SOME IMPRESSIONS OF CHATHAM ISLANDS.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 875, 27 April 1903, Page 3

SOME IMPRESSIONS OF CHATHAM ISLANDS.

[By J. R. Sigley.]

(Written for the Gisdorne Times.) On approaching Chatham Islands the outlook is somewhat discouraging, the land having an appearance similar to a huge, ruddy, badly-cooked damper flopped into the sea. But on arrival at Wai Tangi—the capital and port—the newcomer is at once impressed with the niceness of the place, and the wonder grows that settlers are so few on this charming and fertile island, which evidently C"u!d easily support a much larger population than the existing one.

The time is not very remote when some

2000 natives (Morions) flourished here, subsisting on fish, birds, arid roots. They had none of our present aids to a living in way of imported food stuffs, and yet they apparently made both ends meet all right, until a stronger and more warlike race dropped on to them from outwards, and then very shortly the weaker and on-

warlike aborigines went on wards by batches. i noticed temairts of the banquets of the olden days with the *• Kopa Moari" adjacent and handy to the firewood, where, no doubt, some oldtime wood and water Joey was once busy enough bringing up the vegetables ; the joints usually walked up. A lew aborigines escaped either by

good luck nr good management, and Iroin these tile present Morions have descended. One of the survivors is still alive—a tall, keen wilted old man, who can depict in graphic language how he fared when he was hunted from end to end ol the island by his ruthless foes. Bit, by having even better legs titan “ Brother Peter,” he finally reached a safe retreat, and by the aid of roots and “ tuna ” hung out until the unpleasantness subsided.

No doubt those were stirring days for [he islanders, although they had no foreign market for their produce, and had to depend solely on home consumption for trade.

Halcyon days, when if a man managed :o amass wealth in the shape of a couple

of stone axes, a blubber scraper, and two or three fish-hooks, he was naturally looked up to as a thrifty person, ono who could look the whole world in the face and shake hands with himself as a pillar

of the constitution, for he could easily—without any undue strain on his savings—on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage festivities make her comfortable and give her a decent start in iife with a fishhook.

But those lovely days have long gone by, and out of the thousands of gentle, peace-loving natives (Alorioris) not many, even of their descendants, remain. Only a few of pure blood are here, and a mixed race scanty in numbers occupy the wide stretches of good land, that but waits for the industrious settler to tickle it, and it will laugh a harvest.

The dwellers in this island are, for the most part, a kindly folk, hospitable and good, and who welcome a stranger if he is of a decent kind, and if he is poor then they will give him a start alright, and think nothing of it. There is little need for accommodation houses here, it seems to me that every settler's homestead is one—gratis. Foodstuffs are abundant, hence living is easy. There is no home trade to speak of, for each settler grows nearly everything he needs and makes everything he wants. To meet a mechanic (a carpenter) is rare, and, as far as I know, there is only one ordained and duly qualified plumber on the island.

The bush affords plenty of firewood, and the sea ample supplies of fish of many kinds : shell fish, craw fish, big fish, little fish, and these are readily caught and don’t want the coaxing to get into iimbo or on to the hook that their cousins and kingfish do further north. No county or borough council is in existence, no harbor board, no breakwater, no public overdraft, no charitable aid board, no hospital, no doctor, no road board, no roads to speak of, and each man lugs his stuff to and fro as it best pleases him —mostly on sledges ; no franchise, no newspaper, no medicant Iriars or corner-street beggars, no Salvation Army bands —and the blear-eyed, trembling-handed pub booser and the bottle lugger, who wants to know if you have “ got the price of a pint on yer,” is quite unknown —no wild beasts or crocodiles, no taxes, and no poor. but there are schools on the islands, admirable and well-kept schools. The Education Department treats the islanders well, no pains being spared to give the children the priceless boon of primary education, and the eagerness of the children to assimilate learning is remarkable. One special feature noticeable is the rapidity with which the native children acquire,!knowledge ofEnglish. Sometime ago opposition from Maoris, in the matter of education, was experienced, but this has well nigh vanished, and now when a little Maori lad or maid once comes under the benign influence of the teachers and gets a taste of the sweets of school life as here administered wild horses cannot keep them from attending day after day. .-.chool time seems to be here, as it should be everywhere, a real solid joy time, and one that the children know will make for good in all the coming years. The Health Department, in its wisdom and goodness, has provided a large and varied stock of medicines and appliances

in case ot accident, which are supplied to the settlers and natives at nominal charges, and in some cases free. This is a great and valued boon to those who wish for “ something to take ’’ to cure the various ills of the body. These medicines, etc., are in the custody of the head teacher at Te One, and the skill of this gentleman in prescribing a suitable remedy for a pain of any kind is highly esteemed by the natives, who swear by the “ kuramata ” every time.

