PIONEERING AT NELSON

Taranaki Daily News, 5 January 1935, Page 7

PIONEERING AT NELSON

ARCHBISHOP’S MEMORIES YEAR OLDER THAN WELLINGTON. MAORIS’ FIRST SIGHT OF HORSES. EDUCATION FROM A SURVEYOR.

Arch bishop Redwood, whose death was reported yesterday, was not only a very great figure in the Roman Catholic Church but was also 2,11 early settler of the Dominion. With his keen povzers of observation and his gift of speech he was a charming raconteur, his reminiscences always being well worth listening to. “I am proud of the fact that I am one year older than Wellington,” said His Grace,, at a gathering of early Settlers two years ago. “I was bom in England in 1839. and did not come to Wellington until 1842. I am sure you would not think yourselves so badly off if you could realise what the people of those times went through without complaint. I was the youngest son of a large family, and my father was induced to think of settling in New Zealand because of being badly treated by his landlord in England. With a large family he knew he could never be any better off than he was, and just at that time there came under his notice the fact that the New Zealand Company was being formed to settle a new country on the other side of the world. “The idea of the promoters was to make it a model colony, and for that reason desired only people who were morally and physically sound. The settlers had to be picked men and women of good standing. My father was attracted by tlie idea, and eventually took passage by the ship George Fife, of 560 tons. When I was at Blenheim some time ago I met a man who said that when the George Fife got back to England after that trip he joined her and served his apprenticeship upon her.

. ALL IN THE STEERAGE. “My father wanted to save all the money he could in order to have it to use in New Zealand, so we all went steerage, but we had one advantage, as we were all placed in one apartment in the steerage, which was the greatest boon, as we could lead our own family life undisturbed by others. . . . And I remember a good many things that occurred on the voyage,” said the distinguished nonogenarian. “I can remember a sailor motioning me to go below with him. I can remember seeing him knock the Read off a bottle and giving me a little drink. It was very delicious. I did not know what it was at the time, but afterward learned it was champagne. The man had broached the cargo in the hold. “I also remember that one of the sailors fell overboard. Though an attempt was made to rescue him, he disappeared. The weather was very rough in the Bay of Biscay, and as most of the people had had no previous experience of the sea they were all very frightened. The voyage lasted five months. We called at the Cape of Good Hope for water and provisions, and then went on to Wellington to discharge cargo, and after that, we went to Nelson, so that nearly six months had elapsed before we reached our destination.

“It seems that the country had been surveyed in England, and my father had been induced to purchase ‘on spec’ a block of 50 acres in the Nelson district. We found it was near the mouth of a river about 14 miles from Nelson township, but we went straight out to the place as best we could, taking a large tent, which was. divided into compartments. We lived in that tent for six months, as we could not build a house in less time. You must remember that then there were no cattle, no pigs, no sheep, so we had to live on birds, and every day my father and mother had to go out and shoot ducks and pigeons, and set lines for eels and fish. Later my father bought some cattle, pigs and sheep. There were no horses for some time. “I will never forget what fun there was when the Maoris first saw horses. They were amazed beyond description. They did not know what to call them. They could not call them big dogs, so they finally called them ‘hoihoi,’ a corruption of ‘who are you.’ After- getting used to the horses the Maoris used to gallop them all''over the country, until the poor animals sweated terribly, and some of them died, but with experience they got to know how to treat the animals.

SOUND EDUCATION. “There were Charlie, Tom and myself on the place, and there was no school, so my father got a surveyor to teach us in his spare time, and he taught us well, giving us a sound English education, so much so that when I went to school at Nelson it was found that jn English I knew as much as my schoolmaster. But there I learned French and Latin under Father Garin, after which I went to Europe, where I was given a very good education during tlie next five or six years. My French was so good that I was given the prize for French composition against the French students. “On March 17 of next year will be celebrated my diamond jubilee as a Bishop,” said His Grace, “and I hope you will all be present on that occasion, l am now the senior Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in the world, and have been 68 years a priest. In another year I will reach my diamond jubilee, if God gives me that advantage.