THE OLD SETTLERS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4368, 20 March 1875, Page 3

THE OLD SETTLERS.

Sin, —If yovi would allow me a little space in your paper I shall feel much obliged. Since our list Old Settlers' dinner, I have thought much about the old settlers—what they had to go through compared with what the immigrants have at the present time. I recollect the first night that we landed. Wo had to shoulder arms with tho Maoris, for the Wairarapa Maoris had come down to the Hutt and killed a chief, and the Maoris at Petoni went to Colonel Wakefield and begged that he would (rive arms to the white men, which he did : and well I recollect it, when Samuel Woodward and old Mr. "Prouse took the first watch, and the old man forgot the challenge. Samuel Woodward challenged him twice. At last the old man cried out "Friend." If he had not spoken, I suppose he would have been shot. I do not think either of them ever had a gun In their hands before. So we commenced volunteering as we landed. We volunteered first from England, and we have still kept to it. I was tho first in Vcatherston to propose to ask the Government to give us arms and form ourselves into companies. I have no doubt Mr. Bunny recollects it well. We drilled three days a week, and there was no murmuring : we did it willingly. Sir, I must come back to the old settlers. When I came to the Gorge at the Lower Hutt, when I was going to the Old Settlers' dinner, I met one of my old shipmates, and I informed him that I was going to the Old Settlers' dinner. I asked him where he was going. He said, " T have a job to cut down * rock at the Gorge. I should like to be there, but I have not got the money." Tills man is seventy years old, and he has not made a fortune like many others of the old settlers Some mieht say that ho has spent his money improperly: Ido not think so. I passed poor old blind Pike. He has been blind for thirty years, and, like John Bunyan, supported his family by selling tag-laces. This blind man is well known in Wellington. I found another very old colonist—a lady—who had been blind about the same number of years. Sir, have we lost all our affections for those that ventured from their native land to colonise New Zealand with ns ? I think not; I think it only wants to be put in working order. Ido not think there is one who would not come forward and give a lending hand. , Sir, I recollect what the Government said to tlie people when they were leaving England. They said that they would not protect us, for they considered that we were only venturers, at our own risk ; but although they said they would not they soon came to look out for us. The man-of-war was soon us. What difference in those days and now? liow the Government are begging the people to come, and then they did all they could to stop them. How ha 3 this come to pass ? It was only by constant perseverance and straggle that we succeeded in our early days. I agree with Mr. Wallace, (In his speech at the Old Colonists' dinner, and I shall not be satisfied until the old settlers have got something for their venturing to New Zealand. If soldiers, that never put their hand to subdue this country, but for their services in other countries, had a piece of land given them, what do not the old colonists deserve, when they were disappointed by the New Zealand Company, and before the Government came to terms, years' past, and nothing was done until Sir George Grey came to settle with the natives. Before this many of the old settlers were glad to go to work for 2s. 6d. per day. Before the old settlers could get one foot of land their best days were gone. They have to thank the old Mr. Masters for the land that they have, when he was at Sir George Grey every day to put aside some blocks of land for small farmers, which Sir George did, and althongh their best days were gone, with a struggle, . thev did manage to get forty acres. They thought «r" this'was something grand, for their darling object was to get a piece of land. But, sir, there is something the oW settlers' children will never get over, that is the loss of education. There were no schools, and if there had been they had no money to pay the schoolmaster. Our young men, who ought to take an active part in managing the country that they fought hard to subdue, they cannot take their part in managing it for the want of education. I do not allude to the working-men altogether, for there were wealthy men who came out in those days, and they lost everything while waiting to see things settled. I shall mention a few of them that I know were great sufferers as well as the working men. Mr. Shaftene Harrison, when he came to New Zealand, brought stores of all kinds, and was prepared for farming if he could have got on his land. I think, if I I do not mistake, he brought five good farming men and a carpenter, prepared to go into I know those men were kept when they had nothing to do until they were tired of taking their money for doing nothing. This man ought to have been one of the wealthiest in New Zealand. There is our present Superintendent, when he sent Mr. Hartridge to manage his affairs until he could come himself. I know Mr. Hartridge well, and have no doubt that he spent a fortune. This wis a heavy loss to Mr. Fitzherbert, but I must Bay I never heard him once murmur about his loss. I might mention others that I knew well that were great sufferers, but they, like Nelson, would not say die while they had a shot left in the locker. These men should be resting quiet, but they are anxious to see the colony that they have labored so hard to prosper, and I do not think that any men that came out in the first five ships as immigrants should be obliged to work now. They have not all made fortunes. I think we might form a society to support the old men a little. Ido not think there is many who would want assistance, but there are some. Then let us try to do something for them. I should be happy to come down to the Hutt at any time if I could be of any help. Sir. I shall not be satisfied until the heads of those families that came out in the first five ships have got a hundred acres of land given to them for their venturing to New Zealand—an island that is going to be the first island in the South Seas. The hardships they had to pass through, I cannot picture. We had no sooner built our houses, but they were all burnt down in one night. We had a fire, and an earthquake, and a flood the same night. But, for all this, there was not a murmur from anyone. We went to work and built houses again. After this we _ were thrown on our own resources. Some went shinglesplitting ; others went to saw, and when they had cut their timber they had to raft it across the bay, for there were no boats "nor.horses and carts to take their timber. Some lost their lives in this work. When the timber was got to town, the price was ss. per 100 ft., and take it out in American salt pork. I wonder what the people would say now if they had to do this? Sir, the more I think about the old settlers, the more I tliink there should be something done for them.—l remain, one of the old Duke of Roiborough emigrants, C. Cujtdy. Featherston, March 4.