Section 20 of History of Australia and New Zealand from 1696 to 1890. This is a LibreVox recording. All LibreVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibreVox.org. Recording by Katie Francesca. History of Australia and New Zealand from 1696 to 1890 by Alexander and George Sutherland. South Australia 1850 to 1890. 1. Temporary decline. In 1851 the prosperity of South Australia was somewhat dimmed by the discovery of gold in Victoria, for before the middle of the following year the colony was deserted by a very large proportion of its male inhabitants. The copper mines were with difficulty worked for want of men. The fields were uncultivated, the sheep untended, and the colony experienced a short period of rapid decline. However the results obtained on the gold fields by most of these fortune seekers were hardly to be compared with the steady yield of the fertile cornfields and rich copper mines of South Australia, and the majority of those who had thus abandoned the colony returned in a short time to their families and their former employments. Governor Young adroitly turned the discovery of gold to the advantage of his own colony by establishing an escort between Bendigo and Adelaide, and as this was remarkably well equipped many of the diggers sent their gold by this route rather than to Melbourne, thus giving to South Australia some of the advantages of a gold producing country. The crowds of people rushing to the gold fields had carried with them nearly all the coins of the colony and the banks, although they had plenty of rough gold were yet unable from scarcity of coined money to meet the demands upon them. In this emergency Sir Henry Young took the extreme and somewhat illegal step of instituting a new currency consisting of gold cast into small bars or ingots, and although afterwards marredly censored by the home government for exceeding his powers, yet he could justly assert that this measure had saved the colony from serious commercial disaster. But South Australia was still more benefited by the great market open for its flower and wheat among the vast crowds on the gold fields, and when the first period of excitement was over it was found that the colony was at any rate not a loser by the success of its neighbours. 2. The Real Property Act In 1858 South Australia took the lead in a reform which is now being adopted by nearly all the civilised nations of the world. According to English law each time an estate was transferred from one person to another a deed had to be made out for the purpose, and if changes in its ownership had been frequent it would be held by the last purchaser in virtue of a long series of documents. Now if anyone wished to buy a piece of land he was obliged for safety to examine all the preceding deeds in order to be quite certain that they were valid, even then if he bought the land and another person for any reason whatever laid claim to it. The owner had to prove the validity of each of a long series of documents, going back perhaps for centuries. A flaw in any one of these would give rise to a contest which could be settled only after a very tedious investigation, and thus arose the long and ruinous chance resuits which were the disgrace of English law. When a man's title to his estate was disputed it often happened that he had to spend a fortune and waste half a lifetime in protracted litigation before all the antecedent deeds could be proved correct. Mr R Torrens had his attention drawn to this very unsatisfactory state of things by the ruin of one of his relatives in a chance resuit. He thought long and carefully over a scheme to prevent the occurrence of such injustice and drafted a bill for a new method of transferring property. He proposed to lay this before the South Australian Parliament, but his friends discouraged him by declaring it was impossible to make so sweeping a change, and the lawyers actively opposed any innovation. But Torrens brought forward the bill, its simplicity and justice commended themselves to the people and to the House of Assembly, and it was carried by a large majority. According to the new scheme, all transferences of land were to be registered in a public office called the Land's Titles Office. The purchaser's name was to be recorded and a certificate of title given to him. After this, his right to the property was indisputable. If his possession was challenged, he had to simply go to the Land's Titles Office and produce his certificate to the officer in charge, who could turn to the register and at once decide the question of ownership. After this, no dispute was possible. If he sold his land, his name was cancelled in the public register and the buyer's name was inserted instead when he became the undisputed owner. Mr Torrens was appointed to be registrar of the office, and soon made the new system a great success. It was adopted one after another in all the colonies of Australia, and must become eventually the law of all progressive nations. 3. The Northern Territory In 1864, the Northern Territory was added to the Dominion of South Australia, and from Adelaide an expedition was dispatched by sea to the shores of Van Diemen's Gulf in order to form a new settlement. After many difficulties, caused chiefly by the disputes between the first government resident or superintendent, and the officers under him, a branch colony was successfully founded at Port Darwin opposite to Melville Island. This settlement has become a prosperous one. All the fruits and grains of tropical countries flourish and thrive to perfection. Gold has been discovered, and it is asserted that there exist in the neighbourhood rich mines of other metals, which will in the future yield great wealth, while the stations that are now being formed are peculiarly favourable to the rearing of cattle and of horses. Yet the number of people who settle there continues small on account of the very hot climate. Palmerston, the capital, is as yet a town of only a few hundred inhabitants, and all the really hard work of the district is done by Chinese. 4. Overland Telegraph In a previous chapter, it has been described how Medeul Stuart, after two unsuccessful efforts, managed to cross the continent from Adelaide to Van Diemen's Gulf. Along the route which he then took, the people of South Australia resolved to construct a Telegraph line. A gentleman named Charles Todd had frequently urged the desirability of such a line, and in 1869 his representations led to the formation of the British-Australian Telegraph Company, which engaged to lay a submarine cable from Singapore to Van Diemen's Gulf, whilst the South Australian government pledged itself to connect Port Darwin with Adelaide by an overland line, and undertook to have the work finished by 1 January 1872. Mr Todd was appointed superintendent and divided the whole length into three sections, reserving the central portion for his own immediate direction, and entrusting the sections at the two ends to contractors. It was a daring undertaking for so young a colony. For thirteen hundred miles the line would have to be carried through country which never before had been transversed by any white man but Stuart's party. Great tracks of this land were utterly destitute of trees, and all the posts required for the line had to be carted through rocky deserts and over treacherous sandhills. Todd had, with wonderful skill and energy, completed his difficult portion of the task, and the part nearest to Adelaide had also been finished before the time agreed upon, but it fared differently with those who had undertaken to construct the northern section. Their horses died, their provisions failed, and the whole attempt proved a miserable collapse. The government sent a party to the north in order to make a fresh effort. Wells were dug at intervals along the route, and great teams of bullocks were employed to carry the necessary provisions and materials to the stations, and yet, in spite of every precaution, the result was a failure. Meanwhile, the cable had been laid and the first message sent from Port Darwin to England announced that the Overland Telegraph was not nearly finished. The first of January, 1872, being now close at hand, Mr Todd was hastily sent to complete the work, but the time agreed upon had expired before he had even made a commencement, and the company threatened to sue the South Australian Government for damages on account of the losses sustained by its failure to perform its share of the contract. For the next eight months, the work was energetically carried forward. Mr Todd rode all along the line to see that its construction was satisfactory throughout. He was at Central Mount Stewart in the month of August, when the two ends of the wire were joined, and the first telegraphic message flashed across the Australian continent. But, meantime, a flaw had occurred in the submarine cable, and it was not until October that communication was established with England. On the second day of that month, the Lord Mayor of London, standing at one end of the line, sent his hearty congratulations through 12,500 miles of wire to the Mayor of Adelaide, who conversed with him in the other extremity. The whole work was undertaken and accomplished within two years, and already not only South Australia, but all the colonies are reaping the greatest benefits from this enterprising effort. Another undertaking of a similar character has been completed by the efforts of both South and West Australia, along the barren coast on which air so nearly perished, that stretches a long line of posts, which carries a telegraph wire from Perth to Adelaide. A period of depression began in South Australia after 1882. For a time, everything was against the colony. Long droughts killed its sheep and ruined its crops, while the copper mines were found to be worked out. But fortune began to smile again after a few years of dull times, and when in 1887 an exhibition was held in Adelaide to commemorate the jubilee of the colony, it was also the commemoration of the return of brighter prospects. In the growth of wheat and fruits as well as in the making of wine, South Australia has great openings for future prosperity. End of section 20. Recording by Katie Francesca. Section 21 of History of Australia and New Zealand from 1696 to 1890. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Katie Francesca. History of Australia and New Zealand from 1696 to 1890 by Alexander and George Sutherland. New South Wales 1860 to 1890. 