EARLY DAYS.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 665, 6 September 1921, Page 5

EARLY DAYS.

(Written Specially for the Times.)

■ After the successful establishment •of the Church Mission at Waimate, English settlement began steadily, if slowly, to follow. Naturally it was at first principally in the neighbourhood of the Bay of Islands, but a few dauntless pioneers established themselves at various points of the North Island, often scores of miles 4 from any other white settler. Usually , \jhe motive at first was trading with the natives, but gradually farming of a primitive kind• was undertaken, and small flocks of sheep and herds of cattle were by degrees bred. Naturally great hardships had to be encountered, and it says much foi the courage and tenacity of our race that they g'rimly held on through everything. s , In 1819 the Methodist Church established a mission at Whangaroa, north of the Bay of Islands, under the leadership of the Rev. Leigh. Me Marsden warmly co-operated with the Methodists, who could .scarcely have pulled through the first few years of struggle without his help. • The Maoris in the neighbourhood of both stations willingly embraced, the outward forms of Christianity,' but there was litle indication that they acquired thereby any of the inward and spiritual grace that ought to accompany these professions of faith. " But in material things they certainly prospered. They learned many useful trades and crafts, and in places became skilful and industrious agriculturists. Potatoes were grown in large quantities, and several flour mills were established. . . j. In 1820, Hongi, the principal chiei of the north, paid a visit to England, and acquired a number of muskets, which, added to those he already po : sessed, made him the possessor of a formidable armory. Upon his return he set out on a series of murderous raids, which devastated a great part of the country. At the Tariiaki iie is said to have‘killed two thousand ol his countrymen. He over-ran the Waikato, driving those of the inhabitants who escaped slaughter, far ‘to‘ the south. He 'invaded Coromandel, the Thames, the Bay of. Plenty and Rotorua, at the latter place dragging bis canoes miles overland to attack Mokoia Island in Rotorua Lake, where the Arawas had fled to avoid him. And wherever he set his foot he left the country desolatp and uninhabited. , . , „ While Plongi was in England he met Baron De Thierry, a French gentleman who had dreams of becoming King of the Cannibal Islands. Hongi was quits willing to encourage his aspirations, and sold him extensive territoi ties with sole rights of chieftainship over them for £7OO. For many years De Thierry tried to establish what he believed to be his rights, hut Hongi’s right to sell was so nebulous that no success followed his efforts., In 1825 a public company was. formed in London to acquire land andeffect further settlement in New Zealand. They sent a preliminary expedition to spy out the land and pick desirable localities, but nothing fuither was done. In the meantime such law as there was in New Zealand was administeied from New South Wales, but th) distance and slowness of communication made the system very unsatisfactory. In 1832, as the result of a memorial to King William IV., Mi Busby was appointed British Resident*" but unfortunately the authorj ty• j given to v him was so slight, and the power in his possession to enforce what little authority he had so meagre, that the state of affairs was scarcely improved. A contempoiaiy writer‘said hat he resembled a man of war wiiiout guns. The next move was in 1835, when the settlers and missionaries, alarmed at De Thierry's claim of sovereignity over the whole country, induced. thirty-five, of the principal chiefs to set up a Government and frame laws. This, as might be expected, did not prove very helpful, but the trouble was finally solved in 1839, when the Crown appointed Captnin Hobson, R.N., first Governor, and ; New Zealand acquired the status of a Crown Colony. By the time Hobson arrived here, Russell had become quite a considerable place, and naturally expected to be made the .seat of Government, but Hobson had other:views. He sailed further south, and'founded the capital on the banks of the Waitemata.. In the meantime Edward Gibbon Wakefield had founded in England the New Zealand Association, a body containing a large number of prominent and Influential' men interested in. the new land. : The Government of . the. day cordially co-operated with the Society’s colonising scheme, and in 1840 the town of Wellington was founded. Settlement in the South Island very shortly followed, and New Zealand was rapidly becoming a busy and prosperous place. There were ; numerous whaling and sealingstations round the coast; the timber trade was booming, especially in the n prth, where gangs of. sawyers plied their trade wherever kauri trees and deep -water were found together ; the rt&tives industriously prepared flax fibre, , and the white settlers began %Oi export wool and bacon. Every ' colonist was . assured of a living, if • '*6+ -exactly of wealth, and the future ©£• the country was painted in bright colours, both here and at Home.