Chapter XVI.
A New Master and First Pastor.

Dr. Bonar's services were again called into requisition to secure a successor to Mr. Gillespie, but this could not be done without considerable delay. During the interval no substitute could be found to carry on the work, and, unfortunately for the scholars, the school had to be closed for a year. Dr. Bonar was informed of the good work done by the late teacher, the improvement he had brought about in the Canterbury schools by his excellent system of teaching, and was commissioned to send out another of the same stamp from Scotland. In the course of his search Dr. Bonar visited St. John's Grammar School, Hamilton, a picturesque little town not far from Glasgow, where he saw Mr. Fitzgerald at work, and was satisfied he had found a fit man to fill the vacancy. The matter was soon settled by Mr. Fitzgerald accepting the appointment, and in October, 1861, he and his bride (they were a very youthful couple) arrived in Pigeon Bay. It was more of a test than he was aware of coming as successor to such a man and teacher as their last; but Mr. Fitzgerald fully justified his selection by proving himself in all respects competent and worthy to carry on the work. The following few years were very happy ones for the family, though—to their loss and regret—James and Tom could no page 189longer remain at school, being now old enough to assist their father, and required by him. Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald and family became then, and have remained ever since, truly valued friends of one and all the Hay family. Our children have grown up knowing and loving them and theirs, which fact attests more eloquently than any words of ours to their goodness and its far-reaching influences.

"We live for those who love us,
For the friends who know us true."

The Denominational System was in operation then in Canterbury—that is to say, the education vote was divided between Episcopalians, Presbyterians and Wesleyans. The money set apart for each was handed to the heads of the several denominations to expend as they saw fit, no accounts of the expenditure being required by the Provincial Council. It was perhaps difficult to allot the grants with perfect fairness between town and country; but be that as it may, it was not long before Mr. Fitzgerald became thoroughly dissatisfied with the treatment, financial and other-wise, that the claims of Pigeon Bay received, and he proposed to Mr. Hay to withdraw the school from Presbyterian control. The loss of the subsidy was a consideration, but they both felt they would rather sacrifice that than submit to the above-mentioned treatment, and see the school suffer through pupils being intercepted on behalf of Christchurch and Lyttelton High Schools. Mr. Hay then settled the matter by agreeing to make good the amount of the subsidy out of his own pocket, and the withdrawal of the school was advertised. This occasioned comment, and attention was drawn to the Denominational System, which had not been thoroughly understood by many whose interests were concerned in it. The question was asked in the Provincial Council—"Why does Pigeon Bay withdraw?" which led to discussions of the reasons, and disclosure of the fact that very general dissatisfaction was felt on the same grounds.

A commissioner was appointed to thoroughly investigate the matter, with the result that the whole system was condemned, and the Public School System established in page 191Canterbury, similar to that in Otago. Mr. Fitzgerald's name is now well-known in New Zealand: but, perhaps, comparatively few of the people of Canterbury know just how much the country owes educationally to this energetic pioneer. To his credit, be it said, he came to the new country full of ardour and anxiety to do good work, and

Mr. W. S. Fitzgrald, Anderson's Bay, Dunedin.

he did it; nor was his enthusiasm in any way bounded by self-interest. He gave the whole credit to Mr. Hay for backing him up in his "rebellion"; Mr Hay, on his part, congratulated himself and family on their good fortune in having such an able partisan. When we consider the immense advantages of our present system of free education, we cannot give too much credit to the man who page 192we know did so much to simplify and advance the cause in Canterbury before he removed to Otago. He was for many years Rector of the Training College in Dunedin, and for the last six or seven years has been Inspector of Public Schools in Otago. That he has done good work there during the 30 odd busy years since he left his first New Zealand home, we can affirm from abundant outside testimony, as well as intimate personal knowledge.

The younger members of the Hay family had the great advantage of this thorough-going teacher for six years in Pigeon Hay. It was against his inclinations that he left when he did, but certainly to his advantage. Recognising this, the Hay family strongly advised him to study his own interests and go. He had a large boarding school in Oamaru for some years before his appointment to Dunedin College, and here the two youngest members of the Hay family, as well as many more of his pupils, followed him, and were under his care for a year or two longer. Needless to say, Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald were deeply attached to Mr. and Mrs. Hay, and have never forgotten their first home in Pigeon Bay, when, young and inexperienced in colonial life, they found themselves filling a responsible position. Their twin sons, James and William (now both successful doctors), as well as the other members of the family—two sons and two daughters—share their parents' partiality for their early home and birthplace.