1. The Land Act. Sir John Young became Governor of New South Wales in 1861. He was a man of great talent, but at this stage of the colony's history, the ability of the Governor made very little difference in the general progress of affairs. The political power was now chiefly in the hands of responsible ministers, and without their advice, the Governor could do nothing. The Ministry of the Period, headed by Charles Calper and John Robertson, prepared a bill to alter the regulations for the sale of land, and to give to the poor man an opportunity of obtaining a small farm on easy terms. Any person who declared his readiness to live on his land and to cultivate it was to be allowed to select a portion, not exceeding a certain size, in any part of the colony which he thought most convenient. The land was not to be given gratuitously, but although the selector was to pay for it at the rate of £1 per acre, yet he was not expected to give more than a quarter of the price on taking possession. Three years afterwards, he had the option of either paying at once for the remaining three quarters, or, if this were beyond his means, of continuing to hold the land at a yearly rental of one shilling an acre. This was an excellent scheme for the poorer class of farmers, but it was not looked upon with favour by the squatters, whose runs were only rented from the state, and were therefore liable under this new act to be invaded by selectors who would pick out all the more fertile portions, break up the run in an awkward manner, and cause many annoyances. Hence, though the legislative assembly passed the bill, the upper house whose members were mostly squatters very promptly rejected it, and upon this there arose a struggle, the ministry being determined to carry the bill, and the council quite as resolute never to pass it. Acting on the advice of his ministers, Sir John Young entreated the upper house to give way, but it was deaf to all persuasions, and the ministers determined to coerce it by adopting extreme measures. Its members had been nominated by a previous governor for a period of five years as a preliminary trial before the nominations for life. The term of their appointment was now drawing to a close, and Sir John Young, by waiting some little time, might easily have appointed a new council of his own way of thinking. But the ministers were impatient to have their measure passed, and instead of waiting they advised the governor to nominate 21 new members of council, who, being all supporters of the bill, would give them a majority in the upper house, so that on the very last night of its existence it would be obliged to pass the measure and make it law. But when the opponents of the bill saw the trick which was being played upon them, they rose from their seats and resigned in a body. The president himself vacated his chair, and as no business could then be carried on, the land bill was delayed until the council came to an end, and the ministers thus found themselves outwitted. They were able, somewhat later, to affect their purpose, but this little episode in responsible government caused considerable stir at the time, and Sir John subsequently received a rebuke from the colonial secretary for his share in it. 2. Prince Alfred In 1868, Lord Belmore became governor of New South Wales, and during his term of office, all the colonies passed through a period of excitement on the occasion of a visit from the Queen's second son, Prince Alfred. He was the first of the royal family who had ever visited Australia, and the people gave to him a hearty and enthusiastic reception. As he entered the city's flower-decked arches span the streets, crowds of people gathered by day to welcome him, and at night the houses and public buildings were brilliantly illuminated in his honour. But during the height of the festivities at Sydney, a circumstance occurred which cast a gloom over the whole of Australia. The prince had accepted an invitation to a picnic at Clontarth, and was walking quietly on the sands to view the various sports of the holidaymakers, when a young man named O'Farrell rushed forward and discharged a pistol at him. The ball entered his back and he fell dangerously wounded. For a day or two his life trembled in the balance, and the colonists awaited the result with the greatest excitement, until it was made known that the crisis was passed. No reason was alleged for the crime except a blind dislike to the royal family, and O'Farrell was subsequently tried and executed. 3. Railway construction New South Wales has three main lines of railway, with many branches. One starts from Sydney and passes through Goulburn to Ulbury, on its way to Melbourne. One goes north to Newcastle, then through the New England district, and so to Brisbane, and the third runs from Sydney over the Blue Mountains to Bathurst, and a way to Bork on the Darling River. Those rugged heights, which so long opposed the westward progress of the early colonists, have proved no insupprable barrier to the engineer, and the locomotive now slowly puffs up the steep inclines, and drags its long line of heavily laden trucks, where McCrary's road, with so much trouble, was carried in 1815. The first difficulty which had to be encountered was at a long valley named Napsack Gully. Here, the rails had to be laid on a great viaduct, where the trains run above the tops of the tallest trees. The engineers had next to undertake the formidable task of conducting the line up a steep and rocky incline, 700 feet in height. This was affected by cutting a zigzag in the rock. The trains run first to the left, rising upon a slight incline, then reversing, they go to the right, still mounting slightly upwards, then again to the left, and so on, till the summit is reached. By these means, the short distance is rendered long, but the abrupt steepness of the hill is reduced to a gentle incline. The trains afterwards run along the top of the ridge, gradually rising, till at the highest point, they are 3,500 feet above the level of the Sydney station. The passengers look down from the mountain tops on the forest-clad valleys far below. They speed along vast embankments or dash through passages cutting the solid rock, whose sides tower above them to the height of an ordinary steeple. In some places, long tunnels were bored, so that the trains now enter a hill at one side and emerge from the other. One of these tunnels was thought to be unsafe. The immense massive rock above it seemed likely to crush downwards upon the passage, and the engineers thought that their best course would be to remove the hill from above it. Three and a half tonnes of gunpowder were placed at intervals in the tunnel, and connected by wires with a galvanic battery placed a long distance off. The operation of firing the mine was made a public occasion, and Lady Belmore agreed to go up to the mountains and perform the ceremony of removing the hill. When all was ready, she touched the knob which brought the two ends of wire together. A dull and rumbling sound was heard. The solid rock heaved slowly upward, and then settled back to its place, broken in a thousand pieces, and covered with rolling clouds of dust and smoke. All that the workmen had then to do was to carry away the immense pile of stone, and the course was clear for laying the rails. When the line reached the other side of the blue mountains, there were great difficulties in the descent, and here the engineers had to lay out zig-zags of greater extent than the former. By these, the trains now descend easily and safely from the tops of the mountains, down into the Lithgow Valley far below. By the southern railway to Albury, crowds of people are daily whirled in a few hours to places which, 40 years ago, were reached by Sturt and Hume and Mitchell, only after weeks of patient toil, through unknown lands that were far removed from civilisation. 4. Sydney Exhibition So on every hand, the colony made progress. Her railways expanded in scores of branches. Her telegraph lines stretched out their arms in every direction. Her sheep increased so that now there are nearly 60 millions of them. Her wheat and maize extended to more than half a million of acres. Her oranges and vineyards and orchards, her mines of coal and tin, and her varied and extensive manufactures make her people, now numbering a million, one of the most prosperous on the face of the earth. Her pride was pardonable when, in 1879, she held an international exhibition to compare her industries side by side with those of other lands, so as to show how much she had done and to discover how much she had yet to learn. A frail, but wonderfully pretty building, rapidly arose on the brow of the hill between Sydney Cove and Farm Cove, and that place, the scene of so much squalor and misery a hundred years before, became gay with all that decorative art could do, and busy with daily throngs of gratified visitors. The place had a most distinguished appearance seen from the harbour, its dome and fluttering flags rose up from among the luxuriant foliage of the Botanic Gardens, as if boldly to proclaim that New South Wales had completed the period of her infancy and was prepared to take her place among the nations as one grown to full and comely proportions. When the building had served its purpose, the people were too fond and too proud of it to dismantle and destroy it. But unfortunately, it was not long after swept away by an accidental fire. In 1885, the colony was stirred by a great wave of enthusiasm when it was known that its government had sent to England the offer of a regiment of soldiers to fight in the Sudan side by side with British troops. The offer was accepted and some seven or eight hundred soldiers, well equipped and full of high hopes, sailed for Africa. The war was too soon over for them to have any chance of displaying what an Australian force may be like upon a battlefield. There were many persons who held that the whole expedition was a mistake, but it had one good effect, for it showed that for the present at least, the Australian colonies are proud of their mother country, that their eyes are fondly turned to her to follow all her destinies in that great career which she has to accomplish as the leading nation of the earth, and that if she ever needed their help, assistance would flow spontaneously from the fullness of loving hearts. The idea of this expedition and its execution belonged principally to CB Daily, but the great leader of New South Wales during the last quarter of a century and the most zealous worker for its welfare and prosperity has been the veteran statesman Sir Henry Parks. In 1855, when each of the colonies was engaged in framing for itself its own form of government, Victoria, like all the others, chose