Literary Discovery of New Zealand Interest.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18467, 4 August 1934, Page 9

Literary Discovery of New Zealand Interest.

THE finding of now MS. material relating to. the early days of New Zealand is a matter of public interest. When such material comprises the memoirs of a trained and cultured observer such ns Canon <T. W. Stack, whose recollections go back nearly to the beginnings of white settlement in New Zealand, its discovery may justly be claimed as an event of importance. James West Stack was borne at a Maori pa at Puriri, in the Thames district, on March 27, .1835, in the days of William IV. The little settlement -at the Bay of Islands was the metropolis of Now Zealand. Auckland was still undreamed of, Wellington would not find a place upon the map for several years, while- all within tho coastal outline of the South Island was a terra incognita, and even the coast was not accurately charted.' A map by Arrowsmith, dated 1841, shows Banks Peninsula joined to the mainland by a “sandy neck” but a, mile or two in width; the-northern part, of the South Island is attenuated, ami the southern part bulbous-shaped - , while the only objects relieving the monotony of the interior arc two or three lakes, apparently tossed in haphazard, one of these mysterious bodies of water (inserted, no doubt, on the strength of some vague Maori inf.or: mation) being of very large dimensions (approaching the size of Lake Taupo, in the north) and situated somewhere in the neighborhood of Waipiata. A Pioneer Missionary

I Stack’s father was one of the carl- [ iest pioneer missionaries. As a young man he came under the influence of Samuel Marsdeh in Sydney, arid as a result joined Samuel Leigh, the founder of the Wesleyan Mission, at •Wliangaron in 1823, It was “brave .Tames Stack” who set out alone on a perilous journey through the bush and across country to Kerikeri, 20 miles away, to seek assistance when Wesley.dale was sacked by a Maori war party in 1827. Later tie returned to London, and - shortly returned to New Zealand as a C.M.S. catechist, bringing with him a wife, a girl of ID, botn beautiful and brave.

Their first mission station was at ‘■M'angapouvi, situated near the present site of To AwamtJu, which they occupied in 1835. Here the young wife and mother had an experience of what ugly customers some of the Maori chiefs .of those days- could show themselves. In the absence of her husband' an uncouth fellow' named Awarahi strode into the house one day Jatul demanded a blanket. Mary Stack- had the temerity to refuse the blustering deinfericK “What is this I gsee? - ” said he, snatching at. trio corner 'of a blanket oh,the bed, What was his astonishment whou, as ho snatched at one end, a baby rolled out of the other. Tliis was the . writer of the •newly-discovered memoirs, James West ’Stack, audfjWas one of his earliest recorded adventures.

All's JSthck,. her mother instincts abused, after: rescuing her baby, boldly confronted' the bully, asked him whether that ! was the way Maori ebiefs treated unprotected' women, and told him to ’ Wlteh' her • htisband was there. Awarahi, shamefaced, dropped the blanket and left the House. The next day, however, He returned, and made a determined at;tempt ion the lifer o,£ the missionary. Eventually, on account of the turbulence of the natives of the neighborhood, this station had to bev abandoned. Stationed, la The Waiapu

After a brief stay at Fnihia in ;1837, where they probably met to* aged Samuel Marsden during his last visit to Now Zealand, the Stqefcs spent the next few years at various mission stations in succession—Tau"rnnga, Waiapu, and East Cape. Eventually, after young Stack had received a year’s schooling at St. John’s College, Auckland, under Bishop Sclwyn, tho father had a serious nervous breakdown. The family ; went to visit relatives fin Sydney, and j thence returned to London, where tho mother died about 1830.

After completing his schooling James West Stack -was trained as a catechist by the C.M.S. He returned to New Zealand in .1852 in company with Tamihana Tc Itauparaha. The ship called at Port Chalmers .on her :way to Wellington, and was dotained. in Otago Harbor for several weeks. ‘The voyage out was not uneventful, for- it included a mutiny on the high seas and the nearest thing to a ship- ’ wreck* on the Heads at Port Nicholson. Stack's destination wasi Dr. Maun|sell’s mission station on the Waikato, ;ncar the Ilonds, whei(b he spent several 'years. In this portion of the Recollections one has an illuminating picture of the life in a training school ■for Maori youths, away back in tho bush, during the decade prior to the Maori War. Here, also, he met a Inumber of interesting people, including Carl Volkncr, who was later murdered by the Hauhaus at Opotiki. This was the very place for which Stack was designated, but in 1859 ho accepted a very urgent invitation by Bishop Harper to undertake the care of- the Maoris of the Canterbury province. To Kaiapoi he took his bride, and for about a- quarter of a century ministered faithfully to his native flock, *ln his later years he became vicar of Fendalton, and on his retirement returned to Europe, living for a time in Italy and for the closing years of his life at Worthing, England. Here he died in 1919 a-t the age of 84, and was only survived for a few weeks by his wife, aged 90. i An Interesting Man

That is just the bate outline of rho cntccrpf this interesting mao, who Was recognised as the, best authority Oil the. South Isiahd MnOri, and Whose published works include “The backing of Kniapohia,’’ “The South Island- Maoris,’’ “Koro,’’ and “Through Canterbury and Otago with Bishop liarper in 1859-60.’’ His momoirs, just discovered, fill in the