REVIEW.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXIV, Issue 2820, 8 April 1869, Page 3

REVIEW.

The Founders of Caotekbttby, Vol. I ; being Letters from the late Edward Gibbon Wakefield to the late John Eobert Godley, and to other ■well-known helpers in the foundation of the settlement of Canterbury in New Zealand. Stevens & Co., Christchurch, 1868. The title of this work would make it appear as though its contents related entirely to the Church of England settlement founded about eighteen years ago by the above gentlemen and others, which resulted in the establishment of Canterbury as one of the six original provinces of New Zealand. A perusal of the volume, however, shows it to be an important collection of matter relating to a period in the history of the colonisation of New Zealand, and its acquisition of representative government. To Wellington colonists, especially, this book must be of very .great interest. The late Edward Gibbon Wakefield was, without a doubt, the founder par excellence of Wellington more than any other settlement in New Zealand. He originally pointed it out to the New Zealand Land Company of 1839 as probably the fittest point for the centre of their operations. He strove earnestly, both before and after he had become a colonist himself, for the establishment of Wellington, on account of its central position and excellent harbor, as the capital of the colony, and seat of its government and legislature. The letters before us bear witness to his unceasing efforts to obtain a free Constitution for New Zealand, and to avert from it the evils of the transportation system. Ho chose Wellington for his colonial residence of nine years' duration. He represented the Hutt district in the first New Zealand Parliament, and in the Provincial Council of Wellington. He died at. Wellington ; and his remains, together with those of his two brothers, William and Daniel, lie|in the pretty cemetery which overlooks Government House, the Parliament buildings, and the city and harbor of Wellington. The work is edited by his only son, Mr. Edward Jerningham Wakefield ; who promises, should he receive sufficient encouragement to compile a second volume, to consist chiefly of letters from the other founders of Canterbury to his father. From the editor's preface we may extract a part of his account of the connection of Gibbon Wakefield with New Zealand, and with. Canterbury in particular : — My father, the late Edward Gibbon Wakefield, was the author of the syOTem of colonization under which public land in the colonies came to be sold, instead of given away, the proceeds being applied to emigration, surveys, roads, churches, and schools, and other necessary adjuncts of sound progress in colonizing. This system was first adopted for the Australian colonies by Lord Howick (now Earl Grey, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, so far back as 1831. In 1836, South Australia was founded on those principles, Mr Wakefield taking the chief share of the founders' work. In 1837, at his instance and by his efforts an Association was formed, having for its object the colonization of New Zealand on those principles. This Association resulted in the creation of the New Zealand Land Company, of 1839, which in that and succeeding years under that name and the succeeding one of the New Zealand Company, founded the settlement's of Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, and Wanganui. In the end of 1843, Mr Wakofiold conceived the idea of a Church' of England settlement in New Zealand, under the auspices of the Company : and he corresponded on the subject with, both myself and my uncle, Colonel William Wakefield, then Principal Agont of the Company, at Wellington. On my return to England in the end of 1844, this project was still further considered: but various circumstances contributed to postpone its being carried into effect. Among these were :— the hostile attitude of the Maori population for a series of years following upon the Wairau Massacre, in July, 1843 ; the determined opposition of the Colonial Office, combined with the Missionary bodies in Englaud, to the further action of the New Zealand Company, whose resolute persevsranco and Parliamentary influence, fostered and guided by Mr Wakefield, alone saved it from annihilation and its settlements from ruin ; and the continued obstruction offered to the obtaining real representative institutions for the colony, by the Colonial Office at home, and by Sir George Grey (then Governor of New Zealand for the first time) as the faithful servant of the office in the colony.* The idea, however, of a Church of England colony in New Zealand was not abandoned. A project similar, in regard of provision for ecclesiastical and educational institutions to be endowed out of a portion of the purobaso money of land, but in connection with the Free Kirk of Scotland, began to take shape under the auspices of Mr Wakefield, in the middle of 1845. The late Captain William Cargill took the same place with regard to that project, that Mr Godley afterwards filled in the organization of the Canterbury * Sir George Grey, indeed pretended to be favorable to suoh institutions, and tried to persuade the colonists to accept sham ones as though they had been real. And when he found thatreal ones, through the strenuous exertions of their . promoters both at home and in the colony, were inevitable, he not only accepted them with apparent fervor, but claimed the merit of having originated , them, and recommended them for adoption by the Home Q-overnment.