the English system of two houses of legislature. At first it was resolved that the lower house, called the Legislative Assembly, should consist of only 60 members, but by subsequent additions the number has been increased to 86. In 1857 the right of voting was conferred upon every man who had resided a sufficient length of time in the colony. With regard to the upper house, Victoria found the same difficulty as had been experienced in New South Wales, but instead of introducing the system of nomination by the government, it decided that its Legislative Council should be elected by the people. In order, however, that this body might not be identical in form and opinion with the lower house it was arranged that no one should be eligible for election to it who did not possess at least £5,000 worth of real property and that the privilege of voting should be confined to the wealthier part of the community. Along with this new constitution responsible government was introduced and Mr Haynes being sent for by the governor formed the first ministry. Before the close of the year, the first contest under the new system took place. Mr Nicholson, a member of the Assembly, moved that the voting for elections should in future be carried on in secret by means of the ballot box so that every man might be able to give his opinion undeterred by any external pressure such as the fear of displeasing his employer or of disobliging a friend. The government of Mr Haynes refused its assent to this proposal, which was nevertheless carried by the Assembly. Now the system of responsible government required that in such a case Mr Haynes and his fellow ministers being averse to such a law and declining to carry it out should resign and leave the government to those who were willing and able to inaugurate the newly appointed system. Accordingly they gave in their resignations and the governor asked Mr Nicholson to form a new ministry but though many members had voted for his proposal they were not prepared to follow him as their leader. He could obtain very few associates and was thus unable to form a ministry so that there appeared some likelihood of a total failure of responsible government before it had been six months in existence. In the midst of this crisis Sir Charles Hotham was taken ill. He had been present at a prolonged ceremony, the opening of the first gas works in Melbourne and a cold south wind had given him a dangerous chill. He lay for a day or two in great danger but the crisis seemed past and he had begun to recover when news was brought to him of Mr Nicholson's failure. He lay brooding over these difficulties which pressed so much upon his mind that he was unable to rally and on the last day of the year 1855 he died. This was a great shock to the colonists who had learned highly to respect him. The vacant position was for a year assumed by Major General MacArthur who invited Mr Haynes and his ministry to return. They did so and the course of responsible government began again from the beginning. At the end of 1856 another governor Sir Henry Barkley arrived and during the seven years of his stay the new system worked smoothly enough, the only peculiarity being the rapid changes in the government. Some of the ministries lasted only six weeks and very few protracted their existence to a year. Sir Henry Barkley left the colony in 1863 and his place was immediately filled by Sir Charles Darling, nephew of Sir Ralph Darling who 40 years before had been governor of New South Wales. Sir Charles was destined to troubleous times for he had not been long in the colony ere a most vexatious hitch took place in the working of constitutional government. It arose out of a struggle with regard to what is called protection to native industry. The colony was filled with vigorous and enterprising men who had come to it for the purpose of digging for gold. For four or five years gold digging had been on the average a fairly remunerative occupation but when all the surface gold had been gathered and it became necessary to dig shafts many hundreds of feet into the earth and even then in many cases only to get quartz from which the gold had to be extracted by crushing and careful washing then the ordinary worker who had no command of capital had to take employment with the wealthier people who could afford to sink shafts and wait for years before the gold appeared. These men therefore had to take small wages for toiling at a most laborious occupation but most of them had learnt trades of some sort in Europe and the idea sprang up that if the colony prevented boots from coming into it from outside there would be plenty of work for the bootmakers. If it stopped the importation of engines there would no longer be any reason why engineers should work like navies at the bottom of gold mines. They would be wanted to make the engines of the colony. After a long agitation therefore James McCulloch the premier of the colony in 1864 brought a bill into the Victorian Legislative Assembly according to which taxes were to be placed on all goods coming into the colony if they were of a sort that might be made within the colony. McCulloch proposed to make this change because it was ardently desired by the working men of the colony and these could by their votes control the action of the Legislative Assembly but the upper house called the Legislative Council composed of wealthy men who had been elected by the wealthier part of the community thought after careful decision that any such plan would ruin the commerce of the colony without much benefiting its industries they therefore rejected the proposed bill. McCulloch tried to persuade them to pass it but they were obstinate. He then resorted to a trick which in itself objectionable but which is perhaps excusable when the great body of the people wish a certain thing and a small body like the Legislative Council are resolved to thwart them. It is part of our constitutional law that all bills dealing with money matters must be prepared in the lower house. The upper house can then accept them or reject them as they stand but it is not allowed to alter them. Now once a year parliament has to pass a bill called the Appropriation Act by which authority is given to the government to spend the public money in the various ways that parliament directs. In 1865 McCulloch put the whole of the Protective Tariff Bill into the Appropriation Act as if it were a part of that act though really it had nothing to do with it. The Legislative Assembly passed the Appropriation Act with this insertion. The Legislative Council now found itself in a most unlucky position. If it passed the Appropriation Act it would also pass the Protective Tariff Bill which it detested but if it rejected the Appropriation Act then the government would have no authority to pay away any money and so all the officers of the state the civil servants and the policemen the teachers the gaolers the surveyors and the tide waiters would all have to go on for a year without any salaries. There was no middle course open for the council could not alter the Appropriation Act and then pass it. Whether was it to pass the act and make the Protective Tariff the law of the land or reject it and run the risk of making a number of innocent people starve it chose the latter alternative and threw out the bill. The whole country became immensely excited and seemed like one debating club where men argued warmly either for or against the council. Matters were becoming serious when the ministry discovered an ingenious device for obtaining money. According to British law if a man is unable to obtain from the government what it owes him he sues for it in the supreme court and then if this court decides in his favour it orders the money to be paid quite independently of any appropriation act out of the sums that may be lying in the treasury. In their emergency the ministry applied to the banks for a loan of money five of them refused but the sixth agreed to lend 40 000 pounds with this the government servants were paid and then the bank demanded its money from the government but the government had no authority from parliament to pay any money and could not legally pay it. The bank then brought its action at law the supreme court gave its order and the money was paid to the bank out of the treasury thus a means had been discovered of obtaining all the money that was required without asking the consent of parliament. Throughout the year 1865 the salaries of officers were obtained in this way but in 1866 the upper house seeing that it was being beaten offered to hold a conference each house made concessions to the other the tariff bill was passed with some alterations the appropriation bill was then agreed to in the ordinary way and the deadlock came to an end three the darling grant but in its train other troubles followed for the English authorities were displeased with Sir Charles Darling for allowing the government to act as it did they showed how he might have prevented it and to mark their dissatisfaction they recalled him in 1866 he bitterly complained of this harsh treatment and the assembly regarding him as in some measure a martyr to the cause of the people determined to recompense him for his loss of salary in the appropriation act of 1867 they therefore passed a grant of 20 000 pounds to lady darling intending it for the use of her husband the upper house owed no debt of gratitude to sir Charles and accordingly it once more threw out the appropriation bill again there was the same bitter dispute and again the public creditors were obliged to sue for their money in the supreme court in a short time 4 500 such pretended actions were laid the government making no defence and the order being given in each case that the money should be paid in 1866 the new governor vice count canterbury arrived but the struggle was still continued till in 1868 Sir Charles Darling informed McCulloch that lady darling would decline to receive the money as he was receiving instead 5000 pounds as a rears of salary and a lucrative position in england the upper house then passed the appropriation bill and the contest came to an end 4 payment of members but they had other things to quarrel about the working men of the colony thought that they never would get fair treatment in regards to the laws until working men themselves in parliament but that could not be so long as they had to leave their trades and spend their time in making laws while getting nothing for it hence they were resolved on having all members of parliament paid and they elected persons to the lower house who were in favour of that