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Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand

Chapter XXIII

page 167

Chapter XXIII.

Progress and activity in 1856—Increased Land Sales—Governor Browne's Visit—He names Invercargill—Mr. J. T. Thomson, the Surveyor — His Reconnaissance Survey — Roads and Travel — North Otago—Fresh Emigration—Sir John Richardson—Streets and Cemetery — Little Paisley — A Marriage — Separation and Reunion of Southland.

The year 1856 marks a great turning-point in the history of the Settlement. With it came a life, growth, and activity in strong contrast to the previous slow advance, and this happy change, moreover, continued until, in 1861, the gold discoveries gave fresh impulse. As already indicated the source of this great change lay in the Land Regulations, which now became law. They were exceedingly liberal and were consequently availed of by as many as could afford to comply with them. The old Otago Block had already been divided into Hundreds, at first three in number, but was now subdivided for greater convenience into eight. The first extended from the Heads to the Taieri river, the second from the Taieri to the Clutha, and the third south of the latter river to the terminus of the Block. Within these Hundreds the rural lands were open for sale at 10s. an acre, with the 40s. improvement conditions. Outside them were 600,000 acres, open for sale at 10s. an acre, in blocks of not less than 2000 acres, without the improvement clause. It was after much debate and with many qualms that this class of land was offered at so cheap a rate, but there was no alternative; the scanty coffers could by no means appease the incessant cry from all quarters for roads, bridges, surveys, and the other requirements begotten of a bustling and increasing community. It was hoped that some wealthy Australians would seize the tempting bait, and so in the first instance it happened in the person of the well-known Mr. W. J. Clarke. Still there were millions of acres untrodden and unknown, and efforts were taken to make these subservient too. Already de pasturage licenses had been issued, and now every inducement was offered to make the waste places glad. Thus page 168fresh country was continually taken up and active explorers went further and further afield, until, in 1861, though there were regions left unconquered, there were few worth the costs of victory. Provided they fulfilled the conditions of their lease, runholders were well and deservedly protected. Their lease was undisturbed for fourteen years, and the yearly assessment was but sixpence a-head for cattle and one penny for sheep. In December, 1855, there were in the Province 6,500 cattle and 59,000 sheep, and in 1861 respectively 44,000 cattle and 694,000 sheep. To-day the numbers are 165,000 and 5,000,000 respectively. The runholder was also allowed a pre-emptive right of purchase on his run of eighty acres for his principal station and ten acres for each out-station. This concession, very proper at the time, but unconditional, proved later to interfere with the fuller settlement of the country, as the runholder, in his phrase, "picked the eyes out." The Corporation of Dunedin possesses a most valuable municipal estate derived from the old Municipal Reserves of the New Zealand Company, and one which must increase as times go on. As showing the vicissitudes they have passed through, it may be stated that after the Company's demise members of the early Provincial Council "repudiated" or refused to take over these properties at the price affixed in the Terms of Purchase; Mr. Macandrew even thought that any income derived from them should be appropriated to the Province generally and not to the town alone, in such little estimation were they held; fortunately better counsels prevailed. Thus towards the acquirement of land all parties were catered for, yet strong objections were urged against many of the provisions in the new Ordinance, as already had proved the case with those relative to education. Rejoicing in their new-found liberty and greater freedom, the people were prepared to view any imposition, however necessary and judicious, as an infringement of their rights.

The Witness, under the editorship of Mr. Cutten, was untiring in its efforts to develop a sound public opinion. The articles, though devoid of much style, were written with great common sense and force, the latter quality being often in evidence. Captain Cargill, Mr. McGlashan, and even Mr. Macandrew, with all his progressive notions, could not divest themselves of the idea that progress on the old lines would be better and safer than on the new; and many others shared this idea. The Witness asserted that the old narrow spirit was still alive, and, mutato page 169nomine, that the former despotic rule of Governor Grey was far from being dead.

