FROM GISBORNE TO MELBOURNE

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1119, 10 August 1882, Page 4

FROM GISBORNE TO MELBOURNE

[Written for the Poverty Bay Standard.] ■ No. XV. (Continued from our Last!) In 1824 the beneficial effects arising from the colonization of free-men were i felt. That year may be regarded as the Declaration of Independence, not i essentially as the desire of a Colony to ; be free from the parental control of I the Mother Country, but as one in ' which the existence of men, free-born, i and untainted by crime, was acknow- : ledged—onein which they could boldly, ' yet confidently, asserted their right to ■ the privileges of Britons. The Colo- ' nists raised the cry of Freedom, and made that the text of a petition to the : Home Government. The prayer of the ■ Colonists was favorably received at . Downing-street, and in less than a year i after, the original Van Dieman’s Land, i was erected by the British Government into an independent Colony. Laun- 1 ceston, meanwhile, had been forging ' ahead, and in the following year (1825) the Press was planted there under the : able advocacy of the “ Tasmanian Gazette and Launceston Advertiser.” ■ Two years later the Colony was divided ■ into districts, and stipendiary magistrates became an institution in the land.

It was at this time that ecclesiastical matters were taken in hand, the Archdeacon of New South Wales making his first visitation, but with what result I have not been able to learn. An Orphan Asylum was founded in 1827, which was indicative of the usual results of population; but (from what cause I know not) it was closed in two years, probably because the Colony was not sufficiently liberal in its supply of material (orphans) for keeping it open. Where newspapers abound and flourish, it may generally be safely conceded that business is sound, and the people prosperous. It would not do for their seed to be sown on stony ground, although that kind of soil is sometimes met with. Launceston must hate proved a lucrative market, in this respect, for, in 1829, an enterprising gentleman from Melbourne, and said to be the founder of that city, promulgated a second edition .of the Fourth Estate, A.D., 1829, under the name of the “Launceston Advertiser.” Lieut, Colonel Snodgrass succeeded Colonel Arthur as Governor, but there does not appear to have been anything conspicuously noteworthy in the several administrations until Sir John Franklin, of Arctic fame, became the repre sentative of Her Majesty. Sir John was sworn-in in January, 1837 ; and it was under his wise counsels, aided by his heroic, noble-minded wife, that Tasmania made the first real progress —politically, commercial, and socially. Six years after, Sir Eardly Wilmot became Governor; but, from some presently undiscovered cause, his administration gave great offence, and in three

year* he was re-ealled. Sir Eardly remained on the island, however, and, dying a year after his retirement, was accorded a public funeral. For an unascertained period, the Government was administered by Mr C. J. Latrobe, the first Governor of Port Phillip, who, in turn, was succeeded by Sir William Denison, who took office in 1847— the same year as the first batch of Colonists left London, under Captain Cargill, in the “ John Wickliffe,” for Otago. During Sir W. Denison’s term of office the whole fabric of Tasmanian affairs was altered. This was the turning point, the rounding of which has made that Colony what it is. Two distinct eras, or epochs, may be said to date from that time, viz., the discovery

of gold in Australia in 1851, and the discontinuance of transportation of felons—which, by the way, is to be credited to the persistent and strenuous exertions of Australian colonists generally—in 1853. But the good which was naturally expected to follow the second, were neutralised, to a certain extent, by the large exodus of persons occasioned by the first. So we learn, philosophically, that blessings generally come in disguise, and are, more or less, attended by some evil genius to thwart their good effects. Wise, and beneficieut as Sir William Denison's administration was, the real and more practical form of Representative Government was not accorded until after his retirement, when Sir Henry Young succeeded as the first Governor-in-Chief of the Colony, in January 1855, he giving place to Colonel Gore Brown, in December, 1861. About this time the Electric Telegraph and Municipal form of local Government, were established ; Hobartown was first lighted with gas,

and a scheme af railway communication wns initiated. Another journal, the Hobartoren Mercury, saw the light in 1862, and in December 1868, Royalty shed its patronising a-gis o’er the land, through H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh’s visit to the metropolis. In 1868 Colonel Gore Brown gave way in the Governorship of the Colony to the then Mr (now Sir) Charles Du Cane, K.C.M.G., who arrived at the gubernatorial seat in January 1869. Mr DuCane hailed from one of the best County families in England, and was an Essex man, but, beyond that, and a large amount of natural talent, there was nothing in hie diplomatic life to specially recommend him for the appointment, He proved himself one of the good old sort, for, in company with his wife, he mixed freely and sociably amongst the colonists ; and his public career was generally characterised by tlsc sterling qualities of an English country gentleman. Five years after (July 1874) Mr (now'Sir) A. F. Weld, late Governor of Western A ustralia was gazetted as Sir Charles Dueaue's successor, and ia January of

the following year was officially inducted. Sir Charles Weld, many of your more ancient readers will remember, was (and may be still) a partner with Mr (now Sir) Charles Clifford (goodness, gracious 1 how quickly the mushroom knights do spring up) in many land speculations in New Zealand, especially in that splendid property at Flaxbourne, I think, in the Wairau district, in the Middle Island. Both were successful runholders ; both made, and are making, and taking, as much out of the Colony as they can, and both have been rewarded according to their merits. Possibly they thought, as, probably, all the other Colonial knights since their day, down to the latest absurdity —that of Sir George Stoddart Whitmore—have thought, that a nominis umbra was better than no name at all, and, as they did not mind paying for the empty baubles, they got them easily Sir Charles Weld was succeeded in

1881 by Major Sir G. C. Strahan, K.C.M.G., previously Governor of the Barbadoes and the Windward Islands, and of Cape Colony. As matters * fiscal stand at the time of my writing j there can be no doubt that the Proi tection policy of Victoria affects the ' trade, and seriously diminishes the commercial and other interests of the i two places. But it is the opinion of a ; recent writer, that “ Tasmania has ! elements of prosperity within itself ; that will eventually compensate for j artificial discouragement ; and the i steady development of an improved ! system of agriculture, the extension of i railway communication and roads, the i vigorous prosecution of gold and tin i mining, and the influx of population 5 that must inevitably follow, are bound I to result in a fair measure of permanent I prosperity." (To be continued.)