People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 694, 22 February 1933, Page 6

People and Their Doings.

An Early Document that Roused a Frenchman s Scorn : Are New Zealanders too Careless About Maori Names? : A Chief of the Fraser Clan.

DISCOVERY of the early documents relating to the first British Residency at Waitangi. and correspondence between Mr Busby and the Under-Secretary representing the Governor of New South Wales, recalls the fact that about two years before the arrival of Mr Busby thirteen Maori chiefs had already been in correspondence jointly with the King of England. The following is a translation of their letter; To King’ William, the Gracious Chief of England. King William, We, the chiefs of New Zealand assembled at this place, called Hie Kerikeri, write to thee, for we hear that thou art the great chief of the other side of the water, since the many ships which come to our land arc from thee. We are a people without possessions. We have nothing but timber, flax, pork and potatoes; we sell these things, however, to your people, and then we see the property of Europeans. It is only thy hand which is liberal towards us. From thee also come the missionaries who teach us to believe on Jehovah God, and on Jesus Christ His Son. We have heard that the tribe of Marian (Marion) is at hand coming to take away our land, and therefore we pray thee to become our friend and the guardian of these islands, lest the teazing of other tribes should come near to us, and lest strangers should come and take away our land. And if any of thy people should be troublesome or vicious towards us—for some persons are living here who have run away from ships—we pray thee to be angry with them that they may be obedient, lest the anger of the people *of this land fall upon them. This letter is from us the chiefs of the natives of New Zealand. W W B EARING in mind the part that the missionaries played in the genesis of this letter one can understand D'Urville’s caustic comment upon the petition as a “ ridiculous document,” nevertheless the preservation of these records is of special interest to New Zealand. It does, indeed, often surprise newcomers to this country to discover how little the younger generation knows of the history, meaning, or even the pronunciation of many of our Maori names. J.C. writes, giving an instance from the North Island: r happen to know quite a clever young fellow who not long since was returned to his family guaranteed finished off in an expensive college. He had taken honours, he was high up in mathematics as well as the classics; he knew much about English constitutional history, Roman law,

and all that, and could write neat Hat in verse. One day one of his elders required him to take some dictation on a land business matter in which the karaka tree was mentioned. The young man spelled it “cracker.” A small thing, perhaps, but svmptomatic. ® W W QHIEF of the Fraser clan and the 14th baron of a famous Jacobite line, Lord Lovat, who has just died, succeeded to the title at the age of sixteen, while at Oxford. He first saw service in the Life Guards. For the South African War he raised Lovat’s Scouts, which he commanded himself. On his return he raised two Yeomanry regiments, which formed part of the Highland Mounted Brigade, which he led until his retirement in 1913 with the rank of colonel. During the Great War Lord Lovat served in Gallipoli, France and Flanders. Later he acted as Director of Forestry, in which post he displayed great ability, as he had for years carried out afforestation work at great expense on his Inverness-shire and other Highland estates. From 1926 to 1929 he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Dominions Office. In that capacity he visited New Zealand in October, 1928. Ilis seat is Beauly Castle, and he owned about 182,000 acres in Scotland. The heir to the barony is Lieutenant Simon Christopher Fraser, Master of Lovat, who was born in July, 1911. He is an officer of the Scots Guards. 32? 3? jy£R AND MRS F. RASMUSSEN, of Lyttelton, recently returned from a vacation in Westport where they took up temporary residence in a cottage on the north beach. During their stay they were visited by many residents who desired to see the exhibition of work by their daughter, Miss Marjory Rasmussen. The work comprises oil paintings, water colours, black and white sketches, pictures of still life, studies of human anatomy and the basic work, in sketch and colour, of some of the gifted young woman's more ambitious pictures. All reveal artistic talent to a very marked degree. It may be mentioned that paintings and sketches by Miss Rasmussen have been selected for exhibition in the chief centres of the Dominion. Miss Rasmussen is a native of Westport.

'SfO ONE CAN SAY that a cat was not a lucky omen for Mr Patrick Sullivan, the creator of “ Felix,” who died the other day in Chicago. The man who created one of the world’s most popular cartoon characters was born in Sydney, New South Wales, where he worked in a barber’s shop, on the staff of a newspaper, and as librarian in a pianola store. He went to London in search of fame as an artist, but had long periods of destitution such as many London artists have known. When things were at their blackest, a cat walked into the room, and his wife made it the household pet. One day, lacking a model, he began to draw the serious-minded cat which was always in his studio, but his wife laughed so much that he conceived the idea of turning it into a cartoon. Thus was Felix born. His possibilities were soon appreciated in New York, and “ Pat ” Sullivan was shortly receiving a princely salary for delighting countless theatre patrons and newspaper readers with his sketches of the wayward and resourceful feline. His cartoons have been published by the “ Star ” for some time, and are a highly popular feature, being enjoyed by adults quite as much as by children. 9 ® ® C’IXTY YEARS AGO (from the “Star” of February 22, 1873) : Ornithological.—Mr E. W. Humphries, Strath Taieri, has given the following description of a bird found recently' on the top of the Rock and Pillar Mountain. The bird is about the size of a full-grown tame pigeon, but rather fuller in the breast; back of slate colour, extending to the tail; a stripe of about two inches wide of a pure white colour runs down the breast, reaching to the tip of the tail the breast on either side of the stripe being of a mixed white and slate colour, and spotted. It was found sitting upon one egg, the size of a large hen’s egg, in a hole in the side of a rocky* cliff. Boating Club's Bazaar. —The Bazaar in aid of the funds of the Canterbury, Union and Ileathcote Boating Clubs, was opened at the Canterbury Music Hall yesterday, and was a great success. The refreshment department was presided over by r Mrs Herdson, assisted by Mrs Freeman, and the Misses Lewis (2).