Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume 1, Issue 12, 4 December 1880, Page 100

Pen and Ink Portraits.

-~The innocent youths, who chartered a boat and' took some lady friends out for a sail in the harbour last Saturday, will have cause to remember their trip for some time. They started in the morning, aud sailed down in the direction of Kohimarama. The boat was anchored in a pretty little bay, and the small party amused themselves on shore for a time. By-and-bye, howeyer, the wind rose, and the sea increased in violence. The hearts of the amateur boatmen sank within them in a corresponding degree, for they well knew that though they could hoist a sail und run before a light wind, they could not sail a boat in a heavy sea with a strong breeze blowing. The ladies accordingly embarked with sundry little screams, and the gentlemen endeavoured to look brave and fearless, but of course the attempt was a miserable failure. Up went the sail, and the boat heeled over accordingly. The danger of a capsize was too apparent for the dauntless youths, and under pretence of ministering to the comfort of the ladies, the lug was taken down again, and the oars placed in position. For two long hours the soft and tender hands of those youths were chafed and blistered by the manipulation of the oars, the ladies meanwhile singing away lustily as if unaware of the sufferings which their natural protectors were enduring on their behalf. After the lapse of that time, it was found that an ebb tide 'and a heavy sea had carried them further down, the coast-iirie than the spot from which they had embarked. The young men then trembled in their shoes. Row they could not, and' to sail iip the harbour would have required more, pluck than they unitedly possessed. It was therefore decided to land. The boat was nicely beached . amongst the rocks, where she was bound to have three or four holes smashed in her bottom. The young ladies were carried ashore by the young men, and by the time all were safely landed on terra firma, they presented a very wet and bedraggled appearance. Half-an-hour was spent in waiting for the storm to lull, but at the end of that time appearances were Avorse than ever, and to add to the general misery, rain began to fall in torrents. Mr. D had lost nis boots, and Mr. W his hat. A consultation was then held under the indifferent shelter of an overhanging rock', and the ladies unanimously agreed that as tney were all wet through, their clotKes being saturated with water, they would not rhave any^objection to go home overland. The.; boat, with all the eatablds and other necessary materials 'for a • picnic was therefore abandoned, and the party left for Auckland on foot.' Late on^Saturday night they arrived in town, w,e^xJ-vjiopjfcs6re, and. heartily sick of water esccaarsions in open boats. The ladies blamed the gentlemen, and the gentlemen blkiried each'other, and, strangely. enough, nobody was satisfied. It is almost unnecessary to state that eight seats in a certain city church were vacant on the following day.

— I am 'glad to hear that the children of the Howe-street Industrial Home are to be sent to Motubihi again this year. Ido trust that after a<th6roirgh fumigating and cleansing, the stock oL .abominable vermin (it is no use mincing matters) may be annihilated. Nothing can "be more prejudical to the health of the children.. , \Nothing can more clearly demonstrate the want of management. Sxirely the class admitted to our gaols come from as, low a, type as the, waifs and strays of our streets. They are indeed their authors and progenitors, yet ' who ever heard of Her Msj,esty!B g<?al being anything but a marvel of cleanliness and health. Why then should skin diseases . of the worst form abide as it Avere in the Industrial Home ? These things can be remedied, and. the onus rests with the authorities if they are allowed to exist. There should; ;be; a receiving ward for all. infected children, and they should not be allowed to mix with the healthy boys and girls until all fear of- contamination is removed. As a striking contrast let me point to. that admirably conducted, institution, the Orphan v Home, at Parnelir '"" , . " '

No. 11.— Mr. J. C. Firth, • (Concluded.)

The. following is .the continuation of the autobiography of Mr. J. C. Firth : —

I came down to Auckland to feel my way, and started a brickyard.in which I worked very hard for some time. ' One day when I was thus engaged, with sleeves tucked up, an acquaintance passed and remarked, '* If you worked like that at home, surely you need not have come out here." That was one view of my industry. Another was that of a carter whom I employed. I was digging a well, when he came along and asked, " How do you think the country can prosper if such fellows as you work like that V" In due time Mr. Smith came here, and

w e were joined by Mr. D. B. Thornton, another Pld schoolfellow, Jand we built the Wharf Mill °n the site of the present mill. A f ter two years a great calamity overtook us, the mill caught fire, and was burned to the ground. Just at that time, March, 1860, news arrived that murders had been committed by the Maories in Taranaki, and that war had been commenced at the Waitara. There was great excitement in Queen-street, and I well remember that whilst the ruins of our mill were still smouldering a great meeting was held in Queen-street, at which I was requested to speak. I had taken no part in political affairs, but I had been active in social and political questions. Shortly after my arrival, there was a series of discussions in the ( Oddfellows' Hall, between the supporters of denominational education and the advocates of a system similar to that which is at present in operation. Captain DaMy, Captain Rattray, the late William Rattray, Mr. Gorrie, the Rev. McDonald, and Mr. Hamer

conducted the discussion along with myself against the denominationalists. The controversy was continued- for six nights, in the presence of a crowded audience, and though I believe the verdict was in our favour, the denominationalists were too powerful for us, .and succeeded in establishing their system on ia firmer basis than ever.' I have also always been an ardent supporter of schools, mechanics' institutes, and organisations, of that sort. The ,'Auckland Mechanics' Institute, recently converted into a Free Public Library, was erected by voluntary subscriptions. The Rev. Mr. Hamer; the late Mr. Charles Sanderson, and ■myself collected subscriptions. There were not ,'many people here then, and they had not much •money, but they subscribed willingly. When •the tenders came in, the committee did not like tp take the responsibility of accepting the lowest, and I stated to the committee, of which I was a member, that I would undertake the responsibility myself. They consented to this,

