GOVERNOR HOBSON

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 September 1942, Page 4

GOVERNOR HOBSON

CENTENARY OF DEATH A FINE RECORD. . FOUNDER OF AUCKLAND. The untimely death of Captain William Hobson, R.N., first Governor of New Zealand, occurred 100 years ago on September 10. His health had been prematurely broken by hardships and difficulties," and he died at the early age of 49. Captain Hobson was not a popular man at that time, but with the passing of the years, appreciation of his worth as a man, and of the value of his foundation work for New Zealand in its most formative years, has steadily grown. This interest has been fostered during the past 20 years by 'the ceremony organised annually at his grave in the Symonds Street Cemetery by Mr Spenceley Walker, a gathering in which representatives of the "Auckland Historical Society and many prominent citizens have taken part. The difficulties with which Hobson was beset in establishing British rule here a century ago were enormous. His training was that of an average naval officer of his day, and beyond that he had no special qualifications for so difficult an administrative post. One historian describes him as “straightforward, just, sensible and anxious to do his duty,” and another calls him “a sincere, sensitive, honest and kindly gentleman.” The burden of his office acting on a delicate state of health proved fatal to him. Within a few weeks of his arrival in New Zealand he was attacked by paralysis,

and, apart from a brief recovery, his health continued to decline until his death. Most of Hobson’s difficulties arose from causes beyond, his own control. His record of achievement, crowded into a period of less than three years, is highly creditable. After carrying out the task entrusted to him of concluding a treaty with the Maoris to transfer their rights to the British Crown, he took steps to establish British sovereignty here to the exclusion of the French. With commendable foresight and in the face of violent opposition, he founded the city of Auckland, and established it as the first capital. He established British law and British institutions in the new colony and kept it at peace. He curbed the “land sharks” on the one hand, and the too acquisitive New Zealand Company on the other. It is universally agreed now that he earned the simple, but high, tribute paid to him by the Maori people in their often-quoted address w the Queen after his death—“ Let not a troubler come among us; let him be a good man like this Governor who has just died,”