settlement ; and, in August, 1845, was in close conference with leading Directors of the New Zealand Company on the construction of the Otago scheme. In October, 1845, I went to Dublin at my father's request, on purpose to confer with Dr Samuel Hinds (afterwards Dean of Carlisle and Bishop of Norwich), then Prebendary of Castleknock and First Chaplain to the Archbishop of Dublin, on the subject of the proposed Church of England settlement. The rough outlines of a plan were then considered and discussed. Archbishop Whately himself took great interest in the proposed enterprise. ***** In the end of 1845 and beginning of 1846, I visited Glasgow and Edinburgh, for the purpose of consulting with Captain Cargill, Dr Aldcorn of Oban, and other leading workers and friends of the Otago project. I mention this, although not strictly relating to the foundation of Canterbury, because the Free Kirk of Scotland colony was the first instance in which my father's plans for securing a good kind of colonization by means of ecclesiastical and educational endowments from the land fund were carried into practice, and because the example thus afforded was of considerable service afterwards to the founders of Canterbury. The first part of 1846 was taken up in endeavors to procure Parliamentary measures, including some for good representative institutions, for New Zealand,— first from Sir Eobert Peel's Government by means of pressure from the Whigs, — and after the middle of the year from the latter, who had come into power. But Earl Grey and Mr B. Hawes, who had both professed, when in opposition, to be earnest colonial reformers, were no sooner installed as Chief and Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, than they succumbed to tho influence of Exeter Hall, secretly represented by Sir James Stephen, the permanent Under Secretary of the Department ; and devoted their energies and official influence to the extinction of the New Zealand Company, whose Parliamentary influence had always, hitherto, been pbwerful enough to check, at least, both Exeter Hall and the other permanent obstructors of colonization in the Colonial Office. The disappointment on an already over-worked brain caused a severe attack of illness, with which Mr Wakefield was stricken down at his hairdresser's shop in the Strand, on the 18th August, 1846. # # * He completed his resucitation by a few months of the water-cure and entire freedom from business at Great Malvern, in the autumn of 1847 ; and came to London on the 6th of November in that year, in time to protest against the arrangements by which the Colonial Office and some of the leading Whig Directors were putting an end to the New Zealand Company. It was during the interval between his first attack and his return convalescent from Melbourne that he made the acquaintance of Mr Godley ; and it will be seen that, in the end of November, he first suggested to that gentleman the part of becoming the main instrument of organizing a Church of England settlement ih New Zealand. The correspondence almost tells the rest of the story, up to the actual foundation of Canterbury in 1850-51. * * * The correspondence shows how many stout-hearted, brave men contributed to the foundation of Canterbury. Mr Godley, unaided by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, could never have completed the task. My father himself must have failed to give that indispensable aid had it not been for the frank and unflinching support of such men as Lord Lyttelton, Mr (now Sir) John Simeon, Bishop Hinds, the Hon. Francis Baring (now Lord Ashbarton), Mr C. B. Adderley, Mr Henry Sewell, and, especially as regards the superior quality of the earliest laboring immigrants, the late William Bowler. A special notice is due to the memory of the late Bobert Stephen Rintoul, sole proprietor and editor of the celebrated London " Spectator" newspaper, who opened the columns of that influential journal freely and heartily to the exposition of my father's views, both as to home and as to colonial politics, for a long series of years : besides supporting them, because they were akin to Ms own, by his own personal influence ; being one of the men of his ago who, more than any other out of Parliament, imparted the earnestness of his own character, and its hatred of shams, to tho leading men with whom he associated in literary and club life. ****** The readers of the following letters will see that Mr Wakefield was always longing to get away from work ,which over-taxed his brain, and to spend his later years in repose in New Zealand, — to lay his bones in the fair land whose British colonization he had originated and fostered for so long a period of his life. But he