THE ROAD TO NATIONHOOD

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 741, 25 September 1953, Page 19

THE ROAD TO NATIONHOOD

"HE poor Maoris!" lamented The Times when the New Zealand Land Company wag formed. "A prey to all sorts of vultures; unprincipled Jews; French usurpers; fugitive convicts; licentious crews; fraudulent bargainers; peddling grog-sellers; . Durham — land companies and whatnot." London’s "Thunderer," it seems, did not like Mr. Wakefield, nor any of his "schemes. Its lack of enthusiasm was shared by the Colonial Office. But one night in May, 1839, Wakefield rode post-haste to Plymouth. Shortly thereafter, the expeditionary ship Tory sailed for Port Nicholson..The Colonia} Secretary was forced to act, He commissioned Hobson to annex New Zealand to the Crown. The story of government in New Zealand from this beginning till the proclamation of the Constitution Act 13 years later is told in The. Road tc

Nationhood, an NZBS documentary in eight parts specially written to celebrate the centenary of representative government. The Tory, which played such an tm-_ portant part*in ensuring that New Zealand became a British possession. was to. figure also in another episode in the story of constitutional government. In 1840 a certain Captain Pearson, of the Integrity, was imprisoned in her after being tried and convicted by a colonists’ court. He escaped and protested to the Governor at Auckland: The Port Nichol‘son settlers had taken the law into their own hands. They had their own courts, their own. flags, their own militia, and, of course, the Tory-‘"armed to the teeth." Hobson, alarmed by this story, made a show of force at Port Nicholson. The settlers laughed at the rather pompous show of official might, but it was to be many years before’ they again tasted the degree of representative government they had enjoyed as a "republic." The account of Wakefield’s ride to Plymouth, The Journey Begins, and The Arrest of Captain Pearsor. are the first two episodes in The Road to Nationhood, Others are entitled The Meeting at Barrett's, The Colony Hits Out, The Governor Plays for Time, The Years of Agitation, The Fruits of Conflict, and The End of the Journey. The documentary was written by Basi] Clarke, advised and assisted by Dr. Guy H. Scholefield and Alan Mulgan. "The bringing together in dramatic form of so much of the political invective of those very early days," says Mr. Mulgan, "throws a clearer light for me on the struggle for self-government. I had not realised before quite how bitter feeling was." The Road to Nationhood is to be broadcast by 3YC at 9.34 p.m. on September 30, and by 2YA at 7.30 p.m. on October 1. It will be heard later from other stations,