FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5367, 10 June 1878, Page 2

FOOTPRINTS ON THE SANDS OF TIME.

No. 4. Heading through the early numbers of the Gazette impresses one strongly .with an idea of the hardships ths first settlers hod to,contend with ; hardships which people- who have recently come to New Zealand can form but a faint conception of. Those were days in which colonisation was “a great .and heroic, work,” when the immigrant had to make his home, when old and young, gentle and simple, had to work hard,;.had; to .live ronghly, and .to incur dangers great in reality, hut often, magnified by uncertainty. . .What a difference between the lot of .the colonists who disembarked at Petoni, waded through a swamp, and then had to clear and drain ground on which to construct, with their amateur hands, whares ; and the reception the assisted, and free immigrants of the last few jeara met with—taken from the vessel’s side in a steamer,. landed at a good wharf, their luggage-carted for them to the barracks, where they are well housed and fed until engaged at liberal wages to labor at their various trades and callings. ■ Yet, .if many of the latter bad come by the first ships they would have striven as. did .the pioneers, and had the men, some of themat least, who arrived in the Tory andlsuccoding vessels,.landed in a place like the Wellington of 1877, they would have grumbled, at. 1 trifles, aye, probably more than they did when they had real trials. Oervainly the earlier journalists did not cry out about the hard lot of the settlers, hut it is gathered from their writings that ail meant to tight their way with determination" to make homes. Perhaps the most piteous cry that appears to have been wailed upon the public ear is this: —“ We canuot find any treacle in the market, while the artlcleisabsolately necessary in. a'printing business. Just now, jve may say, we are in great distress for. about Slbs. of it, and would deem it a favor if any person having a private' stock , would' lend ■ or 'sell us that quantity.” For the benefit of the uninitiated it may be said that, treacle is used in making the rollers' wherewith the ink is spread on the type,' and; probably in:lßlX’it would have been impossible to have found an efficient substitute for it.;..; , . i ~..t • In an unknown country, densely timbered with forest trees, and thickly clothed with undergrowth, that,was often Impenetrable, the pioneers,. even, had, they not "been, constantly iii dread of a native, attack/would .have had a work "to -try the. courage of, the, stoutest. A faint idea of the .difficulty of getting into the country is - gleaned from tho following extracts:—’. ’ ” - “Mr. Kettle, one of the. assistant returned last 1 week i from. an, exploring trip. He proceeded about six miles' down the Porirua-road, and then took, a westerly direction to the coast. He reports very favorably Of the land he passed over. .... Mr. Harrison, another- of the staff, proceeded d6wn';the" road" to about "the "same startiog point, and proceeded' thence in an easterly The Surveyor-General haa gone on the "same road, and has left it in a westerly direction, but nearer the. town than the route’ taken by M. Kettle.”, : , On his return the Surveyor-General confirmed-Mr; Kettle's information respecting the discovery of another fine valley. “ fails out and widens towards Porirua.’,’— rOazettc 3rd July, 184 X. ' “ Mr. Harrison 'returned last week from exploring the laird "between tha roatTfrbm. Wellington and the road from, tbe Hutt to Porirua. His report .is favorable,; a; large block of excellent land will be Hutt bloek of country. "We hope next summer the Hutt will - be crossed,- and the truth' .ascertained that tho Wyedxop' is; thence-quickly-reached, and that i an • immense t valley r pf, excellent land is there, stretching.,away at.i'the rear of the Tararua,. and .uniting a large level district, running from ' Mr.' Donnells cove, on the East Coast, to thoj Manawatu JKiver, which falls into .the straits%betweon;.Waugauui and this harbor.”, — Gazette i 7 tb ,18-f 1 “ The road from. Wellington" tq...Petoni is now nearly, completed, andperfcctly easy to fee go ie over by any vehicle.., ,Mr.' S.'Phelps, with his dray , and team o£ ballocks, has had the honor' of being tho first to travel over it, which he did two or three daya ago,and arrived here with Hying colors. The next thing we suppose we shall have; to record-mil be that the fast coach’ Tally-ho' will start daily, passing through Kai-warra-warra and Ngarangi,and returning -the sameday. Verily this is the age of improvement.” —Gazette 2tk .October, 18|1.