felt it a duty, even at the risk of wearing himself out, to stick to working in England for Canterbury until it should fairly have taken root. And, moreover, when he saw the opportunity arriving, he waited to give most valuable help to the cause of obtaining real representative institutions of government for the whole of New Zealand. In the course of 1848, he occupied a residence near Boulogne in France, for the special purpose of writing a book on Colonization and Colonial Government, unimpeded by other business or vieitora. The correspondence alludes to this work, as "My Mrs Harris." Its title is " A view of the arf of Colonization." It was published by John W. Parker and Son, West Strand, London ; but has been long but of print. It is considered a standard work on the subject by political economists,— notably by Mr John Stuart Mill, who has published in one of his standard works, his well-expressed opinion to that effect. When the New Zealand Constitution Act had been obtained, my father packed up for New Zealand. He arrived at Lyttelton in 1853, with his pure-bred bull- dogs, in the ship Minerva j landed a heifer which he had brought from Eng % land, and a bull which was accidentally drowned' near Eangiora; and went on to Wellington, ■where he took up his permnnent abode. There, instead of retiring from politics, he plunged into the very thickest of them : opposing, wit?i all his might, the delusive '• cheap land" scheme of Sir G. Grey. In this cause he became both a member of the Provincial Council of Wellington, and a I member of the House of Representatives for tho Hutt District ; and accordingly sat through the first session of the G-eneral Assembly of New Zealand in 1854. Having been virulently attacked by his political opponents, the Provincial party of Wellington, during his absence, ho called a public meeting at the Hutt on his return from Auckland. He spoke there for live hours and a half amidst impressive silence.; returned to Wellington in an open chaise against a south-east gale ; sickened ; lingered for seven years in the privacy of a sick-room ; and died in May, 1862, aged 66. I rejoice that so many of Ihb fellow colonizers have helped me to put his colonizing thoughts on record. As indicative of the character of Gibbon Wakefield, these letters are a most interesting study. The reader will perceive with ■what wonderful power of conceiving large plans for the benefit of his fellow men, he combined the greatest talent of devising the best means for achieving them. No endeavour was too lofty, no collateral aid too small, for his aim. Often repulsed, often frustrated, whether by the obstinacy and readier means of his opponents, or by the conceit and incapacity of his once trusted adherents, — his energy, his long- endurance, and the strong will which he threw into everything which he had adopted in earnest, in many cases retrieved the cause for which he was working from what seemed irreparable loss, and reaped the means of eventual victory from a due appreciation of the causes of temporary defeat. The activity of his mind was most ably seconded by the persuasive powers of his pen and conversation. Every now and then, too, passages occur, showing the kindness and consideration for the failings and misfortunes of his fellow creatures, with which the late colonizer tempered his determined efforts to get any obstacle out of the way, even at the cost of his own most amiable feelings. For instance, when he thought Mr John. Jffutt (formerly

Governor of Western Australia) had cora c to be an obstruction instead of an aid to tli e Canterbury Association as its chairman, he thus expressed himself of and to him. To Mr Rintoul, on the 25th March, 1850, he wrote : — The affair lost its soul and body when it lost Godley, who till then had both thought and acted for everybody. John Hutt was intended to fill the gup created by Godley's departure. Godley and I wero conscious of his deficiencies, but hoped that they might be effectually counteracted by my constant advice, and the doing of some other people. Now, instead of this, it has happened, ever since G-odley left town, that Hutt has never taken my advice without reluctance, has often disregarded it wholly, and has prevented others from supplying his waut of action. I say deliberately that he has behaved continually as if ho wished to mar the business and prevent the success of the scheme. lam quite sure that he has not intended anything of the sort. What to conclude then ? I hare reluctantly concluded that his intellect and temper are in a state of decay or disease. His v.'rongheadedness, stupidity, jealousy of his own consequence, and irritability of temper, have been forced on my most