In the Public Eye.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 December 1900, Page 177

In the Public Eye.

Lieutenant- Colonel W. B. Gudgeon, the British Resident of the LT-COL. GUDGEON, Cook Islands, landed BRITISH RESIDENT, . _ , . . ' COOK ISLANDS. U1 laranakl ni December, 1849. In 1864 he joined the ranks of the Forest Rangers at

Wanganui. It will be remembered that this corps was first instituted by the gallant Von Tempsky, when he selected the boldest spirits and the smartest bushmen obtainable for the perilous duty of ousting the rebel Maoris from their strongly-fortified pas in

the heart of the forest. After four years of service young Gudgeon rose from the ranks, and was appointed captain. It was with the Native Contingent that he saw most

service, taking part in various encounters in different parts of the country against those bloodthirsty rebels, Kereopa, Titokowaru, To Kooti, and many others of similar unenviable reputation. In 1878 he was appointed Resident Magistrate of Waiapu and Wairoa, but took up arms again with the A.C. Force at tho time of the Paiihaka disturbance, and remained in charge of the district of Manaia until 188.5. The appointments of Major of Permanent Artillery at Wellington, temporary Under Secretary of Defence and Commissioner of Police, and Judge of Native Jjands Court followed in due course, and the duties of these

various arduous positions were so faithfully and thoroughly discharged, that he was recognised as being the most fitting man for his present position, which was awarded him in August, 1898. Col. Gudgeon has proved on many occasions that

he can wield his pen as

readily and forcibly as hie sword. He has promised to become a contributor to this Magazine on his return to the Islands, and it goes without saying that articles from a man of his experience and attainments will be eagerly welcomed by

our readers

The following extract from a letter of condolence received by a THE VBlf ABCHDEACON relative of the late Edward CLARKE, B.D. Bloomfield Clarke, Archdeacon of Waimate North, and signed by T. Hapimana, of Pirongia, with the words affixed, "This is from all us," is a faithful tribute to the life work of this gentle unassuming but forceful man : —

" Friends, these are words from the human heart caused by grief and heartfelt sorrow for our father, Mr. Clarke. . . But, father Archdeacon Clarke, go to your Father in Heaven; leave us, your children, to sorrow in spirit for you. Go ! the Bncourager of

the Maori Church. Go ! the umbrageous rata tree. Go ! the port to which the canoe is. fastened. Go ! Go ! Go ! We will follow after you. We shall not be able to find a man to fill your place. Thei'e is no one who can make himself like a Maori— live like a Maori, sit like a Maori, sleep like a Maori. You could do all these, prompted by your great love to those who live as Maoris. This enabled you to get to the bottom of things, and strengthened you in your endeavours to raise Maoridom. I could say much more, but let the memory remain in the heart." Archdeacon Clarke was born at Waimate

North in 1831, shortly after the Maori Mission was started there. His father held the appointment of Chief Protector of Aborgines. Young Clarke commenced his education at the Mission School under the Rev. W. Williams, first bishop of Waiapu, continued it at St. John's College School, becoming assistant master there under the Rev. R. Burrows, and completed it at the Missionary College at Islington, and when his health caused him to leave, by tuition kindly given him by Bishop Perry, then in England. He was ordained a Deacon in 1856, and two years later a Priest, after which he returned to New Zealand. At Tauranga, his first station, he did good work, until the Maori war made him retreat to Turanga (Grisborne). The murder of Rev. Volkner and Kereopa's raids were the cause of his leaving there for his native place, Waimate, where he worked persistently for many years. In 1870 he was appointed Archdeacon of Waimate North, and he also had the general supervision of the Maori Church throughout the North. For the able assistance he rendered the bishop in organizing Native Church Boards the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred on him the well-merited degree of Bachelor of Divinity. Two most desirable objects, for which he specially strove, remain yet to be carried out — the increase of the Native Pastoral Fund and a school for Maori girls.

The recent appointment of the Rev. Philip Walsh to the ArcharcmeTconof J""™* o£ k Waimate WAIMATE. North was a happy one, and in accordance with the fitness of things. He is a man of many parts, was born in County Tipperary, spent some of his early years in France, returned to Dublin, and shortly after joined a special settlement party organized by the late Rev. R. A. Hall, and sailed for the Bay of Islands. Arriving there in February, 1866, they set to work to subdue the wilderness at Whangae. It was here that he and his friend and associate, Mr. W. N. de L. Willis,

now Archdeacon of "Waikato, were chiefly instrumental in the erection of the church, which bore the significant title of St. Patrick's m ihe Bush, in which the two young pioneer settlers often acted as lay readers. Their next step was to present themselves as candidates for oi'dination, and Mr. Walsh, being awarded a scholarship, spent two years and a-half at St. John's College under the Rev. Dr. Kinder. He be-

