OUR NATIONALITY. NEW ZEALAND PEOPLE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 83, 8 April 1911, Page 9

OUR NATIONALITY. NEW ZEALAND PEOPLE.

WHERE THE PIONEERS CAME FROM. AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION. tFBOM OUR OWN COERESPONDENT ] LONDON 22nd February. "The Origins of the New Zealand Nation " was the subject of a paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute yesterday by Mr. Guy H. Scholefield. Sir William Hall- Jones presided, and among those present were :— Lord Durham, Sir William and Lady Russell, Mr. G. B. Corney, 1.5.0., Mr. Edward Wakefield «nd his son, Colonel arid Mrs._ Cowley, Mr. J. Vincent Bell, Commodore Hawkes Stragnell, Mr. J. W. Joynt, Mr. H. Hill and Mrs. Hill, Mr. H. F. Eaton, Captain Charles Slack, Mr. H. H. Wall, Mr. T. R. Ward, Colonel D. P. Warliker, Mr. Gilbert Anderson, Mr. H. B. Montefiore, Captain J. L. Parfitt, Major Alexander, Mi-. W. R. Wilson (Auckland), Miss Weston. Mr. Scholefield stated that at present probably 75 per cent, of the New Zealand people were native-born, and as the census took no note of the extraction of the individual it was necessary to go back to the beginning of the colony to ascertain where they came from. The first settlement in New Zealand, that of Marsden's missionaries, was composed almost entirely of Englishmen, as was also thut of the Wesleyans at Waimate. The first English company, which despatched the ship Rosanna in 1825, was a failure, and left only four Scots in the country. Thereafter the Scots were more prominent than the English aa individual pioneers. Before the establishment of British authority, too, a considerable number of Irish drifted across to Auckland from Sydney, and throughout the next few decades Auckland was the chief centre of Irish influence. In the first ships despatched by the New Zealand Company in 1839, there were a few Sutherland Highlanders, but the large majority of the passengers were English, and throughout all the company settlements there was that leaven of highly educated and cultured men for which' New Zealand had had so much reason to thank the Wakefield system. The English were seen at their best in Taranaki and Canterbury, while there were also important English settlements in llangitikei. Hawkes Bay, Nelson, and Marlborough. Englishmen constituted about 60 per cent, of the members of the first Provincial Councils, and the proportion of .English in the immigrant population to-day was just over 50 per cent., so it was reasonable to assume that more than one-half of the European population of New Zealand was ot English extraction. The pilgrimages of Scots to Otago, and to Waipu, in the north of Auckland (th« only organised settlement of Scots in New Zealand outeide Otago), were described. The people of Otago. it was stated, were not without oheir dower of talent, but it was generally the casual talent of humble people. " Much more remarkable than the attainments of its leaders were the homogeneous worth and the solidity of purpose of the rank and file. 1 ' From the education system so liberally endowed in Otago at an early date arose that strong Otago influence which was felt later in the politics of the whole colony. The Scot* contributed 24 per cent, of the members of the first councils, and 20 per cent, of the immigration population to-day, so probably • about one-fourth of the New Zealanders to-day were of Scottish extraction. - The Irish in New Zealand were quite unorganised except for the migration of County Tyrone Orangemen, which settled Te Puke and Katikati in 1 1878. Nevertheless Irishmen predominated in Auckland, where they provided about half the members of the council. Elsewhere there was only one other Irishman on the North Island Councils. In the South Island one-eighth of the councillors were Irish, but with one exception they were of the class which ought more correctly to be called Anglo-Irish — the class to which belonged Captain Hobson (the first Governor), James Edward Fitzgerald, Stafford, Sir Charles Bowen, and many other prominent men. The Irish influence in New Zealand was an influence of individuals, but it must be said for the Celtic Irish that through their religion they exercised an influence on the life of the country quite out of proportion to their numbers. The foreign element in New Zealand amounted £o only 2£ per cent. ; of these not one half were foreigners by allegiance. French claims in New Zealand were commemorated rather by the place names which their scientists left than by the seven hundred odd New Zealauders of French extraction." The most valuable influx was from th« North of Europe, induced, in the first case, by the influence of the exiled Premier, Bishop Nonrad. "Regarded either from the economic or the social point of view, the Scandinavian record in New Zealand does not bear a blemish." The Germans in New Zealand, who established the villages of Hanzau and Sarau, near Nelson, did not succeed in reproducing quite the excellent results they had obtained in Australia, but the Lutheran missionaries, Wohlere, Volkner, and Rienenschneider. left an undeniable mark. The Germans were the only foreign nation to have any representation on the first Provincial Councils. Conrad Hoos and H. H. Lahman were both members of the 'Westland body. FORMATION OF CHARACTER. Sir William Russell, who opened the discussion which followed, referred to the part which the Maoris themselves had played in the formation of the national character. He supposed that the Maoris were the most courteous and brave uncivilised people who had ever come in contact with European races. They had never been looked upon with scorn or suspicion by the European settlers, partly, he thought, because they were from the same origin as themselves, although {his connection might go back to remote history. He thought he was coriect in asserting that the character of the native people of New Zealand had had a good deal to do with the formation of the character of the white people of the Dominion, and the character of both thfse two peoples had been immensely influenced by the great George Augustus Selwyn, who taught them the beauties of Christianity. The Maoris also directly influenced the white settlers in other ways. In defending themselves from the attacks of the natives the Europeans learned independence in their earliest infancy. Every person had to take his stand m the armed forces, and so it came about that the of eelf-respcct and self-reliance were laid in the early days of the colony. There was still mother matter which helped in the formation of character. The different settlements had the effect of creating intenSe local pride rather than jealousy. There were geneious rivalry between the settlements, who strove to «cc who could do beet in the colonisa-