principle but the better off people sent persons into the upper house who were against it thus for 20 years a struggle took place but in the end the working men carried their point and it was settled that every member of parliament should receive 300 pounds a year the two houses also crawled about the manner in which the land was to be sold the lower house being anxious to put it into the hands of industrious people who were likely to work on it as farmers even though they could pay very little for it the upper house preferring that it should be sold to the people who offered the most money for it on this and other questions in dispute the lower house gained the victory five exhibitions it was not till the year 1880 that all these contentions were set at rest but from that time the colony passed into a period of peace during which it made the most astonishing progress in all directions that progress was indicated in a most decided way by the exhibitions held in the colony it had from time to time in previous years held into colonial exhibitions at which all the colonies had met in friendly competition but in 1880 and again in 1888 victoria invited all the world to exhibit their products at her show a magnificent building was erected in one of the parks of melbourne and behind it were placed acres of temporary wooden erections and the whole was filled with 20 acres of exhibits a similar show held in 1888 was much larger and helped by its fine collection of pictures its grand displays of machinery its educational courts its fine orchestral music and so on in a hundred ways to stimulate and develop the minds of the people during recent years victoria has been very busy in social legislation while enjoying peace under the direction of a coalition government with mr duncan gillies and mr alfred deacon at its head the colony has tried experiments in regulating the liquor traffic in closing shops at an early hour in irrigating the waterless plains of the northwest and in educating farmers and others into the most approved methods of managing their businesses what is to be the eventual result no one can as yet very definitely prophesy but the eyes of many thoughtful persons throughout the world are at present turn to victoria to see how those schemes are working which have been so zealously undertaken for the good of the people up till 1890 the progress of the colony was astonishing its central half forms a network of railways its agriculture and its trades have doubled themselves every few years and though a period of restless activity and progress was in 1890 followed by a time of severe depression the community like all the other australian colonies has great times of prosperity in store for it end of section 22 recording by katie francesca section 23 of history of australia and new zealand from 1696 to 1890 this is a librivox recording all the privox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by avahi in october 2019 history of australia and new zealand from 1696 to 1890 by alexander and george southerland the times of the mawadis part one one the mawadis so far as we know the original inhabitants of new zealand were a dark skinned race called mawadis the people life and handsome of body though generally plain of features open frank and happy in youth grave and often melancholy in their older years they numbered 40 000 in the north island where the warmth of the climate suited them but in the south island there were only 2000 they were divided into tribes who fought fiercely with one another cooked and ate the bodies of the slain and carried off the vanquished to be slaves they dwelt in houses sometimes neatly built of wooden slabs more often of upright poles with broad grass leaves woven between them the roofs were of glass pleated and thatched to these abodes the entrances were only some two or three feet high and after crawling through the visitor who entered at night would see the master of the house his wives his children his slaves indeed all his household to the number of 20 or 30 lying on mats in rows down either side with their heads to the walls and their feet to the center leaving a path down the middle in these rooms they slept with the fire burning all night till what with the smoke and the breaths of so many people the place was stifling the roofs were only four feet higher than the ground outside but then inside the earth was hollowed a foot or two to make the floor so that a man could just stand upright these houses were gathered in little villages often pleasantly situated beside a stream or on the seashore but sometimes for defense they were placed on a hill and surrounded by high fences with ditches and earthen walls so as to make a great stronghold of the kind they called a par the trenches were sometimes 20 or 30 feet deep but generally the power's built so that a rapid river or high precipices would defend two or three sides of it while only the sides not so guarded by nature were secured by ditches and a double row of palisades within these enclosures stages were erected behind the palisades so that the fighting men could hold stones and spears and defy an attacking party two Maori customs around their villages and paths they dug up the soil and planted the sweet potato and the taro which is the root of a kind of arum lily they also grew the gourd called kalabash from whose hard rind they made pots and bowls and dishes when the crops of sweet potato and taro were over they went out into the forest and gathered the roots of certain sorts of ferns which they dried and kept for their winter food they netted fish and eels they caught sharks with hook and line and dried their flesh in the sun to enjoy these meals in comfort they had a broad veranda around their houses which formed an open and generally pleasant dining room where they gathered in family circles bound by much affection for one another the girls especially were sweet and pretty their mild manners their soft and musical voices the long lashes of their drooping eyes with the gloss of their olive tinted skins made them perfect types of dusky beauty grown a little older they were by no means so attractive and then when married they deeply scored their faces by the process of tattooing their men had their faces hips and thighs tattooed that is all carved in wavy lines which were arranged in intricate patterns the women tattooed only their lips chins and eyelids but often smeared their faces with red ochre and soaked their hair with oil men and women wore around the waist a kilt of beautifully woven flax and over the shoulders a mat of the same material they were expert sailors and built themselves large canoes which 30 or 40 men would drive forward keeping time with their paddles their large war canoes were 60 and 70 feet long and would carry 100 men thus they were by no means uncivilized but their condition was in some respects most barbarous in person they were dirty and in manners proud and arrogant they were easily offended and never forgave what they considered as an injury or insult this readiness to take offense and to avenge themselves caused the neighboring tribes to be forever at war they fought with great bravery slaughtered each other fiercely and ate the buddies sometimes they killed their captives or slaves in order to hold the cannibal feast according to their own traditions they had not been always in these islands their ancestors came from afar and each tribe had its own legendary account but they all agreed that they came from an island away to the north in the pacific which they called hawaiiki and there is little doubt but that some hundreds of years ago their forefathers must in truth have immigrated from some of the south sea islands whether they found natives on the islands and killed them all we cannot now discover there are no traces of any earlier people but the maoris in their traditions say that people were found on the islands and slain and eaten by the invaders one tribe declared that long ago in far off hawaiiki a chief hated another but was too weak to do him harm he fitted out a canoe for a long voyage and suddenly murdered the son of his enemy he then escaped on board the canoe with his followers and sailed away forever from his home this legend declared how after many adventures he had length reached new zealand another legend relates that in hawaiiki the people were fighting and a tribe being beaten was forced to leave the island sorrowfully it embarked in two canoes and sailed away out upon the tossing ocean till directed by the voice of their god sounding from the depths below them they landed on the shores of new zealand how many centuries they lived and multiplied there it is impossible to say as they had no means of writing and recording their history the earliest we know of them for certain is in the journal of tasman who writes under the date of 13th december 1642 that he had that day seen shores never before beheld by white men he was then holding eastward after his visit to tasmania and the shore he saw was the mountainous land in the north island he rounded what we now call Cape farewell and anchored in a fine bay whose green and pleasant shores were backed by high snow capped mountains several canoes came off from the beach filled by maoris who lay about a stone's throw distant and sounded their war trumpets the dutch replied by a flourish of their horns for several days the maoris would come no nearer but on the sixth they paddled out with seven canoes and surrounded both vessels tasman noticed that they were crowding in a somewhat threatening manner around one of his ships the hamskirk and he sent a small boat with seven men to warn the captain to be on his guard when the maoris saw these seven men without weapons sailing past their canoes they fell on them instantly killed three and began to drag away their bodies no doubt to be eaten the other four dutchmen by diving and swimming escaped and reached the ship half dead with fright then with shouts the whole line of maori canoes advanced to attack the ships but a broadside startled them they were stupefied for a moment at the flash and roar of the cannon and the crash of the woodwork of their canoes then they turned and fled carrying with them however one of the bodies tasman sailed down into cook straight which he very naturally took to be a bay the weather being too thick for him to see the passage to the southeast he then returned and coasted northwards to the extreme point of new zealand which he called cape maria fundiman probably after the wife of that governor of batavia who had sent out the expedition tasman called the lands