NINETY YEARS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20110, 2 December 1939, Page 11

NINETY YEARS

MISSION PROGRESS HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY EARLY WAIAPU BISHOPS INTERESTING PUBLICATION “Through Ninety Years" is the title of one of the most interesting of recent New Zealand publications, for it deals with a period in the progress of New Zealand of which all too little is known. » To Gisborne and East Coast residents it is doubly interesting, for it is written by a member of a family which has left its indelible mark on the history of these districts, and concerns the lives of father and son who became the first and third Bishops of Waiapu, namely, Bishop William Williams and his son Bishop William Leonard. Williams. The book was written by Mr. Frederic Wanklyn Williams, eldest son of the late Bishop W. L! Williams. He commenced his task five years ago at the age of 80 years, and though his work was interrupted when about half-way through by an. illness which resulted in the loss of the sight of one eye, he continued his task as soon as he recovered, completing it at the age of 84 years, a feat which is regarded as a wonderful example of patience and perseverance. Brother’s Arrival in 1823 Although the work claims only to cover 90 years in the lives in New Zealand of the two late bishops, William and W. Leonard, from the time of the former’s arrival in New Zealand in 1826 to the death of the latter in 1916, it goes further than that. It gives a glimpse of the life of the senior Williams in England and also of other members of the family, and. chronicles the arrival of an elder brother in New Zealand as a missionary in 1823, three years before the coming of the youngest of the brothers, William, with his bride. Turanga, the early, name for Gisborne, and the Coast districts are featured in the book, for it was to these parts that the mission work was extended in 1839, just 100 years ago, following a prior visit to these parts. The establishment of the mission station at Waerenga-a-hika in the 'fifties, the troubles with the Maoris and the fighting that occurred there before the trahsportation of Tc Kooti and his Ilauhaus to Chatham Island are well described, Massacre and Pursuit The massacre in 1808 and the pursuit of To Kooti form an important chapter in the book, followed by the story of the rehabilitation work at Waerenga-a-hika. Early history of the Bay of Islands and settlement there, including the events surrounding the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840,’ form the background of the story of the mission effort, which reached out to all parts of New Zealand, the reader being taken to as far south as Dunedin in a most interesting book that has a unique historical value. The story of the mission work is interestingly written. The completeness of the information offered was assisted by the practice of the two bishops in recording in their reports to the Church Missionary Society the happenings from day to day, while reference was made also by the author to published and unpublished works dealing with mission and church work in New Zealand.

The book is published by Messrs, Whitcombe and Tombs, Limited.