REVIEW

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 26, Issue 7, 1 July 1935, Page 3

REVIEW

EARLY MAORILAND ADVENTURES OF J. W. STACK

Edited by A. H. Reed. Reed, Dunedin.

Mr Reed has made New Zealanders his debtors by the excellent work he has done m presenting to them the recollections of Canon J. W. Stack. Canon Stack's father was one of the early missionaries to New Zealand, where he worked first under the Rev. Samuel Leigh m the Wesleyan Mission, but later joined the Anglican Mission which had been established by Samuel Marsden. James West Stack was born more than 100 years ago at Puriri m the Thames district while his parents were on their way to the ill fated station which had first Been opened at Mangapouri (Te Awamutu). It was a happy thought which led him, when over eighty, to place on record his recollections of the early years of his life; and it was fortunate that the manuscript fell into the hands of Mr Reed. Before embarking upon his own recollections, the Canon relates some of the hardships which his parents had to undergo. His personal memory opens at Paihia when he was

three years of age. The story is told simply, but a retentive memory enabled him to make his pictures sufficiently vivid to sustain interest. Occasionally he has fallen into a slight error, as when he confuses Hick's Bay with Te Araroa; but these slips do not reduce the value of the story. Canon Stack's name is most closely associated with Church work among the Maoris of the Diocese of Christchurch. But m his childhood he was 1 at the Bay of Islands, and later travelled with his father from Poverty Bay to Kowakawa, now known as Te Arawa. The bulk of the recollections here presented is concerned with this part of his life. Mr Reed has prefixed to the Recollections an interesting memoir of the Missionary. A perusal of the book makes it clear that Canon Stack was a man of high character, gifted with more than ordinary ability. The book is admirably printed, and the illustrations are well chosen.