Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 4032, 23 June 1931, Page 61

A trick played upon the Maoris by the master of a ship trading to Akaroa in the early days is held responsible, according to popular legend, for the introduction into Canterbury of the dock—one of the most common of garden weeds. The story was related by Mr O. W. B. Anderson, president of the Canterbury Horticultural Society, when addressing the children of Elmwood School (reports the Press). To induce the Maoris to carry a load of flax to Akaroa for him,, stated Mr Anderson, this captain promised to procure tobacco for them. When the work was completed, and he had returned to Sydney, he found that tobacco was very scarce and dear. He accordingly collected a bag or so of dock seed, and on his next visit to Akaroa gave it to the Maoris as tobacco. Once the seed was in the country it would not be long before some of it became scattered and began to germinate, with the result appearing in the pfesent wide distribution of the weed.