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Contributions to the Early History of New Zealand

Chapter VIII

page 40

Chapter VIII.

Permission to Purchase Land—Capt. J. J. Symonds, Commissioner—Mr. Tuckett—Sketch of his Life—Various Letters and Journals—Voyage of the Deborah—The Passengers—Port Cooper and the Plains—Overland from Moeraki to Waikouaiti—Mr. John Jones—Quarrel with Mr. Symonds, who returns to Wellington.

On his arrival in New Zealand Captain Fitzroy found affairs in a deplorable state. There were no funds, business was stagnant, people were abandoning the colony like rats from a sinking ship, and, excited by the recent Wairau massacre, the natives were growing insolent and hostile, and quite prepared for that war which shortly afterward broke out in the Bay of Islands. Such were his difficulties; and these were not diminished when Colonel Wakefield's application came before him.

It was therefore with considerable judgment that the Governor, having neither money in his chest nor articles of barter wherewith to purchase the necessary lands from the natives, waived the Crown's right of pre-emption, and granted permission to Colonel Wakefield himself to effect the purchase of 150,000 acres under the superintendence of a Government officer. The officer selected thus to see the bargain fulfilled in a valid and equitable manner was Mr. John Jermyn Symonds, assistant police magistrate at Wellington, who had formerly been a sub-protector of aborigines, and who understood the native language well. Mr. Symonds was instructed not to allow any survey to be proceeded with until perfectly satisfied that the land had been duly alienated. An infringement of this regulation led to a very notable quarrel between himself and the chief surveyor early in the expedition, which will be referred to further on.

But by far the most important post in the expedition was that occupied by this surveyor, who, on the part of the Company, was to select the lands for settlement, and to effect with the natives their purchase. For the performance of these duties Colonel Wakefield selected Mr. Frederick Tuckett, a gentleman whose connection with the early history of New Zealand colonization was page break
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[To face p. 40.

page 41by no means limited to the discharge of his duties as a surveyor. He was born at Frenchay, near Bristol, in August, 1807, educated in that neighbourhood, and then apprenticed to the tanning trade. For three years he travelled in the United States, and on his return in 1831 studied civil engineering. He was entrusted by Mr. Brunel with the oversight of a section of the Great Western railway and similar work. Accepting an offer from the New Zealand Company, he sailed in the Will Watch in April, 1841, as principal surveyor and engineer of the preliminary expedition to found the second (Nelson) settlement in New Zealand. Under his superintendence the town and suburban lands of Nelson were surveyed, but of the site selected for it by Captain Wakefield he always disapproved. The justice of his opinion has long since been confirmed, and doubtless the strong way in which he upheld this led to his special care in selecting Otago for the site of New Edinburgh. So dissatisfied was he with much of the policy and many of the proceedings of the Company, that he was on the very eve of severing his connection with it and of returning to England when he received Colonel Wakefield's offer.

A man of very independent and determined character, and a member of the Society of Friends, he was not always in touch with those around him. This was particularly marked in the heated discussion following the Wairau massacre, in which he took part as an unwilling actor. Of stalwart frame, great endurance, and an excellent pedestrian, he was the beau ideal of a pioneer. He returned finally to England in 1847, and there took great interest in matters connected with the Aborigines' Protection Society, emigration, the temperance movement, and geographical discovery. He died after a few days' illness in April, 1876, from the effects of neglected cold.

Mr. Tuckett, wise from experience, at first declined Colonel Wakefield's offer to act as agent and principal surveyor of the New Edinburgh settlement, which it was understood would be located at Port Cooper. Eventually he agreed to accept it on the sole condition of having liberty to examine the country from Banks Peninsula to Milford Haven, and of being unfettered in his final choice of a suitable site. These stipulations were assented to, and Mr. Tuckett thereupon chartered the brigantine Deborah, of 121 tons, Captain Wing, then lying at Nelson.1 This was one of the numerous vessels trading page 42between the various coastal ports, Sydney and Van Dieman's Land.

