NEW ZEALAND HISTORY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5041, 18 October 1926, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND HISTORY.

INSCRIPTIONS in south island.

The accuracy of the inscription o'n the font in the Christchurch Cathedral may be. questioned by Mr T. Lindsay Bnick, whose researches have made him the leading reseaven historian of New Zealand (»ays the Church News).

The inscription records that the font was given by Dean Stanley in memory of his brother Captain ,owen Stanley “by whose enterprise, A.D. 1840, this island w.as secured to the British Empire.” Mr Buick’s objection, however, is not directed against the cathedral font inscription, but against that on the Ak.aro'a memorial, which states that on that spot; “the sovereignty of Great Britain was formally proclaimed August 11, 1840.” Mr Buick, in a letter to .the Minister of Lands, asserts that the actual first proclamation of the sovereignty took place at Cloudy Bay, Marlborough, on June 17, 1840, being the outcome of the signing of the treaty of Waitangi by the southern chiefs. This proclamation was accepted internationally. All Captain Stanley did was to re-assert British sovereignty. It may be, therefore, quite correct in fact to say that “this island was secured to the British Empire” by the enterprise of Captain Stanley. If the French had been allowed to land without prior hoisting of the British flag they might have claimed division of the island; international complications would certainly have ensued. The inscription, while no doubt misleading, may thus be technically correct. In any case the cathi'edal chapter will have no cause for qualms in its historical conscience.