Through the kindness of Hon. W. Rolleston, we are enabled to quote from the Education Commission and Inspectors' Reports regarding the standing in Canterbury of Pigeon Pay School. The late Mr. Restell. who was Inspector of Schools for Canterbury at that time, reported as follows:—"Those interested in education in this province (Canterbury) will feel the bereavement it has suffered by he decease of two of our most eminent schoolmasters—the page 193admirable Gillespie, whose zeal and devotion to the cause of education was only equalled by his remarkable but short-lived success, and will possibly remain long unparalleled in this province; and Mr. Jennings, who also had attained considerable distinction in his profession in England." … "Those who can also work correctly examples of moderate difficulty in fractions, practice, proportion and higher rules, are the rare exceptions that have appeared at the Christchurch parochial and Wesleyan schools, and at Pigeon Bay School, which was assuming a character distinct from that of an elementary school, and whose course of instruction, alone in the Province, began to be distinguished by the successful study of mathematics."

No higher testimony could be brought forward on this subject than that of the Hon. Wm. Rolleston, who, with his colleagues, Dr. Lillie, Messrs. Tancred, Saunders and others in the Provincial Council, did so much for the advancement of education in these early days. Surely we page 196have quoted statistics enough to show conclusively the good standing our little country school maintained at that time, and to justify us in our enthusiasm over it.

Public libraries were not common in those days, but but about this time the young people in the Bay began to feel the want of one, thanks to Mr. Fitzgerald's influence over them, and to this movement Mr. Hay gave an impetus by heading the subscription list. Soon an excellent library was provided and maintained. They used the small room adjoining the schoolroom for some years as library, before they were in a position to build the present one; but their selection of books was good and varied. The library has been much enlarged of late years, and is free of debt: the building is used also for business meetings.

In church matters there was a still greater want felt. Mr. Frazer, being the only Presbyterian minister in Canterbury, had very little time to devote to country districts-especially the Peninsula, which had the disadvantage of being "over the seas" and therefore not always easy of access. Up to this time the schoolmasters always held Sunday services—Messrs. Knowles, Gillespie, and Fitzgerald respectively, aided occasionally by Mr. Stewart, a farmer in the Bay. There were by this time so many settlers in and around Pigeon Bay, many of them Scotch Presbyterians, that they felt by joining forces with Akaroa they might afford to send Home for a minister. This they did, Mr. Hay advancing £100 to bring him out. The districts that banded together to form the Presbyterian Church of the Peninsula were: Akaroa, Devauehelle's Bay, and Pigeon Bay; now Wainui is added to the list. They succeeded, again through Dr. Bonar, in getting the Rev. George Grant from Scotland, who, with his young wife, came out about the year 1862.

This gentleman was a good preacher, and very much liked by his Peninsula congregations. They were not allowed to keep him long, however, which was a great grievance to the friends who had secured him, as they thought, for themselves, and naturally did not want to part with him at the end of little over a year. Mr. Hay, though as regretful as any at the prospect of losing him, felt that he was more wanted in Christchurch, where there was by this time urgent need for another minister.^* St Andrew's the only Presbyterian church as yet in Christchurch, was joined by many of the oldest settlers, with the Rev. C. Frazer as its pastor, but as the city extended there was room and numbers to form another church. Then Mr. Grant was taken from the Peninsula, and the new congregation worshipped in the Town Hall for a year or two. This congregation formed the nucleus of St. Paul's, which was built soon after Mr. Grant left New Zealand.

Several other preachers came for longer or shorter periods to take the Peninsula services, and all were made welcome in Annandale. There was then no manse built in Akaroa, as now, and as these preachers were not all full-fledged most of then, being "probationers," and a few laymen their terms of engagement usually extended only six or eight months, wearily long in some instances'. Great was the variety of character amongst the preachers. They did not all leave behind them pleasant memories of their sojourns in Annandale (which was always their headquarters) from a social or domestic point of view. We could relate some grotesque incidents in connection with this period of the church's history in Pigeon Bay, but in doing so we could not avoid a certain amount of discredit attaching itself to some of the embryo clergy and laymen who officiated then, an account of whose fiascos would serve no purpose now. Suffice it to say there was universal satisfaction when, a few years later, Rev. Wm. Douglas was settled as pastor over the district. During the long vacancy Sunday services were regularly conducted in Pigeon Pay (when no other preachers were forthcoming) by Mr. Stewart or the schoolmasters. Occasionally Bishop Harper, who, like his predecessor. Bishop Selwyn, was ever welcomed warmly, paid a visit to the Peninsula.

