THE FIRST CANTERBURY SETTLERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4188, 22 August 1874, Page 3

THE FIRST CANTERBURY SETTLERS.

The attainment of the majority of the heir to the lucciirtou estate, Mr. John Deans, was celebrated last week in a truly characteristic way. In its report of the proceedings, the Lyttelton Times says : This is the first celebration of the kind that has ever taken place in New Zealand, and not only on this account, but for several other reasons, there was a peculiar interest attaching to yesterday’s demonstration. Most people living in Canterbury already know that Messrs. William and John Deans were the first settlers on these plains. They sailed from Scotland in the year 1839, and arrived at Wellington in 1810. Shortly after their arrival they came down to the Middle Island and settled on the property to which they gave the name of Eiccartou, after the pariah in which they were born in Scotland. Such a name ns Canterbury was then unknown, and to look at the Biccarton estate now, one can hardly realise the fact that when the Messrs. Deans came to reside there it was nothing more nor less than a wilderness. What the two brothers did for the early settlers the big-hearted hospitality they never failed to display towards anyone and everyone calling at their place—are matters which are still green in the memory of many old and influential residents in this Province. The names of the two brothers are honored ones in the history of this settlement; and their heroic struggles in tlm cause of colonisation will form a very interesting chapter in that history when it comes to be written. A short sketch of the career of

Messrs. Johu and William Deans will be found in the speech which Mr. Lyon made in proposing the health of the heir to the estate. Mr. Lyon (who was received with cheers) said the special toast of the day had been placed in his hands to propose. More than forty years ago he had the pleasure of the acquaintance of Mr. Wm. Deans, the uncle of their young friend. He saw many old settlers around him who recollected the genial and kind-hearted Wm. Deans. (Cheers.) At the time Mr. Deans left the old country, things were very different to what they now were. England had not then developed its great railway system, encircling all the counties ; neither was there any telegraph by sea or by land ; there was no steam fleet of iron-clad ships of war. The prospects of the people were very different to what they were now. Mr. Gibbon Wakefield exerted himself in the subject of emigration, and Mr. Deans and himself (Mr. Lyon) were enthusiastic admirers of Gibbon Wakefield, a man who, with all his faults, had taken a statesmanlike view of emigration, and had founded a system which, with all its faults, had done a great deal of good for New Zealand. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Deans and himself (Mr. Lyon) were amongst the pioneers who arrived in Wellington in 1840. Shortly afterwards Mr. John Deans arrived, and they were not long in Wellington before they saw that a densely-wooded country, full of warlike Natives, was not the place for them. Mr. Deans went as far as Taranaki, on the West Coast of the North Island, and then came from Cape Campbell to the Bluff. After examining all the places on the way, he resolved to pitch his tent at Biccarton. (Loud cheers.) Shortly afterwards he came down here from Wellington, and John Deans came down shortly after him. It was thirty years ago that very day when he (Mr. Lyon) first landed here and visited the brothers Deans at Biccarton —(loud cheers) — and he saw them struggling and toiling, hopefully and cheerfully, erecting bridges across the streams and building a house on the property they had selected. There was no Canterbury in those days, but strange to say, in the best atlas published at the time (Keith Johnstons’), there was a little spot marked Biccarton. (Loud cheers.) That was the name of their native parish, a place rendered famous in ancient Scottish story. Even the name of the River Avon was not called after the great and immortal bard, Shakespeare; on the contrary, it was named after the romantic Avondale, which joined the Clyde at the ducal palace of Hamilton, where John and William Deans fished many a time upon its banks. (Cheers.) When he (Mr. Lyon) first visited them in what was now known as Canterbury, they were toiling on hopefully, looking forward to days of prosperity, and their example, he was glad to say, was followed by many whom he saw around him. They lived in hope, and that hope was not long deferred. (Cheers.) John Kobert Godley and the Pilgrims landed at Lyttelton, and entered into the promised land. Many present were aware of the largehearted hospitality which had been shown to the early settlers by the Deanses of Biccarton. (Loud cheers.) A short time after settling here, Mr. Wm. Deans left for Sydney, for the purpose of bringing over more stock, but he was drowned on the stormy shores of Cook Strait, and by his death the Colony lost an energetic colonist and himself a dear friend. After Mr. Wm. Deans’ death, Mr. John Deans left New Zealand to visit his native land, and while there he got married to Mrs. Deans, and returned to the land of his adoption. (Loud cheers.) But unfortunately, Mr. Deans was struck off in the prime of life, and his death was deeply lamented by all connected with the whole settlement. He (Mr. Lyon) would not touch on the character of the heir's widowed mother. The attention, the care, and the moral training she had bestowed on her boy would, he hoped, soon develop themselves, and show him to be the worthy son of a worthy father—(cries of “Bravo” and loud cheers) —who would take the position he ought to fill as the inheritor of a fine estate in. this country.