reluctant belief by his conduct for nearly three months. The first intimation I had of it was by the enclosed letter from Godley. Yet he is the leading man in the affair. The others have left everything to him — and now, when they are frightened and wish that something instead of nothing may be done, he threatens to retire if they disagree with him. He is an old and close friend of mine : but I have for some weeks almost ceased to communicate with him, because I thought his brains dried up, and his temper incurably soured. You have now the facts for reflection before we meet. To Mr Godley, who had then arrived in New Zealand, he wrote on the 2nd April: — I wrote some weeks ago, via Sydney, in melancholy strain, in order to wash my hands of responsibility to you, because your friends, as I supposed, were letting the whole affair go to the dogs, and quite indisposed to listen to my representations in favor of a different course. I had almost retired from the concern, disheartened and perhaps a good deal displeased. But tilings have had a turn. I have not cleared up, and do not wish to fathom, the mystery of a repugnance to my aid at Charing Cross, because now it seems to be completely over, and I wish to forget it. So let that pass. My grand complaint against your friends was, that they left everything to nutt, who would neither do anything himself, nor lot anybody else do anything. The work of the Association was nil ; and all seemed blind to the inevitable result — a perfect failure. At length, in great measure owing to PitzGerald, they "perceived the danger, and found out its main cause — their reliance upon Hutt because he was called " Chairman." Since then, they have really acted as members of a Committee having a task in hand. This was so new and unpalatable to Hutt, that he retired : and (God forgive me, if it is wrong, for saying so of an old and dear friend) that maraJl is out of the way. But he has retired hi a manner highly creditable to him : so that happily, though I am sure that his understanding is decayed, I can admire and love his goodness as much as ever. And again, on the 4th : — I have a miserable letter from Hutt about his retirement. It is very distressing, as was the necessity for knocking him out of the chair : but if you saw your own child boring a hole in the bottom of a ship full of passengers, and you could not stop him any other way, you would shoot him, would you not ? I would. I have written kindly to Hutt, as his manner of retiring enables me to do : and I would beg of you to write to him in a way to soothe his feelings. Even a year hence such a letter from you will be grateful to him. And thus to his friend himself: — Mi bear Hutt, — What can I say ? It is a distressing affair altogether, but is somewhat redeemed by your most becoming resolution to resign nothing but the chairmanship. Let us still do Jail we can to save poor Godley 's scheme. If we succeed, all personal disagreeables will soon be forgotten : and in the midst of my ar>xiety, I have one comfort in believing that the honorable and magnanimous spirit -in which you are acting, will help towards that result. I cannot finish this scrawl without expressing, though I hope it is not necessary, that my respect for your virtues and my personal affection for you, remain as they were before this unhappy business ; not to say that they are increased by your conduct in it. — Believe me to remain ever yours most truly ■ Here is a part of a graphic account of the collection of the " first body" of Canterbury colonists in London. He is writing to Mr Godley : — You will see by the last number of the Canterbury papers, that the colonists have attempted' a kind of self-organisation. It is not very real, but on the contrai'y partakes largely of the character of make-believe. For this there are two reasons ; first, those who intend to emigrate this year are so deeply occupied witli their own private affairs as to be really incapable of attending seriously to anything else ; and secondly that the desired organisation is of necessity voluntary, not binding upon anybody, and without effect. It is playing at organisation and the exercise of authority. But it is not without its uses. For example, there was a pretty general opinion against the name of " Christ's Church" for the Capital of the Canterbury Settlement ; the main objection being that the application of this sacred name to a commercial and political metropolis savoured either of profanity, or cant, or both. You will hardly understand this objection, because the name is associated in your mind with cricket, rowing, drinking, smoking, swearing, Sec. ; but most of those to whom the name is not profanely familiarized by