THE GREAT PRO-CONSUL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 50, 24 March 1909, Page 4

THE GREAT PRO-CONSUL.

HEMINISGIiNUES UF Sill GJiUKOIE UlliiY. UK WAKEFIEIiD'S AltMUlilES. New Zealand Times Correspondent. London, January 21). I spent a most interesting evening at the imperial Colonial Club ou Wednesday last, listening to the reminiscences) of Sir George Grey from the lips of Mr Edward Wakefield, the Earl of Stanford, and Admiral Freeniantle. The occasion was an informal lecture by Mr Edward Wakefield, who is a nephew of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, the great coloniser, and who, from his boyhood upwards, was au intimate friend of New Zealand's Grand Old Man Sir George Grey, lie gave us some vivid glimpses ot that wonderful personality. "Sir George Grey was the most uncommon man 1 ever met," said Mr Wakefield. " Niiicnty-iuiie men out of a hundred that you meet you can refer to some type ; but uot Sir George Grey. , He. was unlike auy man I ever knew, in all in)- reading there art? only two men he constantly reminds me of. One was Napoleon; the other was General Gordon. Now J believe in all history there were 110 two men more widely apart than those two, yet in every phase 01 character' Grey daily, hourly, reminded me of one or the other. In all the great crisis of his life lu* remiuded me of those two men."

Mr Wakeful explained why Grey gave up a military career in his youth. Ireland, to wiiich his regnnc'iU was sent, was in a state of revolution tempered by starvation, and to the soldier fell the hateful duty of rent-collecting at tiie point of the bayonet. The work gave Grey such a hatred of the Army and of landlordism that he resigned his commission. He went to Australia; and accomplished some wonderful exploration journeys iu the tracks and wastes of the north-western part of the island coutiueiit.

VERACITY VINDICATED. The report he drew up on his discoveries made his name, but it was iiercclv criticised. The most striking thing in the report was a description of the great rock paintings done by natives, representing amuagst other things, the human eye, an animal like a, seal, and men in armour, (carrying lirearms, and fully clothed. People laughed at the talc. Wild natives paint pictures of firearms and clothes when such things were utterly unknown to them? Impossible! it looked rather bad for Grey. His friends said he had auil'ered from hallucinations; his enemies proclaimed him a lineal descendant of Ananias, Rut the accuracy of his account has since been proved. Photographs of rock paintings were taken a year or two ago by the Survey Department of the West Australian Government, and made it clear that the animal Grey described as like a seal was the dugong, or sea-cow, and t the men with firearms were undoubtedly pictures of Portugese explorers who had visited Australia in the sixteenth century. Grey's veracity in this matter has at last been amply vindicated, "It was by a sort of effort of genius, said Mr Wakefield, that Grey absorbed the Maori language and dialects 011 his arrival in New Zealand ill 1545. He was the finest Maori scholar that ever lived. He learned tho language in a few j months, in the midst of the press of j urgent and heavy duties of governing a ! colony in the throes ot war. ilis in-1 lluenee over the Maoris was amazing, lid reduced blood-thirsty savages to a docility which made them like fame cats. Gradually he got the whole colony perfectly quiet, and the success of his policy was most remarkable. Jn the long run, settlers, missionaries, a:id Maoris all agreed on that point, conflicting though their respective inter--1 csts were. Grey saved the country at a time when it was going to ruin. A DISCOURSE ON EELS.

Mr Wakelield described how, as a child, he met Grey. He was collecting drift wood with his brother on Sumner Reach, when his father appeared with Sir George Grey, and introduced the boys. Grey's first words to the boys were. "What 1 mean to say is, you have too heavy a load." All through his life, said Mr Wakefield, Grcv had two shibboleths, two mannerisms of speech. One was, "What I mean to say is/' and the other. 'Never in the whole course of ni£ life." Grey stayed to dinner with the Wakcflelds 'that'day at Sumner. The family were in dire poverty at the time, and could offer him nothing better than eels and Maori cabbage, but the Governor ate heartily, and gave the boys a wonderful discourse on the natural history of eels and Maori cabbage! 'When we two boys got back to Our cave bed-room that evening," said Mr Wakefield, v we could not sleep for excitement. We talked and talked about this wonderful man who had treated us grubby little scaramouches as if we were gentlemen and equals of himself." Mr Wakelield went on to speak of Grey's magnificent career ill South Africa, where he conciliated kuflirs and Dutch alike, and brought peace and prosperity to the country. He told the famous story of how Grey, by sheer weight of personal authority, and entirely 011 his own responsibility, was able'to divert the British troops which called at Cape Town ou their way to Singapore, and send them to Calcutta instead I" help quell the Indian Mutiny. He described how Grey's efforts to secure the unification of South Africa were baulked by Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary of the diiv. "There would never have been a Kaffir war, nor any Boer war," declared Mr "Wakefield, "if Grey had had his way."

