OUR YESTERDAYS

Otago Witness, Issue 3862, 20 March 1928, Page 80

OUR YESTERDAYS

A PLEA FOR A NEW ZEALAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.

By Alfred Eccles.

(Special fok the Otago Witness.) There are probably few people in the community, that is, in the more seriousminded portion of it—who would not subscribe to the truth of the statement that accounts of persons and events connected with the earlier days of this country are both valuable and interesting. That being so, does it not seem extraordinary that long before this some organisation has not been brought into existence to which those looking for authentic information on such subjects can turn for enlightenment, or to which, if so inclined, they can link themselves with the object of assisting to preserve and to place on record historical facts? In asking this question I am not unmindful of the admirable work which is being done by the Polynesian Society in connection with the elucidation and preservation of Maori history and tradition. The point that I would emphasise, however, is that whilst it is Certainly of equal, if not greater, importance that posterity should have at its command an authoritative “ white ” history of New Zealand and all its parts, there is in being no body whose aim it is to see that such is being fossicked, out and recorded.

True, locally there is the Otago Early Settlers’ Association, but membership of that society is by no means open to everyone, and is jealously restricted to those persons who arrived in Otago up to and including December 31, 1808, and to their descendants. Again, though willing at all times to extend every help to inquirers, this society has rigidly prescribed limits to its activities, and, beyond handing to the newspapers lists of the gifts received by it and of the deaths of pioneers, does not publish records. Its operations may be said to be confined to keeping green the memory of the pioneer men and women of this province; the collection of objects of early Otagon significance*; to the filing of press cuttings and such like, and to the conduct of social functions. Associations with somewhat similar aims as regards their own provinces exist in other Dominion centres.

That there is a genuine 'call for the establishment of a New Zealand Hisr torical Society is a fact which to my mind admits of no argument, and, in my opinion, the sooner that it is constituted the more serviceable are its labours likely to be.

A suggestion to found approximately such a body emanated some years ago from the department of history and political science at Canterbury College, but what its outcome was I did not hear.

That the idea was no new one, at any rate so far as Otago was concerned, is evidenced by the fact that many years ago in Dunedin a society was actually started. It was short lived, and as its failure may be cited by some as an indication of the fate likely to befall such a society as is here proposed it may be as well to examine the cause. The Early History Society of Otago was launched at a general meeting held on St. George’s Day, 1884. Mr James Macandrew, M.H.R., was elected president ;Dr T. M. Hocken vice-president, and Messrs A. C. Begg and James Bair treasurer and secretary respectively. The list of those comprising its council contain the names of many well-known men. It lasted for little more than a year, and apparently a conversazione and a concert was the sum total of its achievements. Its minute book is now in the Hocken Library. A perusal of it leads one to the conclusion that the effort which the society made to arouse interest in its objects was premature. A note written by Dr Hocken appears after the date May 19, 1885, and reads as follows:—“ The society came to a speedy end. The work devolved on two or three persons—old identities unwilling to talk. Altogether the movement ended in a fiasco. Mr F. R. Chapman and myself have worked informally, and have thus gradually gathered together that which the society set itself to’ do.”

That was 40 years ago, - when the passage of time had not as yet proved sufficiently long to invest former events with the glamour which the succeeding years have managed to attach to them. Is it not reasonable to think that what spelt failure then might now, if properly handled, meet with success? There can be no question that at the present great interest is taken in all that pertains to this country’s history, and that books and press articles on the subject, whether they have merely a local background or are national in character, are in constant demand. The number of those who are engaged in historical research work has as a consequence largely increased. How better could the interests of those so occupied be served than by the founding of an historical society? Many of those employed in writing must frequently have longed for access to this or that inaccessible file of newspapers or to the Shelves of some distant library.

Were the proposal that I have put forward to become a reality immense benefits; would accrue to those claiming membership of the hew body. One' of the results would be that a practicable

channel would be created by means of which interchange of information could be carried on between people living in widely separated parts of New Zealand. A little reflection will readily suggest to the mind many other spheres of utility for such a society. To these, for brevity’s sake, I am for the moment content to make no reference; and I shall conclude with an expression of hope that what I have written may attract attention and discussion, and that something worth while may ultimately result from it.