they were performing satisfactorily the work of th< God they reverenced, obeyed, and cherished, they marchei on with undaunted front and achieved a victory over th( unjust machinations of man and obstinate crudiiies of Nature Their action and intention breathes in Longfellow's line; "Th« Builders"— Build to-day, then, strong and sure, With a firm and ample base ; .And, ascending and secure, Shall to-morrow find its place. Thus alone can we attain To those turrets, where the eye Sees the world as one vast plain And one boundless reach of sky ! Most of these hardy and conscientious pioneers hav< entered into the joy of. their Lord, and those who have sue oeeded as heirs to their endeavours have also attained to th< responsibility of completing the building of the of State the keel and lines of which were so well, substantially, anc honestly laid by their progenitors ! Let us hope the shif •will be continued on the same contour 1 ENVOI. The jubilee is over. Tbe manes of the patres conscript of Otago have had that kudos offeied up by a generation (t< most of whom they were unknown) thar. was due for theii honesty of purpose, vigour of action. We behold them now hoary 1 with the mantle of the silent years Ihat in their quie progress have added honour and reputation to theii earh endeavour ; — fragiant ! with an earnestness of effoit basec on their desire to fulfil their duty to God and man, that hitherto, buried by the stoim and stiess of the march o life, has at last met its due acknowledgment : — revei»nt with tbe acquired appreciation of the soundness and per manence of the foundations they laid with a haidship and toil beyond the comprehension of to-day, that has found re voice till now. By our recent action it is borne in upon oui minds that tbe footsteps along the sands of time of these olr 1 pilgrims, who we feel it is a privilege to call ours! — om progenitors I—tbe1 — tbe vanguard of our a] my of progress, whose march onward we purpose to imitate — have not beei obliterated by the succeeding waves of circumstance. The errors of omission, mistakes of commission, incident to the weakness of humanity, are buried in the grave of a past forgetfulness; their mighty deeds, the burthen of their difficulties — their strong faith that enabled them to bear and overcome them — alone live embalmed in oui memory, surrounded with the halo Virtue claims as her own, to furnish ar ensample for adnr.iation and imitation, and a gi.ide to our path. It now remains for us who have entered into the fruits of their patient toil, virtuous self-sacrifice, godly courage, to take advantage of the opportunity such a lesson administet s. Shades of the honoured dead ! — who have preceded us across the solemn silent lake to some bourne whose mysterious labyrinths we vainly try tc explore— can ye not, likb the seers of old, arise out ot impalpable space and tell vs — standing on its nether shore, and looking appealingly across its dim and mystic waters — whether in the future, fraught with momentous consequence, we shall neglect so great an opportunity as is now afforded us 1 Or, rather, shall we not arise in the majesty and power of a people on whose shoulders the mantle of your moral virtues, your physical bravery, has descended, and don the bright armour of Faith, Hope, and Charity you have left us as a legacy, in kindly trust we may wear it to fight a good fight, drive from without the city gates, the precincls of the land you have hallowed by the ensample of your lives, the unclean thing that with lying tongue shall deceive men's minds, and decoy their souls fiom the paths of uptightness ; decry the spirit of a partisanship that seeks a self-aggrandisement by the ruin of the State ; crush out the hypociisy that with prurient promise and smiling moral platitudes prostitutes God's earth by demoralising its inhabitants ! Settlers of Otago ! ye have done a good thing and a great in carrying out the jubilee in honour of the revered fathers of the Settlement with tbe Tim and enthusiasm you have displayed. There remains for you a greater honour to achieve — a more lasting joy to acquire. Follow their Example I The dead past has buried its dead ; the living present claims your attention 1 Ah 1 if our sou's but poise and swing Like the compass in its brazen ring,

Ever level and ever true To the toil and the task we have to do, We shall sail securely, and safely reach The Fortunate Isles, on whose shining beach The sights we see, and the sounds we hear, Will be those of joy and not of fear !