In a private letter to his brother, he says: "I have exceeded my estimates at the outset in taking a vessel three times as large as was absolutely necessary, had there been a suitable craft fit for the service and in the hands of a suitable skipper. But I will still, favoured by Providence, make her earn it, and conduct this enterprise to the advantage and satisfaction of my employers. If there is a good locale for a settlement in this Island, I mean to have it."

Mr. Tuckett's diary of this expedition is extremely rare, so much so that the author knows only of his own copy, and therefore thinks it of sufficient interest and importance to be appended. Of importance, too, is the letter written to his friend Dr. Hodgkinson immediately after selecting the site for the settlement, and dated "Otakou, Port of New Edinburgh, August 16, 1844." In this Mr. Tuckett enters into many details which he would be likely to avoid in preparing a journal for the public eye, and which thus present several features of historical interest. Dr. Hodgkinson, who now resides at Invercargill, was, until recently, a member for that district in the House of Representatives, and is known as a trustworthy and enlightened politician, a distinction now rare enough in New Zealand. Other letters and journals are in the author's possession containing reference to matters not elsewhere found. Extracts from these are incorporated below, and thus add interest to a record now first presented to the public.

The fullest journal, however, of all is that of the late Dr. (afterwards Sir David) Monro, of Nelson, who was another co-voyager. This was published in the Nelson Examiner of 1844, and copied into the New Zealand Journal of 1845. Though of great length, it is so full of historical interest and is so vividly written that the author does not hesitate to append it also, especially as it is exceedingly difficult to meet with.

Captain Thomas Wing, master of the Deborah, was for thirty years officially connected with the Port of Onehunga as pilot or harbourmaster. Few mariners were better known than himself. He died in 1888. His son is superintendent of the Lake Wakatipu Steamship Company. The little vessel sailed from Nelson on the 31st of March, 1844, with a cargo of stores for New Edinburgh, amongst which were bricks and timber, wherewith Mr. Tuckett page 43purposed building a house for himself at the new settlement. The passengers were Mr. Tuckett and his two assistant surveyors, Messrs. Barnicoat (now the Hon. W. Barnicoat, of Nelson) and Davison, with five men as boatmen and assistants; Dr. Monro, who accompanied from the spirit of adventure; the Rev. Charles Creed, a Wesleyan missionary, who, with his wife and child, was proceeding to Waikouaiti, there to succeed the Rev. James Watkin; and the Rev. J. F. H. Wöhlers, of the German Missionary Society, who had recently arrived at Nelson in the St. Pauli, and who was now searching for a fitting scene for his future missionary labours amongst the Maoris. This gentleman finally selected the island of Ruapuke, where he laboured for forty-three years. He contributed several interesting papers to the New Zealand Transactions on subjects connected with the Maoris. He died at Stewart Island in May, 1885, in his 73rd year. A translation from the German of his eventful life was published at Dunedin in 1895. Messrs. Wilkinson and Withers were the other members of the party. These gentlemen, like Dr. Monro, merely accompanied the expedition with a view of seeing as much as possible of New Zealand and gratifying their love of travel in an agreeable manner. Mr. J. J. Symonds, the officer representing the Government, embarked at Wellington, and again the Deborah sailed south, entering Port Cooper—or Port Lyttelton as it is now called—on April 5th. Here Mr. Tuckett remained a week, visiting with his companions the various bays, and travelling a few miles into the interior, as far as the house of the brothers William and John Deans, who were the sole dwellers upon the great plains. The week was full of such adventures and hair-breadth escapes as fall to the lot of most pioneers —capsizes into the rivers, soakings whilst struggling up to the middle through the morasses, and nights spent in such forlorn plight without food or shelter. Messrs. Creed and Wöhlers, who started on a little bye excursion of their own over the hills to Port Levi, were all but lost. In a dense fog they missed their way, and for three days wandered about amongst rocks, bush, and ravines, without any food excepting two small birds which they were fortunate enough to catch. One day the two well known South Island chiefs came aboard—Tuawhaiki and Taiaroa—and caused much amusement by their assumption of European manners. Both were dressed in sailor costume; in addition Tuawhaiki wore a huge overcoat, into the pockets of which he continually plunged his hands in most approved page 44style. "Come, captain, give us something to eat. Come, captain, give us a bottle of wine. We'll pay for it, you know," were almost their first words of introduction to Captain Wing. For years they had had business dealings with the whalers, and were well acquainted with the intricacies of bills and money matters generally. Tuawhaiki was a most intelligent and agreeable native, and possessed considerable influence far and near with his countrymen. His signature appears first on the deed of purchase of the Otakou block, and to his influence the amicable and speedy character of the final arrangements was principally due. He little deserved, and was indeed ashamed of the sobriquet applied to him by the whalers—Bloody Jack—which was derived from the fact that as a bold warrior he had been in the constant habit of drilling his followers at the time when the fierce Rauperaha made his bloody raids upon the inhabitants of this island. As regards Taiaroa, whose headquarters were at Taiaroa Head, his grandsons worthily perpetuate old instincts by engaging at this present time in the comparatively peaceful if bloody strife of football.