■' “ Mr.: 801 l oixived safely at Wanganui with his cattle, and Has already put the plough in . the ground.- --His success has induced a- gentleman to omne down in search of stock to drive over the same road as that taken by Mr. Bell. We hear of £55 per pair being offered at Wanganui for working bullocks.”— Gazelle, 6th June, 1841. The writer who cried piteously for treacle, was in other respects a veritable Mark Tapley. He made the best of everything, and even discovered that the hills and gullies around Wellington had their advantage as regarded road making. How he did that can only be teld in his own ingenious language : “The toad- from Kai-warra-warra to Porirua has been completed, and lias been traversed the whole distance by several horsemen. We walked over it a few days since, and could not abstain from congratulating ourselves ou the formation of the country. about Port Nicholson. Had the laud been level, we would have had the most forbidding of all possible sights,—long straight roads leaving the town in all directions. Luckily for ns the character of tie country forbids this. ' We cannot disregard the arrangements of nature though we would. We must follow the course of the hills and valleys, and the consequence is that Port Nicholson will have scenery to which its inhabitants will resort with neverending satisfaction.”— Gazette, June 5, 1841. The wrecks thot took place on the coasts of both islands vontd make a sad tale ; there were then no lighthouses, and the captains and crews had but little knowledge of the coast line. A sailor’s K'e was a dangerous oa- -rhea he was voyaging round about'New Zealand, but Port Nicholson was looked upon as a safe harbor. In Australia a wreck ■ which occurred in Palliser Bay was reported as having been in Port! Nicholson, and this waa indignantly denied in the Gazette, '■ The. opinion of a captain in the Royal Nhyy is qnotod. He pronounced the-harbor and entrance good, and declared that he would like to beat a 120 gun line of battle ship in against a stiff nor-wester. Many good ships; and small, craft were lost on both islands during the first few years after the settlement, and as tong voyages from Home, from Australia, and .from one port to another in tho colony, were frequent, some anxiety was . often felt, and false alarms were not rare. One is referred to thus :—At day-breafc on Monday, January 11th, three reports of cannon were distinctly heard by many persona. “Thei sentinel on duty informed Lieutanaut Best, who communicated the information to ; Mr. Murphy,” described _aa “ this excellent and energetic. magistrate,” who went three miles outside the ,i Heads, to ascertain if any vessel was in distress, but returned without r seeing a ship. This is disposing quietly of an incident that must have caused great uneasiness in the settlement; how anxiously would, the return of the boat be looked for. In the Gazette ui the 16th January the editor relieves unpleasantly bitter feelings which appear to have been created by people speaking evil things of the port. He thus delivers - himself: —"The experienced, active, and enterprising owner of the largest vessel which has yet entered our. port has formed so bad an opinion of our state and prospects as to'have purchased town land and ordered the erection Of several neat country houses. He also purchased the entire cargo of the vessel which - has arrived from V; n Diemen’s Land to take away onr starving population.” Ou the 22nd March, a public meeting was held at Barrett’s Hotel, to consider “ the steps necessary to protect the public from the . OUTRAGES OF THE POLICE establishment.” The speakers complained of the conduct of the police, who certainly .ran people in on a slight provocation. In the esse of coffee-house keepers, constables had instructions "if not closed by 2 o’clock the constable to break open the ' door and drag out every r person found there.” There is a slight bull here,, for if the house were not closed,* why should the door have to be broken open, j The chairman laid down this dictum : “ It was the duty of the police, if a man was proceeding quietly to bis home, if ho required assistance, to assist him.” As might have been expected, the' meeting passed strong resolutions, and resolved to send ahleputation to the umpire, Dr. Evans. They refeeived a writtten reply, which is chiefly remarkable for those long, wellrounded sentences which old Victorians who frequented the House of Parliament in later years often heard roll in sonorous tones from the Doctor's lips : ■ “With every apology and every extenuation that can be made by a feeing of personal as well as official delicacy and a love of order, X • cannot deny, gentlemen, speaking from my own observation, that there are serious grounds of complaint, and. with- that admis.