he had thus discovered new zealand after that province of holland which is called zealand or the sea land the bay in which he had anchored was called murderers or massacre bay four captain cook for more than a hundred years new zealand had no white men as visitors it was in 1769 that captain cook on his way home from tahiti steering to the southwest in the hope of discovering new lands saw the distant hills of new zealand two days later he landed on the east coast of the north island a little north of hawk bay there lay the little ship the endeavor at anchor with its bulging sides afloat on a quiet bay in front a fertile but steeply sloping shore with a par on the crown of a hill and a few neat little houses by the side of a rapid stream in the evening cook banks and other gentlemen took the pinnace and drove up the streamlet they landed leaving some boys in charge of the boat and advanced towards a crowd of mawoodies making friendly signs as they approached the mawoodies ran away but some of them seeing their chance made a dash at the boys in the boat and tried to kill them the boys pushed off and dropped down the stream the mawoodies chased them determined on mischief four of them being very murderous the coxswain fired a musket over their heads they were startled but continued to strike at the boys with wooden spears seeing the danger the coxswain leveled his musket and shot one of the mawoodies dead on the spot the others fled and cook hearing the report of the gun hurried back and at once returned to the ship over and over again cook did everything he could devise to secure the friendship of these people but they always seemed to have only one desire and that was to kill and eat the white visitors one day five canoes came out to chase the endeavor as she was sailing along the coast another time nine canoes densely filled with men sailed after her paddling with all their might to board the vessel in these and many other cases cannon had to be fired over their heads to frighten them before they would desist from their attempt to capture the ship at one bay the mawoodies made friends and went on board the endeavor to sell provisions but when all was going forward peaceably they suddenly seized a boy and pulled him into their canoe they were paddling away with him when some musket shots frightened them and in the confusion the boy dived and swam back cook sailed completely around the north island charting the shores with great care often landing sometimes finding tribes who made friends more often finding tribes whose insolence or treachery led to the necessity of firing upon them with small shot if he had only known the customs of these people he would have understood that to be friendly with one tribe meant that the next tribe would murder and eat them for revenge he then sailed round the south island landing less frequently however till at length he took his leave of new zealand at what he called Cape farewell and sailed away to australia he had been nearly six months exploring the coasts of these islands and that in a very small vessel during his time he had left pigs and goats fowls and geese to increase in the forests where they soon multiplied especially the pigs potatoes and turnips were left with many tribes who quickly learned how to grow them so that after 10 or 12 years had passed away these vegetables became the chief food of all the maoris five french visitors whilst cook was sailing round the north island a french vessel anchored in a bay of that island in search of fresh water the engapouhi tribe received them with pleasure and gave them all the assistance in their power but some of them stole a boat the captain named to surville then seized one of the chiefs and put him in irons the boat not being given up he burned a village and sailed to south america the chief dying on the road three years later in 1772 came another frenchman marion du frein with two ships this time for the express purpose of making discoveries he sailed up the west coast rounded the north cape and anchored in the bay of islands he landed and made friends with the engampouhi tribe and took his six sailors shore the maoris brought him plenty of fish and du frein made them presents in return for a month the most pleasant relations continued the maoris often sleeping on board and the french officers spending the night in the maori houses one day captain marion went ashore with 16 others to enjoy some fishing at night they did not return captain cosy who was second in command thought they had chosen to sleep ashore but the next day he sent a boat with 12 men to find where they were these men was scattering carelessly through the woods when suddenly a dense crowd of maoris who had concealed themselves attacked and killed all the frenchmen but one he who escaped was hidden behind some bushes and he saw his comrades brained one after another then he saw the fierce savages cut their bodies in pieces and carry them away in baskets to be eaten when the maoris were gone he crept along the shore and swam to the ship which he reached half dead with terror cosy landed 60 men and the natives gathered for a fight but the frenchmen merely fired volley after volley into a solid mass of maori warriors who was stupefied at the flash and roar were simply slaughtered as they stood cosy burned both the maori villages and sailed away in later times the maoris explained that the french had desecrated their religious places by taking the carved ornaments out of them for firewood six cooks later visits in his second voyage cook twice visited new zealand in 1773 and 1774 he had two vessels one of them under the command of captain four no while his later vessel was waiting in queen charlotte sound a bay opening out of cook straight captain four no sent a boat with nine men who were to go on shore and gather green stuff for food a crowd of maoris surrounded them and one offered to sell a stone hatchet to a sailor who took it but to tease the native in silly sailor fashion the sailor would neither give anything for it nor hand it back the maori in a rage seized some bread and fish which the sailors were spreading for their lunch the sailors closed to prevent their touching the victuals a confused struggle took place during which the english fired and killed two natives but before they could load again they were all knocked on the head with the green stone axes of the maoris an officer sent to shore later on with a strong force found several baskets of human limbs and in one of them a head which he recognized the stand of a sailor belonging to the party the officer attacked some hundreds of the maoris as they were seated at their cannibal feast and drove them away from the half gnawed bones cook again touched at new zealand in the course of his third voyage and this time succeeded in maintaining friendly relations with the maoris during a short visit but when the story of cook's voyage was published in later years the people of europe conceived a deep horror of these fierce man-eating savages seven the whalers for 10 or 12 years new zealand was not visited by white men but the foundation of a town at sydney in 1788 brought ships out much more often into these waters and before long it was found that the seas around new zealand were well stocked with whales vessels came out to carry on the profitable business of catching them and taking their oil to europe for fresh water and for fuel for their stoves they called at the shores of new zealand chiefly at queen charlotte sound at dusky bay on the west coast of south island but especially at the bay of islands near the extreme north of north island there they not only got fresh water but bought fish and pork and potatoes from the friendly tribes of natives paying for them with knives and blankets and although quarrels sometimes occurred and deaths took place on both sides the whalers continued more and more to frequent these places sometimes the sailors attracted by the good looks of the maori girls took them as wives and lived in new zealand these men generally acted as sealers they caught the seals that abounded on some parts of the coast and gathered their skins until the ships called back when the captain would give them tobacco and rum guns and powder in exchange for their seal skins these the sealers generally shared with the maoris who therefore began to find out that it was good to have a white man to be dwelling near them he brought ships to trade and the ships brought articles that the maoris began to value end of section 23 section 24 of history of australia and new zealand from 1696 to 1890 this is a libruvox recording all libruvox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libruvox.org recording by avai in october 2019 history of australia and new zealand from 1696 to 1890 by alexander and george sutherland the times of the maoris part two eight maoris visit sydney in 1793 governor hunter at sydney directed that the convicts of norfolk island should be set to weave the fine flags that grew wild in that island they tried but could make no cloth so fine and soft as that made by the maoris out of very much the same sort of plant a ship was sent to try and persuade some maoris to come over and teach the art the captain of the ship being lazy or impatient did not trouble to persuade he seized two maoris and carried them off they were kept for six months at norfolk island but captain king treated them very well and sent them back with ten saus two bores a supply of maize seed and other good things to pay them for their time when king became governor of new south wales he sent further presence over to tepehi chief of the tribe to which these young men belonged and hence tepehi longed to see the sender of these things he and his four sons ventured to go in an english vessel to sydney where they were astonished at all they saw on his return tepehi induced sailor named george bruce who had been kind to him when he was sick on board ship to settle in the tribe the young englishman married tepehi's most charming daughter and was tattooed and became the first of the pakeha maoris or white men who lived in maori fashion pleased by tepehi's account of what he had seen other maoris took occasional trips to sydney working their passages in wailing ships nine friendly relations meanwhile english vessels more and more frequently visited new zealand for pork and flax and cowdy pine or else to catch seals or merely to take a rest after a long wailing trip the bay of islands became the chief anchorage for that purpose and thither the maoris gathered to profit by the trade some of the more adventurous when they