EARLY CANTERBURY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 545, 2 December 1949, Page 17

EARLY CANTERBURY

THE STORY OF CANTERBURY; LAST WAKEFIELD SETTLEMENT, by A. H. Reed; A. H. and A. W. Reed, Wellington. Price, 20/-. : RITTEN no doubt with an eye to the centennial of the Canterbury settlement in 1950, this book\tells part of the story of the province. The references to provincial politics are brief, and there is no treatment of Canterbury’s place in national politics. The later development of Canterbury, including the growth of city industries, is omitted. What the book does, competently, is to give an account of the settlement of the province. This begins with the Maoris, and goes on to the white settlers before 1850, the organised plantation of that year, the growth of Christchurch, the spread of farming through the province, the gold rushes in Westland (which was for a time part of Canterbury), exploration in the mountains, and conquest of the main alpine peaks. Primarily, it is a book of physical adventure. ‘ Its chief value to the general reader is that it collects for him records from a number of books, most of which are out of print, afd weaves them into a story. Here are details of the pioneering of the Hays and Sinclairs on the peninsula and the Deans on the plains, before the First Four Ships; the story of the Studholmes of Waimate; the journeys of Bishop Harper and Bishop Selwyn; the pushing of flocks into the mountain country; the great snowstorm of 1867; the first crossing of the island; the trek to the diggings by the Harper Pass; the attacks on Mt. Cook, beginning with the Englishman Green and culminatirfg in the New Zealanders’ conquest. Mr. Reed’s greatest asset as an historian is the keenness of his interest, especially in the human element. He has made a wide choice and assembled his items with skill. The writing is bright, but at times a little untidy and over-conven-tional. For example, it seems rather superfluous to describe the Maungatapu murderers as miscreants, -Some criticism of his facts is called for. To say Lyttelton was the original choice for the capital is an over-simpli-fication. The first proposal was to put (continued on page 19) wk

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(continued from page 17) the capital at the top of Lyttelton harbour. In his account of the Britomart and L’Aube at Akaroa, Mr. Reed leans too far towards the old "race" version of Hobson’s action, and later quotes without comment the misleading inscription about Captain Stanley in Christchurch Cathedral. He should have stated Hobson’s exact purpose in despatching the Britomart. His references to Edward Gibbon Wakefield suffer from his trying to deal with an involved subject in a short space. He omits two important facts of the villainous abduction-one against Wakefield, and the only one in his favour, that the marriage was one in name only. He says nothing about Wakefield’s intrigues as a member of ‘the New Zealand Parliament, and is not quite fair to Grey in his’ references to the suspension of the first constitution. However, this is a useful book about foundation-laying. The many sketches (some of them admirable) are by "Pat Fenton," E. S. Hope, and the author, or are taken from old books. There are good maps and a four-page up-to-date

bibliography.

A.

M.