The renewal of war in New Zealand led to Grey being sent there again as Governor. "He found things in a l'rightlul mess." observed the lecturer. "A most incompetent man was commanding the troops—General Cameron. A nice old fellow to preside at a tea-party, but a man who knew no more about native warfare than a child." A MAN AVI 10 KNEW NOT EEAU. Grey was absolutely without fear, and Mr Wakelield told a good story in illustration or' this side of his character.

"We were at New Plymouth," he slid, "Panic and misery prevailed. Half the people had fled to Nelson, and the rest were frightened to death. Grey wished to inspire them with some sort of selfconfidence. The chief of the natives who were terrorising the town was a great savage, the terror of the inhabitants. Grey came to me one evening and said, 'Oh,' Wakelield, what I mean to say is I'm going for a walk in the morning. Will you come?" "I knew what that meant—either go

with him or get the sack. So I said 1 would like to go. We started about four 111 the morning—the Governor and his secretary, old Air Thatcher, walking in front, Major Grey (a cousin of Sir George) and I bringing up the rear. The sentry at the outskirts of tin- town grinned as we passed, as much as to say: 'Well, you are blamed fools. We sha'u't see you again,' "We walked along the coast road for. about seven miles, to a place where the rocks jutted out, making a sharp corner in the road. At this corner we heard a rustling in the bush, and out jumped a dozen Maoris, brandishing tomahawks. They were a fearsome sight, and at their head was that bloodthirsty savage, the notorious chief. The chief rushed up to Grey, put his hand 1 011 his shoulder, and nourished his axe, shouting in Maori: 'Now I've got you. 1 will, sacrifice you to my ancestors, wltose land your people have stolen.' "Grey never moved. He just looked the savage straight in the face and then looked him up and down, with a contemptuous expression which seemed to say: 'Well, you are h bounder.' Now if there is one thing a Maori cannot stand it is eonfempt. The chief's hand slowly dropped. He looked utterly crestfallen. Then he said. Ml is the Governor!' and called to his men, who in the meantime had seized the rest of in. In an instant they left us and bounded away into the bush. "The sun was just, rising, and Ihe snow-clad slopes of Mount Egniont were crimson with the glory of the morning. Grey turned to me and calmly said-. 'What I mean to say is. never in the whole course of my life have 1 seen a more lovely morning. I am so glad 1 came for a walk!' That was Grey. ,"We walked back to town, emulating the sailor's parrot in the story. "We did not talk much, but we were beggars to think." HOW GIIEY CAPTURED A PAU.

"dust after that/' continued Mr Wakefield, " when we found ourselves outside a Maori pah called Whenarua, Grey got up one morning and walked right into Uie pah, alone and unarmed, lie went straight to the chief, who was standing in the marae, and said : ' Give me that thing you have got,' indicating a greenstone axe, the badge of chieftainship. The thief gave H up liki: a child. Grey had. the English flag hoisted, and when General Chute's intelligence olficers came round later, they found the pah in English hands. Chute never forgave Grey for that. Soon af\erwards the troops were withdrawn from the colony, and we w ere delighted to see their backs. Grey finished the war himself in 110 time. JJut the officers who went back to England never ceased their intrigues ami misrepresentations against Orey until they got Uiui withdrawn from the Governorship.

" 1 was with him when he received the news of his withdrawal, it was just a sentence at the tail-end of a Colonial Office despatch, and read, 'I .have the honour to inform you that you*: successor will arrive on such and such a date.' After all his fine service he was 'sacked' like a junior clerk. "Grey was absolutely furious. He was a proud man, and his temper got the better of him then, lie took the greatest hatred of Governor Bowcn ior no other reason except that the latter was his successor. Grey would not have anything to do with him ; would not even speak to him. He retired to Kuwait, thai garden paradise of his, and would iml recognise the new Governor at all. Rowen was a gentle-hearted, nice man, ami iu the most mauly way he wrote to Grey and said he would give liimsnlf the great pleasure of going down to Kawau to see him, Grey replied through his secretary that he did not wish to see anyone except at his own invitation. And so the two men never moiv