-don I am bound, as a faithful servant of the Crown, and of the public, to make every sacrifice' that may be necessary in order to the performance of a vary onerous and painful duty. Gentlemen, ' I now consider myself to be virtually elected, by the unanimous vote of the community; and, _ ■ therefore, relying;upon yonr support in the conscientious discharge of my duty as a magistrate, I shall endeavor, according to my humble ability, to secure for you what you * seem now to require—a just and lenient administration of the common and statute law of .England,”' On the following Wednesday there was a SCENE IS COURT, ' : ' hut It waa of a dignified character. Dr. Evans took bis seat on the bench. .. . Mr. Murphy.(police magistrate): Is it your r intention to- sit ’ hero in your magisterial capacity? ’ ' • Dr. Evans (umpire): Such is my intention. ’’ "Mr. Murphy ; Then, sir, in consequence of the proceedings of a public meeting, and a letter inserted In the newspaper last week, I shall be compelled to leave my seat. Dr. Evans : You can do as you please, sir. It is my intention to sit here, for the purpose of administering, to the best of my ability, Justice to the public. : . z Mr. Murphy further added, that he would 4 abstain'from acting'when Dr. Evans took his > v seat on the bench for that purpose,excepting in Snob cases as the presence of two magistrates ' .••were required by law, ■’i' ‘A person was-then charged with having «been drunk, .when the defendant accused the police of having used unnecessary violence ' "to him, la reference to this portion of the -offence, Dr,-Evans took occasion to observe that it was the duty of tho police when -they i ■ > found a man in a ’ state of intoxication—if . he waa not disturbing the peace by riotous ■ -conduct, - breaking windows or lamps, to see • * .’him to Ida hoine, in preference to using violence to him.—-THedofendant was fined ss. • _ 'j. As the last “ Foot Prints” ■ contained severe " ireflections on Captain Hobson's conduct as Governor,'lt ! is but fair to give what the Sydney jjerald, a Journal, which may be supposed to have been neutral, thought of the pro.pbsitioa to have him recalled: —“ We must say > < -we do • not see anything in Captain Hobson S « conduct which affords a shadow of aground _ for the course pursued ,by .tbe Port Nicholson i people.”* v His Excellency visited Port Nicholson on Thursday, the "21st August, and stopped ,at • .Barrett’s Hotel. During his stay- ho had . many public matters brought under bis notice,- ' bud be held a levee on Tuesday,' 24th August, ' at which the following gentlemen attended :—- „ Cf«VEßS>rxjrr Ornceas—tleuf Smart, Aldo-de- ■ •Camp ; .Edward Stortlaad, Esq.. Private Secretary 1 VT. marten, E»q., Chief Judge i W, Sverinsnn,- Esq., Attorney General;' Dr: Pitzger-Id; Health Officer and Coroner far. Murphy, Esq.. Chief Police Magistrate, ■/ -C.F.'Dawsoa, Esq., J.P.-: K. Mathews, Eaq,. Surveyor .General; K. Halswell, Esq., Commissioner of the Courtol Quarter Sessions and Bequest; W, Swanson, 1 i 1 ,-JE»q.; of tho Commissariat; P. D. Hogg, Esq-i -Subcollector of Cn-tomS; O, Clarke; Esq., Protector of - the Aborigines; Connell, Esq., Postmaster General; George Hunter. E»q., J.P,; H. Bt. Hill, Esq. ;■ K. D. ; -Hanson, Esq., J. P. - - - , ; Hew. Zealand Comvanys Ornczns—Cql. m !) ■ Wakefield. Principal Agent; Capt. Wm. Smlth.-B. A., „Sntveyor-Gentr-l; E, Stokes,' Esq.. Assistant Bar- •• ' veyor: J. Lewis. Esq., • Land Clerk: De ’Bathe Brandon, Esq., Solicitor to the New Zealand Company. Uasteiw OT-Viwnsra Ponr-Capt.- Bobertson,. barque Tyiwi Capt.' Hobbs, barque Katherine Steviart Kories. i.-,i j • '■ ' ■ , Visitors ro Poet Nicholson—Messrs. Leo and a , Curtis. .» „ - , ■ Non-Official Besides!!) or Port Nicholson—- ' John Smith, Esq,, Manager of Union Bank ;. Messrs. ■ Cheetham ti), Adam, Lett, Hair, Button, Hodges, . , Tyrell. Jehnson, Wathen, Hay, Lowthor.; Jones, Featbenton, Pharazyn, 8. Cook. Stovsna. Alzdorf, White, Bowler; F. V. Martin, Bethnno,- O. Hunter,. • jna,. Colo, Strang; Barton, Onthwaito, Bcv. Mr. Aid ted, Capt.Xampbeil, and Dr. Stokes. - I-Is April it waa reported that coal had been -i found lit Evans Bay, and-it waa hoped that the discovery would prove of great importance to Bori Kiohoiaon; for it would make -tho harbor head quarters - for steam navigation with the other colonies. , The export 'of pork was a very important industry, and a sab-leader ia devoted to advice as-to how, when, and where a pig should be killed. People were advised after they ’had MUod pigs to'cut. them' up “ with a due regard to the science.” ; cOu Saturday, 6th January, “a fine schooner was launched from a building yard on tho Hurt. She is the largest vessel which hae yet been built in "Port Nicholson—measuring about 16 tons—and waa named the Sand Fly, by Mrs. Vi?, t- ’ She Is the • property of Messrs, ' Motaworil and 'Hurt, who entertained their ■ nMi lj the most hospitable manner after 'the proceedings of the day were terminated.'”