CHAPTER I
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CHAPTER I.
EXPEDITION AND SETTLEMENT OF THE FIRST COLONY.
The main body of settlers composing the First Colony sailed from England in five large ships during the latter part of September 1839. They had been preceded in the months of May and August by two vessels. The first of these, the Tory, carried out the Company's principal agent, Colonel Wakefield, together with other servants of the Company, who was charged to select the seat of the intended settlement, to purchase lands there from the natives, and to make arrangements for the reception of a large body of settlers. The second preliminary vessel, the Cuba, conveyed the surveying staff of the Company, with a number of labourers. Before any intelligence was received from Colonel Wakefield, nine large emigrant ships, besides store-ships, sailed from England, with orders to touch at Port Hardy in D'Urville's Island for directions, which it was expected that Colonel Wakefield would convey thither, for proceeding to their ultimate destination. This was a bold proceeding on the part of the Company, and
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still more so on that of the emigrants. It was attended, however, with complete success.
The five ships which sailed in September, reached Port Hardy, and were directed to Port Nicholson early in 1840. The Oriental, a fine ship of 506 tons, in which I embarked, entered Port Hardy on the 22nd of January. This is an excellent harbour, but the land surrounding it, though clothed with timber, consists of hills so high and steep as to be scarcely fit for settlement. The harbour was at the time of our arrival a complete solitude, with the exception of two or three natives who came to the ship in a canoe, but with whom none of us were able to hold conversation. We enjoyed ourselves by rambling about the shores of the harbour, and some of the party, who extended their walks to a considerable distance into the forest, imagined that they were the first Englishmen who had trod upon that ground. This proved to be an error; for Mr. Francis Molesworth and Mr. Dudley Sinclair discovered on the top of a very high hill which they had climbed, a pocket-book which had been lost there by one of the surveying staff during the previous visit of the Cuba. For some days this was the only circumstance from which we could conclude that either of the preliminary vessels had visited Port Hardy. Our anxiety on this head was, however, soon relieved. An Englishman, established as a whaler in another part of the island,
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came to us with the information that Port Nicholson had been chosen as the seat of the first colony. We sailed immediately, and entered Port Nicholson on the 1st of February.
On arriving at the anchorage to which we were directed by the Company's agent, we found there the Cuba surveying vessel, and the Aurora emigrant ship, which last had sailed with us from the Downs. These ships gave us a salute of more, I believe, than any usual number of guns, which we returned with interest. The greater part of the cabin passengers and laborers by the Aurora were already established ashore; and in about a week the party by the Oriental had finally taken up their abode there. Our first habitations consisted entirely of very rude huts built by ourselves. At a later period after the arrival of the other emigrant ships, the natives rendered valuable assistance in this sort of work, at which they are very expert. It must be confessed that the huts built by them were much superior to those of our own handywork. Many of them indeed deserved to be called houses, and were, when I quitted Port Nicholson, still used by emigrants of all classes, none of whom, it may be safely said, suffered any serious inconvenience from the want of more comely dwellings.
Our reason for not immediately putting up the frame-houses which we had brought with us from England will be easily explained. The passage
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of the Cuba with the surveyors had been most tedious, extending to 175 days; so that on the arrival of the emigrant ships, the survey of the site of the intended town had scarcely begun. Having to wait for our land until this survey should be completed, we were naturally unwilling to build up houses which must have been taken down again for removal after our land had been assigned to us. This delay in the survey was deemed a misfortune at the time, but turned out of great benefit to the settlers. While the survey was in progress, and during our residence in the neighbourhood as squatters waiting for our land, it became the opinion of a great majority of the emigrants, that the shore of Lambton Bay, at the other extremity of Port Nicholson, was in all respects far preferable to the banks of the river Hutt as the site of a commercial town. The Company's principal agent therefore determined that the town should be on the shore of Lambton Bay, and the surveyors were removed accordingly. This change has obtained the unanimous and decided approval of the settlers of every class.
In consequence of difficulties in the ground which is now called Wellington, and the inadequacy of the surveying staff, six months elapsed between the arrival of the first body of settlers, and the delivery of town-land to those who had purchased it in England. It will be supposed that during this period the settlers were wholly
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inactive. If this had really happened, the loss and inconvenience occasioned by the impossibility of forming any permanent settlement, would have been greatly increased. The loss and inconvenience were great and very harassing to everybody; but we were not inactive. On the contrary, all were engaged in some active employment arising out of peculiar circumstances which I will endeavour to explain.
