EARLY NEW ZEALAND

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1943, Page 2

EARLY NEW ZEALAND

PORT NICHOLSON IN 1840 CAPTAIN F. G. MOORE’S ADVENTURES. EXPLORATORY VOYAGES ROUND THE COAST. Experiences in New Zealand, from February, 1840 to 1851 were related to Masterton Rotary Club members at today’s luncheon by Mr C. P. E. Moore, of Masterton. The interesting story which Mr Moore told related to the adventures of his grandfather, Captain F. G. Moore, who died in 1894. Captain Moore left London in QcI tober, 1839, in the Bengal Merchant, one of the four pioneer ships chartered by the New Zealand Company, whose plucky passengers formed the first settlement and laid the foundation of the future great Dominion. After a prosperous voyage, the Bengal Merchant arrived in Port Nicholson early in February, 1840, and the passengers were welcomed by the crews and passengers of the other three ships that had left London on the same day but had sailed direct, whereas the Bengal Merchant had called at Glasgow for her passengers. The new settlers were housed mostly in tents and thatched huts or under the cover of spare blankets, etc., about Petone Beach. The primitive colony had been named New Brittania. Every able man, woman and child was busily engaged making their little dwellings as cosy as circumstances would admit. Potatoes, fish, pigs and wild birds were plentiful and well supplied by the very friendly natives. Captain Moore and others purchased' an old whale-boat and made frequent fishing and other excursions round the harbour. They explored the river and the valley of the Hutt. The river was navigable for their boat for some three miles, it being then narrow and bounded by a fine forest on either bank. Pigeons, kakas, parrakeets and other birds were plentiful. Many of his expeditions were made in company with Charles Heaphy. A number of early settlers had purchased in London from the New Zealand Company, land at 20s per acre, but on arrival in New Zealand it was found impossible to find one allotment or section from another, because the surveys were not made for a long time afterwards. Upon Captain Moore acquiring, the brigantine Jewess, which had stranded on Petone Beach, he succeeded in refloating her and fitted her out to make explorations further afield. A visit to West Wanganui Inlet, in the Nelson district, Tasman Bay and Queen Charlotte Sound provided many incidents and when the brigantine returned to Wellington it brought the first New Zealand coal to that port. On a second voyage of discovery he visited i Wanganui (North Island) and went up the river with his uncle, Colonel Wakefield. From Wanganui Captain Moore proceeded along the Taranaki coast to Mokau, and saw much of the formative type of living enjoyed by the natives at that time. The Jewess was loaded to the hatches with Maori . produce for the return to Wellington, fl On the next voyage he visited Mana- JI kau, the Bay of Islands, Napier, back to the Bay of Islands and Mokau and thence to Wellington. By that time many of the pioneers had shifted from Petone to Thorndon. Dwellings were going up fast. Life in the settlement was described and many other successful voyages were made in the Jewess, which included a stop at Kapiti Island, where a whale chase was witnessed. A gale arose before the Jewess could leave Kapiti and the brigantine lost her masts and was driven ashore, a complete wreck, on the beach near Paekakariki. ;