CANTERBURY IN 1851

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17170, 13 October 1923, Page 5 (Supplement)

CANTERBURY IN 1851

A VISITOR’S IMPRESSIONS

“ a SPRING IN THE CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT.”

A very rare old book, “A Spring in the Canterbury Settlement.’ has been lent to “ The Star ” by Mr Arthur T. Eaton, of Christchurch ■tt-ho obtained it from his grandmother. It was published in Londot in 1853 by Mr C. Warren Adams, as an account of his sojourn m the Canterbury Settlement, at the end of a sea voyage in the ship Canterbury in 1851, taken for health reasons. The story will be published in weekly instalments, with occasional plates.

CHAPTER V. BANKS’S PENINSULA * After The unfortunate adventure in Port Devi, it was some time before wc again ventures upon any lengthened expedition, the numerous bays and other interesting objects in the harbour and peninsula furnishing us, for somedays. with ample occupation and amusement. The first place we visited was Quail Island, a pretty spot comprising about fifty acres, situated in the upper part of the harbour, about four miles from Lyttelton, the property of Air Hamilton Ward. A sad mystery hangs over the fato of the two older brothers of this gentleman, who jointly possessed the property. A strong suspicion exists that they %ver<? attacked and killed by a party of natives whilst on a boating excursion in the harbour, as the Alaori chiefs lay claim to Quail Island, which, as they assert, was not included in the sale of the remainder of the settlement. The soil is good; and there is an excellent house, and a considerable quantity of cultivated ground round, it. The house commands a fine view of the harbour and town of Lyttelton; and as the colony increases, the island will prove a valuable property, both for supplying the town with vegetables and fruit; and ultimately, probably, as a summer residence for men of business who wish to avoid the disagreeables attendant upon a seaport town. On the north side of the harbour, and three miles distant from Quail Is land, is situated the Alaori Reserve, a beautiful and well-wooded valley which was retained by the Natives, and where there is a small “ paa ’’ r>r village. The “ warries ’’ look picturesque at a distance, but do not improve on a nearer inspection. They are generally low, built of mud or reeds, and j sometimes thatched with “ toi toi," a ! kind of grass or small flag which grows to the height of three or four feet, and is found, more or less abundantly, all ] over the settlement. The paas are ; very dirty; and as the Maoris use them • as places for drying their fish, they • have always a most disagreeable smell, i There arc but few Natives who live in ! this paa; and the. only warri of any j consideration, is the one belonging to j the chief, which is about twenty feet square, with a verandah round the outside. The roof is composed of large reeds, which, being stained and brightly polished by the smoke of the wood fire in the centre of the room, had an exceedingly pretty effect. At the head of of the harbour, about seven miles distant from Lyttelton, lies Governor’s Bay, where Mr Dobbs has a farming station and a cultivated kitchen garden; and in the next bay one of our fellow-passengers, Mr Yigers, is now prosperously settled. The situation is favourable, the soil good, and although near the town, is not inconvenienced by it. It is also some distance from the Reserve, which is a great advantage, as the habits of the Maoris are often annoying to their nearer neighbours. They walk without scruple into a house, squat, saris ceremonie. before the fire, and smoke their pipes regardless of the domestic operations of the family, or of the other inconveniences which their uncleanly habits may occasion. The only drawback to this locality is its mode of communication with the town, as it is only accessible by water or by a long and steep foot track over the. hills. But notwithstanding this disadvantage, it is one of the best positions in the settlement. The only other inhabited bays in the harbour are Rhodes’ and Gollan’s Bays. The latter is the authorised station for landing sheep, and is situated about a mile and a half northeast of Lyttelton, and on the same side of the harbour. Rhodes’ Bay which is nearly opposite to it. is a beautiful narrow inlet, half a mile in length, from which a fertile valley extends to a distance of two or three miles, until it is lost in the hills. It is the property of Air Rhodes, and is valuable both from the richness of its soil and its vicinity to the town, with which there is a regular communication established by means of a ferry There are several other bays around the shores of the harbour, but none worthy of mention here. The beach is in many places composed entirely of

shells, amongst which some beautiful ones may be found. I have also picked up some small specimens of a tine quality of sponge, but it is not found in any quantity. The upper portion of the harbour is shallow, and there, are mud-flats at the head, which, at low water, extend upwards of a mile. It is well stocked with fish of various kinds, but the colonists have not yet availed themselves to any extent of its resources. Great numbers of large dog-fish prevail, and I was told that itr also contained a few sharks. There are also some other bays in Banks’s Peninsula, beyond Port Lyttelton, which are worthy of notice. The first is Pigeon Bay, which greatly resembles Port Lyttelton, but is a much better harbour, as it is sheltered from the south-west gales. It is also deeper, and the hills surrounding it are higher and the gullies less frequent, so that it is much safer for boating. It is principally used by whalers, and there was one lying there when I visited it. There are two or three houses, and a verygood inn at the head of the bay and. what to us was more pleasing, the only really English-looking piece of meadowland that I have seen in the colony. The soil is rich, and there, is an ample supplv of timber in the beautiful “ bush ” at the back of it; but the distance from Lyttelton- is a great drawback, as it is nearly ten miles through the bush, and at least twenty by sea. On the side is a large Alaori paa. Akaroa. at the eastern extremity of the Peninsula, is considered the finest harbour in the colony, as it is almost entirely landlocked. There are two settlements there, a French and an English one the former of which is. I am told, an exceedinglv beautiful spot, but I was unable to visit it. The scenery of the whole of the Peninsula is rich and beautiful, and the soil generally good; but it requires a great amount of clearing, which, together with the difficulty of communication with the port, considerably retards its progress: but doubtless it will ultimately prove the most valuable portion of the The principal drawback, in a commercial point of view, to the advantages possessed by this newly founded colony, arises from the difficulty of communication between the port of Lyttelton and the capital town Christchurch. It is. as has been already stated, situated on the plain about nine miles distant from Lyttelton. But between these two towns is a range of hills, running from 1000 to 1500 ft in height, and the only mode of access by land is by a bridle-path, but as this path cannot be used for any description of cart, the conveyance of goods is necessarily carried on by water. The transit, however, is both irregular and inconvenient. The distance from the port to the mouth of the harbour is about six miles in a N.E. direction, and the passage of this part of the transit is dangerous, both from the nature of the winds, and the peculiar formation of the harbour itself. It is a long and narrow bay, open to the sea at the N.E. extremity, but shut in on the other sides by ranges of lofty hills, broken by deep ravines, down which the. wind blows in eddying gusts, which are dangerous to small craft. The hills also, at the south-western extremity, are of inconsiderable height, and the harbour is therefore, entirely exposed to the furious gales from that quarter. Having gained the mouth of the bay. the course turns to the north round Godlev Head, and enters the Heathcotc River at Sumner. And here a still more serious difficulty presents itself in the bar across the mouth of the river, which is only passable at high water and in calm weather. The bar passed, the passage up the river to Christchurch Quay, a distance of about five miles, is sufficiently easy. but this point (which is the highest at which the river is navigable) gained, upwards of two miles of land carriage are still necessary. At the time I was at Lyttelton the charge for the carriage of goods from thence to Christchurch, by this mode of conveyance, was twenty-five shillings per ton. whereas the whole freight from England to the settlement did not exceed then thirty shillings, although it is now considerably higher. Independently of all the serious drawbacks to the general welfare of the colony which these difficulties present, they press with peculiar injustice upon the newly-arrived colonist. (To be continued next Saturday.)