Chapter XIII.

Enabled from the concessions granted by Lord Derby to resume operations, the Company lost no time in arranging for the resumption of the New Edinburgh or Otago surveys. The choice of a competent person to control these fell upon Mr. Charles Henry Kettle, who had returned from New Zealand some months previously, and was seeking occupation in the home country.

Mr. Kettle was born at Sandwich, in Kent, in 1820. For more than four years he was assistant teacher—chiefly mathematical—at a school in Faversham belonging to Mr. John Deans. Induced to emigrate, he sailed in September, 1839, in the Oriental, the first emigrant vessel despatched by the Company, and arrived at Port Nicholson in the January following. He now became clerk to the firm of Petre, Molesworth & Hopper, just commencing business by the side of the river Hutt, and in the nascent township of Britannia. It is probable that the first two named gentlemen, who were scions of English aristocratic houses, knew little or nothing of business, as the firm dissolved like a baseless fabric upon the untimely death by drowning of the third and principal partner.

Thus thrown on his resources Mr. Kettle procured employment under the Company's chief surveyor, Captain William Mein Smith. Here his mathematical knowledge soon enabled him to gain a practical knowledge of surveying, and he was advanced to the post of an assistant surveyor, which he held for two years. During this time he assisted in the survey of Port Nicholson and Porirua Harbours, the Upper Hutt, and many of the rivers and bars in the neighbourhood. In the early part of 1842, accompanied by Mr. Alfred Wills, who was afterwards engaged with him at Otago, and a few men who carried provisions and baggage, he discovered and explored a considerable portion of the Rimutaka, Ruamahanga, Wairarapa, and Manawatu districts, thus for the first time page break

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page 75trodden by a European foot. The party returned after a month's absence, half-starved and having suffered great privation, but bringing back a glowing description of the magnificent, well watered plains, so suitable for further settlement. An interesting account of this expedition appeared in that earliest of all New Zealand newspapers, the New Zealand Gazette.

The adversities, with which the reader is already so well conversant, had begun to settle upon the young colony, and surveys were at end. Mr. Kettle therefore decided to return to the home country, and sailed in the Brougham, arriving after a five months' passage in August, 1843. He carried excellent letters of introduction to the Company from both Colonel Wakefield and his quondam chief strongly recommending him for future employment. There seemed a probability of re-engagement, for just at the time Mr. Rennie was initiating his New Edinburgh scheme. With that gentleman he visited Edinburgh, gaining a knowledge of its plan and street nomenclature, which were afterwards reproduced in the modern Athens of the south. But the same blighting influences befel, and he was obliged to look for occupation elsewhere. In April, 1845, he was a candidate for the position of mathematical master at the Royal Naval School at Deptford, and received high testimonials of his fitness, but was unsuccessful. At this juncture the short returning wave of prosperity brought him again before the Directors, and this was his opportunity. He was engaged by them for a term of three years to act as assistant-surveyor and civil engineer to prosecute the New Edinburgh surveys. His salary was £400 a year, with 5s. a day allowance, to commence from the date of his arrival at Wellington, and upon receiving specific instructions from Colonel Wakefield, the agent. The deed of agreement was signed on the 11th of September, and on the same day he sailed from London Docks with his young bride, in the Mary Catherine, Captain Howlett. The vessel arrived at Wellington viâ Nelson on the 2nd of February, 1846. After a fortnight's sojourn completing arrangements, which will be referred to later on, he sailed for Otago without transhipping, reaching his destination after a four days' passage on the 23rd of February. For this extra charter of the Mary Catherine the large sum of ?150 was paid. The following morning the lonely Davison went aboard and welcomed his new chief, and by the evening the whole party and their baggage were page 76landed at Koputai and housed in Mr. Tuckett's little brick hut.

At the close of the Company's career in 1851, Mr. Kettle received the appointment of Government Surveyor and Registrar of Deeds. These posts he held for three years, when he engaged himself in pastoral pursuits in the Kaihiku district. In 1860 he returned to Dunedin and was elected to the House of Representatives as member for Bruce. He took a warm interest in many social and religious matters, especially in Sunday schools. Of the Young Men's Christian Association he was both president and a founder, and was for many years a strict teetotaler. He died of typhoid fever at his residence of Littlebourne on the 5th of June, 1862, at the early age of forty-two years. He married Miss Amelia Omer of Dover, who still survives him. His eldest child, afterwards married to Mr. James Macassey, a New Zealand barrister, was born on the 3rd of March, 1847, and has the distinction of being the second child born in Dunedin, and the first girl. His eldest son is now a District Court Judge.

During his fortnight's stay in Wellington he laid his plans for the surveys by advertising that "Tenders are required from surveyors for the survey of over 100,000 acres of land, chiefly unwooded, at New Edinburgh, at prices per acre, per ten acre and per fifty acre sections. Particulars to be ascertained from the chief surveyor at Otakou, to whom tenders are to be delivered by the 30th of March." At the same time he engaged labourers, &c., for the staff, twenty-five in number. These agreed to work for a term of three months certain from date of arrival, at 14s. a week and weekly rations, which consisted of 10 lbs. of flour, 10 lbs. of salt pork, 1½ lb. of sugar, and ¼ lb. of tea. As things progressed fresh meat was often substituted for salt. Their names are James Campbell, Joseph Pudney, Robert Craig, James Craig, Edward and Robert Martin, John, Allan, Donald, Hugh, and Angus Cameron, Donald Mackie, Alex. McQuarrie, George Stratton, James Ward, David Bradbury, Thomas Watson, James McKane, Peter Crow, Thomas Doswell, Edward Bowen, Alex. Duthie, Donald Ross and James Wilson. One or two of these still survive in a position of great comfort, and many of their descendants are well-known members of the community.

