BOOKS OF THE DAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2150, 16 May 1914, Page 9

BOOKS OF THE DAY.

SIR FREDERICK WELD—A PIONEER OF EMPIRE. Far too many New. Zealanders of the present generation are ignorant of the important roles played in the political and general history of the Dominiou by some- of its earlier statesmen, and for this reason a hearty welcome should be accorded to such a work as "The Lifo of Sir Frederick Weld, «.C.M.0., A \ Pioneer of Umpire," by Alice Lady ' Lovatt (London, John Murray). Weld was a splendid typo of the earlier group of Empire-builders. In tho interesting preface- to Lady Lo'vat'sbook, which is contributed by Sir Hugh. Clifford, K.C.M., who served under Weld in his later life, when the Premier of New Zealand occupied the position of Governor of the l Straits Settlements, ho is described as "a statesman, honest, fearless, noble,;kind; inspired by a wonderful and perfectly 'unostentatious piety; and, beyond all 'things,'.simple, so , that the boy's heart in him was never subdued, and , the-purity' of the boy nover tarnished." ■• "Ho dwelt .in my memory," says Sir Hugh,, "as perhaps'the finest gentleman I have over known." Frederick Abysms Weld—the-' family name was originally AVylde, or- Wild — , was born at .Chidcock, Dorset. , Educated first at Stonyhurst—the Welds were an old Catholic family—where he spent nine; years, afterwards at the University' of' Friburg. in Switzerland, he had in 1843, to decide upon a vocation. He determined to emigrate to New Zealand, tliren young men. Henry Petre and Charles Clifford and. William ' Vavasour, of whom two were relations, having preceded him there the year before. Ho started, Lady Lovat tells us, "with a modest etinr of golden sovereigns in a bag, and a land order from the New Zealand, Company of a hundred acres, another for a town-lot, in the (future) city of Wellington." •

Arriving at New Plymouth on March 18, 1844, the future Premier continued his voyage in the little, barque Theresa, which had brought him from England, to Nelson, where he was hospitably entertained by Mr. (afterwards Sir Francis Dillon) Bell, then tho New Zeaknd Company's acont, and so on to Wellington, whore Weld landed on St.. George's Day, ,'Aprii 23. Lady Lovat's" biography is, founded, very, largely; on Weld's own journals, wherein ho writes, of his earliest Wellington experience:

"Of tlie land which I had bought I found that tlio- town acre at 'Windy Point , was being: sold by tho cart-load tor mortar by an enterprising blacksmith. On being asked by what authority ho did this, he answered: 'By-none at all. People offered to pay him for tho sand, so he saw nonobjection to selling it." ■My other purchase or a : hundred acres had been seized with tho rest of the district to wliich it belonged, ' by the Natives, and it was not for Borne years that I gained possession of it. I then let, and afterwards ■old, iy for ©Sever, f6r pottering about on little bush cultivations, an occupation which is more suitable , to labourers y with large families,"

The young sottler now set about findag occupation. His friends, Clifford favasour and Petre, had entered into negotiations with-some Maori chiefs, und wero about to start a pioneer sheep station in the newly-discovered Wairarapa Valley. Weld took charge of a (lock of some few hundred sheep they 'had imported from New South Wales, and gflt them safely to their destina'tion. In his "Journal" lio gives a most .'interesting description ■ of his early sbcep-farming -experiences in the-Wai-iarapa| where, so he says, with evident prido, ho was the iirst to plant a gardan and grow European vegetables. Ho next bought a share in a station called Wharekaka, in tho South Wairarapa, on the shores of Palliser Bay. Later oh, having tired of the constant road, and boat work round the cliffs of l'encarrow, he journeyed through the Wairau and decided to settle at Flaxbourne. Here, ho says in his Journal, .'■l sjiall,.with my yacht, be much nearer the town than I am now. I shall havo lib/rivers to ford, sometimes breasthigli, nb;rocks to climb, at high tido on the beach, or to 3leep out in the rain all .riiglit. Nor shall 1 have any more anchoring off.lce shores in open boats, or swamping in the eurf—of which I havo had enough to last me for years." Writing home to his English relatives, ho compared tho liaxbourne country to the.Dorsetshire Downs. It was a lonely placo in those days. Weld writes: —"I havo not a 1 neighbour, native or European, for:4o railes, so I am monarch of all. I survey. It is a fine, healthy country, with neither swamp nor forest. Wβ' havo fivo horses, some cows, and a bull, ,Tho sheep, which are far tho best eVer .imported., into the coloiiy, are as follows:—2000. Clifford's and mine, and 600 on a thirds of increaso and half.wool arrangement. I shall make Fluxbournc my headquarters, as. this will be tho most important station. I intend having a. garden and vinery in a deep glen be-hind-tho house." .The station ho describes as consisting of "about one square mile of undulating grass land, backed by a fine range ot hills—also available for sheep—a,nd possessing bush land enough for all our requirements for a hundred,years or more. ■ It is rented by Clifford, Vavasour, and myself at £12 a year, ■ from the Native chiefs! who are glad to get .white- men among them to buy their pigsand potatoes, and supply them"with tobacco in return for work."' Tho enterprise was soon on a fair way to success, for throe years later (March, 1850)- ho writes:. "Wo havo now 11,000 sheep 'Oirtho ground; and we : are selling bur,, rams' at- £20 apiece, the highest price'over given in ;jthe colony." ' Ho did some' exploriiig work in the Wairarapa and, elsewhere, and found great pleasure in sailing hie nine : ton boat, the Petrel, in which the partners took their wool and stores backwards and forwards to Wellington. Some narrow ■ escapes from serious trouble , with tho Natives ,aro also recorded in these earlier chapters. ; '■ ' ' '