found that the english did them no harm ship the sailors for a voyage on board the whalers but though they made good seamen they were sometimes salky and revengeful and rarely continued at it more than two or three years in 1805 a maori went with an english surgeon all the way to england and returned with the most astounding tales of london and english wonders during the next four or five years several other maoris went to england while on the other hand a very few respectable white men began to settle down in new zealand they were far superior to the rough sailors and liberated convicts of sydney who so far had been the most frequent visitors so that mutual goodwill seemed to be established as the maoris found that there was much they could gain by the visits of the white men but all this friendliness was marred by an unfortunate occurrence ten the boyd massacre in 1809 a ship named the boyd sailed from sydney to go to england round cape horn she had on board 70 white people including some children of officers at sydney who were on their way to england to be educated as she was to call at new zealand to get some kaudi spars five maoris went with her working their passage over one of these maoris named tara was directed during the voyage to do something which he refused to do the captain caused him to be twice flocked when the ship anchored in a bay a little to the north of the bay of islands tara went to shore and showed to his tribe his back all scarred with the lash revenge was agreed on the captain was enticed to shore with a few men and they were suddenly attacked and all killed then the maoris quietly got alongside the ship rushed on board and commenced the work of massacre among men women and children who were all unarmed some of the children fell and clasped the feet of tara begging him to save them but the young savage brained them without mercy all were slain except a woman and two children who hit themselves during the heat of the massacre and a boy who was spared because he had been kind to tara all the bodies were taken ashore and eaten one of the chiefs while curiously examining a barrel of gunpowder caused it to explode blowing himself and a dozen others to pieces tepehi the head chief of the enga puhi was extremely vexed when he heard of this occurrence and took some trouble to rescue the four survivors but five wailing vessels gathered for revenge they landed their crews who shot 30 maoris whether belonging to tara's tribe or not and in their blind fury burned tepehi's village severely wounding the chief himself this outrage stopped all friendly intercourse for a long time the whalers shot the maoris whenever they saw them about a hundred being killed in the next three years while the maoris killed and ate any white people they could catch thus in 1816 the agnes an american brick happened to be wrecked on their shores they killed and ate everybody on board except one man who was tattooed and kept for a slave during 12 years 11 the missionaries in spite of all these atrocities a band of missionaries had the courage to settle in new zealand and begin the work of civilizing these maori tribes this enterprise was the work of a notable man named samuel marston who had in early life been a blacksmith in england but had devoted himself with rare energy to the laborious task of passing the examinations needed to make him a clergyman he was sent out to be the chaplain to the convicts at sydney and his zeal his faith in the work he had to do and his roughly eloquent style made him successful where more cultured clergymen would have failed for 14 years he told to reform convicts soldiers and officers in sydney and when governor king went home to england in 1807 after his term was expired marston went with him on a visit to his friends while in london marston brought before the mission society the question of doing something to christianize these fierce but intelligent people and the society not only agreed but employed two missionaries named hall and king to undertake the work when marston along with these courageous men started back to sydney in the an convict ship in 1809 there was on board strangely enough a maori chief called ruatara this young fellow was a nephew of hongi the powerful head chief of the ngapuhi tribe four years before being anxious to see something of the wonders of civilized life he had shipped as a sailor on board a whaler he had twice been to sydney and had voyaged up and down all the pacific at length in 1809 he had gone to london where he was lost in surprise at all he saw the climate however tried him severely and he was sick and miserable on the voyage back to sydney marston was kind to him and gave him a home in his own house ruatara had many troubles and dangers to meet through many months before he was at last settled among his own people meanwhile the new governor of sydney refused to allow the missionaries to go to new zealand the massacre of the 66 people of the void had roused a feeling of horror and it seemed a wicked waste of life to try to live among savages so fierce the missionaries were therefore employed in sydney in 1813 governor macari directed that every vessel leaving for new zealand should give bonds to the extent of a thousand pounds to guarantee that the white men should not carry off the natives or interfere with their sacred places then the trouble between the two races quieted down a little and in 1814 the missionaries thought they might at least make further inquiries a break called the active of 100 tons was bought and on board it went haul with another missionary called candle grandfather of the poet who had lately come out they reached the bay of islands taking with them abundance of presents they saw ruatara and persuaded him with his uncle hongi and other chiefs to go to sydney in the active and they are discussed a question of a mission station they went and hongi guaranteed the protection of his tribe the nga puhi if the missionaries would settle in their territory 12 the mission station it was in november 1814 that the active sailed with the mission colony consisting of kendo king and whole their wives and five children and a number of mechanics in all 25 europeans together with eight maoris they took three horses a bull two cows and other livestock and after a quick passage anchored near the north of the north island marston was with them as a visitor to see the place fairly started he was troubled on landing to find that the nga puhi were at war with their near neighbors the vangaroans and he sought a little progress would be made till these tribes were reconciled marston fearlessly entered with only one companion into the heart of the hostile tribe met tara the instigator of the boyd massacre and slept that night in the very midst of the vangaroans wrapped up in his great coat he lay close by tara surrounded by the sleeping forms of men and women who only a few years before had gathered to the horrid feast surprised at this friendly trust the vangaroans were fascinated and subsequently were led by him like children they were soon induced to rub noses with the chiefs of nga puhi as a sign of reconciliation and were then all invited on board the active where a merry breakfast brought old enemies together in friendly intercourse the missionaries with 12 axes board 200 acres of land on the shore of the bay of islands half an acre was soon enclosed by a fence a few rough houses were built and a pole set up upon which floated a wide flag with a cross and a dove and the words good tidings ruatara made a pulpit out of an old canoe covered it with cloth and put seats around it there on christmas day 1814 marston preached the first sermon in new zealand to a crowded mawudi audience who understood not one word of what was said but who perhaps were benefited by the general impressiveness of the scene in the following february marston returned to sydney thinking the mission in a fair way of success but all was not to be so harmonious as he dreamt the liberated convicts who formed the bulk of the crews of sealing and whaling vessels treated the natives with coarseness and arrogance the mawudi's were quick to revenge themselves and the murders thefts and quarrels along all the shore did more harm than the handful of missionaries could do good three or four times they wished to leave and as often did marston return and persuade them to stay their lives at least were safe for hongi the enga puhi chief found that they were useful in the way of bringing trade about but he was dissatisfied because they would not allow guns and powder to be sold by the white men to him and his people 13 tribal wars hongi saw that the tribe which possessed most guns was sure to get the upper hand of all the others he therefore contrived in another way to secure these wonderful weapons for in 1820 when candle went home to england for a trip hongi went with him and saw with constant wonder the marvels of the great city the site of the fine english regiments the arsenals the theaters the big elephant at exeter change menagerie all impressed deeply the mawudi from new zealand forests he stayed for a while at cambridge assisting a professor to compile a dictionary of the mawudi language and going to church regularly all the time then he had an audience from george the fourth who gave him many presents and among others a complete suit of ancient armor for a whole season hongi was a sort of lion among london society people crowded to see a chief who had eaten dozens of men and so many presents were given him that when he came back to sydney he was a rich man he sold everything however except his suit of armor and with the money he bought 300 muskets and plenty of powder which he took with him to new zealand having reached his home he informed his tribe of the career of conquest he proposed with these muskets he was going to destroy every enemy there is but one king in england he said there shall be only one among the mawudi's he soon had a force of a thousand warriors whom he embarked on board a fleet of canoes and took to the southern shores of the haoraki gulf where the ngatimaru lived ancient enemies of the ngapuhi who however felt secure in their numbers and in the strength of their great pa totara but hongi captured the pa and slew 500 of the unfortunate inmates then ngatimaru tribe then retreated south into the valley of the vaikato river and summoned their men and all their friends a total of over 3000 were arrayed on that fatal battlefield hongi with his muskets gained a complete victory he shot the hostile chief with his own gun and tearing out his eyes swallowed them on the field