Up till 1860 a whale-boat was the only means of transit for passengers or cargo to Lyttelton, (except on foot or page 199horseback to Purau, a distance of fourteen miles over two mountains, thence by boat across Lyttelton Harbour). Tom White, our well-known old friend and ally of early times, was usually the chief boatman, hut he always had at least two men to help, in ease they could not use the sails. The frequency with which James and Tom's services were required for these long and generally rough voyages accounts for their dislike of boating to this day. If we were now to be deprived for even a month, of the tri-weekly trips of our mail-steamers, and forced to fall back on the old style of pulling or sailing an unwieldly whale-boat in order to reach town, we should be better able to sympathise with them; but we should consider that a hardship not to be endured on any terms! Necessity, however, made it not only possible but cheerfully accepted until the time came for better things. Four hours was considered a good quick passage to Lyttelton; but it was rarely accomplished in less than eight—often ten or twelve hours—the prevailing winds being head ones, and the sea "choppy" as a rule. Gruesome recollections of these whale-boat experiences still haunt the minds of visitors to the Lay, though in those days friendly visits, like angels, were "few and far between," strangers prospecting or people coming in the way of business being of more frequent occurrence.

Many an anxious hour Mrs. Hay had watching for the return of husband or sons from those hazardous little voyages. More than once she almost grave up hope of their safety, but though they found themselves "in perils oft," yet happily, we have no disaster to chronicle. Once Mr. Hay was gone a week, when he meant to return in two days. Such a raging sea was running he could not face it; but Mrs. Hay, fearing he had done so, suffered agonies while she scanned the headlands where the angry page 200sea clashed itself into foam-clouds. We can imagine their joy when at length James' keen eye descried the little speck appearing and disappearing like a cork on the restless waters. Tom White, good boatman as he was, once had an unpleasant adventure alone in his whale-boat. He was "sculling" across the Bay when the wind changed to a "southerly buster" and sent him drifting out to sea; having no oars nor sails, he had to tear out a piece of the boat's lining planks to steer with as best he could. After being tossed about all night and next day he managed to guide the boat into a small bay inside the heads, when, he moored her and walked home, to the great joy of his family and friends, who had believed him lost.

A still more thrilling experience befell a poor woman resident in a neighbouring bay. She was going to Lyttelton, with only her husband and an old negro man of eighty years to manage the unwieldy boat. They reached Pigeon Bay heads against a strong wind, and pulled into shore; the man moored the boat, and left his wife and the old man in it, while he walked over the hill to find another man to assist him with the heavy boat. When they returned the boat was nowhere to be seen! She had broken her fastenings and drifted away with the helpless woman and equally helpless old man. For a week they rolled about in a heavy sea, and only had some raw potatoes in the boat to keep them from utter starvation. Fortunately they were picked up by Captain Gay and taken on board his vessel, the "Corsair," in a very exhausted condition. The poor woman had a little baby very shortly after her rescue. Captain Gay was fatherly and kind, besides being experienced, a similar event having happened a year or two before this time in his vessel. Mrs. John Hay left McKenzie Country (Tekapo Station) to pay a long-promised visit to Pigeon Bay, and embarked at Timaru in the "Corsair," wishing to avoid the long page 201fatiguing coach journey. The voyage proved longer and weather, rougher than they expected, and Mrs. Hay's little son James (now solicitor, Timaru) was horn two days before their arrival in Pigeon Bay! Mrs. Hay could not speak highly enough of Captain Gay's kindness and consideration for her in the trying circumstances. Such episodes as these were only too common in those early days, when travelling was difficult and settlers isolated.

The first—and only—Home-built house erected in Pigeon Bay, was one brought out in sections ready to be put together by Mr. Thomas Kay, who with his family arrived about this time. Their first house—a thatched one—was burnt down, and then the imported one, left in Lyttelton until Mr. Kay decided finally where to locate it, was brought down and set up on the beautiful site where the "Brookshaw" of later days stands. The three families, Gays, Kays and Hays, had a fellow feeling for each other, as though the similarity in names were a bond of union. Mr. McKay and family arrived a year or two earlier than Messrs. Pitcaithley, Goodwin, Lyall, Budua, and Pettigrew, who came out within a few years of each other. The first experience Hay Bros, had of house-building was when they assisted Mr. McKay to build his first house on the hill, the timber for which was grown, sawn and seasoned on the place. All these names are as familiar now as ever; though death has thinned the ranks of these first settlers, their descendants still remain the "old identities" of Pigeon Bay.