When Colonel Wakefield entered Port Nicholson, the only inhabitants of its shores were the natives of the country, with the exception of a single Englishman, who had lived amongst them for some years, and adopted their mode of life. Yet within a few weeks of our arrival, a considerable trade had grown up amongst us. Squatters as we were, we had stores of British goods, extensive dealings with the natives of our immediate neighbourhood and other parts of Cook's Strait, a bank which furnished us with a sufficient currency, and even a newspaper which was regularly published once a week. As respects trade, a stranger might have supposed that our squatting settlement had been established for years. The fact is, that many years before, a considerable trade had been established in New Zealand. It consisted of exchanges amongst the natives and various classes of Europeans; the commodities exchanged being on the one hand productions of the country, such as whale-oil and
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bone, flax, timber, Indian corn, pigs and potatoes; and on the other tobacco, spirits, tea and sugar, clothes, hardware, and other goods required, either by the natives, or by the whaling ships and fishing stations. Of this established commerce, a portion immediately fell to the share of the settlers at Port Nicholson. The number of vessels of various sizes which entered the harbour, during the first year of the existence of the Colony amounted to one hundred and ten. It should be explained that many of these entered the harbour more than once in the twelvemonth, and that I have included every entry in the above number. Until Port Nicholson was inhabited by persons having goods for sale that were in demand in the islands, the centre of the New Zealand trade had been the Bay of Islands. This spot had been selected for the purpose, not on account of its centrical position, (for it is placed nearly at one extremity of the country, 800 miles long, formed by the New Zealand Islands,) but simply, because the first missionary stations were formed there, and some security for person and property was established by means of the residence of a consular officer of the British government, supported by visits from British men-of-war. Port Nicholson, on the other hand, is in the very centre of the islands. The seat of trade therefore was sure to change when Europeans settled at the latter place. As the commerce of Port Nichol-
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son has increased, that of the Bay of Islands has fallen off. The attraction also of our larger capitals, and greater facilities of doing business, had no doubt some influence in bestowing upon us the trade which was lost to the Bay of Islands. This view of the case rests, entirely upon the facts which have occurred.
It has been frequently stated in some of the newspapers of New South Wales and of this country, that the first settlers at Port Nicholson suffered great privations, and even sometimes were in want of food. There never was the slightest foundation for such statements. From the hour of our landing at Port Nicholson in February 1840, to that of my departure in March last, we were amply supplied with provisions. The Company's importations of flour were large and regular, and trade with the natives furnished us with such abundance of fresh pork and potatoes, that we never had to depend upon salt provisions: cattle and sheep were brought to us from New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and latterly fresh meat was constantly on sale at the following prices: beef and mutton from eight-pence to a shilling, and pork from four-pence to sixpence. Milch cows were sufficiently numerous to afford milk and butter for constant sale. Poultry and eggs were scarce, and of course dear. Fish taken in the harbour, of great variety and excellent quality, was at all times abundant. I
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firmly believe that there never has been an instance in which the wants of the founders of a colony were so amply supplied from the beginning.
The principal danger to which it was imagined in this country we were exposed, was the hostility of the natives. Most of us had made anxious enquiries on this subject before we embarked, and our conviction was, that we should be received as friends by the natives, if our conduct towards them were just and friendly. Our most sanguine expectations were completely realized. Our numbers, indeed, astonished them, and they used frequently to ask whether our whole tribe, meaning thereby all the people of England, had not come to Port Nicholson. It is probable, also, that they were overawed by our obvious superiority to any physical force that could have been brought against us in case of disputes. But, however this may be, they received us in the most friendly manner. Their services for all sorts of purposes were always at our command for a moderate remuneration. We employed them chiefly in shooting, fishing, hunting, cutting fire-wood, and, as I have said before, building houses. At first they were content to be paid with food only. By degrees their wants increased, and they required various goods, such as tobacco, clothing, and hardware. All this took place at our first squatting settlement on the banks of the Hutt;
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latterly, after the bulk of the settlers were established at Wellington, the natives had begun to require money wages in return for their labour. A similar change took place with regard to trade. At first all our exchanges with the natives were made by barter only, but long before my departure they had begun to comprehend the use and value of money. This knowledge at last extended in some cases to the regular employment of our currency. One native resident at Wellington purchased a horse which had been imported from New South Wales, and used to let it out for hire; and another had an account with the Bank. Great numbers were in possession of money, which they usually carried about with them in a handkerchief tied round the neck. During the first months of our intercourse with the natives, they usually carried muskets, but apparently from mere habit and not on account of any fear of violence from us. We never carried arms, and the custom has now been quite abandoned by the natives of Port Nicholson. The best proof, however, of their own feeling of security is, that they are gradually destroying the stockade defences of their villages. Not that they ever feared, probably, that we should attack them, but they feel that our presence is a perfect security against aggression from distant and hostile tribes. It seemed to me that the whole character of this people was undergoing a rapid change; that they
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had sufficient intelligence to perceive the advantages of conciliating the settlers by orderly conduct, and of adopting our usages; and that in all probability the next generation will to a great extent amalgamate with the colonists. It is a pleasure to be able to state that the behaviour of the colonists generally towards the natives has been signally praiseworthy.