but thanks to the liberal spirit in which we were met, the liabilities were paid off without my having to advance a shilling. I took a great interest in- similar institutions at home, as well as Sunday-schools.. At the close of my daily labours, it was for many years a great pleasure to mo to meet about a score of young men and women in the neighbouring village, and impart to them such knowledge as I possessed of religion, history, and science. The class was very successful, and one, of my most painful leavetakings when I left England was in bidding good-bye to those young people. While in charge of my uncle's business at Lowmore, I was not long in starting a Mechanics' In- titute. We liad no . building in which to hold our meetings, but assembled in an old-fashioned inn. I soon noticed, however, that frequently after lectures, and even classes, some of my young neophytes indulged in pipes and ale, and I thought that we should be uoin<>-

more harm than good to their morals and habits if our location ■was not changed. I "was deputed, with another of the committee, to wait on the great people of the neighbourhood, the proprietors of the Lowmore Ironworks, who possessed nearly all the land in the district, and had the control of the unenclosed common, upon which their works and many adjacent houses were built. I briefly explained to those gentlemen what were our objects and the difficulties we were under through meeting in a publichouse, and that their workpeople would derive the chief benefit from the proposed institution. I stated the difficulty of obtaining a piece of ground as a site for the Institute, and asked them to allow ns to use a piece of the common for the purpose. We were permitted to build on a site adjoining tlie principal road, and we commenced the erection of the building. When it was approaching completion, the committee received a message from the Lowmore Company that all radical doctrines or

teachings, with which they could not agree, must be carefully excluded from the Institute. All the committee except myself, who Avere foremen or employees of the Lowmore Company, were thunderstruck at the mandate. I was deputed to wait upon the Company and ascertain whether they would modify their views, so that the institution might be made free for discussion on any subjects which wereordinariily discussed at Mechanics' Institutes. I stated that politics of a local character and religious subjects Avere strictly excluded, and that the institution Avas intended as a place Avhere men of all opinions, or no opinions on political or religious subjects, could meet on a perfectly free platform ; but I declared that, on behalf of the committe and myself, I must object to the message the Company had sent, and the terms ia Avliich it Avas conA r eyed, and that it appeared to me that Avere the committee to accept such dictation, the Avhole affair must languish out of existence. They heard Avhat I had to say, but refused to

withdraw their decision. I reported the result to the committee, and advised that a general meeting should be convened and informed ofc what had happened. The result was that 'a resolution was adopted to the effect that,' if the institution could not be free, it should not exist at all, and that the committee be authorised' to" demolish it, and sell the timber. SPHisf was 1 done, and, looking at the position of aftairg in that district now, 1 think it was the first blow struck at privileges which ought never to have been exercised, and which limited in sotyrannical a manner all liberty of thought and discussion.

Here ends Mr. Firth's narrative. Being suddenly called away to the country, he loft it incomplete, and i am obliged to finish it from such materials as I can secure from other sources. Mr. Firth has also taken considerable interest in the uckland Institute, the Chamber of Commerce, Harbour Board, Bank of New Zealand, and other institutions, in the manage* ment of all of which he has shared. He has done much to further acclimatization ; and. in connection with the introduction of salmon and trout ova, has not only spent large sums of money, but lias personally superintended and successfully conducted the operation of tending the hatchiug boxes, and distributing the young ii>h. Mr. Firth was for a short time a member of the General assembly, but, finding that his business was being sacrificed, he was compelled to abandon political life. About fifteen years ago Mr. Firth began to take a deep interest in native matters. Ho became the firm friend of William Thompson, or Wiremu Tarapipipi Te Waharoa, the Maori Warwick of New Zealand, and, through the interest of that chief, acquired a large .and valuable landed property at Mata Mata, his title to which was confirmed on the death of Thompson. Mr. Firth's action in this matter was at the time a subject of much controversy and rancour. The organ of the Canterbury squatters — the "Canterbury Press, " contained a savage leader, written, as was believed, by Mr. Fitzgerald, now Comptroller- General, then editor and proprietor of that paper. Mr. Firth had erected a memorial in honour of his late friend, William Thompson, which act formed the text of the article, which accused him in the bitterest terms of having done so from selfish and mercenary motives, in order to obtain influence with the ISgatihaua tribe. Some years later, Te Kooti, the chief who perpetrated the Poverty Bay massacre, and who had been driven out of the Waiwera country by Colonel Whitmore and Major Kopata, commanding the Colonial Forces and .Native Contingent, passed through Mata Mata, where Mr. Firth, at great personal risk, met the Maori warrior, and succeeded in averting disaster on the Waikato frontier, in 1868, Mr. Firth, accompanied by Mr. C. O. Davis, the late Mr. Preece, and the writer, made an expedition to a settlement in the heart of the King country, and had a two days' interview with Manuhiri, Te Ngakau, and other representatives of the Maori King, with the object of bringing about a conference between the King and his leadizig chiefs with H.K.H. the Duke of Jidinburgh at .Ngaruawahia. The mission, however, was unsuccessful, owing to the obstinacy of the natives, who had not yet recovered from the soreness caused by the loss of their ancestral lands in the Waikato Avar of 1863-64. Of late years Mr. Firth has invested large sums of money in improving his Mata Mata estate, over which he has constructed public roads which have been of great advantage to the adjacent districts ; and he has improved the navigation of the Waikato River, so thatitis now navigable for small steamers. Some interesting anecdotes of Mr. Firth's experiences at Mata Mata have been published, but I cannot find bpace for them here. They will be found in Brett's Auckland Almanac for 1880. In conclusion, I may point to Mr. Firth as a type of the successful colonist, who has won his wtiy to independence by industry, thrift, enterprise, shrewdness, and great personal pluck and determination, combined with adherence to those Christian principles which were inculcated in his youth.