1845 - Martin, S. M. New Zealand: in a Series of Letters - LETTER XVI

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LETTER XVI

November, 1844.

You have requested me, in your last letter, to give you an account of the present state of society in our Colony--a task I confess rather difficult to perform even by any person, but especially by one so little qualified to do it justice as I must acknowledge myself to be. Being yourself resident in a Colony, I have much difficulty in believing that you are serious in asking information on such a subject; and I think even you would feel somewhat puzzled if any of your own friends in England were to make a similar demand upon yourself regarding the Colony in which you live, although upwards of half a century in advance of this country. If any indifferent person were to ask me about the state of society in this country, I should at once tell him that I was not in society, and that I knew nothing about it, as I saw no good purpose to be served by disclosing the nakedness of the land in which we live: for

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society, as you are well aware, we have not in any of the Colonies--not even in Sydney. People's occupations, habits, feelings, and even prejudices, forbid the existence of what is understood by that term in the mother-country. As far as New Zealand is concerned, the aborigines are really the only people who are entitled to consider themselves as yielding any respect to the usages of society. They have their parties, their assemblies, and their feasts, in full perfection. The chief of this district, a short time ago, entertained his friends, amounting to upwards of four thousand, during several days. The entertainment must have cost him altogether nearly, if not upwards, of a thousand pounds. The amusements were varied and interesting, consisting of mock fights, dancing, weeping, speechifying, &c. &c. The monster meeting, as the Irish would call it, lasted nearly a week. How many scores of tons of potatoes, hundreds of pigs, and thousands of sharks and eels, were consumed, I cannot exactly say; but I am certain the quantity must have been very considerable. At the conclusion of these monster feasts, the party inviting invariably makes presents to his guests: the value of these presents is, generally speaking, high, and corresponding to the dignity of the chief and the importance of the tribe. On the occasion alluded to, a tent upwards of a quarter of a mile in length was erected, and closely covered over with the very best Witney blankets that could be obtained in Auckland. When the festivities were over, the guests made a general rush towards the tent, each person endeavouring to help himself to as many blankets as he could.

This, however, is not exactly giving you the information you demanded; for I imagine you are more desirous of knowing the social condition of the Europeans than that of the natives, although to many persons the one is of

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more interest than the other; but I ought to remember that you are not a professed admirer of the uncivilised: indeed, there are unhappily few in your Colony who are, or who even treat them with common humanity.

When you speak of the state of society in New Zealand, do you refer to Auckland in particular, or to all the settlements? If the latter, I must at once say that I am not in a condition to comply with the request, as there are some of the settlements that I have not visited, and others of them may have changed very much since I saw them.

If I succeed in giving you an idea of the state of things in Auckland, you may at least imagine what they are in the other settlements.

The elements of society in Auckland--indeed in all new settlements--are rather of a mixed character, and possess more of the negative or repulsive than the positive or attractive quality. It is therefore somewhat difficult to form anything like an harmonious union of such incongruous atoms. The great cement, female influence and female attraction, is unhappily rather scarce in our Colony. Would you believe it? there are not certainly more than four or five unmarried ladies in the whole place, and one or two of them are hopeless old maids -- it was so long before they visited the shores of New Zealand, where the bitterness of their sorrow must be increased by the feeling that had they but arrived a year or two sooner, their fate might have been different.

The proportion of ladies married and unmarried, as compared with gentlemen, is very small. You may therefore suppose how highly they are esteemed. They are of a truth in danger of being too highly esteemed, and of even esteeming themselves a great deal more than they could do

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in any other country, however superior they may be, and probably are.

