History on a Parchment

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 171, 10 October 1927, Page 8

History on a Parchment

A White Man’s Eel-Weir

Ancient. Concession at Rangiriri

WHAT’S become of Waring since he gave us all the slip*’’—Waring was Domett, the friend of Browring, the man who gave Napier its interesting street-names, and the author of the love-poem, “Ranolf ami Amohia, a gem of Maoriland literature. Incidentally, Domett was a signatory to a rare and interesting document, an ancient, deed that concedes to a Point Chevalier resident the right to maintain an eel-weir across the Whangape Creek, at Rangiriri.

PLOWING sluggishly into the Waikato, just below Rangiriri, the Whangape Creek is a waterway haunted by sportsmen in the shooting season. Associated with the creek is a queer old concession. Over it Mr. Halliburton Johnstone, of Point Chevalier, holds a clearly-defined right to block its channel with an eel-weir. Years and years have passed since the right was exercised; but the creek teems with eels, guided to sea % as as as as as as as as & as as as’

asasasaSHSaSaSaSaSaSaS-asaS:«asaS by unfathomable instincts dormant except at certain seasons, and there is now in the air a proposal to reestablish the weir, and capitalise the hoary concession by starting an eelcanning or eel-drying plant. Canned eel is a delicacy that might appeal to only a few; but the knowing declare that the eel makes the most succulent of dishes when treated properly, and they are confident that the product of an eel-fishery would find a ready market. ACROSS THE CHANNEL To start operations any company promoted would need to take advantage of the privileges granted in a deed dated 186 S. The yellowing parchment states that to Charles Marshall

and his heirs or assigns ia granted the right to retain an eel-w sir across the mouth of the Whangaoe Creek. Before the days of the white man the weir at Whangape had been an institution with the Maoris, whose baskets groaned under the weight of the wriggling haul. Subsequently Mr. Marshall, who was an early native commissioner, and one of the pioneer settlers of Port Waikato, Improved the methods by driving piles from either bank of the stream, on a slant toward the mouth, so that the eels were driven into nets slurg across the narrow aperture. The weir thus created served its owner and nearby natives for many profitable seasons, but subsequently fell into disuse, and was destroyed. Since then, the Whangape has become a waterway for launchmen nosing up toward the swamps and Lake Whangape, where ducks abound. With the establishment of the weir, the channel now used so frequently would be closed, and a complicating outcry, menacing the prosperity of the infant eelcannery, would doubtless iollow. CLEARLY-DEFINED RIGHTS The rights set out in the deed, however, are so clearly defined, that the position of the holder is clearly secure. “To all whom these presents come, Greeting. Know ye that for good considerations us thereunto moving”—so runs the picturesque preamble, subsequently setting out in black and white that Charles Marshall or his heirs or assigns receive a grant of 10 acres (still held by Mr. Johnstone) beside the Whangape Creek, and “be allowed to retain and use an eel-weir, which eel-weir may. be removed by the Crown, subject to compensation for its extinguishment.” Mr. Johnstone, who recently gave a Point Chevalier property to the City of Auckland, became heir to Mr. Marshall by marriage, and thus is the holder of the interesting document—possibly the only one of its kind in existence—and of the rights conceded thereunder. Not the least interesting feature of the deed is its direct association with men famous in New Zealand’s early history. The three judges who granted the concession were Francis Dart Fenton, John Rogan, and Henry Alfred Monro, who were then sitting in the parish of Whangape, in the now nonexistent county of Rutland. The grant is signed by Ponsonby Peacocke, Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Alfred Domett, Secretary for Crown lands, whom history presents as the most striking figure of all.