In the beginning of the year the new Governor, Colonel Thomas Gore Browne, who had arrived in the Colony four months before, paid his first visit to Otago, where he remained a week. He was accompanied by his wife and daughter, and was the guest of Captain Cargill. He won golden opinions on all hands, and took a warm interest in the progress of the Province. It was during his tenure of office that the native war broke out at Taranaki. Whilst at Dunedin he was banqueted at the old Royal Hotel, and, in replying to the toast of his health, indulged in prophetic reference to fifty years from that date, when the Royal Mail coach would be rattling over well-metalled roads between Dunedin and the Bluff, and the telegraph connect Dunedin and Auckland. He little thought that less than ten years would see the realization of his dreams. It was on this occasion that he gave the name of Invercargill—he was a great name-giver—to that town about to be founded in the southern part of the Province, but whose site was neither selected nor surveyed. Of what was called the Southern Country, extending between the Mataura and Jacob's River, and inland to the mountain ranges, little was known beyond that it was the abode of a few whalers, and that there were some good harbours, notably the Bluff, which must be of vast service in developing the capabilities of the Province.

At this important juncture it was most fortunate that the services of Mr. John Turnbull Thomson were secured to take charge of the Land and Survey Department, which had gradually fallen into an almost completely disorganized state. Mr. Mantell, the Commissioner of Lands, had emphasised his feud with the Superintendent by carrying off the letters, letter-books, and other documents connected with the department, on his departure from the Province for England, and a considerable time elapsed before these were restored. Mr. Kettle had refused longer to retain charge of the Survey Department, and the small salaries offered failed to secure even temporary services. Such was the state of matters when, in January, 1855, Mr. Peter Proudfoot, who had previously served under Mr. Kettle, agreed to step into the breach, and was gazetted Provincial Surveyor and Commissioner of Lands. Confronted with these difficulties, he could do but little beyond office duties and initiate surveys in the southern district in the vicinity of the Bluff, and of future page 170Invercargill, with the aid of his assistant, Mr. Alexander Garvie. Mr. Proudfoot, who was a most indefatigable worker, though of delicate constitution, died in harness on the 15th of October, 1857, leaving a widow and infant son. He was a young man of great talent and unimpeachable character. Though he retained to the date of his death the position of Chief Land Commissioner (in which he was succeeded by Mr. Cutten), it will be apparent how readily he yielded the thankless and more arduous duties of Chief Surveyor to his successor.

For seventeen years Mr. Thomson had been engaged as a surveyor in India and the Straits Settlement. Failing health compelled him to seek a more suitable climate, and he thus arrived at Auckland in February, 1856, where he met with Captain Cargill, then discharging his duties as member of the General Assembly. This resulted in his receiving the appointment of Chief Surveyor and Engineer of the Province. His voyage to Dunedin in a schooner of forty tons was accomplished in a day over three weeks, and was eventful enough. In Cook's Straits the captain lost his reckoning and presence of mind amidst heavy gales, and gave up all for lost. Mr. Thomson furbished up an old quadrant, and, seizing his opportunity, discovered that the little vessel had drifted well out of danger. Dunedin was thankfully reached by the end of May. After spending three months in mastering the details of the office, he started in September, accompanied by an assistant and two men, to examine the southern coasts, rounding the harbours and estuaries, and deciding on sites for settlement. Dunedin was again reached in November. It was on this, occasion that the site of Invercargill was finally fixed and its re-survey commenced; for, as stated above, Messrs. Proudfoot and Garvie had some months before accomplished this work. Mr. Thomson, however, shifted the whole survey from the elevated block, thus first selected, to the lower ground adjoining, where Invercargill now stands. In January, 1857, he returned and commenced his great reconnaissance survey of the southern district. This extended over four months, during which he travelled, mostly on foot, about 1,500 miles of difficult country, and roughly surveyed, by his triangulation method, two-and-a-half millions of acres—a truly memorable undertaking. He crossed and recrossed in every direction, his western limit being the Waiau Gorge, his northern the Dome, his eastern the Mataura, and his southern the coast line. Amidst these limits he journeyed through swamps, rivers, page 171and plains now well known and populated; ascended mountains from which he was able to descry and lay down yet more distant country, and returned to Dunedin in April without his Indian liver and in robust health. He told a good story to illustrate Scotch idealisation. Ascending the Dome Mountain with one of his men, it proved bitterly cold on the summit. "Hoo cauld it is," said his follower, whose teeth were chattering. Asked why he had not put on his coat, he replied, "I didna fetch it up; it was sae hett belaw, I thocht it wad hae been far hetter after we had climmed up sae near the sun!"