It would be scarcely possible to say into how many grades the society of this place is divided. --Section would perhaps be a better name than grade; for if you sift narrowly the merits of the various sections, you will, generally speaking, find, with few exceptions, that they are much upon a par. The Government officers assume to themselves the highest place, simply, I suppose, because they live upon the rest. Both Captain Hobson and Mr. Shortland endeavoured to establish what they called an official aristocracy--a class of exclusives consisting of the refuse or cast-off officers of the Botany Bay Government. You know what sort of character these persons generally bear; you may therefore suppose what a loss those in our little community sustained who were not admitted to the fashionable circle. Periodical dinners and evening parties were the order of things for a long time, each vying with one another as to who should make the finest appearance. Lord John Russell's admirable lecture to the Governor, enjoining economy and simplicity of style and living, was little attended to by the officers of Government at least. The extravagance and presumption of the Government officers during the first year or two of the settlement were really incredible. No man, be his birth, education, and manners ever so good, was reckoned as being entitled to any standing, or even common respect, unless he were a Government officer. Perhaps it was an advantage to the settlement that the conduct of the Government officers was so outrageously ridiculous, as that circumstance tended not a little to cause the people to despise both them and their aping after gentility. It is, at all events, fortunate that few if any of the settlers ever at-

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tempted to imitate their example. Had the officers of Government been less absurdly exclusive, it is likely the case might have been different, and others, as well as themselves, might in the end have become the ruined victims of senseless extravagance and silly vanity. The effects upon the Government officers have been sadly injurious: nearly the whole of them have been ruined in their means, and many of them in character. Some have contracted large debts to the public which they can never expect to pay; and some have even appropriated public money for the purpose of keeping up their foolish extravagance; and several have lost their situations, and been obliged to quit the Colony altogether. Such being the effects of an attempt to keep up false appearances in a new Colony, you need not feel surprised that what is called society is rather at a discount.

I felt somewhat amused, some time ago, when Captain Fitz Roy innocently taunted me in Council with the remark, that "I surely could not have been in the society of Government officers, when I could not for a moment suppose that they could be influenced by the consideration which I referred to." The cause of this remark on the part of the Governor was my having objected to the payment of a large salary to Mr. Spain, one of the Commissioners of Land-Claims, and stating the largeness of salary as a not unlikely reason for the great delay in deciding on the claims. The Governor, when he made the observation, was not aware how much I, and every other settler, despised the society of most of the parties in question. I told him at once that I never had made an associate of the Government officers in New Zealand, and that I had no wish whatever to be connected with them in any way. Having but recently arrived in the Colony, he was rather

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surprised, if not annoyed, at the estimation in which I held these worthies; but he is long before now satisfied that I was justified in speaking of them as I did.

In many of our Colonies, the Government officers are enjoined, indeed they feel it to be a part of their duty, to cultivate the friendship and society of the private settlers. New Zealand has been, however, in that, as well as in many other respects, an exception to any other Colony and country. But it is due to Captain Fitz Roy to say, that he has, since his arrival, made every effort to generate a friendly feeling between the settlers and the Government officers; and he has, to a certain extent, been successful in his well-meant endeavours. Besides affording the Government officers an opportunity of frequently meeting some of the settlers at private dinners, he and Mrs. Fitz Roy are in the habit of giving evening parties, quiet and solemn enough to be sure (for there is neither card-playing nor dancing allowed), but still calculated to bring people in a friendly way together. These parties were, at the commencement at least, more like the meetings of the Society of Friends (in this case they were enemies) than anything got up for merry-making, as many of the persons assembled were not even on speaking terms with one another. By frequently looking at each other's faces, it is possible they may have gradually discovered some likeable points or features, as the silent assemblies have now become regular conversational and pleasant meetings.

Besides the above meetings, and an occasional evening party at the houses of one or two of the Government officers, there have been during the season two or three public balls in the settlement, and at least as many dinners. The dinners are generally got up by some scheeming publican,

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who avails himself of any event of importance to impress the inhabitants with the propriety of celebrating it by a public dinner, which he is generously prepared to provide at a small cost.

There are few places of public amusement in Auckland, unless two billiard-rooms and a small theatre may be called by that name. The billiard-rooms are connected with public-houses, and are only frequented by some idle Government officers and Government clerks. The theatre is open once a-week: it is a bad speculation, and certain to fail; it is chiefly under the patronage of sawyers and sailors.