came a deacon in December, 1874, and was sent to take charge of Waitara under Archdeacon Grovett, of Taranaki, and was ordained priest two years later. His experiences as a bush settler gave him the resourcefulness and " grit " which puts an up-country clergyman into immediate touch with his people. The Church of St. John the Baptist, at Waitara, owes its site to his generosity, its designs to his artistic skill, and its erection to his energy in raising funds. A temporary charge of St. Mary's, Parnell, in 1882, and a short experience of the care of the sturdy miners at Ooromandel was followed by a trip Home, and subsequent appointment to shepherd the flock in the Waimate-Kawa-kawa district, extending right The Palk studios, across the Island from Keri «~. ■.■:.< Keri to Hokianga, thus affording scope for tireless energy. Archdeacon Walsh's special talent for organizing made him a useful Bishop's Chaplain and Diocesan Officer. The same talent, coupled with his concern for the social and intellectual welfare of his people, caused him to be an excellent president of local institutes, a popular captain of the Waitara Boating Club, and helped him to assist materially in

the formation of the Bay of Islands Pastoral and Industrial Association, over which he has presided for seven years. Ho spoilt a good deal of time in the study of Art during his early sojourn in France and Dublin, and though he has had littlo time to devote to this pursuit during

his busy ministerial career, his early experiences proved useful in later life by enabling him to furnish effective designs for a number of churches, and he has now on hand, nearly completed, a set of memorial hatchments for St. Mary's, Taranaki. A second trip to the Old Country has been lately undertaken, from which he haß just returned.

Mb. T. McMahon, the young New Zealander who has just had a book, ME T. McMIHON. fQ the Dish, dealing with life and adventure in

New Zealand, accepted in England, is a man who has had good reason to know what he is writing about. In this respect he has an immeasurable advantage over the globetrotter who, when he has been three days in a country, knows all about it, and when he has been a week, sets to work to write a book about it. McMahon began life by watching his father's copper plate to keep the stones, from blocking it in a lonely gully in the golden West Coast. There he started his first "childish dream scribblings, and received-as reward stern parental reproof for neglect of duty. He not only saw life in all its varied aspects in mining camps when the gold fever was at white heat, but lived it ; when shafts went down and shanties went up like magic; when Burgess, Kelly and Levy, the famous bushrangers, took a hand, and stirring adventure of every description was the dominant feature of the giddy whirl through which men passed. Since then Mr. McMahon has had a chequered career in the East, during which he has not only had the best of opportunities for collecting " copy,"

but has apparently made good use of them. It is from men of McMahou's stamp that one can reasonably expect vigorous and accurate depictions of this fascinating side of life. A synopsis of this work appears in Alien's letter, " By the Frisco," on another page.

Thl Rev. F. A. Bennett is the only Church of England clergyman BENNETT*' cm P lo y ed b ? the Maori Mission in his thickly populated Maori district reaching from Whitecliffs to Waitotara and a considerable distance inland. A mere earnest and indefatigable worker, or one better calculated to place the benefits of Christianity before his people, or to reach the heart of the pakeha by his eloquent and pathetic sermons, imploring them to send more labourers into the field than this young priest, who springs from both races, it would not be easy to find. From his dusky ancestors he inherits the simple but most impressive oratory,

which enables him to step into the pulpit of a crowded city church, and tell with pathetic force and powerfully painted word pictures

the sad story of the depravity of the present day Maori in the far-away Jcainc/as. How the pakeha had taken from them the restraining influence and guidance of their old forms of religion, and failed utterly in giving them sufficient means of hearing the new. Surely such facts point to the conclusion that New Zealanders, imbued with the missionary spirit, can find plenty of outlet for it at home instead of journeying to other lauds, where their efforts meet with such deplorable results as have been experienced lately in China.

Mr. William Henry John Seffern, whose

death took place recently M SEF^ERN. J " at NeW Pl y raoatl) ' was one of the oldest journalists in New Zealand. He was born in Cork in 1829, and served his seven years' apprenticeship as a printer in London. In 1851, when the gold fever was at its height, he sailed for Australia, and in due time acted in the capacity of printer and overseer on the Illustrated Sydney News. On the collapse, in 1855, of that paper, Mr. Seffern came over to Auckland. For some time he corresponded for Australian papers urging Victoria to extend her New Zealand trade. He refused offei's to assist in starting the Hawke's Bay Herald and the Southland News, as not holding out sufficiently good prospects. The success of both these papers afterwards convinced him of his mistake

more especially as the ventures he undertook in Auokland were very unsatisfactory. They included a share with Dr. Kidd and Mr. James Heron in the New Zealander, and on this firm dissolving, owing to the unpopular reputation the paper's previous peace policy had gained for it, he and Mr. Michell, the sub-editor, took it over, and afterwards made it the first penny morning paper in New Zealand, but had eventually to relinquish it. In 18G8 Mr. Seffern was appointed editor and manager of the Taranaki Herald, a position he held up to

1895, when he retired. Under his üblo management the Herald soon became a daily, and the Budget was incorporated with it as a weekly. In conjunction with his journalistic duties Mr. Sefiern found time for a considerable amount of literary work, notably his " Chronicles of the Garden of New Zealand, known as Taranaki," perhaps the most reliable history of the province tl

iat has yet been written. Readers of the

Budget will remember his " Skimpole Papers," utilizing weekly that impecunious character from Dickens as his lay figure, and making him discourse on local events. " Missing Leaves from New Zealand History," "Rip Van Winkle Papers," "Yarns with a Twist in Them," and " Taranaki of the Past," were also headings under which he has written from time to time. He had also by him at the time of his death a large and most valuable amount of material, dating from 1835 to 1841, for a future history of New Zealand.