In the latter part of 1857 Mr. Thomson commenced in a similar manner the exploration of the northern districts as far as the Waitaki, the source of which he traced. He determined also the sources of the Molyneux in Lakes Hawea and Wanaka, and crossed the interior of Maniatoto and Manuherikia Plains. Altogether he was engaged for eighteen months in this preliminary, or reconnaissance, survey, and then with the aid of the excellent staff which he gathered round him he proceeded to that minute delineation and mapping of the country which placed his department first in the Colony, and ensured to himself in 1876 the distinguished position of New Zealand's first Surveyor-General. His salary was £360 a year, that of his chief assistant £250, and two other surveyors received £200 a year each. Some of the former road-lines it was found necessary to alter, as they had been laid straight through swamp or direct over hill; possibly because of the fiction that the Scotchman prefers to make his way regardless of obstructions, or that the day when it would be necessary to drain the swamp or grade the hill was immeasurably distant. It was also proposed to level Princes Street through to George Street and so have an unbroken course, but one or two objected to their shops being either buried or perched up by the suggested alteration, and thus again the want of strong public opinion led to permanent inconvenience. Upon his retirement he took up his final abode upon an excellent estate which he had purchased near Invercargill, the scene of his first work in the Colony, being in fact the block which Messrs. Proudfoot and Garvie had selected for the town, a selection which he had refused to endorse as stated above. Mr. Thomson was a clever, somewhat taciturn Northumbrian, who sought few friends. He wrote several works and many papers, page 172chiefly of a philosophical and philological kind, and to the "New Zealand Institute Transactions" he was a frequent contributor. Like Colonel Gore Browne, he was a great name-giver, but it is to be hoped that the results of his ingenuity in this respect will mostly be effaced. To him we are indebted for the Pigburn, Sowburn, Fillyburn, and a host of similar names attached to his explorations in Central Otago. Possibly he thought them specially suited to the bucolic nature of those who were afterwards to come upon the land. Even his Mount Ida and St. Bathans are not classical; the former being so called after one of the towers in Bamborough Castle, on the English borders and near the scene of his early youth, and the latter after a small estate owned by a relative.

The solid work and energy thus displayed speedily rendered the Survey Department more effective and useful than it had ever been, and this was very practically apparent. Where in 1855 the receipts from Crown lands amounted to but about £2,000, they reached £16,500 in 1857, and £66,000 in 1859. These figures include sums derived from the lease and assessment of runs. Increased revenue means increased expenditure, and the Provincial Council deemed it prudent to provide for this by raising a loan of £35,000 secured upon the land, which was effected in 1857. Even these sources of income were insufficient to meet the various demands, and it was not, for instance, possible to travel along anything like a passable road to the south until the end of 1859, when a light mail-cart began to ply to and fro. Even then produce and stores were still carried by small sailing-boats up the Taieri River to a jetty on the south side of Waihola Lake. The north was roadless, the barrier of Mount Cargill was insuperable. It was sought to make the track over Flagstaff, or the Snowy Mountains as they were then called, safer by erecting snow poles sunk into mounds, and of these there were seventeen to the mile; in addition a bark hut was built as some sort of protection for those who were overtaken by storm or mist.