of battle over a thousand were killed and hongi and his men feasted on the spot for some days till 300 buddies had been eaten the victors then returned bearing in their canoes another thousand captives of whom many were slain and cooked to provide a share of the horrid feast to the women of the tribe in his bloodthirsty wars hongi showed great skill and energy during the two following years he defeated slaughtered and ate large numbers of the surrounding tribes and when the number of these unfortunate people withdrew to a par of enormous strength nearly surrounded by a bend of the vaikato river he dragged his canoes over to that river ascended it dashed at the steep cliffs the ditches and palisades and once more the muskets won the day a thousand fell in the fight then the women and children were slaughtered in heaps the strong tribe of the araba further south had their chief par on an island in the middle of lake roto ruwa hongi with great labour carried his canoes over to the lake the spear armed maoris could do nothing in defense while he shot at them from the lake and when he assaulted the island though they came down to the water's edge to repel him again there was victory for the muskets thus did hongi conquer till the whole north island owned his ascendancy but in 1827 his career came to an end for having quarrelled with his former friends the tribe of which tara was chief he killed them all but 20 but in the fight was himself shot through the lungs for that tribe had now many muskets also and a ball fired when the massacre was nearly over passed through hongi's chest leaving a hole which though temporarily healed caused his death a few months later pomare succeeded him as chief of the engapuhi and made that tribe still the terror of the island at one par pomare killed 400 men and he had his own way for a time in all his fights but the other tribes now began to see that they could not possibly save themselves except by getting muskets also and as they offered 10 times their value for them in pork and flags and other produce English vessels brought them over in plenty the remnant of the vaikato tribe having become well armed and well exercised in shooting under te vero vero they laid an ambush for pomare and killed him with almost a whole of the 500 men who were with him the other tribes joined te vero vero and in successive battles ruined the engapuhi te vero vero held the leadership for a time during which he almost exterminated the taranaki tribe he was practically lord of all the north island till he met his match in raupara ha the most determined and wily of all the Maori leaders he was the chief of a tribe living in the south of the north island and he gathered a wild fighting band out of the ruined tribes of his own and the surrounding districts many battles were fought between him and te vero vero in which sometimes as many as a thousand muskets were in use on each side raupara ha was at length overcome and with difficulty escaped across the straight to the south island while te vero vero massacred and enslaved all over the north island cooking as many as 200 bodies after a single fight and yet the evil was in a way its own cure for through strenuous endeavors by this time every tribe had a certain proportion of its men well armed with muskets and thus no single tribe ever afterwards got the same cruel ascendancy that was obtained first by the engapuhi and then by the waikato tribe but fights and ambushes slaughters the eating of prisoners and all the horrid scenes of maori war went on from week to week all over the north island end of section 24 section 25 of history of australia and new zealand from 1696 to 1890 this is a leber vox recording all leber vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit leber vox.org recording by linda marie nielsen vancouver bc history of australia and new zealand from 1696 to 1890 by alexander and george southerland new zealand colonized part one section one coral rarika all this fighting of the maori tribes made them more dependent on the trade they had with white men they could neither make guns nor powder for themselves and the tribe that could purchase none of the white men's weapons was sure to be slaughtered and eaten by other tribes hence white men were more eagerly welcomed and in the course of time nearly two hundred of them were living maori fashion with the tribes but it was at the bay of islands that the chief trading was carried on for it was there that the kauri timber grew it was there that the pigs were most plentiful and the cargos of flax most easily obtained and when a man named turner set up a grog shop on the shores of the bay all the wailing ships made this their usual place for resting and refitting behind the beach the hills rise deeply and on these hills a number of white men built themselves homes securely fenced and defended sometimes even by a cannon or two but down on the little green flat next to the beach rude houses were more numerous in the year 1838 there were about 500 persons resident in the little town which was now called koro rarika but at times there were nearly double that number of people resident in it for months together a wild and reckless place it was for sailors reckoned themselves there to be beyond the reach of english law at one time as many as 36 ships lay off the town of koro rarika and in a single year 150 ships visited the bay generally staying a month or more at anchor the little church and the catholic mission station up on the hill did less good to the natives than these rough sailors did harm and at length the more respectable white men could stand the disorder no longer they formed an association to maintain decency they seized tried find or sometimes locked up for a time the worst offenders and twice they stripped the ruffians naked gave them a coat of tar stuck them all over with white down from a native plant and when they were thus decorated expel them from the town with a promise of the same treatment if they ever were seen back in it to hokie enga long before this the capacities of new zealand and the chances of making wealth there became well known in england and in 1825 an association was formed to colonize the country it set out an agent who reported that hokie enga a deep estuary on the west coast just opposite to koro rarika and only 30 miles away from it was a charming place for a settlement the agent bought a square mile of land from the maoris and also two little islands in the harbor the company fitted out a ship the rosanna and 60 colonists sailed out in her to form the pioneers of the new colony they landed and liked the look of the place but they were timid by reason of the tales they had heard of maori ferocity now at this time the gap buies were at war with the rr was and the latter were getting up a war dance which the settlers were just in time to see five or six hundred men stood in four long rows stamping in time to a chant of their leader it was night a fire lit up their quivering limbs and their rolling eyes they joined in a chorus and when they came to particular words they hissed like a thousand serpents they went through the performance of killing your enemies cutting up their bodies and eating them the settlers fell into deep meditation and departed not half a dozen remained in new zealand the others went to sit me and so after an expense of twenty thousand pounds this association which had been formed for the kindly purpose of putting people in lands less crowded than their own failed and was disbanded three settled government between 1825 and 1835 the maoris of the north island were in a miserable state wars and massacres and cannibal feasts made the country wretched and though the missionaries were respected they could not secure peace but they persuaded the chiefs of some of the weaker tribes to appeal to england for protection against the conquering warriors who oppressed and destroyed their people it was in 1831 that this petition was sent to king william and about the same time the white men at coral are ecca terrified at the violence with which the white cato men were ravaging the surrounding lands as the governor at sydney to interfere the result was that although the english would not regularly take possession of new zealand they chose mr buzzbee a gentleman well known in new south wales to be the resident there his business being so far as possible to keep order how he was to keep order without men or force to make his commands obeyed it is hard to see but he was expected to do whatever could be done by persuasion and to send for a british worship if ever he thought it was needed the first warship that thus came over did more harm than good its visit was caused by a disastrous wreck the wailing bark Harriet under the command of a man named guard a low fellow who had formerly been a convict was trading among the islands when she was wrecked off the coast of taranaki the maoris attacked the stranded ship but the crew stayed on her and fired into the assailants and it was not till after quite a siege in which twelve seamen were killed that the rest fled from the wreck leaving mrs. guard and her two children in the hands of the taranaki tribe guard and twelve seamen however though they escaped for a time were caught by a neighboring tribe to whom he promised a cask of gunpowder if they would help him to reach an english ship this they did and guard reach sydney where he begged sir richard bork to send a vessel for the rescue of his wife and children bork sent the alligator with a company of soldiers who landed and demanded the captive seamen these were given up but the captain of the ship supported guard in breaking his promise and refusing to give the powder under the plea that it was a bad thing for natives the alligator then went round to taranaki for the woman and children the chief of the tribe came down to the beach and said they would be given up for a ransom the white men seized him dragged him into their boat to be a hostage but he jumped out of the boat and was speared with bayonets he was taken to the ship nearly dead then the natives gave up the woman and one child in return for their chief after some parley a native came down to the beach with the other child on his shoulders he said he would give it up if a proper ransom was paid the english said they would give no ransom and when the man turned to go away again they shot him through the back quite dead the child was recovered but mrs. guard and the children testified that this native had been a good friend to them went in captivity nevertheless his head was cut off and tumbled about on the beach