ENGLISH BARON’S ADVENTURES IN N.Z.’s EARLY DAYS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 7, 16 December 1947, Page 4

ENGLISH BARON’S ADVENTURES IN N.Z.’s EARLY DAYS

John Edward Bernard Seely, Baron Mottistone, of Mottistone Manor in the Isle of Wight (Jack Seely to his.friends) whose death has recently occurred at the age of 79 years, visited New Zealand in his early manhood, and, with a friend and two guides, rode on horseback through several hundred miles of the North Island. Leaving Wellington the party visited Wanganui, Lake Taupo, Tokaanu, Rotorua, the King Country, and Napier. He had a narrow escape from death by drowning in the . flooded Mangawhero River, when his horse failed to make the crossing. He met the famous (or infamous) Maori chieftain, Te Kooti, and refused to shake hands with him. He afterwards wondered whether ho did right to refuse. He later spoke of Te Kooti’s “ferocious aspect.” He fell in with a Maori Princess, who was only seventeen years old, “the most beautiful creature I have ever seen,” he wrote many years afterwards in one of his books. “Deliciously Primitive” “New Zealand,” he said, “was deliciously primitive in those days, there were few railways, few roads, and very few bridges. But you could go almost anywhere on horseback, and wherever you went you were sure of a warm welcome from the'whites and Maoris alike.” One of his exploits at Taupo was catching wild horses. Baron Seely lived a very full life. Educated at Harrow and Oxford University, he was world travelled, soldier, author, lifeboatman, aviator and politician. He was also a -friend of Queen Victoria and Edward VII. Said the first Lord Birkenhead, he “survived, not once, but often, an apparently certain death by each of the four elements, earth, air, fire and water.” He served in the Boer War and World War I. He was for many years pne of the crew of the Isle of Wight lifeboat, which in the period was the means of saving several hundred lives. Political Switch

Entering the House of Commons as a Conservative Jack Seely, like Winston Churchill, switched over to the Liberals on the Tariff Reform issue. No finer tribute could be paid to his character and personality than the fact that he continued to retain the close friendship of the leader he left, Arthur James (later Earl) Balfour. He held several offices in the Liberal Government under H. H. Asquith, becoming- Secretary of State for War, from which position he resigned following the famous Curragh Camp incident in 1914. . *. v .

Something of the character of the man may be gained from the titles of his books: “Adventure,” “Fear And. Be Slain,” “For Ever England.”