Historians' Difficulties In Getting Material

Press, Volume C, Issue 29501, 1 May 1961, Page 11

Historians' Difficulties In Getting Material

West Coast residents believed it was West Coast gold that set New Zealand on its feet in the 19th century and kept it there in the 20th century, Mr P. R. May, who is writing a history of the West Coast, told a public meeting organised by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand

Library Association as part of its regional conference, on Y Saturday evening. K> “As a West Coaster I, of x" course, believe this. But as Y an historian I have had to <&> accent one or two modificaY tions,” said Mr May. Mr May was one of the five historians who addressed the Y meeting on Saturday evening. All of them are writing local histories and they spoke Y mainly on the sources used 6s> in their work. A There was no accurate Y documented record of the West Coast, Mr May said. There were many questions Y to be answered. “The first gold rush was in \ the Buller district in 1861 and the last in the same dis- <&> trict was in 1867. What hapY pened in between? Another ©> question was how the gold Zx fields were administered. Y The population was another problem. He said the “New X Zealand Listener” recently Y gave the population of Charleston during the gold Y. rush as 75.000. “They must Y have been stacked three w> deep." said Mr May. A “What about the dancing Y girls?" he asked. “Are we to believe, as Mr Leslie Hobbs X has said, that they kept their w virtue by drinking tea inA stead of strong drink. Or did Y they suffer ‘a fate worse than $7 death' in the casinos of Hoki- & tika?” X Like the others in the panel of speakers, Mr May said A that little had been done in Y preserving the files of newsOT papers and other sources of K material. He suggested that ’■y libraries should collect photoA graphs and maps. A Passenger Lists

Mr G. R. Macdonald, of Woodend. who is writing a dictionary of biographies of early Canterbury settlers, said that passenger lists were a fruitful source of information for him. Mr Macdonald said that In the lists of assisted immigrants a person's profession was seldom stated correctly. Because assisted passages were much sought after, nearly everyone said he was a farm labourer. The inscription on tombstones were also good sources of information. Charlotte Godley's letters to her mother, which have been preserved, gave a good idea of the class divisions of 100 years ago, Mr Macdonald said. There was a difference between history and antiquarianism. shid Dr. W. H. Scoffer. who is writing the third volume of the centennial history of Canterbury. In a local history one is after every fact for its own sake, he said. “Who ploughed the first

sod? And whose cow calved first in the district?” were given by Dr. Scotter as the sort of questions persons writing a local history might deal with. Dr. Scotter also asked If there were any persons Who would be interested in going through early Canterbury newspapers, to assist with the work. “You will enjoy doing it and enjoy seeing your name in a footnote,” he said. Kaikoui* “I cannot find anything out about the Maori history of the region from local Maoris,” said Mr J. M. Sherrard, who is writing a history of Kaikoura. Mr Sherrard said he had to rely on newspapers and such publications as the "Journal of the Polynesian Society’’ for the Maori history.

Many residents eould remember whaling ships at Kaikoura but it was hard to find out the exact time the ships were there. He had found from other sources, particularly newspapers, that the very early days of whaling were the easiest to get information on.

Journals kept by settlers were useful. William Smith’s diary from the Upper Clarence valley and the journal of the Chayter family from Coverhal. inland from Kekerengu, were important. Dr P. B. Maling. author of "Samuel Butler at Mesopotamia.” whose main interest is maps made before 1860. said that there was no representative collection of early maps in New Zealand. “The Turnbull Library has a good collection, but it is not representative.** he said. “If you wanted to see, for example, an early map of a Canterbury region, you would be lucky if you found it. “Christchurch has practically nothing,” he said. He appealed for some New Zealand library to make a collection of early maps.