The tone of our society is upon the whole rather superior to that of the neighbouring Colonies, and even neighbouring settlements, and it is even fast improving. Character and respectability are deemed of some importance, and a man who is practising open immorality, or even impropriety of conduct, is not now associated with. The distinction is being established on the proper foundation, and it is therefore likely to lead to good results. If the Government led, or even aided public opinion, as it ought to do, our public morality would be of a high order; but, unfortunately, sufficient attention has not been given to this important subject. Immoral, openly immoral, persons are still in the employment of Government, and holding commissions as magistrates of the Colony.

Our Government is not sufficiently alive to the fact, that the prosperity of a country or Colony depends more upon the morality of the people than the fertility of the soil. Morality is certain to beget industry, and industry prosperity. If the first be wanting, the other two are seldom enduringly present.

Judging by the number of our churches and clergymen,

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you would say that we were not only a moral, but a highly religious community. In the town of Auckland itself there are four places of public worship, and four clergymen besides the Bishop and the superintendent of the Wesleyan Missions. The Episcopal Church is a large, and rather a handsome building, which cost about £3,000. Its building was commenced when labour and materials were very expensive; the same money would at the present moment pay for the erection of two churches as good, if not better, than St. Paul's, as it is called. The Wesleyans have, with creditable energy and perseverance, erected a very neat wooden chapel, in which the Rev. Mr. Buddle officiates. Mr. Petit Jean, the indefatigable clergyman of the Church of Rome, has also succeeded in building a chapel, which is attended by a very numerous congregation.

The Presbyterians, who form a large, if not the very largest portion of the European population, have manifested an indifference regarding religious matters altogether unworthy of the followers of John Knox. The dissensions and divisions in the parent church may, however, to a certain extent account for, if not excuse, their conduct in that respect. The inability, if not impossibility, of procuring the services of a suitable clergyman, has most likely prevented them from attempting to build a place of worship. It is to be hoped that one or other of the parent churches will assist them in permanently establishing Presbyterianism in New Zealand.

Both at Tomaki and Epsom, two districts in the neighbourhood of Auckland, there are English chapels either built or being built: there is also a native chapel not far from the township. With the exception of the Bishop, and the English clergyman of Auckland, who is called Chaplain to the Governor, no minister of religion receives

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any support from the Government. Each sect is properly left to pay its own clergymen. This is a much better plan than affording assistance to every religion indiscriminately, as is the case both in Van Diemen's Land and in New South Wales.

While there are so many different religious sects in Auckland, it is rather extraordinary that we are so far from those unhappy disputes and dissensions which prevail so much in other Colonies. The fact can only be accounted for by the other fact of the people being left to support their own clergymen. At the commencement of the Colony, when Episcopacy promised to itself to be in the ascendant, we were threatened with a full effusion of intolerance and bigotry. Before the arrival of Mr. Churton, the Episcopal clergyman, a common burying-ground was laid out in the vicinity of the town, where people of all persuasions were in the habit of burying their dead: when, however, he had succeeded in establishing himself as what he calls clergyman of Auckland, he began to exact fees for the performance of the service for the burial of the dead, and at last persuaded the Governor to make over the whole burying-ground to the Church of England, by which means he acquired what he called a legitimate right to exact these post-mortem taxes. Many persons, especially the Presbyterians and Roman Catholics, were opposed both to the fines and to the service of the Church of England; but neither would be permitted to bury their dead in the common cemetery unless they submitted to the imposition. The Roman Catholics were in the end assigned a piece of land on the opposite side of the road; but the Presbyterians stood out for their right to the common ground, and refused that which was offered to them. These absurd and senseless disputes were pro-

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minently brought under my notice by the fact of a poor Presbyterian having come to me one day to request my advice regarding the burying of his child, who was drowned the day before. The poor man applied to the Episcopal clergyman for permission to bury his child in the common cemetery; but it was refused, unless he paid the fees, and consented to have the usual service performed. Being a rigid Presbyterian, he objected, and applied to the Surveyor-General to ascertain if there was a Presbyterian burying-ground. He was informed that land had been laid out for it, but it was refused by some of the Presbyterians, and he could not be permitted to bury his child there. In this perplexity, the poor man consulted me. I went with him a second time to the Surveyor-General's Office, and requested to see a map of the town and lands around it. Having obtained the map, I asked one of the surveyors to show me the Presbyterian burying-ground upon the plan, which he did. I then, in his presence, told the man to bury his child in that spot, and we should see who would venture to prevent him. The poor man accordingly took my advice, and all the Presbyterians now bury their dead in the same place.

