MAORI CHIEFS’ TRIP.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 160, 25 November 1926, Page 3

MAORI CHIEFS’ TRIP.

VISIT TO QUEEN VICTORIA. I An Unsuccessful Venture. Interested details concerning the visit of a party of Maori chieftains to England 03 years ago are contained in a letter received from Mr 11. K. Jenkins, ; of Auckland. Writing from Home on September 24 lie refers to a paragraph regarding the visit which appeared in 1 the “New Zealand Herald” sonic time previously. “The members of the partv,” Mr Jenkins says, “were presented" at the court of Queen Victoria and were later received by Prince Edward, besides being entertained at the homes of the most celebrated people in social and political circle sin England. The interpreter. Mr W. Jenkins, referred to in the paragraph, was my grandfather. He went to Motueka, in the Nelson Province, with his young wife,- as a missionary in the year 1841. He was to have acted as interpreter to the survey party murdered by the Maoris at Wairau, but owing to a very rough . sea the ship containing the party could j not get a boat ashore to pick my grand- \ father up, so they went without him; J the consequence is history to-day. ‘ ‘The outcome was that the Govern- J ment, which had made so many callsl upon him, offered him a permanent posi- j tion as native interpreter. He acted in ' that capacity for IS years, during which period the Maori War broke out. He urged the Government to send a party of influential chiefs to England to see what civiliasiton could do and to learn how futile it was to fight such a great civilised nation. Sir George Grey was .personally in favour of tho scheme, but ,owing to the cost involved and tho instability of the then Government, he could not get their financial support, as it was contended tho Home Office and the Colonial Secretary should stand the cost. It took almost a year to get a reply from England in those days, so my grandfather resigned from his position in the Government. He influenced a few of his friends to help to finance the venture, sold all the property he owned, as well as his own home, and undertook three-fifths of the financial burden and the whole responsibility of the tour. “He had decided to tour England with the chiefs, charging admission if the Colonial Secretary would not reimburse them. They failed to get the secretary’s support, and after having been presented to the Queen they could : not tour and charge for admission, for this would have made them profes- i sional. Finally, the Shaw-Savill Ship- ; ping Company arranged for lectures i on New Zealand,, promising so much a * j head on all immigrants the party sue « ceeded in influencing. With the cum- 1 pany’s assistance, and a large priv to contribtuion, the party was enabled to return to New Zealand. My grandfather was the only white man remaining with it, and he wrote and received , scores of letters daily, spending most of the night dealing with correspondand order and communal administra- \ white inhabitants, where there was law j and crumpled cartilage is removed the jury at any time. When once the torn j died within a year of his return to New Zealand, a ruined and a broken man. The enterprise cost him £3000.”