college recollections, preferred that the place should be called " Lyttelton," So the nascent nation divided into Whig and Tory about a name. But Lyttelton had it hollow. John Simeon made a manly and pursuasive speech for " Christ Church," and was supported by FitzUerald with Conway Rose ; but all the rest, I thiuk, voted for Lyttelton, not a few of them, you may be sure, being moved by the wish to pay a compliment to him, who since the great danger of Hutt's no- administration was discovered, has been tho soul and body of the enterprise. Nor is the mere appearance of organisation without good effects. It reminds the colony on the move, that they ought to be lawfully organised for important purposes concerning them as a body, and that when they reach their destination, they will have to concur, differ, decide, and act in all sorts of matters of a public nature, and with results of the utmost practical importance to themselves. It thus steadies, and probably fortifies their minds and prepares them for contending with the difficulties which they will of course have to contend with. It has the further good effect of bringing out men's characters, testing their qualities, making them known to each other, aud putting everyone into his proper place according to his deserts. The- scene is curious. It is the very beginning of the formation of a new society, in which no one can lake a place by means of factitious or extrinsic aid, but each must find his place according to his properties. As they are all .really strangers to each other by by superficial appearances, some necessarily rise too high in the scalo of esteem aud position, and have to be pulled down to their natural place; whilst on the other hand, some worthy but humble natures sink too low, and have to be lifted up by the manifestation of their good qualities. To give some idea of the variety of the correspondence, — take the following letter on a project which, though not then carried out, might yet form the ground work of a National Portrait Gallery for New Zealand. The letter is addressed to the widow of the great ship-owner, Joseph Somes : — My object was to ask you for a copy of the pic-

tare which you have of my good friend and your dear husband, which I desire to possess in order to place it among a little collection of portraits which I am endeavoring to form, of the real Pounders of New Zealand. These portraits I should like to present to the Municipality of Wellington, as ornaments of the principal room in the Town Hall, and memorials of the exertions of those who snatched " the Britain of the South" from the grasp of Louis Philippe, and established the British colony. Among these, who would comprise Mr Baring, Lord Durham, the Bishop of Norwich, Sir Win. Moles worth, and two or three more, (I take only the most prominent and influential of the Pounders), tho late Governor of tho New Zealand Company ought to have a very conspicuous place. Independently of his official position, we could never have succeeded without his personal courage and energy : and his large share in this really great enterprise is notorious. So, I trust that you, whose affection for his memory is, I know, unbounded, as was your lore of him alive, will sympathise with me in this object. Other subjects, some of Imperial as well as Colonial interest, are touched upon with the same vigorous pen. It is, indeed, perhaps the main charm of the work, that it contains essays on such a variety of subjects, incidentally to the work of founding a colony. Now the prospects of party politics in England, as affecting the prospects of good for the colonies; then a disquisition on climate and health ; the formal plan of a charter ; resolutions for a member of the House of Commons to propose advice to a young colonist by all means to marry ; the character of a bishop, a statesman, or an intending colonist ; how to manage a public fote, and to procure and make use of the , " lions ;" the draft of a telling advertisement; a by the way bit of his own dog fancying ; striking traits of early colonizing and colonial history ; with projects for applying its best lessons to the practical present and the ambition of the future. Such is but a flying catalogue of the fund of instruction and amusement afforded on such matters. The general reader, whose mind rises beyond common things, will find a book of a novel character, written in racy and expressive language. Every colonist, who takes any interest in the history of his adopted land, will not only read it more than once, but keep it in his library for reference as a record of the worth of the Founders of New Zealand, and of some of the obstacles which their stalwart qualities overcame.