ROMANCE OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVII, Issue 21529, 16 December 1939, Page 28 (Supplement)

ROMANCE OF ONE HUNDRED YEARS

DOMINION GROWS TO MANHOOD

STIRRING STRUGGLES OF PIONEERS

fiO TEA ROA—THE LONG WHITE CLOUD. HOW CAME NEW ZEALAND TO BE SO DESIGNATED? THE STORY IS TRADITIONAL, BUT LIKE EVERY OTHER NATION, YOUNG OR OLD, THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE DOMINION IS STEEPED IN A TRADITION WHICH MAKES THE COLONISATION OF THESE ISLANDS AS COLOURFUL A ROMANCE AS THAT ASSOCIATED WITH ANY OF THE OLDER NATIONS. TO-DAY, AS WE CELEBRATE THE CENTENARY. WE MAY BE CONSTRAINED, BECAUSE OF THE OCCASION, TO REGARD THE DOMINION AS BEING 100 YEARS OLD, BUT IN BIRTH THE HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND GOES BACK 10 CENTURIES TO THE DATE OF ITS DISCOVERY. TO COMPLETE THE RECORD OF PROGRESS WE MUST VOYAGE WITH THAT SWART, TATTOOED NAVIGATOR KUPE THROUGH HITHERTO UNKNOWN SEAS, AND SHARE WITH HIM THE THRILL OF SIGHTING ON THE DIM HORIZON A MOUNTAIN RANGE SO NEBULOUS WITH DISTANCE AS TO CAUSE HIS WIFE. AO TEA ROA TO EXPLAIN, “IT IS NO MORE THAN A WHITE CLOUD RESTING ON THE RIM OF THE SKY.” BUT IT WAS LAND, AND WITH ITS DISCOVERY COMMENCED THE HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND.

Tradition says that Kupe and his companion, Ngahue, chiefs of the Society Islands, were the Maori' discoverers of ithe isles called by Hine-te-Rangi, Kupe’s wife, Ao Tea Roa, or The Long White Cloud. In about 900 A.D. they came voyaging, in two canoes, called respectively Matahoura and Tawlrirangi. Dugout praus of Polynesia, they must have made a fine sight driving shoreward through the toppling combers of the Roaring Forties, of the Great Sea of Kiwa. Each was two great hollow logs, held parallel by a platform of booms lashed athwart them with plaited sennit, and on the platform a thatched house, and above it a great lateen sail of woven matting, the shape of a bird’s wing. The spray flew as they raced, lurching, through the seas, and the slaves were busy, baling with carved wooden shovels, and the brown sailormen were looking .to the lashings, but, serene and steady-eyed, the chiefs sat on their piles of fine pandanus mats, looking out on the strange new land. Coming of the Big Fleet To Kupe, then, goes the honour of having discovered these Southern Isles, but not In many generations did the Maori settle the country. There is much that is obscure in the discovery and settlement of New Zealand, but again tradition has it that 200 years after Kupe came Toi, seeking a grandson blown to sea. He found him settled in the Bay of Plenty, and there Toi settled also.' In Toi’s wake came the great Maori fleet, about 1350, and with their coming commenced the second chapter of this thrilling narrative. Present-day Maoris delight to trace their descent to one or other of the famous canoes which arrived in the middle of the fourteenth century, and with justifiable pride may they do so.

