Pen and Ink Portraits.

Observer, Volume II, Issue 44, 16 July 1881, Page 488

Pen and Ink Portraits.

No. 24. — Daniel Pollen,

The doctor came to New Zealand, I am told, in a whaling ship, in 1839, landing at the Bay of Islands. Many people think that he came to New Zealand at a later date, but the doctor said in the debate which took place on the New Zealand Settlement Act, in November 1862, in the General Assembly, in Auckland : "Allusion has been made to the Treaty of Waitangi, and the rights the natives acquired under the treaty. He (the speaker) was present at the meeting of Waitangi on the 6th of February, IS4O, when the treaty was proposed, and he was an attentive and anxious listener to all that had passed. He had heard Her Majesty's representiye arguing, explaining, and promising to the natives, pledging the faith of the Queen and of the British people to the due observance of it — giving, upon the honour of an English gentleman, the broadest interpretation of the words in which the treaty was couched ; and he could assure the Council that definite and clear as the terms of the treaty appeared to us now, they bear about the same relation to the picture which it was made to represent to the natives, on tli at day, as the skeleton does to the living and breathing body." Many, many years after the signing of the treaty, and many after the .words above quoted were .spoken, tile whirligig of time saw the doctor Native Minister. In Jau nary, 1877 the doctor interviewed the King natives and left a record of his interview in the Native Office. It read as follows :— " On landing at Kaipoha, on the 30th of January, I was met with the usual welcome. Manuhiri and the other chief men came forward to shake hands. They left me whilst food was being prepared, and, after dinner, Manuhiri and Takerei, and two or three others, returned. I being invited, it was Maori etiquette, for which the old men are great sticklers, that they should speak first. We sat in silence, face to face, for a long time, Manuhiri occasionally looking up and smiling, and then dropping his head, and apparently relapsing into contemplation of his stomach. Finally, he spoke, and was again silent, After waiting long, I saw that nothing more was to be done that day, and I rose to take leave, saying that I would wait at Alexandra next day and see any of them that came to me. All the party except Manuhiri himself, who is feeble and unable to travel, came into Alexandra on that evening. On the next day, we had our interview, and I entertained our distinguished visitors, some of them sans cullotes, at dinner. We had much drink, and were extremely sociable. " From these extracts it will be learned that the doctor was a not undistinguished guest at the meeting held at Mr Busby's farm on the sth and 6th of February, 1840 ; and what sort of a Native Minister the Honourable Daniel Pollen proved himself to be. I shall be obliged if any of your readers will correct any chronological errors in this portrait. The doctor came to Auckland with Messrs Whitaker and Kelly, from Kororareka, in 1840. The carcase would be cut up in Auckland, and thither the eagles gathered. The doctor took to medicine, and the lawyer to law. Daniel Pollen, at this time, was reputed to be a member of the Catholic Church, and his name will be found, in the list of subscribers to the erection of the first Catholic Chapel built in Auckland, promising to pay three pounds towards so holy an object — a large sum in those days. Catholicity, in Auckland, in those days, wa's a different thing to what it is now, and the Catholics were so poor and mean in those days that Pollen did not care to be seen with, or identified with, them. Some few years after this the doctor married a Protestant lady possessed of money in her own right, when his connection Avith the church of his forefathers became complete, and lie has since that period looked Avith coolness on men and women more steadfast than himself, and with hatred, on the faith from which he apostatised. Early in the forties the doctor lived at Parnell, and had a horse at his command to visit his patients. To soothe their minds and allay their tears Avere the main features of his. treatment. Thus, Avhen Saunder's mother sent for the doctor to visit her son, (now in the House, of Representatives) Avho Avas supposed to be sick, the doctor paid his Aasit on horseback and found the patient ready to hold his horse. On being told that the stripling at his horse's head Avas sick, the doctor felt his pulse, looked at his tongue, told him to take care of himself, to aA r oid excitement, and prescribed some bread pills. Trivial as this anecdote may appear, it is emblematic of the life of Daniel Pollen. Quieta non mover & has been the guiding maxim of his life, provided the "great things" Avere pleasant. Early in his Colonial career Dr Pollen commenced to Avrite for the Press. In the columns of the New Zealand®' Avill be found his letters vindicating the policy of Sir George" Grey against land - sharking interests. They are signed K. Writing in a clear and humourous style, they commanded attention and exercised considerable influence. Writing for position, the doctor chose, as he thought, the Avinning side. From being a contributor to the Neio