It is perhaps well that bigotry and intolerance have thus betaken themselves to the tombs of dead men, instead of the habitations of the living, as they do in other countries. We are at the antipodes in New Zealand: that circumstance may account for the difference between us and the people of England as far as these matters are concerned.

With churches and burying-places, then, you must allow we are pretty well supplied. The means of education have not hitherto been quite so well attended to. The Bishop of New Zealand is now, however, about remedying this evil by the establishment of a Grammar-school and

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a College at the Tomaki, within four miles of this town. The elements of a general education will be taught at the School, while a knowledge of the higher branches of science may be acquired under competent teachers at the College, which is to be under the superintendence of the Rev. Mr. Cotton, a gentleman of high literary attainments. Mr, Hutton, I believe, is to conduct the school; he is also well qualified for that duty: so that, as far as the means of obtaining a liberal education are concerned, New Zealand will ere long be superior to most of our Colonies. And the Bishop is eminently entitled, in that respect at least, to the gratitude of the Colonists. While his zeal in religious matters may be called excessive and intolerant, his anxiety to promote the education both of natives and Europeans is deserving of the highest praise.

To show you still further the progress of society in our embryo capital, I may mention that a Reading-room or Library has been in existence for upwards of two years. It is maintained by means of annual subscriptions, and is well supplied with most of the fashionable and periodical literature of England. A Mechanics' Institute, with a tolerably good library attached to it, has also been added to the number of our public institutions.

A respectable wooden building has been recently erected, for the purpose of a Lecture-room, a Museum, and a Library; but we are sadly in want of the necessary apparatus for the illustration of any scientific or philosophical subjects. Our lectures have, in consequence, been not as yet very numerous or very interesting. The Library is at present the most valuable part of the institution.

An Agricultural Society has been formed by the farmers and settlers, for the purpose of promoting improvements in agriculture, as well as in the rearing of stock.

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The Society has already published two short but very valuable Reports, which have been drawn out with much judgment and accuracy by its chairman, Dr. Johnson. They contain very valuable information regarding the climate and capabilities of this part of the Colony, together with most useful, comprehensive, and minute calculations of the expense of purchasing, clearing, and cultivating various kinds of soils, as well as the productions and profits of cultivation.

A Total Abstinence Society is another of our most flourishing institutions. At the commencement of the settlement, when labour was high and money plentiful, the cause of Temperance was not so well supported as it is at present. It is not fair, however, to attribute the change altogether to altered circumstances, and the existence of a paper currency instead of sovereigns and Spanish dollars. The Total Abstinence Society has done its own full share of good.

A Masonic and an Odd Fellows' Lodge are found in almost every country, and Auckland has the benefit of one of each kind. But not approving of secret societies, and believing that nothing good should be hidden, I am not a member of either, and know nothing about them, save the fact of their existence.

Some lovers of music, of whom there are a considerable number even in our small population, hold regular weekly meetings under the name of a Philharmonic Society, and contribute not a little to the refined amusements of the settlement.

In enumerating our various social institutions, I should not forget to mention the services which have been rendered to our settlement by Mrs. Fitz Roy, who has originated several humane and highly-beneficial societies for the relief

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of distressed and indigent persons, as well as for the education of children. These useful societies and schools are superintended by herself and the other ladies of the settlement, and are calculated to confer the greatest benefits on the objects of her kind and generous care.

I have now given you all the evidence I can to enable you to judge for yourself as to our social condition and prospects of social advancement. I think, on the whole, you must admit that we bid fair to equal, if not to rival, our friends in the neighbouring Colonies. If our exertions are aided and supported by our friends at home, there is every reason to hope that New Zealand will eventually become a great and a prosperous Colony, in an agricultural, commercial, social, and moral point of view.