tion of the country. Each settlement struggled to perform a little more than the other, so that there had been created a feeling of intense patriotism for New Zealand. He believed he could' truthfully say that there existed in New Zealand a feeling of patriotism and love for the country which did nob exist in the same degree in any other part of His Majesty's dominions. (Applause.) Again, the men and women who went out must have beei\ physically and morally of the very strongest, or they could not have finally overcome the difficulties before them. All these things had tended to form a, people of whom the British people might well be proud. (Applause.) OFFICIAL PROCRASTINATION. Lord Durham, whose grandfather took" a leading part in the early settlement of New Zealand, expressed' the opinion that that was a 1 matter in which he could feel a pardonable pride because in those days the leading men in this country did not encourage colonisation. So slow, in fact, were they in their official methods that there was no attempt made to encourage the pioneering instincts ofi the British people. He regretted exceedingly that many of his grandfather's papers relating to New Zealand had been, mislaid. A few which had been found had been forVarded to New Zealand, an* he hoped come day that other papera would be discovered. He thought that New Zealand national character had been formed because the country had nob been so greatly interfered with by th« British Government as were the colonie* nearer home. New Zealand was one hundred days journey away, and allowing for the usual official p'rocrastinafeioii of British Governments, it would take a great deal more than one hundred days in which lie receive official notes. AH' this was to the benefit of New Zealand.. He knew that hie grandfather recognised the fact at the outset that New) Zealand would become a great self-gov-erning Dominion, and would not wish < to break away— his grandfather realised! that the more, prosperous the country became the prouder would her people be of forming part of the great British Empire. (Applause.) It wae a source of satisfaction to him to know that there was this large preponderance of British blood in,, the country) and he regretted that his intense dislike of the sea would prevent him finding out the well known fact that the N#w Zealand climate was much better than their own. {Laughter, arid applause.) IRISH INDIVIDUALITY. Mr. J. W. Joynt, M.A., remarked that New Zealand as a country had a capacity for assimilation. While English. Scotch, and Irish had retained coma of their original sense of separate nationality, .yet the blending process w&b going on, and over, these separate Nationalities there was being superimposed a 'sense of New Zealand- nationality. In. his opinion there was a double patriotism. Originally there were the local arid' New Zealand patriotisms, and now. tße.y, found a New Zealand patriotism, blended with, but without the least weakening or tending to disintegrate, the old 1 sentiment' of nationality as Britishers. • " Referring to the fact that there .were no recognised Irish settlements, he pointed .out that in those days the Irish race cent its emigrants to America. .The whole drift of Irishmen was towaaxls America. Then again, the Irish capa» city wa6 hardly towards constructive organisation ; it was as individuals that they influenced New Zealand. He felt that the names of Rolleston and Sale could have been usefully added to those who had a powerful effect on the community, and while warmly supporting Sir William V remarks about the Maori he congratulated Mr. Scholefield on having left the mnch-debateable topic of their origin severely alone. Mr. Henry HOI (Hawkee Bay)" emphasised the value as colonists of the Scandinavians and Germans in the Hawkes Bay district, and said they were exemplary in conduct and character. There were no people more thrifty than the Scandinavians, and they were certainly free from crime. Sir William. Hall -Jones voiced th« thanks of those present to Mr. Scholefield for his paper, and thought he had every reason to be gratified with the reception it had been given.