Soon tho young settler began to take a' keen interest in_. politics. Jie refused a eoat in the nominc'o. Council established by Sir Georgo .Orey( regarding it, so he writes to his _ father, as "a mero blind, with-no -object save to take reeponsibility off tho Governor." In 1849, however, ho took.a leading part hi tho Formation of. a''.'Settlors' Constitutional Association," which entered' a vigorous protest to Lord Grey, the then Colonial Minister, 'against what tho association considered to be the Governor's "attempt to dcprivo.the colonists .of Now Zealand of. the boon of self-government, which your Lordship had determined to bestow." In.December,. 1850, Weld accompanied John Hobert'Goilloy, and itinpected tho site chosen" for tho future town of Lyttelton, journeying back from Christchureh to Flaxbouriio on foot, and discovering .a pass through tho Kaikoura range. In February, .1851, ho went to England, returning to New Zealand in August, .18J2, his father having died in January of that year. During his stay in England ho spent three days' at Ham House,; Lord Adderley's

place in Shropshire, where lie "took part m a conference of the highest importance. Weld says:— "Horo I met Fox, Sewell, and •' Wakotield, to consult upon New Zealand politics. We had previously helped to defeat the intention of Ministers to saddle the New Zealami Company's debt on the general revenue of the country. Wo noiv concocted a Constitution, which was afterwards approved of by the Duke of Newcastle and Lord L'yttclton, and upon wliich Gladstone's resolutions wore founded." The services thus rendered to New Zealand by Weld and those who worked with him have, it is to bo feared, been insufficiently- estimated b yraore than one writer on our earlier history.

On December 12, 1852, Weld landed at Port Otago, and at onco- flung himself with energy into his old life as an industrious sheep farmer. To those — and. there are many—who nowadays speak and writo of tho early pastoralists as a set of selfish "land-grabbers," 1 commend a careful perusal of the earlier chapters v of Lady Lovat's interesting volume. , They will learn what pntienee, industry, anil indomitable pluck wero exhibited by the early'pastoralists, and what privations and serious difficultiesthey had to contend against, and thus, come'to have more accurate knowledge of a class of men who. did splendid spade-work in the causa of civilisation and.progress. It is, howover, to Weld's political career that we must now turn. in 1853 tho New Zealand Constitution was proclaimed by Sir George Grey, the House meeting on May 1?, lHh-i. Weld then entered Parliament as tho member for Wairaii, Mr. Clifford being elected -Speaker. To the first motion, "That a clergyman be asked to open tho proceedings with prayer," Weld moved an amendment to tho effect that the House, though recognisins . tho importance of religious observances, objected to an Act which might tend to tho subversion of that perfect religious equality which was guaranteed by tho Constitution. The amendment was lost, but itsiprinciple was recognised by a formal resolution, ■unanimously passed. Prayers were then read by.an Anglican clergyman, but on subsequent occasions prayers were read by the Speaker.

