HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 243, 14 October 1939, Page 5

HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS

VII- THE ’FIFTIES

( Al! Rights R-eserved. )

By

"SHAFTO."

After seven years of uncertainty, 11 during which the existence ot the f Wanganui settlement, was at times in \ jeopardy, some degree of security was s obtained when in May, 1848, the native claimants accepted a compensation of i £lOOO from the Government. During t the years 1845 to 1848 Wanganui had c assumed a military aspect, and had 1 become more a garrisoned post than 1 a civilian settlement. ; The year 1849 was spent by the 1 settlers in establishing themselves on i their country sections and in becom- t ing accustomed to the new state of f affairs, while the numbers of the ( garrison were reduced. Slowly the 1 news that Wanganui had sailed into < calmer waters found its way round the i young colony. Those who found it i profitable to fish in troubled waters ( gradually withdrew, and soon the little settlement entered upon a < period of steady consolidation and growth. This is clearly indicated by the increase in population. Exclud- ( ing tne soldiers of the garrison, the i European population of Wanganui I after seven years of settlement was i only 277. Tnis number grew to 350 in the next, three years, and then to 432 in 1852; before the fifties closed it i was about 1400. No sooner was there a reasonable prospect of security of life and ten- ' ure than the amenities that wilow the establishment of any civilised < community began to appear. In 1848 1 the Methodist Church and the Wanganui Racing Club were inaugurated, while the Rutland Hotel was opened before 1850, the year in Which the Colonial Hospital was built on the river bank near the site of the present. Central Baths. The Roman ■ Catholic Church in 1851, and the Presbyterian Church in 1853 were next, and in the latter year also the Press commenced its influence through the columns of a single sheet called “The Wanganui Record.” Under the Education Act. passed by the Wellington Provincial Council in 1855. the 1 Common School was established in I Wanganui on the site now occupied I by McGruer's. In the same year, 1855, the Church of England, as dis- | tinct from the Church Missionary Society, commenced operations in the . town. The next year saw the first ! issue of the “Wanganui Chronicle and j Rangitikei Messenger,” a weekly j publication, sold at sixpence a copy, ' while in 1857 a Reading Room and | Mechanics Institute was opened. . Almost from the beginning of the seillemenl there had been a post office, a lock-up, a pilot station, a ferry, some small shops or stores and a few grog-shops. Before the fifties dosed, a Courthouse had been built and taken over by the local magistrates; two more hotels, the York and the Commercial, had been licensed; a theatre had been opened by the soldiers of the garrison; Taylor and ’ Watt had established a large emporium on Taupo Quay, had built a f jetty, and had several ships in regular trade; a chemist, an agricultural implement maker, a saddler, a pastrycook. a solicitor, an auctioneer and | two medical praclioners were seeking ! custom. And so with hotels, churches, shops, hospitals, schools, gaol, post office, barracks, Courthouse, theatre, houses, a | ferry and jetties, roads of a kind, a racecourse, a cemetery, and with a' j bridge in prospect, Wanganui town-i ship was well under way. We shall now cull a few t .denis from this decade, beginning w lt h two which occurred on the Wanganui coast towards the end of 1850. One of Taylor and Watt's fleet, the Edward Stanley, a schooner of 22 i tons, was wrecloed a few hours after leaving Wanganui for Nelson. The crew of four and the three passengers on board were saved, but all else was. lost. On December 3, 1850, a canoe with a fishing party of ten natives was blown off shore in a gale, and in spite of the frantic efforts of the paddlers could not make land. Consternation among the natives ashore increased as evening closed in on them, while they kept a look-out from the hills behind Putiki and Landguard Bluff. The next morning, greatly to the relief of all parties, the fishermen returned on fool, having effected a landing in the surf about twenty miles north of the river mouth. In 1854 the Rosebud went on the South Spit, but was later floated off. In November of the same year, however, the Governor Gre\' was totally wrecked at the Heads, and some of I

the Wanganui settlers suffered heavily, one in particular losing £9OO worth of goods. The wreck was later sold by auction and realised £2. About this time a young man, whose name history has not preserved, arrived in Wanganui with a dageurrotype outfit, the forerunner of the present photographic camera. Most of the inhabitants who could afford it. had their likenesses taken. By means of his machine this young man had travelled over most parts ot the world, had paid expenses, and had amassed a good surplus. It is interesting to note here that, in 1856 the first photographer or “photographist” as he called himself set up business in Wanganui. This was W. J. Hailing, whose studio was situated at the corner of Ridgway Street and Drew’s Avenue. Harding made a collection of photographs of Wanganui, which now lies in the Alexander Museum. Although they have not been adequately cared for in the past, so that it is impossible to place many of them, the photographs taken or collected by Harding form a valuable part of the historical material of Wanganui. It is the old story of neglect to place in writing what cannot be accurately remembered. The lack of labelling on the photographs in the Harding collection destroys much of their value to the student of history. Many I of the photographs cannot, be used because the time, and often the place, must be left to guesswork. It is unfortunate that, those who have the care of records do not realise their value, and hand them on in the chaotic state which whets the appetite of the historian but does not satisfy it. The author of these fragments digresses from his story for a moment to appeal to those who hold material which will be useful in disentangling the history of the country. to place it in the hands of public authorities, so that it may be sorted and made available to the historian. As mentioned previously, the | “Wanganui Chronicle and Rangitikei 1 Messenger” made its appearance on I Thursday. September 18, 1856. The [most exciting item in the first number was the following advertisement: One Pound Reward i The above reward will be given by | the undersigned to any person who j can furnish him with information [that will, lead lo the conviction of the party who stole a while ivory-handled two-bladed knife from his box at Hacket’s boarding house on the morning of May 18 last. (Signed* Henry Lyon. The second issue of this newspaper did not appear till a fortnight laler, on Thursday, October 2. It contained a reply to the above advertisement as follows; Advertisement To the Editor of the “Wanganui Chronicle” Sir, the reward of one pound offered by Lyon, for the missing article advertised in your first issue, is nothing hut. a. piece of spite and ill feeling on the part of lhe advertiser, for 1 beg to state 1 ordered him out of my house on the evening of May 17 for his misconduct. Your humble servant, Edward Hack el. i Wanganui, Sept. 29, 1856. • Undeterred by this, Lyon repea |1 ' his first advertisement in the third issue of the paper on October 9, and | in the fifth number we come to the' sequel: Resident Magistrate’s (kiurt October 22, 1856 Before Major Durie, R./i., and John Nixon. J.P. H. Lyon v. E. Hacket This was an action for libel, the damages sued for being £lO. Mr. H. B. Roberts, solicitor, appeared lor the plantiff and Mr. H. Ross was solicitor for the defendant. Verdict was gi f ; for the plantiff—id and costs. Lyon’s advertisement was also in this issue of the paper, and again in the next. This story ot the white-handled pocket-knife no doubt appears trivial, but life is made up of such .small matters. Gossip often preserves what, history fails to record, not. always oi course to lhe credit of those coni cerned.