There must have been a considerable number of settlers before the fleet arrived, probably the descendants of Toi and other explorers. This big migration. it would seem from the evidence available, was spread over a long period, but the main canoes, which are all remembered in Raratonga as well as in New Zealand, were the Arawa, Talnul. Takitlmu and Tokomaru, and from these, together with the Aotea and Mamari, which seem to have arrived earlier, most of the Maoris trace their descent. Tasman Arrives—and Departs The story of eacli canoe is a fascinating one, incidents of the voyages being chronicled in fascinating fashion, but it is not possible to relate them in detail. We move on, reluctantly and rather rapidly, to the coming of the Pakeha explorers, the first of whom was the Dutchman. Abel Tasman. He sailed from Batavia in August, 1642, in a yacht, and after having visited Mauritius, discovered Tasmania, which lie named Van Diemen’s Land in honour of the Governor of the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, he pursued his course eastwards, and on December 13 in the same year, sighted tlie West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, which he described as “a high mountainous country, which is at present marked in the chart as New Zealand.” The navigator, under the impression that the land which he saw was part of a great polar continent, part of the country discovered some years previously by Schouten and La Maire, to which the name of Staaten Land had been given, gave the same name of Staaten Land to New Zealand. It was a summer day in 1642 —an epoch-making day "ter the Southern Isles when Tasman l.'ove in sight. Watchers in the fern saw with amazement two great unhandy sailing ships, top-heavy and lumbering, beating round the long low spit since named Farewell. They stood into the bay, and with a clatter of hawse their ponderous anchors plunged through the green water, off the Indented rocky coast. The Maoris put out to meet them, swift paddlers driving the long lean war-canoes with savage, hideous faces graven under their prows, and tall, delicately-carven ornaments on their sterns. Pulled out from under the lee of one great ship a boat such as no Maori had ever seen, and to their surprise its god-like rowers progressed backwards, without even a glance flung over their shoulders to see where they were going. As they came by the foremost canoe, one of the paddlers laid his hand on the gunwale of the strange boat, and the rower raised his long oar menacingly, and threw himself into a posture of defence, and in two seconds Maori and white man were embroiled . in the heat of battle. Four white men were struck down. The Maoris paddled back to shore elated with victory, as they who have done battle witli the gods, and won; and at dawn they went out again with 20 canoes and nigh 150 men. But from the stranger ships broke thunder and lightnings, and death struck from afar over the water, and the Maoris deemed it unwise to linger. So Abel Tasman crossed the

Maori scene, and went his way, leaving < only a few Netherlandish place-names, I and a brief page in New Zealand history. The Dutch authorities, though not making Tasman’s discoveries known to the world at the time, gave the Dominion the name it still bears, New Zealand. Voyages of Captain Cook More than two centuries slip by and the natives are left in peace. But there comes on the scene one whose name has been handed down from generation to generation, and whose voyages of discovery will continue to be told for generations to come. Just as Kupe had sailed south hundreds of years before, so Captain James Cook, in the “Endeavour” came upon Ao Tea Roa on October 6, 1769. On this day he sighted Young Nick’s Head, and two days later anchored in Poverty Bay. Cook had brought with him from Tahiti a chief named Tupaea, who soon found that he could readily understand the Maoris and make them understand him. It was largely because of this that Cook was able to establish with the Maoris relations which were, on the whole, just and peaceable. On his visit to Queen Charlotte Sound Cook unfurled the Union Jack and proclaimed New Zealand a British possession. He made several visits to these shores, the first in 1769, the second in 1773, the third in the following year and he came back finally in 1777, on the voyage that was to end in his tragic death in Hawaii. A French officer, M de Surville, in command of the St. Jean Baptiste, whilst engaged in a voyage of discovery, sighted the north-east coast of New Zealand on December 12, 1769. remaining in New Zealand waters for some time. Soon afterwards a visit was paid by another French officer, M Marion du Fresne, who after a short stay was murdered by the Bay of Islands natives on June 12, 1772. Captain Cook’s reports drew wide- ! spread attention to the islands in the South Pacific, and not many years were to pass before white men turned covetous eyes on the new land. The first white men to frequent the coasts were whalers and sealers, mostly from the Pacific Coast of South America, they having been attracted by stories of rich harvests and no restrictions. In 1788 the first convict settlement was made at Sydney, and it was from this settlement that the first traders began to exploit New Zealand. From this point on things began to move rapidly, but the history of the Dominion from 1800 to 1830 has many black pages, the worst of which were written in Kororareka and other beautiful bays in the far north. Deserters, many of them escaped convicts, mingled with the Maoris and were used mostly for trafficking with ships which were now becoming more numerous. Following a period of conflict and outrage, in the midst of which there arrived one who was destined to became a personage ol great influence, and whose name will ever be linked with the history of the 1 Dominion, Samuel Marsden. Actually the first missionaries arrived in New Zealand in 1814, the year preceding “Nation-making Waterloo,” but after a short stay returned to New South Wales, and in November of the same year again embarked in company with Marsden, who preached the first sermon in New Zealand on Christmas Day, 1814. The first mission station ! was formed by Messrs Hall and Ken- j dall at Rangihoua, under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. S.x years later the work of Evangelisation was put on a more durable basis; but the first station of the Wesleyan Mission established by Mr Leigh and his wife in the valley of the Kaeo, Whan- I geoa, was not taken possession of until! mid-winter in 1823. Missionary Efforts Marsden's missionary efforts at first gained little success, but gradually his efforts, and those of other missionaries extended and their influence grew until they became a great power for peace among the Maoris. Gradually the number of pioneers increased, new stations were opened up and a different attitude towards the then colony came to be adopted by the British Government. The early governors of New South Wales regarded the colony as a dependency of New South Wales Governor Macquarie having created the missionary Kendall a justice of the peace, and entrusted him with powers to administer British law in New Zealand. Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his New Zealand company, however, took the law into their own hands, and sent an expedition to the colony without waiting for the permission of the Government. A preliminary expedition, under the command of Colonel William Wakefield selected the shore of Port Nicholson, in Cook Strait, as the site of the first settlement, and on January 22, 1840 the first consignment of immigrants arrived, and founded the town of Wellington. The