All these labourers and several surveyors sailed down to Otago in the Mary Catherine. Of course the accommodation was of the scantiest. Mr. Tuckett's cottage contained page 77three small rooms in a row; the end ones were occupied by Mr. Kettle and wife and Mr. Park and wife. Mr. Park was the only other married surveyor. The middle one was afterwards used for meals, but at first these were prepared in the whare of Alexander McKay, who thus came to the front with his Surveyors' Arms. The survey of the port town (Port Chalmers) was first commenced, and soundings of the harbour taken with a view to buoying it for navigation. Mr. Davison had occupied the time of his long and compulsory stay at Koputai by making a very accurate survey of the harbour coast-line. Matters being thus in train, Mr. Kettle started on a journey through the interior, mainly for the purpose of determining the best mode of partition into suitable blocks for the contracts, and of selecting sites for the future townships. This journey, which was performed on foot, and extended to the Nuggets, a few miles south of the Molyneux, occupied the short time of ten days. His route was similar to that of Mr. Tuckett, being on the east side of the Taieri plain, by the side of Waihola Lake, through the Tokomairiro district, to Kaitangata and the Molyneux. Upon his return specifications were drawn up for the contracts; these were five in number, exclusive of the town surveys, and there were eleven surveyors under Mr. Kettle, two of whom, Messrs. Park and Davison, were appointed by Colonel Wakefield as assistant surveyors at a yearly salary of £200 each, with 5s. a day allowance; they exercised a general supervision and inspection.

Roughly speaking, the first contract included the land to the right of the Molyneux, Balclutha, and Inch Clutha, Kaihiku, Puerua, Waiwera; this was taken by Messrs. Wylie, Wills, and Jollie in partnership. Andrew Wylie was the son of a minister at Inverness, came out to Nelson in the Brougham as a cadet in 1842, and died at Port Chalmers in 1849. Alfred Wills and Edward Jollie came out in the same vessel; the latter, a well-known settler, died at Patea in 1895; he was long resident in Canterbury, and a member there of the Provincial Council; his name survives in Jollie's Pass. The second contract extended between the Molyneux and Tokomairiro rivers, and was taken by Messrs. Thomas and R. J. Harrison. Captain Joseph Thomas had served in India, and was aide to Sir John Malcolm; in 1849 he had charge of the Canterbury surveys, and for a short time afterwards was a settler in the Molyneux district. The third contract lay between the Tokomairiro and Taieri rivers, the Waihola and Waipori, and was taken by Messrs. James Charles Drake and Tully, page 78Brougham cadets also. The fourth contract extended northwards from the Taieri river, and included the Taieri Plains; Messrs. Scroggs and Abbott took this, and their names survive in Scroggs' Hill, Scroggs' Creek, Abbotshill, and Abbotsford. Sydney M. Scroggs was the son of an English colonel and returned to England; Edward Immyns Abbott was a young man of superior abilities, and of considerable musical and artistic accomplishment. A sketch by him, in the author's possession—Dunedin from Little Paisley—was done in 1849, and lithographed about 1853. He died at Dunedin in October, 1849. His remains lie forgotten in the old cemetery, as his name does not appear on the obelisk erected some years ago to commemorate those who lie buried there. The fifth contract included Anderson's Bay, and to the south to Cape Saunders, Kaikai Point, Sawyers' Bay, and the Lower Kaikorai, and was taken by Mr. Horace Charlton, also a Brougham cadet. Mr. Robert Park was one of the earliest surveyors, and came out in the Cuba to Wellington in 1840. The town of Dunedin was laid out by him and Mr. Davison, and its topographical features rendered this no easy task. He died in Christchurch some years ago. Mr. William Davison returned to England soon after the completion of the surveys in 1847. He seems to have been engaged in general duties, inspecting, drawing maps, and doing local surveys, as the road line from Port Chalmers to Dunedin, Portobello, Wickliffe Bay, and Tomahawk Valley. Mr. Charles L. H. Pelichet, a Londoner, and a friend of the Wakefields, came to Nelson in 1841, and was engaged in various surveys. He came to Otago in November, 1847, somewhat late, and acted principally as Mr. Kettle's assistant. He laid out the sections of the Upper Harbour on both the east and west sides.

The contracts were tendered for and accepted by the 30th of April. The prices varied according to the character of the land, whether clear and open, or hilly and wooded. Thus, for fifty-acre sections, the price ranged from 8d. to 1s. 9d. per acre, and extra cutting from 3d. per chain linear in open country to 1s. 6d. through bush. The provisions for the distant stations were conveyed by whaleboat as far up the rivers Taieri and Molyneux as practicable, and were then "humped" over the intervening land portion of the journey. Not unfrequently wind and weather reduced the camps to the point of starvation, and then the alternative was to break up camp and march in to Otago. But this outdoor life was pleasant and healthful, and moreover was well paid at these rates.