Zealander he became its editor. It Avas at one time expected, after his connection with the Neto Zealander there, lie might be induced to espouse the Methodist form of faith. Williamson and Wilson and others were fain to believe that the doctor was adapted to shine in a religious vocation. After his connection with the Press the watch episode in his career took place. His wife's mother having visited New Zealand, was greatly pleased with the attendance given to her by some long celt, who acted as the doctor's body servant. On her departure for the old country she promised Mike, or whatever his name was, that she would send him a present as a token of her appreciation of his services. True to her word, she sent him a watch consigned to the doctor. Mike, however, had misbehaved himself in the Pollen eye, and had been discharged from wearing the Pollen livery, and eating the Pollen food. Ingratitude in the doctor's mind was a deadly sin, and so it was determined that Mike should not have the watch. The court case and all the details, are they not in the Auckland papers, and in the recollections of its old residents? Beside physic and the Press the doctor has been engaged in manufactures. Many years since he commenced brickmaking at the Whau on a somewhat extensive scale. He employed some new chums to commence his manufactures on the same terms that the Egyptians long since sought to impose on the Jews. The brickmakers in both instances became discontented men. In this case, however, as in the *days of Pharaoh an impressive and enduring structure was intended to have been constructed from Pollen bricks. A well known Auckland auctioneer, not long dead, tired of waiting for the receipt of a long due account, gave the Doctor an order for several millions of bricks, which he intended to utilise by • constructing a palatial " residence at the North Shore. Fortunately, for the brickmakers of those days the order was countermanded, the auctioneer got his account, and the palatial residence was, unfortunately, never built. Two things are said of the doctor which I neither venture to affirm nor to deny. They are that he caused the seat of Government to be removed from Auckland that he might be made Resident Agent ; and that he broke poor John Wiilliamson's heart. _ Some Auckland men still enquire "Had Tinri peace who slew his master." Yet on the green old age of the doctor remorse seems to carry no time, indeed, as his detractors say, he has still a wicked wink for a wench.

The Williamson and Wilson people put the Doctor into the Auckland Provincial Council, having first squared Bracy to resign, and canvassed the district to make the doctor's election sure. He then, if my memory serves me right, became Provincial clerk, an office afterwards called Provincial secretary. His special delight in the Council was to buily Daldy and then run away. Some of my readers will remember a large building that was erected at Freeman's Bay for a bacon curing establishment. The names of the builder and bacon curer have both passed from my recollection. It came into the doctor's possession, and was used by him as a kind of emigration depOt. When 'men, not over wise in this respect, wanted work, he used with a humourous kind of benevolence to send them to clear his land at so much per acre. The men worked with a will, but found that their labour was requited at an insufficient price. But still the land was cleared. Through a long and varied career, the doctor has nourished and lived on the public. He will do so for the remainder of his days. His pension is secure ; his seal in the Council is a life seal ; and has he not the brick yard at the Whau. He is a clever man although he called the men he brought from Australia the scum of the earth. He hates the Thames with a deadly hatred — and Grey with a still greater virulence. He has held many offices in his day. He has been Government agent in Auckland ; SubTreasurer for the purposes of the Native Lands Act ; Paymaster of Imperial Pensions ; Eeceiver of Land Kevenue ; Commissioner of Confiscated Lands ; Trust Commissioner, under the Native Lands Fraud Prevention Act ; Treasurer to the Waste Lands Board ; Native Minister, and Premier of New Zealand. He was born in the year 1812. KONEKE.