It was Mr. Tuckett's intention to proceed by foot from Port Cooper to Otago, crossing to the west side of the plains, then south to the Waitaki, and then following its course to the sea. Unfortunately, his arrangements with the Maori guides fell through at the last moment, and he was compelled to proceed by sea. He had, however, concluded that Port Cooper was not eligible for the settlement. In his opinion the harbour was not sufficiently sheltered; the plains were not readily accessible from it; and whilst they contained undoubtedly good land, there was much indication of undrainable raupo swamp, especially in the central portion of the plains. Such was the verdict—true then, perhaps, under the existent condition of things, now reversed by agricultural process. On sailed, but not sped, the Deborah, for owing to light and contrary winds and thick weather she did not make Moeraki until the 18th—actually a week from leaving Port Cooper. Here Mr. Tuckett landed with one man to walk overland to Waikouaiti, whilst the rest of the party were to sail for that place. Of Moeraki he thought highly, and had its bay been accessible to emigrant ships, a better site for a settlement could hardly have been desired. The land was level, rich, well-watered, and succeeded by downs. Three days' walking brought him to Waikouaiti, where the Deborah was lying anchored page 45close to Mr. Jones's little schooner the Scotia. In this journey he found that bed of coal now worked at Shag Point, and crossed the fertile valley of the Waihemo, now known as the Shag Valley, which afforded the best pasture land he had seen so far in New Zealand.

The Pleasant river was next crossed, which, with its muddy, widespread bed, is not deserving of its name. Here the valley was avoided, the hills ascended, and Waikouaiti reached by the way of Tumai and Matanaka, upon which was Mr. Jones's farm. Here it must be observed that the Waikouaiti of to-day, whereon stand the township and railway station, are incorrectly so named; original Waikouaiti stretches from below Puketeraki, in peninsular shape, to the sea, and on the right bank of the river. In a turbary deposit by the river's mouth is the spot where moa bones were discovered by Dr. Mackellar, Mr. Percy Earle, and Mr. Walter Mantell. Perfect specimens were sent home by the latter gentleman to his father, Dr. Algernon Mantell, in 1849, whilst engaged as commissioner for the settlement of native land claims. Many of these are figured and described in his splendid monograph on the extinct wingless birds of New Zealand by Professor Owen.

