CAPTAIN COOK.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 80, 13 July 1910, Page 5

CAPTAIN COOK.

MR. McNAB!S LECTURE. r Last night in the Theatre Royal Mr. R. McNab, who has devoted himself for many years to a close study of the history of New Zealand, delivered a highly interesting lecture to a large audience. Although, the text of his lecture was "Captain Cook," the lecturer frequently deviated in an instructive and entertaining manner, enriching his narrative with anecdotes bearing directly on the lesser known incidents of the history of this country. Mr. McNab's lecture is designed to accompany lantern slides of ■ particular and unique interest, but unfortunately so much difficulty was experienced hi the matter of showing the slides that this feature was abandoned. The chief point of interest in the lecture was the promise that at a near date Mr. McNab would put on paper the result of his patient researches and the fact that Mie most valuable records of the early history of New Zealand had been obtained, not from British sources, but from American. In dealing with the great work 01 the fa* mous navigator Mr. McNab emphasised the points that Captain Cook did wjiat he was told, that he was a careful servant of the Admiralty, that he faithfully carried out the duties he was entrusted with in an extraordinarily complete manner, and that his remarkable genius for observation and organisation had given the very best results and had been of incalculable benefit to New Zealand and to history. He sketched the preliminary work of Tasman, and that of the sealers and whalers, and rapidly reviewed the three voyages of Cook, mentioning the fact that as the great. (navigator, had used Queen Charlotte Sound and "Ship Cove" in the Marlborough Sounds five times, the island in the vicinity was the natural place for jthe national memorial to Cook. The ' wonder of Mr. McNab's lecture lies mainly in the fact that he has stumbled across a large part of his information in widely severed countries, and often by accident. He has searched records in Spain, in Tasmania, in Britain and, in America. He assured his hearers that the most patient investigators were the American whalers and the people who came to this country with them. Mr. McNab gave delightful sketches of the men of the Navy who had been chosen by Cook to go with him fa the r Resolution on the famous second voyage, and incidentally referred to the cumbrous ships which lived where a smart now-a-dnys liner would perish. Bligh, famous afterwards as commander of the Bounty, and later as the GoverI nor of New South Wales, was one of Cook's midshipmen, and the famous, Vancouver, also a midshipman, was mentioned as a type of the men Cook favored for his great enterprises. He succesfully showed on the screen a page from the log-book of the American sealing ship Britannia, which he discovered in a library at Salem, gave a sketch of the work performed in these waters by Russian and Spanish navigators, and—while the lantern was working—showed a unique record of the last entries in the log of the Endeavor, wrecked at Dusky. The chief point of interest in this record was that it contained a sketch of "the first saw-mill ia New Zealand," for the sheet of the log contained instructions to saw timber for purposes of repair. He showed the connection of Te ''nuparaha and his lieutenant, To Pelr. with the early history of New Zealand, and was particularly interesting in the incident where Te Pehi "came off" in his canoe from Kapiti, boarding a British ship and refusing to leave. The story goes that the great Te Pehi's warriors, in their canoes, lay off the vessel and made menace. Te Pehi demanded that he be taken aboard the ship. The sailors had instructions to pitch him overboard. The muscular warrior lay hold of a couple of kingbolts and remained. His warriors went home, and Te Pehi went to England, where he was treated like a great potentate.

Unfortunately, the conditions in the Thentre Royal were not conducive to the taking of a record of Mr. McNab's highly interesting lecture, but his cnief point seems to be that the history of New Zealand is of such absorbing interest that it is worth the while of every New Zealander to know it He said that with the tion, the person with a Sixth Education could complete his knowledge of a subject that was too little understood. With the work that had .been done by recent searchers, the pleasant task of studying the early history of onr land would be made easy. Mr. Tisch (Mayor) presided, and on the tnct> tion of Mr. S. Percy Smith a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr. McXab for his valuable lecture.