ENGLAND AND ITS PEOPLE.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume VI, Issue 8, 30 April 1859, Page 1

ENGLAND AND ITS PEOPLE.

Chapter 3.

Now having crossed the space which lay between the Britons and the men who lived in the days of Alfred,—let us quietly rest upon this point, and sec in what wnv the

country, the people, and the laws and customs of the country have changed since the Britons dressed in skins and lived with pigs in the dark places of their woods. Lot us first look at the country, great roads now lead from one end to another—roads which crossing the swamps and drearyforests allow the stranger to pass through the land without the fear of being lost among the trees as in the lime of Britons; wolves, however, still live in these forests, and when night comes their howling frightens the children in the little houses where the cowherds live, and makes the mother shut her door that the baby may be safe in its wooden bed. The turf huts, where the Britons liveJ, feeding and sleeping together like beasts, are gone, and wooden houses, with windows made of a clear kind of horn, have taken their place. The richer Chiefs 100 have towers built of stone, with courts (or sheds) of wood all round ihem for their servants and cattle, while a deep ditch half full of water surrounds the whole of the buildings and protects them from the attack of any stranger whom they may not wish to sec among ihera. The rude circle made of stones upon which the High Priests of the Britons sacrificed to their Gods have also disappeared, and Churches, built some of stone and others of forest trees, are now seen with their steeples pointing to the skies as if to showthat the God for Whose worship they were built was above all, and was not—as t f )c heathen priests had taught—earthly, and on the earth. Then if we turn towards the sea we shall find-instead of the little boats of skin stretched over boughs in which the Britons fished along the coasts—vessels much larger, and, although clumsy and ill-built, yclstrong enough to buffet with the winds and to perform long voyages,—at least what in these days were culled long voyages, when but Jittle of the world was known and New Zealand and America were not dreamt of nor thought of by the men who crossed the soas.

Now let us look at the people who navel along these roads, live in these wooden houses, kneel in these churches, and navigate these ships. They arc not like the Britons; they are taller, their hah' is fairer, and they look to be a much stouter and stronger race. They are called Saxons and have come from Germany, subduing the Britons by their superior strength ; their dress is different: instead oJ skins and leaves, they wear woollen tunics covering to the knee, they have shoes upon their feet, and stockings fastened from the ancle to the knee with cross belts. The women have long veils which hide their heads and necks, and long fair curls that cluster round their faces. But when we come to think about their customs and their habits we shall find that they are still more unlike the Britons; the rich men who own large parts of the country live in their castles with their wives, who cannot read, but spin and sing and sew, and keep their maids in order, while the lord orders his men, sees that his arms are bright and ready to drive back a neighbouring lord who may intrude upon him. Then the lord (or chief) gives gre;tt feasts at which the servants bring the meat round on the spit on which it has been roasied, when each guest carves off a slice and puts it on the wooden plate which stands before him ; the ladies too are present at the feasts, and minstrels who sing about the valour of the lords and the beauty of their wives. When the feast is over, the men lie down in the great hall in which they have supped, and sleep with their arms by them, so that if the horn sounds, " An enemy is near," they may awake and drive the intruders back before they reach the ditch. They had no clocks to warn them of the hour to rise or to go to dinner, so they marked a candle for the hours, and when the flame had melted the wax down to the last mark they knew the day was ended. The poorer people do not have such feasts; they live in their wooden collages within the shelter of the rich man's power, and make

his shoes, his arms, his furniture, cultivate his corn, and provide him and themselves with milk and honey. There are no shops, excepting taverns, where ale is sold, and therefore each man learns a trade which makes him useful to his lord and to the other cottagers who live near him. And, as a foreign enemy may sometimes invade the country, he has, besides his trade, to learn to be a soldier, and practises fighting for one tbi.'d of the year. Bows and arrows, swords and javelins are their arms—guns and gunpowder are unknown to them. Luckily for ibem Alfred, ike king who now has in his bands the charge of ruling, protecting, managing, and improving this rude people, is a wise man who feels that bis power will be of no real benefit to his subjects unless he finds some other power which, when his hand is cold, will grow up and flourish from a germ of life contained within itself. The people for some lime have felt the want of law and rule to go by, and, lo help themselves, have meted out their country into divisions called Counties, Tithes, and Hundreds, in which they endeavour to maintain order; but Alfred, stretching out his hand lo help them in their want, gives them a written code of which we now shall try to tell you. He ordered that the name and profession of every freeman of the age of 12 years should be written in a book kept by the Magistrate for the purpose, and that each such freeman should then enroll himself in the association of the place in which he lived, and that he should not leave his district without the permission of the Chief. If he committed a crime the association to which he belonged was bound to bring him up for trial, or to prove by twelve witnesses that it did not know where lie was. A stranger might not remain more than two days with a friend unless his host gave surety for him, and if he remained for forty days he must place himself upon the roll of some association.

Alfred also established Courts, (which were compelled to meet once in three months) in which the making of roads and bridges, the repairing of buildings, &c, and all other public acts were to be settled, and where trials for crimes and misdemeanors were to be carried on. A Magistrate, appointed by the King, presided in these Courts, but he was helped by twelve assessors, whom he sent about the country to enquire into the truth of the cases that were brought before him, and the accused and the accuser had each to bring witnesses to prove what they asserted. A larger assembly, called the <l Meeting of Wise Men," composed of the great Chiefs and Landholders, held council with the King twice a year, and if the decisions of the smaller Courts were proved wrong they altered them. All this written plan of order agreed well with the requirements of the people, so there was no difficulty in establishing it as law, although the freemen who were busy with their fields and crops sometimes murmured at having to attend to the Courts. Time, which changes all things, wore on, and at another day you shall hear what change it made in the manners and customs of the English,—but amidst all these changes the laws which King Alfred gave his people have left their mark upon the character and institutions of the English of the present day, and make men still talk of him as the good Ring Alfred.

The following block of land has been acquired by Government. PROVINCE OF AUCKLAND. DISTRICT OF KAIPARA. Arapohne Block—Area, 9,000 acres.

BOUNDARIES. A line commencing at Waikaka on the Wairoa river, thence along the banks of that river to Amawa, thence proceeding inland alongih« survey line of Mr. Buchanan bearing 42 c 50'165,16 links, thence in an Easterly direction 515° 50' 98,27 links, thence to the Manganui river at Ohaua 57 ° 50' 142,06 links, thence along ihe Mauganui river to the boundary of Okahu block, thence along the boundary of that block 14° 15' 270,80 liuks, 538° 127,20 links, 51 ° 7' 106/20 links, 42° 119,00 links, arriving at Waikaka at the Wairoa, being ibe point of commencement.