HUNDRED YEARS AGO

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 209, 20 September 1937, Page 8

HUNDRED YEARS AGO

"Address to White Residents of New Zealand" BARON DE THIERRY In view of the approaeh of the hun> dredth anniversarics of events in New Zealand history, it is interesting to r»« call the colonisation work of Baron Charles Phillipe Hippclyto de Thierry^ who purchased forty thousand acres io the Hokianga district, North Auckland, f rom the Maori Chiefs Muriwai, Patuone and Tamati Waka Neno under a deed dated 1822. In 1821 the missionary Thomas Kendall, in 'company with the Chiefs Hongi and Waikato met the Baron at Oxford in the course of their English tour. When the Baron had assimilated the details of the possibilities that existed in New Zealand for enterprising settlers he took steps to acquire rights which were, however, never recognised by the Governments of Eng« land and Prance. The Baron 's intejn est in his xlistant possession grew in the face of frustration. His attempt* to launch ah emigration seheme froa* England failed. Rights To Construct Canal. With a young family the Baron travelled to New York, . the West Indies, and later to Panama, where ha - ehtered negotiations to secure rights tq construct a canal through the i'amous isthmus. In 1835 the Baron wrote to Busby, the British Besident in New Zealand, announcing his intention to establish & sovereign government iu the North of Auckland. Busby 's reaction to this challenge was to warn the settlers against the Baron and to secure the signatures; of thirty-five Maori chiefs to a Declaration of Independence. ' After spending some time in .the Pacific, the Baron arriyed in Sydney where he. wrote his "Address to tha White Besid'ents. 'in New Zealand." The centennial of this do'cument falls, on September 20, this year, The Baron wrote in his address: — ! ' "I appeal to every respectable white resident- in New Zealand for his decision in a question f rocn which he must discard the prejudices which the reports of evil-disposed persona have insidiously raised against me and in which he must allow the nn-> shackled dictates of * his heart • to respond to the .voice of honour, honesty, and integrity,' « k He continued his Utopian outline with a promise of free medical attention, free trade, trial by jury, and absence of taxation, Dream Rudely Shattered. On November 4, 1837, the Baron ar* rived at Hokianga with ninety-six colonists. His dreams of Utopia were rudely shattered j not the least of the obstacles of the Sovereign King being the invalid titlo, .the opposition of both Maori and Pakeba, the .lack of capital, and the f acility with which his enemiei e'xposed him to ridicule. The story of this king without . a crown has been written by Kobin Hyde in her rocent novel "Check To Your. v King."'- The ;Baron*s acres, which he had purchased for thirty-six axes, dkninished • until -in his last years he was a music teacher in Auckland, Yet the part that tho Baron de Thierry played in New Zealand, whetlrer Te* garded as comic relief or tragedy, strengthened tho position of .tho English settlers who were anxious for their Government to establish sovereignty over the £hree islands before Francsi took similar action,