People and Their Doings.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 935, 4 December 1933, Page 8

People and Their Doings.

The Death of a Baroness Recalls the Strange Story of a Claim to the Throne ’of New Zealand : A Man Vdho Deservedly Received the Thanks of the Greatest Pioneer Aviators.

r pHE DEATH of Baroness Mary Jane de Thierry at her home in Auckland on Wednesday, at the age of 100 years, directs attention to a remarkable event in the history of New Zealand when, well over 100 years ago, the man who was in later years to be her father-in-law, Baron Charles de Thierry, in 1823 claimed the sovereignty of North Auckland. The Baroness de Thierry was married twice. Her first husband, Mr Brown, died a few years after he and his family arrived in New Zealand in 1865. Charles, Baron de Thierry, claimed descent from the French Royal family, the Bourbons. It was in 1820 that Thomas Kendall, an agent of the Church Missionary Society in New Zealand, took to England two Maori chiefs, Hongi and Waikato. They met the Baron de Thierry, who became keenly interested in New Zealand, and spent considerable time discussing the country with Hongi and Waikato. Kendall, the missionary, suggested that the Baron should buy land in New Zealand and found a colony, and the proposal so appealed to the Baron that he paid to Kendall and Hongi £llOO, which was to purchase all the land north of Auckland. 9 9 9 QN AUGUST 7, 1822, on board the ship Providence, a deed for the purchase of land north of Auckland by the Baron de Thierry was drawn up and the document was signed by three chiefs, Mudi Wai, Patuone and Nene. However, the deed did not include the whole of the land north of Auckland, but 40,000 acres at the source of the River Hokianga, the land to be transferred for thirty-six English axes. The deed was sent to de Thierry who, in 1823, applied to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for official recognition of his intention to colonise New Zealand. He received an answer that New Zealand was not a possession of the Crown. The Baron then suggested that in order to enable him to establish his colony the Government should advance him £IO,OOO. He would repay the loan in kauri spars. His proposal was rejected, and the Baron theji turned to France for assistance, but met with no success there. In a last attempt, he opened an office in London. This also failed. Baron de Thierry is next heard of in 1835, at Tahiti, on his way to New Zealand. From Tahiti he announced by proclamation that he was coming to New Zealand to take possession of his kingdom. In 1837 de Thierry sailed from Tahiti to Sydney, and on arrival there learned that Kendall had been drowned a few days earlier.

SYDNEY de Thierry gathered together 93 persons of, so it is recorded. “ a very infamous description,” and sailed from Sydney. He crossed the Hokianga bar early on the morning of September 4, 1837. The natives repudiated de Thierry’s right to the 40,000 acres, contending that the axes were only a deposit as part of the purchase money, and that instead of 36 axes, Kendall had only supplied 24. The natives began to treat the Baron with contempt, and jeered at him, and the position became so serious when provisions began to run short that the majority of his 93 followers turned upon him. With his family, de Thierry had to flee to a hill which he named Mount Isabel, the name of a daughter. After being in seclusion some days, de Thierry came from his retreat. All danger had then passed, and he opened negotiations with Nene, the only one of the three chiefs who had signed the deed who was now alive. While repudiating the sale, Nene presented de Thierry with 5000 acres of land near Mount Isabel as consideration for the 24 axes which Kendall had delivered. From th'en there is no record of the movements of the Baron until he is traced as a music teacher in Auckland. 5? 9 9 London musicians, headed by Sir Thomas Beecham, are organising a performance of Dame Ethel Smythe’s “Mass in D” to be held at the Albert Hall in honour of the composer’s seventy-fifth birthday. Dame Ethel, who has the perennial youth of Bernard Shaw, has been an ardent feminist in her time. She has great vitality, a keen sense of humour and considerable talent as a writer. Besides writing on musical matters and her career, she once produced a charming and exceedingly entertaining book on an unconventional holiday she spent in Greece with her great-niece. Dame Ethel, when conducting at Queen’s Hall on one occasion, invited the audience to applaud whenever they felt like it—a great break with the conventional etiquette of the concert room. Another time she addressed the audience about a particular passage in her music, and despite a cry of “No more speeches,” placidly finished her remarks. Moreover, when she came to the passage in question, she turned round to the audience and waved li£r hand in indication of it.

'J'HE TECHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM of Sydney has published a pamphlet that is interesting, not only to Australia, but to the world. It is entitled “ The Aeronautical Work of Lawrence Hargrave,” by T. C. Roughley, B.Sc. Hargrave neither invented the aeroplane, nor was he a crank, but he did as much as anyone to bring about the accomplishment of dynamic flight. He was born in England in 1850, and went to Australia as a youth. His father, John Fletcher Hargrave, was a Judge of the Supreme Court. Young Lawrence was first apprenticed to an engineering firm, and was later an assistant at the Sydney Observatory. It was there that his attention was directed to the study of air currents which led him to ponder the problem of flight. This he decided to make his life’s work. Had he patented the whole of his inventions, there is little doubt that he would have benefited very materially. But this he ever refused to do. He published to the world his discoveries, while others often seized and patented them. The monoplanes of Hargrave will remain for all time a tribute to his resource and ingenuity, but their influence on the achievement of dynamic flight is not to be compared with that of his “ box-kites.” Hargrave died at Sydney on July 6. 1915, at the age of 65, and before his death he received the thanks and the admiration of the greatest pioneer aviators. W YEARS AGO (from the “ Star ” of December 4, 1873) : Boatmen’s Strike at Timaru.—The Timaru Herald says the boatmen at the two landing services struck on Saturday for £ls per month. The Landing Service proprietors were firm in refusing to concede the demands of their men, and ultimately several of them agreed to resume work at their former wages, £l2 per month. The ringleaders of the strike were permanently discharged, without the option of resuming work. The Timaru Shipping Company procured some fresh hands from Dunedin and Lyttelton, and Mr Graham, of the Government Landing Service, has proceeded to the latter town with a view of engaging men. Napier, December 2.—The ship Hovding has arrived. All well. Eleven children died on the voyage from scurvy and dysentery. There were six births. There had been no infectious disease, and the passengers were landed. Owing to complaints rc food, a commission of inquiry will sit to-morrow.