ONLY HALF A CENTURY OVERDUE!

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 430, 11 August 1928, Page 26

ONLY HALF A CENTURY OVERDUE!

Movement on Foot at Last to Recognise the Sterling Work ©f the Wakefields in Creating the B©niini©n of lew Zealand.

(WRITTEN for TEE SUN by

A. A. GRACE.)

am* HOUGH more than half a 's' ?S "A century overdue, recognition of the WakefNgf'J |GtC fields’ services to New Zealand is likely to be ****' given in a form at once appropriate and national. On July 25, the Legislative Council unanimously passed the following resolution: “That a suitable memorial to the memory of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and William Hayward Wakefield should be taken into favourable consideration by the Government,” and Sir Francis Bell, leader of the Council, intimated that the Prime Minister had stated that the Government would certainly give the matter its most favourable consideration. So it seems that there is every probability that at last the country is about to remove the stigma of having so long neglected to honour the men to whom, more than to any others, it owes its colonisation. But it must be remembered that there were three brothers Wakefield who were closely associated in the founding of the Colony of New Zealand, eighty-eight years ago—Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who conceived the plan of colonisation; Colonel William Wakefield, who came out in command of the first expedition, 1839-40; and Captain Arthur Wakefield, R.N., who commanded the second expedition, 1841-42. Evidently the Legislative Council overlooked the last, but no doubt he will be included in the proposed memorial, for reasons which are full and sufficient, as will appear later in this article. The lever which has moved our legislators thus to think seriously of honouring men long since dead is probably Dr. A. J. Harrop’s recently-published biography of the chief of the three brothers, to which he has given the title: “The Amazing Career of Edward Gibbon Wakefield.”

tions that they prejudiced the Colonial Office, members of Parliament, and a large portion of the Press against the New Zealand Company, its directors, its intentions, and especially against its leading spirit, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, whose early indiscretions offered, unfortunately, an easy target for their shafts; but such were that remarkable man’s personality, mentality and powers of persuasion and decision, that he completely out-man-oeuvred and worsted the noisy swarm of his opponents and detractors, and with the assistance of his brothers and the support of the New Zealand Company, successfully accomplished his great designs. But the cloud of vilification under which the Wakefields worked has long been dissipated. To-day we see them in their real light: men who worked devotedly for a magnificent purpose, who sought no personal rewards, though they had unique opportunities of acquiring riches, but who died poor men, which is the proof of their disinterestedness and the purity of their ideals. They came of an intellectual family which seems to have belonged

An amazing career it certainly was, judged, not by the standard of physical but of mental activity, for E. Gibbon Wakefield saw visions and dreamt dreams, and had the happiness to see those visions and dreams coma true —visions of a brighter Britain beyond the seas, and dreams of a new British nation inhabiting it. The other two brothers were men of action, the one a soldier and the other a sailor, worthy assistants of the author of “The Art of Colonisation,” adventurous men who were ready to take risks for the sake of an ideal, men of executive ability, natural leaders of men, wellfitted for the great work which they had to do in giving concrete form to their brilliant brother’s mental conceptions. That the memory of such men should have so long been neglected is attributable to the storm of abuse, envy, hatred and malice from which they suffered when they were carrying out their great work, for it brought them into opposition with strong religious organisations whose clerical members were bent on excluding them from New Zealand, which they regarded as their own special territory, whose inhabitants they seem to have regarded very much in the light of subjects, and of whom they posed as the protectors. These strangely inconsistent people accused the Wakefields of robbing the Maoris of their lands, while they themselves were simultaneously acquiring from the natives vast areas, not corporately but individually, each for his own personal benefit and profit. Such was the influence of these religious organisa-

to the Quaker persuasion during the 17th century. Their father was the author of a well-known book on Ireland, and his grandmother, Priscilla Wakefield, was a popular writer of books for the young, and was one of the first promoters of savings banks. Edward Gibbon Wakefield entered the diplomatic service, William Wakefield entered the Army, and Arthur Wakefield was placed in the Navy. Edward’s diplomatic career was interrupted by three years spent in Newgate for abduction, but was renewed, in a sense, when he went as private secretary to Lord Durham, who was appointed special commissioner to Canada, in 1837. The Durham Report, which has been termed “The Charter of Constitutional Government in the Colonies,” though drawn up by the able pen of Charles Buller, is known to have embodied the ideas of Edward Wakefield who, it is well to remember, prematurely handed that report to “The Times” for publication, in order to prevent it being tampered with by the Colonial Office, where presided his arch-enemy, Permanent Under-Secre-tary Stephen. That was the sort of man Edward Wakefield was: he took risks, and took them without fear of consequences. But the moment when he rose to his greatest height was when, in 1839, the New Zealand Com-

pany was ready to dispatch its first expedition. Its plans were made, its emigrants selected, its vessels chartered; nothing was wanted but the Government’s permission to set sail, but such permission was withheld through the sinister influence of the company’s enemies, working through James Stephen, of the Colonial Office. The directors of the company wavered, despaired, and presently, in all probability, would have abandoned their plans, but Edward Wakefield was equal to the emergency. On May 12 he dispatched the ship Tory from Plymouth, with his brother, Colonel William Wakefield, in charge, and the vessel was bound for New Zealand before the Government could prevent her. As has been truly said by Dr. Harrop, of the Tory: “Her voyage may reasonably be regarded as the turning poinFin the history of New Zealand.” And of Edward Wakefield’s action Richard Garnett says: “He acted in the same spirit a few months later, when (about July, 1839), understanding that the authorities intended to prevent the dispatch of emigrants to New Zealand, he hurried them off on his own responsibility, thus compelling the Government to annex the country just in time to anticipate a similar step on the part of France.” Colonel Wakefield’s task was to make preliminary purchases of land from the Maoris, and to form the first colony of the New Zealand Company. This great work he accomplished in spite of the vigorous opposition of the hurriedly-appointed Government and the inveterate enemies of colonisation, the ecclesiastics of the missions. He planted his first settlement at Port Nicholson, and named it Wellington, after the great figure in. the Army in which he had honourably served. Wanganui was founded by his nephew, E. Jerningham Wakefield, whose name should ever be remembered with honour by the inhabitants of the river city. A third settlement was founded at New Plymouth. To Captain Arthur Wakefield, R.N., was given the task of leading the second expedition, which left England in 1840. He selected the northern end of the South Island as the place of settlement, and in Tasman Bay he founded the city of Nelson, named after the great figure in the Navy in which he had honourably served. His difficulties, though different from those of his brother William, were equally great, for he came personally into collision with the savage chiefs, Rauparaha and Rangihaeata, at Tua Marina, in the Wairau (1843) and there laid down his life for the settlement which he had planted. All honour should be given to the three brothers: to Edward Gibbon Wakefield, because he conceived and inspired the movement which led to the colonisation of New Zealand; to WiU liam Wakefield, because he founded the first white settlement here: and to Arthur Wakefield, not only because he led the second band of colonists and settled them successfully, but because he perished for the ideal which he had done so much to transform into a reality. It is strange that the Legislative Council should have overlooked so remarkable a name as that of Captain Arthur Wakefield, when framing its otherwise admirable resolution.