i company, having decided to form > ' another settlement to which the name of Nelson was lo be given, despatched ; a preliminary expedition in 1841, and ' the spot chosen was at the head of I Blind Bay. About the same time a ' number of pioneers arrived at Taranaki. despatched by the New Plymouth j colonising society, which had been 1 formed in England and had bought 50,000 acres from the New Zealand Company. The next important event in the progress of colonisation was the arrival at Port Chalmers in March. 1848, of the first two immigrant ships, sent out by the Otago Association for the foundation of a settlement by persons belonging to or in sympathy with the Free Churches of Scotland, the Disruption dispute then being at its height. In 1849 the “Canterbury Association for founding a settlement in New Zealand” was incorporated. On December 16, 1850, the first immigrant ship despatched by the association, arrived at Port Cooper, or Lyttelton, and within the next few days three more vessels arrived, the four constituting the “Mayflowers” of the Canterbury province. Thus began the work of opening up the province in systematic fashion, the intention of the promoters being to establish a settlement complete in itself, and composed of members of the United Church of England, the leader being Mr John Robert Godley, whose statue stands in Cathedral Square in Christchurch. It was directly through the activities of this company that the British Gov- I eminent issued a proclamation by j which the boundaries of New South Wales were extended to include as much of New Zealand as might be acquired from the Maoris by the agent of the Crown. The independence of the Maoris was, therefore, formally recognised, and Captain William Hobson was appointed British Consul in I New Zealand with the status of Lieu-tenant-Governor. Treaty of Waitangi Captain Hobson arrived at the Bav of Islands at the end of January 1840 and issued the proclamation of the British Government. With the help and advice of the missionaries, ne quickly negotiated an agreement with the Maoris, and this came to be known as the famous Treaty of Waitangi. By this the Maoris agreed to acknowledge the sovereignty of Queen Victoria and in return the Queen gave to the Maoris all the rights of British subjects, and guaranteed them in the full, exclusive and undisturbed possession of their lands which, from that date could be sold only to the Governor as representing the Queen. The treaty was signed on February 6. 1840. While the treaty might have been just to the Maoris, it caused dissention among the settlers, who had paid for their land before they came out from England. Complaints were made to the Governor, and land commissions were established. The I hearing of the claims dragged on. and all the while more settlers were coming out, adding to the difficulties of the situation. But New Zealand did not remain long a dependency of New South Wales. Nine months after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, letters patent were signed constituting New Zealand a separate colony, and Captain Hobson assumed full responsibilities as Governor. His trials were ■ many, and worn out by the exacting I and worrying cares of his office, he passed to his rest in 1842, being succeeded in the following year by Captain Fitzroy. The selection was not altogether a wise one, for Governor Fitzroy had no ’ sooner landed than he publicly insulted | E. J. Wakefield, resident magistrate, ' and by his actions did much to fan the i war which was presently begun by Hone ! Heke. Fitzroy was recalled in 1845 and the British Government sent out in his stead a young captain of engineers, ! George Grey, who later became Sir I George Grey. He found a bankrupt treasury, a discontented white population and the Maoris in serious rebellion. With his military knowledge he soon brought about peace, striking hard at the centres of trouble in the north and breaking up the campaign in the south by arresting and imprisoning the wily Te Rauparaha. HLs greatest triumph, however, was his winning the confidence and affection of the Maoris. With the wars settled. Grey was able to turn his attention to other troubles. Hobson had governed with the assistance of a Legislative Council consisting of his chief officials and others nominated by himself, but it was not long before the demand for selfgovernment made itself apparent, and the British Government ordered Grey to delay matters as long as he could. The opposition of the Imperial GovI eminent was based on the fear that the I interests of the Maoris would be sub- | ordinated to those of the white settlers I whose clamour for land augured none I too well for the future of the Maori ( people. A New Government came into ; power in England in 1846, and being

