FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 186, 5 February 1912, Page 5

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

A DIP INTO THE PAST. SOME OF THE PROCLAMATIONS RECALLED. Little less than'fifty-two years,ago.a man of some authority—some local dig-! nitary of the rough-and-ready law of the j times—was to be seen wending his way I towards the hub (the Courthouse) of a little Taranaki township of some few hundred, souls. The building reached, he halted, and without much ado proceeded to paste on its weather-boarding, so as to be read by all, a notice which, by its official blue and large black type, surmounted by the Royal Arms, betokened an air of authority. The township,was. New Plymouth, and what is believed to be the identical piece of parchment mentioned', or one of the several notices of the same purport, which were placed on various coigns of vantage on the King's highway, was perused by a Daily. News reporter on Saturday last—a matter of half a century afterwards. The notice shared pride of place with another announcement of the same official hue, but more time-worn on account of its earlier advent, giving it forth that'martial law had been proclaimed and its text is worthy of resurrection. It ran- as follows: "

"The inhabitants will in "future be required to have a candle or lamp at their front windows at .night, ready to light in case of alarm; and they are desired to secure their doors and lower windows. The police see to these.—C. E. Gold, Colonel Commanding the Forces, New Zealand, New Plymouth, 20th April, 1860.':'

The foregoing relic;was selected from among a bulky pile of proclamations, all hinging on events happening in New Plymouth in the early sixties. They were given by Mr. Woon, of Wanganui, to Mr. Fred Ncwall, for presentation to the local Carnegie Institute.

A VALUABLE COLLECTION. Mr. Percy White, of White & Sons, in whose keeping the documents at present are, pointed out to our representative eertain stains on the backs of many, which, he commented, lent color to the. fact' that they were originals and had at one time or other been pasted ,up somewhere. "Phis is net at all unlikely, as the papers were obtained in the first place by' Mr. Woon's father, who, .being once a missionary in Taranaki, doubtless had opportunity to collect-them. Many of them are in Maori. All are, worth re-prmting, as their publication would recall many interesting a«d%tirring incidents longsince numbered among things forgotten, but a few only, have been selected, and at random.; To take one. In these days of the big bid and keen rivalry among the principal centres of the Dominion for pqpuTation, it is highly amusing and, with the lapse of years almost incredible, to read that not so very many years ago the authorities were imploring, and actually compelling- numbers of residents to leave Taranaki's shores. For verification, read, the following proclamation by Colonel C. E. Gold, Officer Commanding the Forces, in I860:

"It being necessary for the proper conduct of military operations in Taranaki that the town of New Plymouth should be free from the presence of persons who not only add nothing to its strength as a military post, but might in certain contingencies materially cripple its means of defence, the officer commanding the forces trusts that this intimation of what must be carried out will in a great measure lead to voluntary applications to the Government to be removed from the province. Failing this, however, it will be the duty of the commander of the forces to act upon his own sources of information." And here followed a threat to transport them compulsorily.

A DEVOTED WIFE. Special interest attaches to the proclamation under review on account of its. sequel. When it was issued, Mrs. Okey, mother of the present member of Parliament for Taranaki, resenting the thought of leaving hearth and home and kith and kin, went into hiding prior to the, sailing of the boat for Nelson, and could not be found., Upon, her reappearance she baldly told the authorities that she considered it her duty to remain with her husband. As a result of her representation they began to see the matter in a different light, and finally the proclamation ordering the women and children away was recalled. Another proclamation bearing on the same matter read:— "All families numbering five children or upwards, drawing rations will hold themselves in readiness to proceed to Port Cooper by the first opportunity. The passages will be provided, and every attention shall be paid to their comfort. Lads over sixteen max k'e excepfed>-C. B. July 27, 1860,

1 SIXPENCE AN HOUR! * ' ' \ A With the Australian Labor Conference clamouring for six hours a day and a ;' minimum wage for all unskilled labor, it is interesting I?Q*dsj> into the past for a . ! ' brief moment and study the condition*' " '' prevailing about 50 years ago in some of ''! the centres of population. Read, there- .-'' fore, the following proclamation issued ' >j< in 186 ft at New Plymouth' by the Pro- ■ \ vincial Secretary (Mr. J. C. Richmond)': "The, Provincial Government offers -j employment on the, earthwork for i the sites of the intended gaol and public offices, Mount Eliot, to all '" ( ahle-bodjed persons who may' desire it, the pay to be at the rate of sixpence per hour. Hours from 11 a.m. or from noon till 5 p.m Every man to bring a good mattock and shovel." . • : Although the'"authorities did not actually ring the curfew at night they went pretty far in other directions in curtailing the liberty of the subject, and it was dangerous, apparently, to be overcurious in those days. We quote in this*, connection from another of the proclamations included in the Carnegie library collection, it was as follows: "Much inconvenience to the garrison and danger to the individuals themselves being caused by bodies of unarmed persona proceeding outside the lines on the least cause of excitement, the Major-Genera 1 directs that in event of any unusual occurrence all woman, children and persons no* ordered out ©a*duty remain,within ' the. lines, and he trusts he may not again witness frach a scene like yesterday's at the wreck of the brig George Henderson, when a few of the. enemy mightt have inflicted aevew loss) on the families of the residents;- ) & whose preseiitcM would only have ', ' hampered the operations of the troops.—By command, R. Carer, Lieut.-Colonel, Deputy Adjutant l ymonth ' A ?B»* : >A SEVERE PENALTY. Others .of the batch of proclamations ' advertise' the fact that the sale of arms ' without, a special license was an offence by court-martial, with death as the maximum penalty; that the discharge of arms was absolutely forbidden except at the target on the beach between six and dght o'clock in the mornings; that no tobacco must be sold to native.s except, from an order backed by Mr. Commissioner Parris"; and the ' terms offered by the Government to the Waitara insurgents in 1861. » A GRUESOME TRAGEDY. Lastly the records recall a gruesome tragedy, the descendants of some of the ' victims' of which reside in New Plymouth to-day;,as witness the following procla- , "Whereas on the afternoon of Tuesday, 27th March, certain 'aboriginal natives, named Honeti, Renara, Manahi, Minaropa, Mautara- ' ? Rangirugft, Pere Ta--1 iSJV £ '**■» aßd certain , others did foully, wantonly and with ■' malice aforethought, murder or cause ,' to be jmurdered Henry Passmore, Saniuel ghaw, Samuel Lord, James - , and anothjr, now therefore, I. , the,Commißsioner, do hereby profe *"s . dedar . e that the mm of £IOO will be paid to any person or persons who will give information, etc. ■■'-■. . • * these proclamatioTis are worth preserving. ', ; *'