Space will not permit of mom than the briefest possible summary of Weld's political career in Now Zealand. Of a temporary Ministry, formed to carry on the business of the country until the "old gang"—the officers appointed by tho Colonial Office—could'be disposed of, Weld now became a. member, under Mr. J; E., Fitzgerald, his colleagues being Mr. Sewell, a lawyer of great ability, and Mr. Dillon-Bell. The "old gang," however, made progress impossibe, and not until 'the! new General Assembly met on April 15, 1856, Colonsl Gore-Browne being then Governor,, and the former office-holders having been dismissed and pensioned, could Parliamentary government bo said to havo really begun.' In 1854,' there being a great volcanic'- eruption 'at the Sandwich Islands, Weld chartered a' small'sailing: vessel and started:for the scerio" dftjjac-j tion. BetweenMSSfc artel "i960 he hfade| two trips to England, on the second occasion being married to Miss Fila-; meiia de Lisle -Phillips, -whose'mother,; was Weld's coiifjiu in .the. second' , degree, through his mother. In January, 1860, Weld and his wife arrived in Now Zealand. The Maori war was now followed by a "sugar and blanket policy," Sir George Grey replacing Governor Gore-Browne. A dissolution enabled Weld to return to Parliament, his speech to the electors of the Wairau declaring his belief in tho supremacy of the Crown with regard' to Native lands, and the necessity for consolidating and centralising the system of government. When the House met, Mr. Stafford formed a Ministry, Weld' taking tho portfolio of Native Affairs. In 1861 tho Stafford Ministry was replaced by a- combination headed by Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Fox. .

From 1862 to 1863 AVeld refused, all Ministerial offices. Ho had shifted his> homo from Flaxbourno to Brackenfield, in Canterbury, and led a peaceful life,, being particularly interested in ' treeplanting. In ISM ho again took an active part in politics. Sent for by the Governor, Sir George Grey, he formed a Miuistry, which included Messrs. Sewell, Fitzherbert, and J. C. Richmond, and Majors Richardson and Atkinson. The country was in a bad way financially, and the Native difficulty was worso than ever. It was then that Weld courageously brought his "Solfreliaut policy," being utterly disgusted with the procrastination and ineptitude displayed by General Cameron. The return to England of, five regiments was inssited upon, and the Premier made clear his belief that the "Colony could in the future rely with confidence upon the skill and gallantry of its own officers, and men, and the devoted courage of tho loyal Natives." Weld's term of office was not, however, destined to be lengthy, for, as the of parochial jealousies, the Ministry could not main- , tain its majority, and early" in October AYeld, who was in poor health at tho 'time, tendered his resignation, and advised tho Governor to send for Mr. Stafford. He had fallen 'a victim to the intrigues of what , hia biographer calls "a coalition between the members for tho province' of Auckland," who were enraged at the loss of the seat of Government,'" and "a coterie in ' tho Middle 1 Island with whom Wold had refused to make terms' on the Otago Nativo Reserves Bill."

Two years later, in 1867, having arranged for the- leasing of his properties, he started with his wife and four children for England.- Ho had spent twentysix years in the colony, and even with his bitterest political opponents,- boro ihe reputation of being an ablo arid honest.statesman,' resourceful, courageous, an dcminehtly. sincere. As.Mr. Dillon-Bell said, on the occasion of'his resignation, "Mr. Weld" had held perhaps alono among tho public 'of New Zealand, tho place of a man whoso word, was: never, doubted,, whoso honour was never questioned, whoso advico was always sought, and whose counsel was never refused in cases of public difficulty." ' •..■■'

In' Weld's after-career,' Now Zealanders are naturally not so much interested. It was a long and hcnourablo career, spent iii the service of tho Grown, a career pregnant with value to the over-sea States of which ho was Governor. In 1869, he was appointed Governor-of Western Australia, bning transferred to tho Governorship of Tasmania in 1875, having previously, in 1874, paid a visit to' New Zealand to settle various "matters' 'in connection with his properties here, and being publicly entertained at Christclntrch and Wellington. lii 1880 he was appointed to the' Governorship of the. Straits Settlements. Of his career in this position his biographer, aided by extracts from Weld's Journals, gives, a interesting account. Created a K.C.M.G. in 1881,. he remained at Singapore until March, 188-1, when, having obtained a year's leave oF absence, he returned to England, and was given a right royal recoption at his native Chidcock.. Towards the end of 18S0 he returned to duty, finally resigning his Governship

in 18S7. The closing years of his active and useful life wore spent mainly at Chideock. Ho died in 1891, from the after-effects of an attack of lever which ho had contracted during a visit, on private business, which he had paid to the Malay States earlier in that year.

Ladj , Lovat's well-written biography is a work which well deserves the ..attention of all who are interested in the earlier political history of the Dominion. Several portraits and other illustrations arc given, the Frontispiece being a photogravure portrait of Weld, who was a singularly handsome man.