“PASSING MAORI MEMORIES.”

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 321, 31 December 1936, Page 2

“PASSING MAORI MEMORIES.”

RECORDED BY J.H.S. FOR “THE TARANAKI CENTRAL PRESS.”

Canterbury Pilgrims.

Rauparaha dreaded the arrival of the Nelson settlers in 1841 but hailed with joy the coming of the Canterbury pilgrims eight years later. In 1843 Governor Fitzroy selected the Wairarapa Valley' for the Canterbury settlement; but four years Maori war laid the scheme to rest, and its revival in 1847 was the result of the High Church, commotion, which in that year had passed, its zenith. Cardinal Newman's desertion had caused a panic among its enthusiasts. Like other baffled innovators, the “Youtag New Zealanders” sought virgin soil in which to plant their tree of knowledge, “where blight was yet unknown.” Gibbon Wakefield seized upon this enthusiasm, and with the help of J. R. Godley revived the idea of a Church Colony in New Zealand, for which he obtained a 10 years charter from the Queen. The Canterbury Association, which, with wholly unconscious official satire, was described in the gazette as being “composed of noblemen, archbishops, clergymen and gentlemen,” whose objects were to found a colony in New Zealand, “upon high ecclesiastic principles, to transport

thither the religious and refined element, and plant the Church there to look like home.” A bishop designate was to accompany the settlers, plans of magnificent palaces and colleges were shown, and 20,000 acres were purchased in the “Sunny South." Their “Canterbury papers,’’ written by J. R. Godley were circulated throughout the length and Ibreadth of England with this motto: “A land there lies Now void, it fits thy people, thither bend Thy' course; there shalt thou find a lasting seat, There to thy sons shall many Englands rise, And States 'be blrn of thee.” £20,000 was for churches and colleges, £20,000 for emigration, £lO,OOO for purchase of lands. These earnest colonists were likened to the Pilgrim Fathers; but the Pilgrim Fathers migrated to enjoy religious freedom, with the charter of exiles; while the Canterbury pilgrims went under, the bond of the New Zealand Company, and sought to be a spiritual law unto themselves.