After Grey's unfortunate attempt to enter political life in England he went back to New Zealand and retired again to his belore.d Kawau. "At Kawau." said Mr "Wakefield, "lie lived the life of a patriarch, 1 used to spend many weeks with him, and feel sure that it was one of the happiest periods of his life, lie had a magnificient library, and he used to have cultivated, nice people there—men like Judge Fcnton and Sir James Hector, charming people. Yes, that interval of peace was probably the happiest part of his life. Then unfortunately— a* 1 think—he was advised to enter the political life of the country/' Mr W'akelield gave a rapid sketch of the ex-Governors Parliamentary life. He described how in some extraordinary way Grey came under the dominance of John Sheelwn and .Tames Mac Andrew, whose counsel he followed with disastrous results to his Ministry. Sir Robert Stout resigned from the Cabinet within two months. John liallanee remonstrated with Grey, and was turned out of the Ministry for his pains. Then the whole Ministry broke up. A vote of censure was moved by Sir William Vox. and seconded by Mr AVakefield. Grey replied in a speech of splendid eloipie.iee. but failed to convince the House, who carried the vote. Grey appealed to file country, but the Opposition were returned with a niajoriiv of four, ami lie resigned office. "Our political warfare never made a particle of difference to our friendship,"

said Mr Wakefield. "We were always the best of friends. We used to go for long, long walks together. Again and again I used to go down to Kawau. and we had many very happy times. Of course, Grey's career was already practically over, but in the meantime he made for himself a splendid world-wide reputation by his writings on "Maori mythology and Polynesian history—a branch of learning in which he stands quite alone. His books are perfect marvels. llow he acquired his knowledge 1 do not know. He was an extraordinary man. KULED BY HIS HOUSEKEEPER. "Grey, with all his autocratic maimer and his sternness of character, was always very much under the influence of certain people, and amongst them his housekeeper at the Kawau. Mrs Jones had an extraordinary power over him. They used to have quarrels sometimes, and about once a month Mrs Jones would come down to the wharf at Kawau, with a Maori boy wheeling her trunk. Asked if she was leaving she would reply, M ain't gone yet! I ain't 'gone yel!' As the steamer eanie round the point and headed for the wharf, Sir George would come down from his house. 'Oh, Mrs Jones,' be would say, 'what 11 mean to sav is you have been too j hasty.' He never said he had been tool hasty ! 'Go hack to the house, and lei j us forget all about this unpleasantness.'!

"'Very well, Sir George,' the lady would reply, 'l'll go back to the house, and I'll see to the rooms and the dinner. 1 knowed how if would be ! I know how it would he !'

" Eventually Sir George pensioned her oft and set her up ill a little shop in Auckland, and for all I know she ain't gone yet !' " There was something wonderfully human and charming in Sir George G' ev, ill spite of certain qualities which, when they got the better of him. made a great, distance, between his fellow creatures and himself.

" In New Zealand Grey had the reputation of beiiijj; a very rich man, and I am sure he was not a stingy one. The man who presented his magnificent library to Capetown and Auckland, could not he a stingy man. and T have known Grey to do all sorts of gene-ons things.

LAST SCENE Oh 1 ALL. Mr. Wakefield's voice shook with emotion as he described llow he fltooti by the coffin of his depavted chief and saw it lowered into the grave at St. Paul's Cathedral, to re*t there by the side of England's honoured dead. '"There came flooding back to me," he said, " with an insistence and strength that dimmed my senses, memories and incidents of years gone by. Once more I stood side by side with the great pro-Consul, thousands and thousands of miles away—in sharp debate perhaps, or wandering arm-in-arm in pleasant loving converse beneath the green shade of the bush, or staring with eyes fixed on swart, horrific figures brandishing blood-stained knives. And with Ihe sad music of the 'Dead March in Saul' there seemed to come echoing through the dim colonades of the Cathedral a message of peace and rest : 'After Life's fitful fever he sleeps well."

Tlw ft;irl of Stamford uii.l Admiral Freemantle added some interest in;* personal memories of Sir Oeorire (Irev li> those of Mr Wakefield. and holli paid hifih Inhales tn thi> Merlin;/ and extraordinary abilities of tile fjveat Governor. Among those present at tlie lecture were Major Vislier, a Maori war veteran, Mr lailieski. and Mr Sheffield flraee. .Mr.Mrs and Mirw famiphell. 'Miss A. W. \Vntf.r.n, Mr and Mrs C. 1,. J. Moore. Messrs C'has. Mosley, AiiL'elo, Short,, .1. IJHy, and Colonel the lion, J. Mams.