INTERESTING REMINISCENCES.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11650, 30 August 1905, Page 2

INTERESTING REMINISCENCES.

(Contributed by an Old Friend.)

I have before me the Weekly Press of the 16th August in, which I am pleased to see a portrait of Mr Arthur Wicksteed, a late Wanganui settler. lam also gratified to find so truthful a record of his history, from the earliest colonisation of New Zealand. Mr A. Wicksteed was the second son of Mr John Tylston Wicksteed. He was born in London in the year 1837, and came to New Zealand with his parents, landing in Wellington in the year 1840. Mr J. T. Wicksteed -was agent for the New Zealand Company, and for some time resided in Taranaki. Early in the fifties Mr J. T. Wicksteed and family came to Wanfjairui, h.a.trin.g s alee ted land in the Kai Iwi district. Subsequently Mr J. T. Wicksteed became the editor and proprietor of the Wanganui* Chronicle. The subject of this sketch became an officer in the Wanganui Militia" during the Maori troubles. After the disbanding of the Militia Mr Wicksteed retired to his home (Katikara) where he resided until his death, employing his leisure time ,in writing, and it gives me pleasure to notice how thoroughly his writings are appreciated.

I can unreservedly endorse the article I refer to in the Press of our old friend and pioneer, Mr Arthur Wickstead. It is often said, and with some degree of truth, "that a prophet has no honour in his own country," but in this case" it is good to find that an acknowledgement is madp Of the ability ot our old settler. I cannot do better than copy the article I refer -to (it will be found on page 74, Weekly Press, August 16, 1905): — THE LATE MR ARTHUR WICKSTEED, OF WANGANUI. The corps of New Zealand writers of distinction suffered a great loss recently by the death of Mr Arthur Wicksteed, who for nearly twenty years had devoted his scanty leisure to the task of picturing the state of the colony in its early days. Over the signature of "Old Settler" he contributed to the Weekly Press a very considerable volume of memoirs to serve J for history. His illuminating pen reveal- j ed to us the actual life of times past, and j clothed the bare facts of scattered recjords with beauty and significance. He inherited literary ability, and ■when his unaffected modesty could be overcome and he was induced to write, this ability shone out with unmistakeable brilliance. He had fought in the Maori wars, and from his earliest days had known the Maori with the intimate knowledge which only association from childhood can giveConsequently he painted for us pictures of the Maori, both ( in peace and war. 1 which can never be surpassed for fidelity and power. The missionaries, the .whalers, the earliest settlers and their successors, the founding of the colony, the progress of settlement — with all these did "Old Settler" deal, and always with humour and insight, and with that candour, determined sincerity, and scrupulous accuracy which were equally part of his character and part of his mity, as he conceiVed the duty of an historical memoirist. One or two stories written, for the Weekly Press also testified to Mr Wicksteed's literary gifts, and, like every line that he penned, testified also to the refinement of his mind and the sterling worth of his character. To know him. though merely by his work and by his letters, was to know and esteem him highly. We have had innumerable evidences of the pleasure which his writings gave to our readers in all parts of the colony. Nevertheless, we believe the greater part of his fame is still to come, for, as the romantic nineteenth century fades into the distance, and our descendants crave to know truly how and why things happened in it which shaped their fathers' fates and their own, our files will be searched, and searched again, for "Old Settler's" yarns, which, more than all other records, will cancel the flight of time, and transport tho reader into the very company of the men and women of the early days.