the alligator then bombarded the native pa destroyed all its houses to the number of two hundred with all the provisions they contained killed from twenty to thirty men in the process this scarcely agreed with the letter which mr. busby had just received in which he was directed to express to the Maori chiefs the regret which the king of England felt at the injuries committed by white men against Maori's for captain Hobson but there were many difficulties in securing justice between fickle savages and white men who were in general so ruffinian Lee as those who then dwelt in New Zealand the atrocities of the Harriet episode did some good however for along with other circumstances they stirred up the English government to make some inquiries into the manner in which Englishman treated the natives of uncivilized countries these inquiries showed much injustice and sometimes wanton cruelty and when a petition came from the respectable people of coral rarica asking that some check should be put upon the license of the low white men who frequented that port the English government resolved to annex New Zealand if the Maori's were willing to be received into the British empire for that purpose they chose captain Hobson a worthy and upright sea captain who in his ship of war the rattlesnake had seen much of Australia and New Zealand it was he who had taken Sir Richard Bork to Port Phillip in 1837 and Hobson's Bay was named in his honor after that he had been sent by Bork to the Bay of Islands to inquire into the condition of things there and when he had gone home to England he had given evidence as to the disorder which prevailed in New Zealand he was sent in a warship the druid with instructions to keep the white men in order and to ask the natives if they would like to become subjects of queen Victoria and live under her protection if they agreed to do so he was to form New Zealand into an English colony and he was to be its lieutenant governor under the general control of the governor of New South Wales Hobson reached Sydney at the end of 1839 and conferred with governor Gipps who helped him to draw up proclamations and regulations for the work to be done on leaving Sydney Hobson took with him a treasurer and a collector of customs for the new colony a surgeon of police and four mounted troopers of the New South Wales force together with a police magistrate to try offenders and two clerks to assist in the work of government it was the 29th of January 1840 when he landed at the Bay of Islands next day on the beach he read several proclamations one of which asserted that all British subjects even the resident in New Zealand were still bound to obey British laws and another declared that as white men were tricking the Maori's into selling vast tracks of land for goods of little value all such bargains made after that date would be illegal while all made before that date would be inquired into before being allowed it was declared that if the Maori's in future wish to sell their land the governor would buy it and pay a fair price for it all white men who wish for land could then buy from the governor three days later the respectable white men of Coro Rarika waited on Captain Hobson to congratulate him on his arrival and to promise him their obedience and assistance five treaty of waitangi meantime Hobson had asked the missionaries to send word round to all the neighboring chiefs that he would like to see them and on the 5th of February 1840 a famous meeting took place on the shore of the Bay of Islands near the mouth of the pretty river waitangi there on a little platform on a chair of state sat the new governor with the officers of the ship in their uniform and a guard of mariners and sailors while beside the platform stood the leading white men of Coro Rarika flags fluttered all round the spot at noon when Hobson took his seat there were over 500 maoris of whom 50 were chiefs in front of the platform then one of the missionaries rose and in the Maori tongue explained what the queen of England proposed first that the maoris of their own accord should allow their country to be joined to the British Empire second that the queen would protect them in their right to their land and all their property and see that no white man interfered with them in it but that if they chose to sell any of their land then the governor would buy it from them third that the queen would extend to the maoris if they so desired all the rights and privileges of British subjects and the protection of British law when these proposals have been fully explained the maoris were asked to say what they thought of them 26 chiefs spoke in favor of accepting and so bringing about peace and order in the land six spoke against them declaring that thus would the maoris be made slaves the natives seem very undecided when Waka Nene arose and in an eloquent address showed the mysteries of the land now that firearms had been introduced and baked his countrymen to place themselves under the rule of a queen who was able and willing to make the country quiet and happy the maoris were greatly excited and Hobson therefore gave them a day to think over the matter there was much discussion all night long among the neighboring pause and villages but the next day when the maoris gathered 46 chiefs put their marks to the parchment now always known as the treaty of waitangi this treaty was taken by missionaries and officers from tribe to tribe and in the course of two or three months over 500 chiefs had signed it on the 21st of May Hobson proclaimed that the islands of New Zealand were duly added to the British Empire and that he would assume the rule of the new colony as lieutenant governor meantime houses had been built at Coro Arikea for the governor and his officers a custom house had been set up and taxes were levied on all goods landed so as to provide a revenue with which to pay these and other government expenses 6 Auckland but the people at Coro Arika had bought from the natives all the level land in the place and thinking their town would soon be a great city and the capital of an important colony they would not sell it except at very high prices now captain Hobson had seen at the head of the Hauraki Gulf a place which seemed to him to be more suitable for the capital of the future colony to this lovely spot he changed his residence he bought from the natives about 30 000 acres and on an arm of the gulf where the white tomato harbour spreads its shining waters he caused a town to be surveyed and streets to be laid out in April 1841 after he had reserved sufficient land for government offices parks and other public purposes he caused the rest to be offered in allotments for sale by auction there was a general belief that now when the islands were formerly annexed to the British Empire New Zealand would be a most prosperous colony and that land in its capital would go up rapidly in value many speculators came over from Sydney the bidding was brisk and the allotments were sold at the rate of about 600 pounds per acre a few months later a sale was held of lands in the suburbs and of farming lands a little way out from the town this was again successful houses began to spring up most of them slender in structure but with a few of solid appearance next year ships arrived from England with 560 immigrants who rapidly settled on the land and before long a thriving colony was formed the little town was very pretty with green hills behind the branching harbour that lay in front dotted with volcanic islets the whole district was green and the figures of Maori's in the grassy streets their canoes bringing in vegetables to market their paws seen far off on the neighbouring hills gave the scene a charming touch of the romantic a company of six soldiers with four officers came from Sydney to defend the settlers and barracks were built for them the name chosen for the city was Auckland after a gentleman named Eden who had taken for half a century a deep interest in colonizing experiments and who had been raised to the peerage with the title of Lord Auckland 7 New Zealand Company meantime another part of New Zealand had been colonized under very different circumstances the English Association which in 1825 attempted to form a settlement at Ho Chianga and failed had consisted of very influential men they had not given up their plans altogether and in 1837 they formed a new association called the New Zealand Company that restless theorist Edward Gibbon Wakefield who had already sent out the settlers who had just founded Adelaide joined this association and impressed the members with their own ideas already described on page 67 it was arranged that a colony should be sent out to New Zealand on the plan of a complete little community there were to be gentlemen and clergymen and teachers so many farmers so many carpenters so many blacksmiths every trade was to be represented so that everybody would have something to do and there would be none too many of any one kind a bill was brought before parliament for the purpose of establishing a colony after this fashion and at first parliament was inclined to favor the bill but the missionaries in New Zealand were hostile to the proposal they were steadily converting the Maori's to Christianity they hoped to turn them into quiet industrious and prosperous people if white men did not come and take away their land from them parliament therefore refused to pass the bill but the company had gone too far to retreat it had already arranged with many settlers to take them and their families out to New Zealand and have begun to sell land at so much an acre nobody knew where except that it was to be in New Zealand they therefore quietly purchased and fitted out a vessel named the Tory to go to New Zealand and make arrangements the party was under the charge of Colonel Wakefield brother of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and he took with him surveyors to lay out the land farming experts to judge of the soil and a scientific man to report on the natural products this vessel sailed away quietly in May 1839 hoping to reach New Zealand unnoticed the English government heard of it however informed the company that its action was illegal and immediately afterwards sent off Captain Hobson in the druid as has been already described to take possession on behalf of the British nation the New Zealand company then apologized said that they would direct their agents who had gone out to New Zealand to obey the governor in all things and promise that the new settlement should abide by the law end of section 25 recording by Lyndon reneelson vancouver bc