THE DOMINION’S INFANCY

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2509, 24 May 1909, Page 6

THE DOMINION’S INFANCY

AN INTERESTING LECTURE

That indefatigable searcher out of old records, Mr. Robert M'Nab’, delivered a highly interesting lecture m .Wellington recently, on the early history of the South Island. His remarks were illustrated by a series of remarkable lantern slides, many of great historical value. Mr. M‘Nab said that there was an immense amount of written material relating to New Zealand, and it had to be sought in the countries from which the early sealers and whalers had come. In his own search he visited Tasmania.. (Sydney, and the seaport towns of the New England States, and had examined all the available recoids, besides pursuing his quest in the Mother Country. He was of opinion that the coast of New Zealand had) not been visited before Tasman reached it m 1642 He showed a- remarkable chart of of part of the coast, drawn by Tasman s chief pilot, Visscher. The explorer and his officials had discussed the question whether the North and South Islands were one stretch of land or whether there was & strait between, the in. Only one of the charts made in connection with Tasman’s voyage showed Cook s Strait, and the- photograph showed on the screen had just been secured by Mr Al'Nab, the original being m a private collection in Europe. . The lecturer then 'went on to describe the first expedition made to this . country by Captain Cook, and the scientific work organised by Sir Joseph Banks, aftei whom Banks’ Peninsula is named. Until the time of Cook it was supposed that New Zealand extended eastward to Staten Island, forming a great continent. Cook established the fact that the country was a group of islands. Speaking of the great navigator s visit to the Antarctic Circle, starting Horn Queen Charlotte Sound, Mr. M Nab said that Cook spent six weeks in Pickersgill Harbor in Dusky Sound, and there remained to this day the bush stumps of the old clearing made in 1773. The story that Captain Cook sailed into Wellington Harbor over what is now dry land was treated by Mr. Al'Nab as a mrth,. and he said that Cook never came nearer the harbor than his .anchorage outside the H~ 0 # The lecturer went on to speak of the discovery of the islands south and south east of New Zealand, beginning with Bounty Islands, which were located by Lieutenant Bligh, in 1788. George Vancouver visited Dusky Sound in 1791 with two vessels going on afterwards to discover the Snares and Chatham Islands. Tlie Britannia came to Dusky Sound in 1792, and established the first sealing station on the coast of New Zealand. Mr. M'Nab found the log of the Britannia in the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachussetts. _ The final fate of Captain Cook’s ship, the Endeavor, had long been unknown, but the information collected by Mr. M'Nab while in America showed pretty conclusive!- that the old vessel spent her last days in the Thames, and that her bones were laid not far from the yards in which she was built. One lantern slide of the log of the Britannia showed a quaint sketch of a saw-pit, fixed on the shore by the officer who kept the log, and labelled, “Murray’s patent Saw-Pit.” That., added Air. M'Nab, was the earliest illustration of the great saw-milling industry of isew Zealand. The log also showed that the first ship built in Australasia, of Australasian timber, and sailed away from Australasia, was constructed at Dusky Sound. The same officer went away in it, and continued the log. The sealing station in Dusky Sound was not a success, and was not followed up, and 1 those who remained had to be taken away after twelve months’ residence. The sealing industry flourished in other parts of New Zealand, and had the grounds been protected they would have been as productive to-day as those of Behring Strait. The lecturer described the first sealing gang in 1803, and said that from that day to this there had been a continuous trade between Australia, Hobart and the South of New Zealand. The Auckland Islands were discovered in 1806, and many ships came to search for sealing grounds. One such expedition discovered Foveaux Strait, and not long afterwards the West Coast Sounds were explored. _ From 1810 until well on into the twenties the trade of New Zealand was concentrated in the southern Islands, and especially the Macquaries, but after 1829 it ceased to be profitable. Mr. M'Nab next traced the beginnings of the whaling industry in the extreme north of New Zealand, in 1794. The Kermadec Islands were great favorites with the STXjrm whalers of New England, some of whose logs the lecturer had found at Salem. The catches obtained were often tremendous, and must have been exceedingly profitable. In 1829 the first establishment for whalingl in the South Island, for the right or black whale, was fixed at Cloudy Bay. At that spot and at Port Underwood the trade was carried on with ceaseless vigor, and probably more black whales have been killed from these harbors than from any other spot in the world. The old whalers of the present day at Kaikpura tell how the mammals Used to swim in huge schools up the coast, coming in towards the land near these places, presumably for good feeding grounds. Even to-dav, they are frequent enough to justify the maintenance of the small whaling outfit at Kailcoura. The trade was at its height in 1836, when fifteen American whalers were anchored in the Bay, besides British. French, and Sydney vessels and whaling depots on shore. Every bay along the coast of tlie South Island had its whaling station, and from 1835 to 1839 the whale oil and other products from the coetaceans taken in New Zealand waters amounted, according to an estimate made by Mr. M'Nab. to no less than £300,000 in value. Those old whalers were very jealous of each other, and members of the different races often came into serious conflict. After describing how the Maoris and the whalers also quarrelled, Air. M'Nab spoke of the visit of Captain Herd to Port “Nicholson, and his chart of tlfe harbor, which was the earliest known. He could not ascertain positively who discovered Port Nicholson, but it was probablv Captain Nicholson, who visited tlie country about 1820. A very interresting picture shown bv Mr. M'Nab was a sketch of the H.M.S. Herald lying in Sylvan Cove, at Stewart Island, in 1840, when she was sent to secure the signatures of the South Island Chiefs to the treaty of Waitangi and to proclaim British sovereignty. The sketch lvad been made by Mr. Edward Marsh. Williams, now of Te Ante, who was with the expedition as interpreter. Thus the almost prehistoric history of New Zealand' was within the memory of a man living to-day.-