AMERICAN WHALING INVASION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 134, 29 July 1911, Page 6

AMERICAN WHALING INVASION.

AN IX I'ERESTiNG LECTURE. 'Pne rally history of New Eealanu l;as a ueop .uiu aom» ig aid action, uni,,' lor ait! .Now /jo,,iaaU no: n, out ior Liiosj v, no ik. vo atlopLoU lam mu rum as cur 11" ow n, aau a was a very uciohuvc and uppioeu.ti, e auuie-ue.v mat accouuta ;u- a;1 saints' ociio.n----i ijaiii, r'. mi.oi stou, on me evening oi i 1 relay last, w.iea, Umler me .iiiSjiihes ,a i .a- i/oo.iLing rmcioty, Air It. arc,,ah gave a s.a.ot acuiross on t-i.o invasion •of A.iuu-.ean wiiaiJHg vessels into .now Aeaiiiuu v. a tors eu. iv in uio mil icyiiLiiiy . . . i no' .irc..- : .or occupied the chair arid iatiwuucco .Ur Ate.mu) to a very good aum-ttaiicc cm immimws of the rum .amt in-hiws interested in the subject.

.tir .iii'.'.a’) s address, though *>riei, wan intensely miciosimg and revealed t( i i!v 4 Jj ! uvi,, ,Uo!<t oi too cmly nistory of New Zealand. The .speaker said wp : ;U ; i.-ug industry m America did’nob start w uii colon isa cion ny tnc white races. tor centuries the Indians! off cue coast ot Alassaehassetts at the islands of Nantncket and Alatna’s \’uieyard ftad can led on whaling and the industry was stiff flourishing when the sailors from tno -Old World crossed the sea. Tice Indians only used very crude implements and boars, hut these Ciie white’ men engaged, and, taking the Indians into ineir service, tne industry was revived and flourisued till tiio beginning of tiic niiietcentn century, when tiio scarcity of wnalos led tne vessels to go nirtlier south in the Atlantic and inter, alter Captain-Cook had returned with his gio.wing account of tiio islands that do btgel the Pacific Ocean, this field was tried. The western coast or (South America was first explored, but later the vesselswrenr furtner aficlcj, and ultimately New .Zealand was' touched. •The Ainprica.Ms. unlike the early English whalers, established their base in the Santa Island at Cloudy Hay. Meanwhile. other •• boats loft the havens of: tiio"New England coast to ex.ploiAtho ■Paciitc via tin Capo or Good iloiic. -aad - Idlest -togotiier with Eugli ;>:•. and Ercncli vessels, engaged _in the industry, established a whaling station of some importance at Cloudy .Bay. It was about 1820 that they American. whalers first appeared off our coasts. lip to this time only the sperm whale had been hunted, and tiie whalers very seldom lowered a boat to attack a, right whale. Tin’s latter variety were what the Indians used to hunt, but on account of the numbers diminishing, the attention of the whalers off the coast ol America had to bo turned to the sperm whale, Originally intending to hunt tiie sperm whale, the whalers found that at certain seasons of the year, particularly winter, large numbers of whales of the right species visited the ■ hays adjacent to Conk Strait, ,/ijid on the whalers turning their attention to‘tills variety the industry was established in New Zealand. The first American vessel that arrived at Cloudy Bay was the‘Eyrie, from Newport, and on searching her log it was found tiiat she arrived here in 1834, and returned back to .her destination with a good cargo of bone and oil, and verified the statements made by the early explorers about this part of tiie world. The speaker'traced the development of the industry and the voyages of several of the American vessels, but pointed out the difficulty met with by anyone in search of information'about the voyagers from the logs of vessels, oh account oi their being, in many instances, kept by illiterate skippers. Ho could not find in •any of tiny logs re had .searched in the rooms of the vinous American Historical Societies■ anything -about any disagreement the English and American whalers had iunqfig themselves or with the Maoris,- who they called “Kanakas.” The whalers used to exchange tobacco and, in some instances, muskets for their 1 anchorages in the hay, and also exchange those articles with the. Maoris for vegetables and fish. Mr. Mc.Nab stated that it was a peculiar thing that the wealthy American families who had descended from Ihe winders were proud of their ancestors who ong'fged in the industry, and had their summer homes at the sea fitted up with the old furniture and fittings of the whale ships in which their grandfathers exploited tiie coasts of New Zealand.

Appreciation was expressed by various speakers for Mr. McNab's address, and votes of thunks were accorded the speaker and the Mayor for presiding.