EARLY HISTORY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 72, 22 September 1930, Page 3

EARLY HISTORY

DISCOYEKIES AT HOME \ MR. FILDES'S INVESTIGATIONS '; (From "The Post's" Representative.) ; LONDON, 31st July. i Beyond doubt, all friends in New j Zealand of Mr. Horace Fildes will ba ; interested to know what he has lately ! been doing and to hear of a number ! of interesting "finds" which he haa : made during his travels in England. :

What he describes as the most inter* esting discovery to himself personally was his view of the practically, unknown memorial erected by Admiral Sir Hugh Palliscr, Bart., to Captain Cook, at Vache Park, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire. Strange to say, this striking memorial does not appear to have been known to any of Cook'a biographers, and yet it is referred to in one of the many edition* of Cook's voyages published in the last years of the eighteenth century, and then, with the exception of a print of it made about sixty years ago, it sank into oblivion until -resurrected ia an article which Mr. Fildea wrote on Cook in 1922.

In an article which he -wrote for the | 'New Zealand News," (22nd July. issue) Mr. Fildcs gave the accompany* ing interesting description: "Cook's death must have profoundly affected Sir Hugh, for the monument is erected in front of the manor, and an .uninterrupted view is given of it, distant about four hundred yards. It is on a mound, surrounded by a small moat, access being obtained over a small bridge. It comprises an old, four-sided brick tower^with open arches on each side, each side measuring five paces, and its height is quite, four times its width. From the bridge an ascending path leads to the rear of the monument, and here we are confronted with the inscriptive memorial, set in the centre of the tower, and on. a floor of black and red tiles. This ia a block of stone, five feet high, each face of it being two feet in width. This is surmounted by a marble globe, and at its pedestal or neck is an. armorial, bearing, a shield and upraised and bent arm, the hand clasping "a weapon or some other emblem. On. the opposite side is a space for another, but whatever was there tia» disappeared. Three of the sides of tha block of stone are wholly taken up with the eulogy of the circumnavigator and were written by another naval friend of his; the fourth side is takea up to two-thirds of its extent. The rear face reading commences with thes* words, cut into the stone and blackened: "To the, memory of Captain. James Cook, the ablest and most renowned navigator this or any country hath produced," etc., etc. ' "The tower is picturesquely overgrown with ivy and climbing roses, the four arches being open and free of them, and is surmounted with a flagpole and halliards, and from the inside a flight of wooden steps gives access to the roof. Here, looking out from its four battlemented sides, a wonderful view of Vaehe Park is obtained, to-, gether with a view of the whole front of the old Manor House."

PICTURE OF CHARLOTTE SOUND.

Mr. Fildes has also seen in London, an original water-colour by James Webber, the draftsman on board the Resolution on Cook's last voyage, of Queen Charlotte Sound, depicting the landing of Cook, and his reception by the Maoris. This water-colour is not re-* produced in Webber's "Views in ithe South Seas;" 1808, and to his mind is more interesting than the published one.

Mr. Fildes has obtained two photostats of rare Cook items. One is of » generally unknown letter written by; Cook from Ayton ■on 3rd. January, 1772, and addressed t» Captain William Hammond, HulL It is the mora interesting in that it advises that the great captain was a horse-rider, and that, at that time, he understood the second ship in his impending second voyage would be named the Adventurer, and. not the Adventure. Thii valuable letter is owned' by Mr. E. Lionel Foster, a Yorkshireman nowresident at Folkestone, who, forty years ago, visited New Zealand, and, among other things, experienced a thrilling descent down the Wauganui Biver in a Maori propelled war canoe. Altogether, Mr. Fildes has obtained over one hundred New Zealand items, books, prints, etc., to add to his already large collection, and among them are a letter written by Mr. "W. E. Gladstone to the Key. C; Coleridge, dated 1843, in which he makes, reference to Now, Zealand; a coloured lithograph of H.MiS. Calliope of Samoah. hurricane and "Westport coal incident; several tinted prints of Christchurch, Lyttelton, the Pilgrim Ships, the Canterbury Plains, 1850-8; a large album of New Zealand photographs, 1875, th« Maori ones being particularly interesting; Gilfillan's lithograph of Putiki Pa, which has been sent to a gentleman at Wanganui; Heaphy's coloured litho- ■ graph of Lambton Harbour, 1841, obtained for a few shillings; a gift of_* photograph of a painting of Captain Sir J. Evorard Home, Bart., commander of H.M.S. North Star, who i* so much referred to in Wakefield'i "Adventure in New Zealand"; a cuii--ous French publication, on New Zealand, printed in 1831;! an invitation card to an exhibition of etchings of Charles Meryon, held in London, 1879, having etched thereon a head portrait of the famous French artist, with his emblematic initials below it, quite the most pleasing portrait of Meryon Mr. Fildes has seen. It is well known that Meryoii was a naval cadet on the French corvette L'Ehin when she visited New Zealand in 1842, and subsequently made ' several etchings of places and things seen there. A choice little item is Thatcher's "Invercargill Minstrel," the first ol the New Zealand series, all of whicit x were ignored by Dr. Hoeken in hi» . Bibliography of New' Zealand Literar ' ture, notwithstanding that he was in* trodueed into "The Otago Songster,'' 1863. A little work on crime, publisa* ed over sixty years ago, has an ac» count of Norfolk Island convicts ©» the brig "Wellington" overpowering the guard and crew, seizing the vessel, taking her to Cloudy Bay, where they in turn were subjugated by the cap* tain of a whaling ship, assisted bf local Maoris! This narrative, -how* ever, circumstantially given, is not la accordance with what was recorded at the tjme, 1827, but it has long bees stated that Wellington Head, Tor* Channel, derived its name' from the incident, which history ascribes to the Bay of Islands. One more interesting item obtained —and there are othersis a New Zoaland war medal, of silver given to Seamau E. Allen, H.M.S. Harrier, 1863-64. If one had the time there is opportunity in London of transcribing much old New Zealand history, so far as Mr. Fildos knows, not available in New Zealand. Most of his "finds" were got away from London, and he still has ten weeks to make further discoveries before leaving on his return to New Zealand.