Despite these difficulties of travel and access the northern part of the Province had progressed, a very minute and interesting account of which has been given by Mr. W. H. S. Roberts in his History of Oamaru and North Otago. As usual the pioneers were runholders with their sheep and cattle, and a few others who, under Governor Grey's cheap land regulations, had purchased in 1853 about 1,000 acres at 10s. an acre. Their holdings page 173were dotted along the coast from Goodwood to the banks of the Waitaki. The chief and earliest amongst those who took up extensive tracts of country were Mr. Hugh Robison, whose sheep grazed on the lands now occupied by the town of Oamaru, the Filleul brothers, W. H. Teschemaker, Trotter, Williams, Valpy, Rich and Suisted. The necessaries of life were scarce, and Mr. Roberts gives as an amusing instance the case of Mr. Teschemaker, who, like others of his fellows, procured his wheat from the Maoris and ground it in a steel mill. "Indeed," he complained, quoting Mantalini, "my life is one dem'd horrid grind." Worn-out clothes were too valuable to cast aside, and were lashed to the body with flax as long as they would hold. Boots were improvised of Maori flax sandals lined with a bit of red or blue blanket. At the beginning of 1857 the white population was 285, and it was in this year that the first northern mails were carried. It was a fortnightly service, and David Hutcheson contracted to carry them on horseback for £290 per annum. During his explorations Mr. Thomson selected sites for "village reserves," those in the northern district being Hawkesbury, Palmerston, Hampden or Moeraki, and Oamaru. The latter "village reserve," which now numbers about 6,000 inhabitants, was not laid out and offered for sale until 1859, when there was a population of about 25; at the end of 1861 this had increased to 210. In 1868 Cobb's coach connected it with Dunedin.

The efforts of the Provincial Council to induce a fresh stream of emigration from the home country now began to bear good fruit, and indeed the dearth of labour throughout the country was beginning to be felt. Mr. Adam, who at the beginning of 1857 had been despatched as Emigration Agent, discharged his duties with remarkable energy and success. True he received every assistance from the authorized Home Agents and from Mr. W. H. Reynolds, who was at the time visiting England, but the praise which was accorded him on his return was well deserved. Ship after ship arrived in quick succession bearing hundreds of emigrants, and as 1858 passed away it was feared that serious complications would arise from plethora of labour, insufficient accommodation, and dissensions on the ever-green labour question and the rate of wages. But these fears had little foundation. Emigration barracks, very different from those poor constructions raised for the shelter of the first pioneers, were erected at the south corner of Princes and page 174Police Streets. These were afterwards used as temporary police barracks at the time of the gold rush. It did so happen, however, that three vessels, the Strathfieldsaye, Nourmahal, and Three Bells, arrived near together, and during the winter months, with 700 passengers. This of course was a piece of mismanagement, and there was considerable discomfort and complaint amongst those who, not accredited to their friends, filled the barracks to overflowing. The large influx had the effect of reducing the rate of wages from 7s. to 6s. per diem. A meeting was called at which much the same was said as at labour meetings of the present day. Authorities were inveighed against; the speakers had been brought out under false pretences from circumstances much more settled and comfortable than those before them, and as they had been deceived by the solemn assurance of the higher wage they felt quite justified in repudiating the repayment of their passage moneys! However, returning spring absorbed them all and many shiploads beyond. The £620,000 appropriated to emigration had thus been satisfactorily expended, and the Provincial Council determined to continue the system but on an enlarged basis.

The Strathmore, which arrived in October, 1856, and anterior to Mr. Adam's fleet, brought several cabin passengers of position—Major Richardson; Dr. Hulme, who for many years was Provincial Surgeon; the family of the Howorths, chiefly connected with the law; and Mr. W. D. Murison, who for long was an early editor of the Otago Daily Times. Major (afterwards Sir J. L. C.) Richardson became an eminent New Zealand colonist. Born at Bengal in 1810, he served for many years in the Indian wars. He paid New Zealand a running visit in 1852, and was then so highly pleased with the country that he determined to return to it. He published a pleasant though anonymous account of this entitled "A Summer's Excursion," etc., speaking in high terms of its fertility and suitability for settlement. He took up land at "Willowmead," Puerua, south of the Molyneux, and this was his home until his death in December, 1878. He was elected to a seat in the Provincial Council at its ninth Session in 1860, and was chosen Speaker; and in 1861 he received the further honour of Superintendent, when he very successfully organised the police and other departments which rapidly developed during the sudden gold influx. He afterwards represented Dunedin in the House of Representatives, and later was nominated Speaker in page 175the Legislative Council. He was also Chancellor of the Otago University, succeeding in that office the Rev. Thomas Burns, the first Chancellor, and being followed by Mr. Justice Chapman. He thoroughly enjoyed and identified himself with a settler's life; he was a man of some literary attainments, and a frequent contributor to the press. A little poem by him in blank verse, "The First Christian Martyr in New Zealand," was published at Exeter in 1854, and is very rare.

