“ SOUTH AUCKLAND ”

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4230, 12 January 1940, Page 5

“ SOUTH AUCKLAND ”

STORY OF FIVE COUNTIES. THE EARLY DAYS RECALLED. For he shall desire loneliness; and his desire shall bring Hard on his heels a thousand wheels, a people, and a king; And he shall turn back o’er his own track, and by his scarce-cool camp. There he shall meet the roaring street, the derrick, and the stamp; And he shall blaze a nation’s way. with hatchet and with brand, Till o’er his last-won wilderness a nation’s bulwarks stand. These words of the immortal Rudyard Kipling, in reference to the pioneer, are a fitting introduction to a review of the book, just issued, styled “ Sop th Auckland,” written by Mr H. E. R. I. Wflly, of Mauku, near Wiaiuku, and now available for purchase at local booksellers’ shops. A very fine review from the pen of Mr T. E. McMillan,, of Matamata, appears in a contemporary, and to call local attention to* the excellence of the production we quote Mr McMillan:— After reading “ South Auckland ” a younger man cannot help being envious of the immense capacity for research and general intellectual activity displayed by one now past the three saore years and ten of biblical memory. And besides all this prodigious energy, Mr Wily brings to his task a mind of great sweep and depth enriched by conscientious quarrying in the world’s best literature. He has read for intellectual profit, and, like the good fertilisers in the soil that which goes into his mind in one form comes out enriched by his mental processes. Before coming to the book prope.r a word inspired by the foreword written by Mr J. N. Massey, M.P. for Franklin is not out of place. Mr Massey regrets that Mr Wily breaks off his narrative at a point fifty years back, and hopes he will write further, bringing the story up to to-day. The present reviewer endorses this,. not alone for the qualities referred to in the above paragraph but because Mr Wily possesses that without which no book, however inquiring and assiduous its author may be can be really first rate: background. It is merely stating the obvious to say that none other has the required qualifications in anything like the degree to which Mr Wily is endowed with them and if he is not induced to proceed then posterity will have cause to lament the very thing Mr Wily complains of—failure of those who lived in the times to record them adequatelv. Moreover at this distance one feels fairly safe. Mjr Wily’s “ Critic on the Hearth ” notwithstanding, in urging that he should also place on record in handy form the fruits of his investigations and deductions in respect of the geology of the area. His comments upon the facile assumptions of orthodox geology lead one to assume that he will not take quite so much for granted, and will draw a more defined line between the proven and the speculative. Phases of pioneering come to an end, as when the horse-drawn vehicles replace the bullock drays and the motor vehicles send both into oblivion; but none the less we are pioneers, and if Mr Wily is not given encouragement he will pass on without doing in his day what he and others regret our predecessors did not do. History and tradition are an inspiration to each succeeding generation. This is a broad hint to Mr Alan P. Day and local bodies that they be not weary of well-doing. The book traverses five counties—those of Manukau, Franklin, Raglan, Waipa, and Waikato. It is “to the order ” of the first-named four, and one hopes that the ratepayers of Waikato will be proud of the distinction their present councillors have conferred upon them I The printing is in fine clear type, with good impression, by the Franklin Printing and Publishing Company, Limited and the illustrations are well produced and is in itself a worthy pioneering achieveniQpt. The author advisedly goes beyond his set task to give us a sketch of our beginnings in general, from Abel Tasman and Captain Cook, notes the flora and fauna, later having a very fine chapter on our native birds and making some penetrating comment. For example, if one reads the Dublin Review of January, 1938, one is told that the first-comers here were convicts and runaway sailors, “ the very outcasts of an outcast society,” and nothing else. Yet Mr Wily points out that this type was much in the minority, the majority being decent sorts. Indeed, it must have been so, for otherwise the general viciousness would have caused the rapid extinction of such a society whereas they became solidly founded here. It is to be hoped that the comment upon the unwisdom of trying to make Europeans out of the Maoris will not go unheeded. Dabblers in matters of the development of native races have not understood that there is an unbridgeable gulf between the psychological make-up of the white man and ilhe inative a'nywhere, and no amount of education can bridge that gap. With its long experience, and the wisdom born of that, our Colonial Office tries now to do just what Mt Wily says we should try with the Maoris—assist them to develop and live by their own customs and institutions. and to become self-reliant instead of being wards of the State. Politicians are soundly trounced for permitting, and conniving at, the destruction of so much native bush, especially that on steep country, with its aftermath of denuded hill-sides a»d flooded flats—.good soil washed away for ever. Mir Wily opines that, despi.te the present pretence of care for what native bush is left, more legalised vandalism will occur. This reviewer has given thought to such matters- and can see only one way out—ithat is, for the local bodies of an electorate to appoint the member of Parliament, purely as a delegate, instructed to speak and vote as directed bv an electoral council of the respective local bodies in each electorate. whose members may be expected to have a due regard for the preservation of the natural resources of their localities. “ That’s political,” and it is intended to be so ! Valuable observations on the proper

cutting of timber are made, and there is a most interesting description, of . pit-sawing. Many curious items of •' knowledge there are, and in only one instance is the author at a complete loss: he wants someone to tel! him"'.,, where the “ welkin ” is. !• must confess that I can give him <>nly.*a' - second-hand notion of it. I am told that you have to indulge freely in waipiro, go rolling home in the late hours, singing lustily, and th hr you “ raise the welkin.” The late G. K. Chesterton said that was the manner in which the “ rolling roads of old England ” were formed from the first tracks, leading from the local hostelry to the rustics’ homes. I doubt , if Mr Wiily will investigate or? should I say “ inebriate ” ? There is so much worth noting in " South Auckland ” that if I were to - - continue as I have begun this review would be far too lengthy. Grave and,'.’ gay, Mr Wily has covered all things of interest, his descriptions of the hostilities with the Maoris being particularly good, showing a fine grasp of essential features. Not only has he read widely of the records, but he has, over the years, personally visited the whole orea, and persistently interviewed all who could give him recollections of the early days. These gleanings of a lifetime he had largely' ' com. gutted to writing and printing, thus budding up a vast and valuable ‘ bulk of information. His descriptions ■ of the fighting in the Drury, WUipku, ... Clevedon, Pekekohe East, and other places make one feel that every yard ■ I of ground must have its interesting historical associations and one cannot but regret the destruction of redoubts and other remnants of militant foes and stirring times. Tuakau * authorities in particular should heed Mr Wily’s appeal, on page fba . restoration of the Alexandra redoubt. ■

With a fine versatility Mr Wily has in the absence of photographs of.re..; doubts and buildings of great historical interest sketched the places himself, and done others from old paintings that were not suitable, for . ; photographic reproduction.* Whether of hardship or hilarity, Mr ” Wily has chronicled all with a fine ' : catholicity of treatment, providing ' both instruction and entertainment? without writing Above his general. ... reader’s - head.

As it happens, this is not the first ■ "' of the centennial publications the present writer has perused, but it. is, so far, easily the best in the field, and something which the members ■ °f the four local bodies who. are. stab.sidising it may well feel will'stand - ■ • as much a monument to their memo- • ries. as pioneers, as the contents cif .. the book will assuredly stand as an imperishable record of ** famous men • • and our fathers that begat us.” The subsidies permit the book to be sold for the comparatively small sum of 7s 6d. _ With all sincerity, and like-"* ' wise with all confidence in my judgment being endorsed by the readers., I would urge every family to become possessed of a copy of “ South Auck- * land ” now, •while the supply lasts.