SOUVENIRS OF OLD NEW ZEALAND.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1999, 30 April 1885, Page 3

SOUVENIRS OF OLD NEW ZEALAND.

The newly-foimed Otago Early History Society had a conversazione the other night, which has established the Society as a pronounced succi-ss, and set it on the high road to popnlauty. The Uni\pisity Buildings were the scene of the gathering, and the looms weic densely ciomled. The libiary and many other rooms were filled with interesting pictures, portraits, documents, &c , illus tiative of the early days of the province and the colony, and the only diawback (says the Times) was that the large mini her present lendered it impossible to see one-tenth of the many inteiestni^ exhibits The following list includes some ot the most notable .— E\hibition of Maori and Monon can ings, implements, dresses, weapons, ornaments, tikis, &c ; old publication*, compnsiug the New Zealand (Gazette (1S40), the first news paper printed in the colony ; the N Z Journal (1840), Auckland Times (18421, piinted in a mangle ; Otago News (184S), Otago Journal, Lyttelton Times (I S3 l), and numerous otheis ; first book piinted in New Zealand (1535), the Gospel of St Luke ; fac simile of Treaty of Waitangi ; \ iews of the earliest settlements in Ni w Zealand, Koioiareka, Wellington, New Plymouth, Nelson, Auckland, Dunedin, Port Chalmers, Canteibury Plains, Lyttelton ; views of the eailiest war w lth the Maoris in 1843-46 ; large collection of caricatures by the late J.unes Brown, engiavei ; portraits of Captain Cook, Sir Joseph Banks, and others ; New Zealand scenery ; «eal of the fiist Maori King— Potatau. Dm ing the evening Dr Hocken gave an inteiestlug account of home of the exhibits. Uiuloubtedly one of the most j mtei es-ting, exhibits to-night, said he, is the chart of Tasm.in, who was the first distovprer, or, perhaps one should lather say, the desorior of New Zealand. This cliait is the first one ever drawn which contauib the name of our adopted countij. Despite its fresh and clean appearance, it is about 230 years old. It was published in Amsterdam, under Tnsman's own directions. It lias only recently been discovered, and I was foitunate enough to get it when I was at Homo. Tasn.an anchored about two miles W N.W, of Separation Point, in Massacre Baj, immediately off the beach of Waiewarangi, in the Nelson Province, An old plate with very remarkable perspec tivein one of the cases entitled, " View of Murderer's Bay," &c\, will give ineieased interest to jour inspection of the chart. You will notice that the opening or entrance of Cook Stiait n projected as a bay. Tasman formed as mcoiiect an estimate of the coast he sailed along as. would one who, seeing through a mist the tops and peaks of a mountain ian«e To the immortal Cook must be aw aided the honour ot the leal discovery of New Zealand. I shall not detain you with any furthei mention of him than by referring slightly to his own discoveries of our own Ota<,o coast. Sailing ••outh, lie kept close in to the land, passing a part " widely diveisih'ed by hill and \ alley." This doubt less refers to the very broken country at the back of Waikouaiti and Palmerston — a feature noticeable by anyone who has travelled by sea to Oamaru. I think that somewhere he has also given the name of the " \ alley of cones " to this region— a tital peculiarly applicable to the numerous conical hills dispersed through the Shag Valley district. On Satuiday, Oct. 14, 1770, he was off the point to which he gave the mine Cape Saunders, one of the Lords of the Admiiclty. He then named Saddle Hill, fiom its remaikable lesemblance to a saddle, and then Molyneuv Harbour ; than the Tiaps, upon which rocks his vessel, the Endeavour, was neaily wrecked ; Solandei'e Island, South ('ape, West Cape, and so on to Dusky Bay, and up the West Coast. The poi trait of Captain Cook was presented to this Piovince by Mr James Rattray, and is a faithful copy of the one by Nathaniel Dance, now I hanging in Uteenwich Hospital. Sn i Joseph (then Mr) Banks, whose portrait you see, was a companion of Cook on this voj age. The eailiest printed book in New Zealand is in one of the cases dated 1833. It was printed and bound by William Colenso, now of Napier, who, in that year, came out as punter | to the Mission establishment at I'aihn, bringing with him api ess Pievionsly, the neceas-ary printing had been done in Sydnej, but \eiy incoritctly. A specimen of this, dating 1832, or thereabouts, is in one of the cases. The earliest pictures are veiy interesting, and vvmo undertaken as a sort of advertisement by the New Zealand Company, who were (he first to really | colonise this country. They were done chiefly by the late Major Heaphy, who was the draughtsman of the Company, and who cune out in 1839, in the fii->t ship, the Long. Those relating to Hone Hekes war are highly intuesting and valuable ; their story I hope to tell before l°ng. The Dunedin pictures specially rommend themselves to us. No effort of mine can discover the painter of one old one (1849); perhaps some old identity picsent to night can supply the desired infoimatton. The spirited sketchings of Mr James Biown foiin one of the chief featuies of the exhibit. As is at once seen, Mr Biown was a v ery clever caiicatunst. He con tnbuted largely to the long defunct Otago Punch, of which a copy is shown, and also to the political cartoons of the past. He died too soon. Those A\ho saw the political skits and sketches issued on our few last political occasions, must admit that there is room for another James Biown. (Applause.) The views of the old ships Phillip Laing and John Wicklitfe, exhibited by Mr Kettle, bung back old men'Oiies to the very few who still remain with us The schooner Scotia, owned by the late Mr John Jones, was once almost the sole connection be tvveen Otago and the outer world On more than one occasion Mr Jones placed his schooner at the disposal of the Oo vernment when some sudden threatened Maori outbreak demanded instant measures. The old bell that for so many years spoke in so many voices to the early settleia has probably to night delivered its last message when it called you together— a fitting end to its labours. To-morrow it is to be placed on a luitable pedestal, there to rest in the peace of well earned silence. Ot the Maori articles one specially deserve* your attention — the di ill whereby holes weie bored in hard stone. It acted precisely after the manner of the teetotum drill or bow and drill. In some districts the circular interverteoral cai tilage of the whale took the place of the heavy river stones you see in this specimen. The point of this implement is made of that hardest form of greenstone called by the Maoris uiawja. The seal of the Maori King Potatau, as well as its impiess in wax, is a great curiosity.