[FRONTISPIECE]
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[TITLE PAGE]
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FIFTY YEARS AGO
IN NEW ZEALAND.
A COMMEMORATION: A JUBILEE PAPER: A RETROSPECT:
A PLAIN AND TRUE STORY.
READ BEFORE THE HAWKE'S RAY PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE, OCTOBER 17TH, 1887.
BY
WILLIAM COLENSO,
F. R. S., F. L. S., ETC,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE.
(Published under the auspices of the Board of Governors N. Z. I., and with the approval of the Council H. B. P. I.)
"Build me straight, 0 worthy Master!
Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel,
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle."
LONGFELLOW: "
The Building of the Ship,"
"Quaeque ipsi vidi, et quorum fui. "--VIRG.
--"We cannot express any truth without involving ourselves in some degree of error or occasionally conveying an impression to others wholly erroneous."
--PROF. JOWETT.
Napier
PRINTED BY R. C. HARDING, HASTINGS-STREET.
1888
[PREFACE]
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Extract from a Circular issued by the Council of the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 18th June, 1888.
The twentieth volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand. Institute, which is now being issued, does not contain the extremely valuable and interesting "Jubilee Paper" read before this Society by Mr. Colenso in October, 1887; and on enquiry the Council find that owing to retrenchment and general lack of funds, this Paper has been "deferred," together with many others.
Seeing that the Paper contains a long and excellent account of the Introduction of the Printing Press into New Zealand, and of the printing of the New Testament in the Maori tongue in 1887 (fifty years ago), together with many collateral and little-known facts and items of colonial and public interest, the Council took steps to procure the return of the Paper from the Governors of the New Zealand Institute, with a view to its publication.
The Board replied as follows: --"The Board very much regret being unable to publish the paper in question, and have therefore directed me to return it as requested.... The Board expresses great satisfaction at the prospect of the publication of the Jubilee Paper in another form.
--(Signed) R, B. GORE, Secretary. "