Whilst these great movements so extensively benefited the Province, the town itself saw but little change or improvement, the fact being that the Town Board was almost absolutely without funds. Flax still flourished in the streets, the scanty bridge across the creek in Princes Street was dangerous and impassable, sledges could not cross, but had to make a detour near the present Custom House and continue by the beach road. The Town Board contemplated an assessment, but were deterred because anything less than 2s. 6d. in the pound would have been useless. In 1856 the town property was valued at about £3,000, which, at 1s. in the pound, was reckoned barely sufficient to pay the cost of collection and the salary of a clerk to the Board, and so the matter of taxation was left in abeyance, and the income of the Board was derived from a grant by the Council of £1,000 per annum. Today the rateable value of property in Dunedin is £234,000. There was none but natural drainage; Rattray and Manse Streets were receptacles of mud, filth, and stagnant water, and Messrs. Kilgour and Rennie had already certified to the hopeless state of the street lines north of the Octagon. But for the grant of £1,000 from the Council, the duties of the Board must have been perfunctory. The south exit from the town, or, as it was called, the Swamp Road, continued to be its despair, and the line of Maclaggan Street and Mornington to Look Out Point was recognised as being the best mode of exit to the south; and upon its improvement accordingly £500 was spent. The York Place Cemetery was at last closed; it had long been considered unsuitable and inaccessible. The remains of probably eighty settlers lie buried there, though the names of but sixty are recorded on the obelisk erected to their memory in 1880. New ground was selected, and came into use at the beginning of 1857, and at the same time a second reserve was made at the north end of the town, the two reserves forming the present Southern and Northern Cemeteries. Upon the former had resided, from the page 176beginning of the settlement, half-a-dozen weavers from Paisley, with their families, to which they had given the name of Little Paisley. One of their number, John Barr, was appointed caretaker and sexton, but he complained that the office was not worth having, as the "folk wudna dee." And he was right. But if there was a difficulty about deaths there was none about births, which were as frequent as allowed by natural matrimonial law. Marriages seem to have had some difficulty about them too, as is plain from the story told the author by an ancient lady who played the part of bridesmaid in it. The wedding was at the Half-Way Bush, and the day before she drove there in her bullock sledge in charge of the bridecake, which, as the weather was pouring with rain, was wrapped in a macintosh. The Kaikorai stream was swollen, but she "gaed through it safely, standin' up, high kilted, and haudin' the cake pretty high," the obliging bullock-driver never once looking behind. Next day the weather was no better. The Rev. Mr. Burns arrived punctually at noon, having met with his own little difficulties in crossing the stream whilst in the stalwart arms of some of the guests sent down to meet him.

"The guests are met, the feast is set,"

but there was no appearance of the bridegroom, who had, indeed, been expected the previous day. Four o'clock, the latest of the canonical hours, at length came, although it had been judiciously postponed by putting back the clock, and then Mr. Burns withdrew, with a promise to return on the morrow. Despite the disappointment and anxiety, the guests spent the evening pleasantly enough in the barn with songs, fiddles and dancing. There was no better fortune next day, and things looked gloomy enough, when towards four o'clock the bridegroom arrived, soaked with rain and covered with mud—an appearance which satisfactorily explained his absence. He had walked from Tokomairiro, having spent one night by the banks of that river, which he had crossed with difficulty and danger. Further comfort was administered the bride by the assurance of her friends that it was "better to wait for ane leevin' mon than hae three dead anes."