Church of England services are held in the little church every Sunday ; collection once a month. So even in this isolated spot where, just a few years ago, fierce-eyed Maoris kept time with hands and feet, accompanied by rolling eyeballs, and protruding tongues, and the Tenei te tangata Puhuiuhuru, Nana-i-whaka Whiti te ra ; Upane, upane Koupanc, koupane, Whiti to ra,

sounded out with its nerve-shaking sig nificance, yet now worshippers can gather in perfect peace. A capital public library exists, well supplied with the most modern

literature. There is one general store at Waitangi and another at Te One with varied stocks, and the vendors sell most things from blankets to beer ; but the drink question does not occupy much attention on the island as drunkenness is rare, public opinion being marked against excess in liquor. The inn-keepers are very careful not to permit drunkenness on the premises, refusing to supply drink to anyone who shows any signs of taugle-footeo ness. ' The climate is generally very good, and the winters are mild. Little sickness exists, the fresh sweet air from the encircling seas tending to health. The breezes are usually gentle, but still sometimes the wind gets its back up, and then things are on the move. To-day may be quiet with hardly a ripple on the water and the zephyrs that fan the street just delightful, but to-morrow a .veritable house-shaker may be in evidence, and sweep over the island howling and raging as though all the droughty folk from the fabled underworld of the ancients were let loose in the regions of the air, and were dead anxious to get from water to water in as short a time as possible. Nearly everyone seems happy and able to enjoy the quiet restful life far away from the hurly burly cf the cities and the , round of the buzzer, or danging bells on i clock towers. If a man wants rest and quiet, and time to get the cobwebs out of his brain, or if he is “ spillifillick ’ (Anglice, “on his uppers”) and wants time to pick up again Chatham Island is just the place to go to. t ’ne can easily forget the day of the week, even Christi mas Day has at times been forgotten, and from anywhere on the island the seaboard can quickly be reached, enabling one to look on the ever changfng face of the sea, and inhale life giving ozone from its ' restless waters. Given the stopping of the accommoda-

tion licenses for the sale of liquor Chatham Island would afford an ideal locality for the establishment of an inebriates’ home, for it would be exceedingly difficult, if not altogether impossible, for any drink victim to obtain liquor. The island is big enough, and the various parts diversified enough, to afford ample change of scene. Health-giving employment, for such of the inrnatps who desired to labor, could easily be found until the inordinate craving for the drug had died away. The great need of the place is more settlers —more producers, although it is true that only a fringe of good land exists facing the sea board, the more central parts”bcing almost useless. Yet there are tens of thousands of acres of firstclass land within ready access to the sea that now are either in a state of nature and not used at all or else occupied by a | few sheep or cattle. The principal items of export are sheep, wool, pigs, and cattle, and the s.s. Toroa is occupied altogether from January to March in transporting these to a market, bu; if the available lands were worked up to anything like their producing capacity the exports would be vastly increased to the benefit ot all dwellers hereabout, and a monthly, or even a fortnightly trip, take the place oE the bi-monthly service that now obtains for nine months of the year. Two months’ silence from the outer world is a serious matter, for in that time sickness and death may happen to kindred across the sea, and yet no word Can come from thence, no chance ot passage until the two months have ended, no matter how urgent may be the need. y et even with this drawback Chatham Island is a delightful place in which to live. l'.ven the fierce gales have their good side, the stormy seas leaping on the long coast line bring with them some ot ttie treasures of the deep sea. bheils of curious shape and radiant hues strew the shores ; rubies and emeralds glitter in the sand —not very large ones truly, but still genuine precious stones lor alt that, many of which weigh several carats. Occasional whales, too, drift on to the beaches, affording an oily harvest and pieces ol ambergris of value, and lovers of shooting can display their skill in bag-making in the numerous covies of wild uuck in the great lakes. And a Chatham Island duck with..the u fixiivs ”is toothsome and comforting. All the needs of life are easily gotten here, and lots of the luxuries too at trifling cost, if one is willing to drop awhile out of the helter-skelter of more populous centres, i-resently people win come here, and be glad that such a Crusoe’s land exists ; 5° houts steam from the main corner of New Zealand