Waikouaiti was one of the early whaling stations in this island. In 1837 it was owned by Messrs. Wright and Long, merchants, of Sydney, who failed during a period of great commercial depression there. From them it was purchased in 1838 by the late Mr. John Jones, a man of great shrewdness, determination, and otherwise strongly-marked character. In 1839 he purchased some thousands of acres from the natives. In 1840 he sent down from Sydney several men with their wives and families to engage in farming and other pursuits. At his instance the Wesleyan Society in the same year appointed the Rev. James Watkin as the first missionary in the Middle Island of New Zealand to look after the spiritual needs and attempt to soften the manners of the young community. The Rev. Charles Creed was now, as above stated, about to relieve Mr. Watkin, who, indeed, required relief, if one may judge from his first words to Mr. Creed: "Welcome, Brother Creed, to purgatory!" Thus, due to Mr. Jones's energy, Waikouaiti was one of the most—perhaps the most—thriving and populous districts in New Zealand. The European population numbered about 100, the natives somewhat more: all occupied either independently or on behalf of Mr. Jones in farming, whaling, or sealing. The page 46farm was situated on that eminence still known as Matanaka —so called after the fry of a small fish found in the water at the bottom of the hill. It contained about 600 acres enclosed, of which 100 were in crop of various kinds. There were 100 horses, 200 head of cattle, and 2000 sheep; also the appurtenances of barn, outhouses, threshing and winnowing machine worked by horses. One or two of the old buildings stand to this day. Who now traversing the peaceful beach, resort for health and pleasure, would conceive that fifty-five years ago it presented an aspect so different! Dilapidated, rickety little huts dotted about, huge whale-bones strewn everywhere, savage pigs and dogs feasting on the refuse which tainted the air with sickening greasy smell, whilst clouds of gulls and shags associated in the repast; busy groups of men cutting out and trying out the blubber of some recent prize; and boats drawn up on the beach ready to be launched at a moment's notice after fresh quarry. Mount Watkin is so named after this first missionary, and the house erected for him was probably the first erected in Otago. It stood, though in a sad state of decay, until five years ago.

Here occurred the misunderstanding or quarrel between Mr. Tuckett and Mr. Symonds which bid fair to jeopardise the arrangements, and did indeed seriously interfere with them. Very hot words were exchanged between the principals, and others became embroiled also. The quarrel was never healed so long as the two were officially connected, and as its results appeared twice during the negotiations, a short account of it will be of interest. Mr. Tuckett directed his assistants, Messrs. Barnicoat and Davison, to commence surveying the Waikouaiti Bay. Leave to do this was procured from Mr. Jones and also from the natives, but Mr. Symonds entirely dissented on the ground of his imperative instructions that no instruments were to be landed nor any survey commenced until purchase from the natives had been effected, and said that he would return to Wellington if Mr. Tuckett persisted. Mr. Tuckett did persist, whereupon Mr. Symonds sailed for Wellington in the Scotia, just then leaving, and laid his complaint before Major Richmond, the Superintendent of the Southern division of New Zealand. As Mr. Symonds' qualifications were too valuable to be dispensed with, it was decided that he should return to Otakou, this time accompanied by Mr. Daniel Wakefield, a barrister, and brother of Colonel Wakefield, to act as peacemaker. But matters fared no better—indeed rather worse; the quarrel page break
By Wm. Livingstone.]Mission House At Waikouaiti Whaling Station, 1840.[To face p. 46.

By Wm. Livingstone.]
Mission House At Waikouaiti Whaling Station, 1840.
[To face p. 46.

page 47took a new direction, and the stilted correspondence at last became quite unparliamentary. In one letter, for instance, Mr. Tuckett concludes thus: "In the interim I beg to assure you that I regard him as little as Mordecai did Hainan." Mr. Wakefield, finding that he was of no use as a mediator, and would probably find himself one in a triangular duel, returned to Wellington with his friend, and there placed the entire correspondence before Major Richmond, who determined that on the third occasion Colonel Wakefield himself should go to Otakou with Mr. Symonds; this was effected, and the unseemly strife which had done so much to enliven the quiet solitudes of Otago came to an end. The New Zealand Gazette newspaper was very severe in its strictures on Mr. Tuckett, and considered that he was impracticable and overbearing, though admittedly an excellent pedestrian and good at making out a survey contract—in short, that he was merely a robust, methodical person. It is but fair to add that on no occasion did Mr. Tuckett direct any survey to be made, however trifling, without first obtaining full consent from the natives, and he doubtless viewed Mr. Symonds' action as a piece of obstruction and impracticable red-tapism. On him rested the onus of a judicious selection; rough surveys and surroundings were therefore imperative.

1 Vide New Zealand Company's 17th Report.