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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Preface

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Preface

Subscribers are now presented with the fourth volume of The Cyclopedia of New Zealand.

The volume treats of the rich and extensive provinces of Otago and Southland, and will, it is hoped, be found not unworthy of these fertile and famous districts; fertile by the bounty of nature and the industry of man, and famous as scenes of successful colonisation and hopeful nation-making by men and women of British blood. It may at least be said, without conceit or presumption, that the conductors of The Cyclopedia have honestly laboured with this end in view; and they cherish the hope that, both now and in aftertimes, their work will be found a veritable storehouse of historic fact, and of social, economic and industrial suggestion with respect to New Zealand and the earlier generations of its colonists.

This, however, would have been out of the question had the plan of the work been different; that is, had it been otherwise than broadly democratic and comprehensively social in its spirit and scope. No doubt had the conductors dealt only and solely with prominent public men, specially successful colonists, and captains of industry, some people would have liked the books all the better on that acount. But, then, would the work have been a Cyclopedia of New Zealand in any true sense of the term? Hardly; nor would it have been in keeping with the deep democratic spirit of the age, in the light of which it is coming to be genuinely recognised that honest men of all callings are all equally entitled to social sympathy and respect; a wharfinger not less than the chariman of a harbour board, a ganger not less than a manager of railways, if he is worthy as a man and conscientious as a worker. It was this democratic treatment that the projectors of The Cyclopedia of New Zealand provided for in the original plan; and to this plan the conductors have endeavoured to adhere through-out the work. Interestingly enough, too, all this is justified—not only by the conditions of life in New Zealand and elsewhere throughout the modern world, but by the venerable Father of History himself. At the outset of his imperishable work Herodotus quaintly observes that he will “touch as well on the small as the great estates of men; for of those that were formerly powerful many have become weak, and some that were powerful in my time were formerly weak. Knowing, therefore, the precarious nature of human prosperity, I shall commemorate both alike.”

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With such an example, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand is, apart from other considerations, well warranted in commemorating in its pages carpenters as well as clergymen, ploughmen as well as politicians, small traders as well as commercial magnates. It is certin, too, that the real men in these categories will feel themselves neither honoured in one case, nor dishonoured in the other, by the juxtaposition, but will look upon it as a mere matter of course.

In accordance with their determination to make each volume as complete as it is possible to make it, the proprietors have spared no pains to bring all articles up to date. To secure this end, special visits had to be made to various parts of Otago and Southland under exceptionally trying conditions. For instance, it so happened that Central Otago could not be visited for this purpose until the winter of 1904 had set in; and during the greater part of the visit then made, the gentleman entrusted with the duties of the occasion had to travel a country covered with snow from six inches to six feet in depth. On one occasion, at night, there were forty degrees of frost, or eight below zero. In fact, if The Cyclopedia of New Zealand had had a section devoted to the description of moving incidents by field and flood, much material could have been obtained by its representative during his winter visit to Central Otago, and the history of one memorable day might have been headed: “Fighting a Blizzard for Forty Miles; or, How Bob Craig, on the 2nd of August, 1904, with Twelve Horses, drove Cobb and Co.'s Royal Mail Coach, through a record snowstorm, from Roxburgh to Lawrence; with the Historian of his Achievement—his only passenger—beside him.” It is true that there were compensations in the form of various novel experiences, such as seeing rival football teams playing a match on six inches of frozen snow; bottles of soda water, lemonade and beer with their contents frozen solid; and the great Scottish game of curling in full swing on the ice-covered water-dams and reservoirs. In any case, the circumstances are mentioned in no self-compassionating spirit, but merely by way of incidentally illustrating the general fact, that there is diversity as well as number in the difficulties which the conductors and their colleagues have to overcome, in their determination to make The Cyclopedia of New Zealand a work worthy of its name.

In connection with these efforts of theirs and their staff, the properietors are very sensible of the assistance which has in many ways been given by gentlemen throughout Otago and Southland. With hardly an exception, officers of Government departments and public bodies have, when applied to for information, courteously supplied whatever has been asked for in that connection; and to these gentlemen the proprietors and conductors of The Cyclopedia beg to tender their sincere thanks. Of others who in a special degree have helped the editor and his colleagues, it would be hard to name all, but inexcusable to omit to mention Mr. W. H. S. Roberts, of Oamaru; Mr. W. B. Scandrett, of Invercargill; Mr. S. N. Muir, of Dunedin; Mr. Lachlan Langlands, Secretary of the Otago Early Settlers' Association; Mr. George Fenwick, Editor of the Otago Daily Times; Mr. Mark Cohen, Editor of the Dunedin Evening Star; Mr. R. J. Gilmour, managing proprietor of the Southland page v Times; Mr. R. F. Cuthbertson, Secretary of the Southaland Agricultural and Pastoral Association; and Mr. W. Pyle, of St. Bathans, Central Otago.

One fact may be singled from many that might be mentioned in this connection to illustrate the nature of the indebtedness of the conductors, and the means they take to secure accuracy in all articles with any pretence to historical importance. It is, that the late Mr. E. B. Cargill, a few weeks before he died, carefully revised the proofs of his own biography, and those of that of his father, Captain William Cargill; that just man and wise statesman, who will be venerated to the latest ages as the Founder and Father of the province of Otago.

Concerning the contents of the present volume not much need be said, and certainly nothing by way of apology. Though, in one sense, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand is neither a literary nor a scientific work, and is, in the main, apart from its professedly historical portions, a collection of short biographical sketches with portraits; yet these sketches are such that, from them, a true history of the industrial and social life of the country might be drawn by a competent writer, and will be apprehended, even as the work stands, by any reader of fair knowledge and sympathetic insight. Nor is it unlikely that in times still far distant the descendants of the country's pioneers will find as much satisfaction in the fact that their ancestors are mentioned in The Cyclopedia of New Zealand as a modern Englishman does in knowing that his blood is traceable to men whose names appear in the famous Doomsday Book of William the Conqueror.

Subscribers will be pleased to know that the fifth volume, which is to deal with Nelson, Marlborough and Westland, is already well in hand, and will be conducted to a finish with all the despatch that is consistent with its character as an important portion of a memorable work. Then will come the sixth and last volume. It will deal with Taranaki and Hawke's Bay, and will contain, in keeping with the five other volumes, carefully collated and ably written histories of the provincial districts covered by its plan.

The Cyclopedia Company, Limited.