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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Personal Volume

Arrival in New Zealand

Arrival in New Zealand.

Fitzgerald landed at Lyttelton on the 16th of December, 1850. On board the ships there were materials for printing a newspaper, and on the 11th January, 1851, the "Lyttelton Times" was first issued. The paper was owned by Mr Shrimpton, and it was edited for the first two years of its existence by Fitz-gerald. He occupied at the same time the positions of Immigration Agent and page 5 of Inspector of Police. He had to look after the well-being of the early settlers, and also to see that there were law and order in the new settlement, and I believe his rule was much appreciated. There is one story told by him of this period which I cannot forbear from re-telling. His half-brother. Mr Gerald Fitzgerald, who was afterwards a Magistrate in the colony, a member of Parliament, and editor of the "Timaru Herald." a man of ability and much public spirit, was out walking with him one day, when they overtook an escaped prisoner. As they approached him, the prisoner waved above his head a hand-saw, threatening them if they came near him. With a smile, and that gleam of wit which often started from his eye, He called upon his brother in the Queen's name to arrest the absconder. His brother, as a civilian, expressed himself as entirely willing to do what was desired, but he added as a condition that the inspector of police would first remove the hand-saw. I need not add that the prisoner made good his escape; I have no doubt to the intense amusement of Fitzgerald, for about this anecdote he often had a hearty laugh.

From 1850 to 1853 were times of strain and stress in New Zealand, for the early settlers were struggling for self-government. They had come to the colony for freedom, and they found that in their own government they had neither share nor voice. This led to petitions, remonstrances, etc., etc., and several men were notable in those days for leading the settlers in the agitation for local self-government. Godley and Fitzherbert were two of the most noted, and Fitzgerald also used his pen to some purpose. I have not time to-night to refer to some of the most ably-worded remonstrances that were ever penned, and which the early settlers sent to London. After Godley's death, his life and some of his writings were published in a book by Fitzgerald, and I must refer you to this book for further information. Through the agitation that had taken place in the colony, and through the influence of Adderley, Lyttelton. Gladstone, and others, a constitution was at last granted to New Zealand. There were six provinces There were to be six local Parliaments and a General Assembly over all. The Constitution Act was passed in 1852, and in 1853 it was brought into operation. Fitzgerald was elected the first Superintendent of Canterbury, and on the 27th of September. 1853, the Canterbury Provincial Council was opened by him. His speech was long and able, and laid down a policy in no uncertain way on all things that the Council had to consider.

I must quote to you a few passages, so that you may see the grasp he had of public affairs. He began thus:—

"There is a certain solemnity about every event which can occur, but once in the life of an individual or the history of a people: of such a character is the act which it falls to my lot to perform, in addressing from this chair the first Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canterbury. You will feel with me that the language of ordinary congratulation falls short of the dignity of the occasion. . . . We have had restored to us in this Legislature a semblance of the revered and tried in-stitutions of our native land: affording to us a guarantee of the preservation of that most precious gift to a people, the inestimable blessing of civil and religious liberty: uniting us by fresh ties to the great Empire of which we form a part, and kindling afresh within every heart sentiments of loyalty and devotion to the Crown and person of her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen." In one passage he asks the members of the Council to look to the future, and he lays down the ideals that should be ever before them. "I feel that I do not need," He says, "to remind you that your responsibility is measured, not by the smallness of the interests, but by the magnitude of the principles with which you have to deal: that the laws which you enact ought not only to meet the immediate requirements of the present community, but should form the expression of principles which shall be applicable to the future, when every existing interest shall have augmented to a hundred fold its present importance."

Perhaps it would be well for us if we conned over these words and appreciated their import. As to the struggle betwixt the churches, his words on that subject, uttered in 1853, might, if listened to be of service not only to us, but to our kin beyond the sea. He said:—"The State should stand in an attitude of absolute indifference to all religious communities, that we should regard the State as an organisation of society for the purpose of regulating the intercourse between individuals in matters relating to this world, religious communities as coexistent, but wholly independent of organisations of the same society for the purpose of ordering the conduct page 6 and promoting the well-being of their several members in matters relating to another world." I do not know if the relation of the State to religion could be better stated.