i favourably disposed to the New Zeaj land Company, passed an Act to proj vide a half-measure of self-govern- | ment for several provinces, each with a i nominated Legislative Council, a rep--1 resentative house elected by local ■ bodies, and an over-riding General i Assembly. The Governor of the Colony | did not consider this truly representative. and protested vigorously. Finally the Secretary of State yielded, and Grey called his own Legislative Council together and passed an ordinance to set up the provinces with nominated Legislative Councils as a step towards self-government. Boom Follows Gold Discovery The constitution provided for six i provinces, Auckland. Wellington and New Plymouth in the north, and Nelson. Canterbury and Otago in the south, each with an elective council and superintendent. Along with this constitution was drawn up a scheme to dispose of waste lands which really set aside Waitangi. Such a scheme would have had serious consequences, and was dropped. For the remainder of his first term of office, which ended in 1853, C-rey remained an autocrat. At this time the white population was still very small, and mostly clustered about the four towns. There were by 1846 over 36.000 sheep in the country, but the settlers wore still importing twice as much as they were able to export. They wore not making much headway but the discovery of gold in Australia in 1851 brought a change over the scene. Thousands of immigrants I poured into Australia, and the New i Zealand farmers reaped a rich harvest j by sending over wheat, potatoes, live stock and farm produce, which sold at high prices. The gold rush had the effect of brightening the last two years of Grey s governorship, and before he left, the «Governor made two decisions, which were to play an important part i the development of the Colony, th? convocation of Provincial Councils and the reduction in the price of Crown lands to 10 - an acre, and in some cases to 5/-. The provincial system of Government lasted until 1876, and during that time the growth of the Colony was fairly rapid, four new provinces being I established, these being Hawke’s Bay, j Marlborough, Southland and Westland, in that order. From 1879 until 1891 New Zealand was governed by what came to be known as the “Continuous Ministry,” the most outstanding figure of the period being Sir Harry Atkinson, who controlled the finances of the Colony practically all through this time. For . many years the mast pressing needs of | the country were economic rather than political, and it was not surprising then that parliament was dominated by the men who owned the great sheep runs. John Ballance took office as premier in 1891 with a party pledged to make sweeping changes in the law of the country. He repealed the vexatious Property Tax and s bstituted a Land and Income Tax Act which remains to this day. Ballance died in 1893. Great Estates Broken Up Richard John Seddon was prevailed cd to accept leadership, thus starting a fi ig term of office which was only terminated by Seddon's death in 1906. Seddons first acts were to break up the great estates and subdivide tlie land and also to regulate in better manner conditions of labour. He passed measures which'attracted worldwide attention, the mast notable, perhaps, being the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act. Many constitutional and other changes came about, including a succession of extensions of the franchise, culminating in tlie granting of suffrage to women in 1893. While accorded the privilege of a vote, it was not until six years ago that a woman entered the Parliament of the Country. She was the late Mrs E. R. McCombs. It is not proposed to delve deeply into political changes of recent years, because they are more or less familiar, but it is interesting to note one or two amendments which have had the effect of dignifying the status of the country and its institutions. For instance Mr Seddon assumed the title of Prime Minister instead of Premier to place New Zealand on an equal looting with other self-govern-ing Colonies. Then in 1907 New Zealand was raised from the status of “colony” to “dominion,” this change being effected by Royal Proclamation on September 10, 1907, and became effective on September 27 of the same year. Then in 1917 came a change in the title of “Governor” to “GovernorGeneral.” After the death of Seddon a Liberal Government under Sir Joseph Ward controlled tlie destinies of the country until 1912, and from then until 1928 the Reform Party was m power, their leader until his death in 1925 being William Ferguson Massey. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates was leader until 1928, when the United Party under the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes occupied the Treasury Benches until 1935. In that year the present Labour Government was elected to office.