The opportunities for what may be called public sociality or entertainment were yet scanty enough, and pleasure of the sort was taken circumspectly, if not sadly. An occasional lecture at the Mechanics' Institute on some solid subject, or a tea-meeting followed by excellent page 177speeches, did much to enliven the community. But the record was quite broken, and a new departure made in 1858, when Miss Redmayne, aided by amateurs, gave three or four grand instrumental and vocal concerts in the school-house, the admission to which varied from half-a-crown to four shillings. The songs were those current at the day, the principal vocalist being Miss Redmayne herself. The list of instruments, though formidable, bespeaks the amount of available talent until then apparently undeveloped—concertina, accordeon, cornopean, saxhorn, violin, flute, and piano. Mr. Redmayne had talent of another sort; he was an excellent penciller, and some of his sketches of Dunedin views are both rare and interesting. When, in 1865, the Dunedin Punch was started, he was the chief artist, and his portraits are very faithful.

The first note of that discord which ended in the dismemberment of the Province and the separation of Southland in 1861 was sounded in March, 1857. Some months previous an association had been formed amongst the runholders to consider matters connected with their interests, and to confer with the Government on any legislation relative thereto. As revenue was small and assessment moderate, they liberally undertook the payment of expenses connected with the working of the Sheep Ordinance, stipulating that they should choose their own inspectors. To this the Council consented, but, evading the promise, made their own appointments, and, moreover, constituted their Executive as the sole administrators of the Waste Land Board. This gave more offence than at first appears upon the face, and a meeting was held on the above date, at Invercargill, of the run-holders in the vicinity to protest against these high-handed proceedings, and to set forth further grievances. Invercargill was then but a week old, the first sale of its town lands having taken place on the 20th of the month, and though it consisted of but two or three houses and a few tents, it was yet competent to issue two very formidable documents. One was a petition to the Governor and the General Assembly from the settlers in Murihiku—the name of the district south of the Otago Block—praying for separation and for inquiry into the proceedings of the Waste Land Board. It was accompanied by lengthy appendices detailing, with examples, the difficulties under which they laboured at so great a distance from Dunedin. The other was a memorial to the Provincial Council, complaining of the arbitrary course adopted by the Board, page 178and asking for inquiry. Dr. Menzies was the chief mover and speaker, and though the movement was not at first successful, he was untiring in his efforts to complete it, and was finally rewarded when elected, in 1861, first Superintendent of the new Province. Probably the underlying reason for dissatisfaction was the parsimonious way in which the public money was at first allocated to the south. The settlers complained that, whilst the sale of their lands contributed largely to the revenue, but little was returned them, most being expended in Dunedin and the adjoining districts. Of £5,000 appropriated for roads, a mere fraction reached them. As might be expected, strong representations and counter-petitions were made and presented, and the proposed severance was almost universally viewed as a perverse and disastrous suggestion. As revenue increased, a perfectly fair, nay liberal, division was made in the south, so that any former complaint on this score no longer existed. But all was of no avail, and the promoters, with Dr. Menzies of Mataura as their leader, never allowed the movement to rest. The "New Provinces Act" of 1858 aided them too. It provided that the Governor should establish a new province whenever three-fifths of the registered electors in a district containing not less than 500,000 acres petitioned him to do so. And thus the electors of Murihiku, the district south of the Mataura, demanded and secured their portion almost as a birthright, entering into possession on the 1st of April, 1861, at which date the population of Invercargill numbered about 400, and of the entire new Province 1,500. The number of electors was 280, so that a scanty majority indeed carried the day. Otago at the same time numbered about 15,000.

