James Jenkins Memorial Lecture

It was pleasing that the first James Jenkins Memorial lecture was held in our Jubilee Year. It was also pleasing that members of the Jenkins family were present and that it was so enthusiastically supported by our members and friends. We were delighted to have as our speaker Nelson-born Professor Rollo Arnold from Victoria University. As Professor Arnold intends to publish a book in the near future we do not print the full text of the address. His subject was "The English Countryside and Nelson Immigration in the 1870s." Professor Arnold's research of his subject has been thorough and he presented a fascinating picture of the conditions of the farm labourers in England in the 1870s, describing in detail the conditions under which they worked and lived and the hopelessness of any improvement in their fortunes. Visits to English villages in Bedfordshire, Kent, Oxfordshire and Sussex, and the study of papers and broadsheets of the National Agricultural Labourers Union gave Professor Arnold a deep understanding of England at that time. He then followed the fortunes of some of those who were persuaded to emigrate to New Zealand under Vogel's scheme. Letters which some of these immigrants wrote home were published in Union papers and told of the improved fortunes in a land where meat was eaten every day and firewood was to be had for the gathering. The working week was shorter and the pay more generous. Best of all they felt they were treated as men not serfs, and before too long they could own their own homes and gardens, while their children had educational opportunities unheard of in England.

Two men who visited New Zealand as immigration agents were Christopher Holloway and Arthur Claydon and extracts from their reports were read. Claydon spent some time in the Nelson Province and was impressed with the change in the fortunes and attitudes of the immigrants.

Professor Arnold spoke of the arrival in Nelson of the ships,Adamant (1874) and Hannibal (1875) and of the special settlement at Karamea. He mentioned the families of Lineham, Allen, Friend, Liley and Rathbone.

We look forward to Professor Arnold's book in which he will also be following the fortunes of farm labourers who went to other parts of the country.