The career of the young Province may be characterized as short, rapid, and extravagant. With great courage it launched upon various extensive enterprises, such as roading and bridging, the construction of a railway between Invercargill and the Bluff, and to the Oreti, which years later was extended to Kingston, and harbour improvements. Imbued with no love for Captain Cargill, and remembering with resentment the opposition to his victory, one of the Superintendent's early attempts in the Assembly was to obliterate the very name of Invercargill, which he said was repugnant to the settlers. He proposed to substitute Clinton, the Duke of Newcastle's family name, so perpetuating that nobleman's keen "interest in the success of New Zealand," as shown by sanctioning page 179the "New Provinces Act." Members failed to take the same view and dismissed the suggestion, considering that the original name was very suitable for a Scotch community. In this connection it may be mentioned that Southland was one of Governor Browne's name-givings, as were also Napier and Marlborough, which also came into being under this Act. It is to be regretted that the old Maori name of Murihiku was not retained for the district; its meaning is "the end of the tail" — the terminal point of the South Island. Returning from this digression: as the territorial and other revenues did not suffice to meet the expenditure, which amounted to a quarter of a million, recourse was had to loan bills, which, however, were, with one exception, disallowed by the General Government. Serious embarrassment now ensued, and though improved land regulations were introduced the coffers remained empty and works and payments were well-nigh suspended. In the Reply to the Address the Council complained of the reckless expenditure on public works. Matters were not improved by a rupture between the Executive and the Superintendent, Dr. Menzies, who, though a high-minded and courteous gentleman, was wayward and opinionated, and thus unable to put into practice the theory of responsible government. Within four years after the assumption of Provincial rule, the Province was in a prostrate condition and had a debt of £400,000. A new Council was elected towards the close of 1864 under the superintendency of Mr. John P. Taylor, a policy of retrenchment was carried out, and the aid of the General Government invoked. It was agreed by a large majority that the time had arrived when the present expensive and inefficient mode of government should, as far as the South Island was concerned, be superseded by consolidating the five Provinces, and that this view should be communicated to the General Government. The suggestion was excellent, and was carried out ten years afterwards, and in a more extended form, by Mr. Vogel, when the Provinces were abolished; but at the time its simplicity and indifference to the sentiments of the other Provinces were both selfish and amusing. Later in the session Mr. W. H. Pearson, who held the office of Crown Lands Commissioner, moved in the same direction. His motion, which included the whole Colony, was of greater breadth, detail and wisdom, and may fairly be considered as a laying down of the lines on which the present government of New Zealand is administered.

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Already signs were not wanting that a return to the parent Province would be both agreeable and a true solution of the surrounding difficulties; some advances had been made and not unfavourably received. But it is as difficult for a government as for an individual to confess error and express regret. Yet the time was at hand when there was no alternative. Efforts were made to build up the falling fabric by further sales of land and financial arrangements, and from time to time words of promise were spoken to the ear which were, however, broken to the hope. The last Session of the Council (the twenty-fourth, or first Session of the fourth Council) met in November, 1869, under the superintendency of Mr. William Wood, who in his opening Address spoke with no uncertain sound. A crisis had arrived, and to meet it two courses were open—direct local taxation or reunion with Otago. With a population of but 7,500 people the first crushing alternative was not to be entertained. A closing act of the previous Session had been the appointment of three delegates to confer with a similar three appointed by the Otago Provincial Council, and if possible arrange for a basis of reunion. The report of this Commission, which was favourable to the proposal, was now brought up, and after a keen and considerable debate was adopted by a large majority—Dr. Menzies and four faithful followers steadily voting against its clauses to the bitter end. The Report was written in the happiest spirit, there was no recrimination, no exultant tone, and the concessions and agreements were liberally conceived. The result was remitted to the Assembly for legislation, and a year later, on the 8th of November, 1870, reunion was proclaimed. The history of Southland has points of resemblance to the story of the Prodigal Son, and it illustrates, moreover, the proverb of "United we stand, divided we fall"—a proverb which once again in the present juncture of intercolonial affairs should be a direction to all loyal and patriotic colonists to recognise that the most enduring interests are built on the broadest base. It is but fair to add that much of Southland's misfortunes was induced by an over-trading and overspeculating spirit born during the fever and excitement of the gold discoveries.