410 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



bered 550 copies, and the contents were as follows : First 

 three chapters of Genesis, eighth chapter of St. Matthew, 

 first four chapters of St. John, seven hymns, and four cate- 

 chisms. 



On the 31st July, 1830, it is recorded that the schooner 

 " Active " arrived at the Bay of Islands from Sydney, having 

 on board Mr. Yate, with his books, and a James Smith, 

 printer, among the passengers. James Smith was a lad 

 fifteen years of age. The date of the arrival of the schooner 

 is a very important one in connection with the history of 

 printing, for the Missionary Begibter of January, 1831, 

 page 67, says, " The Kev. W. Yate took a printing-press 

 with him to New Zealand on his return to the mission 

 in July last from New South Wales. The press had been 

 sent from this country at the instance of the missionaries." 

 In the same Register Mr. Yate says, " I am about to take 

 with me to New Zealand a youth aged fifteen years, very 

 strongly recommended by Mr. Marsden ; he is to assist in 

 printing, for which purpose I have put him in the Gazette 

 office till we sail." On the 1st September, 1830, Mr. Yate 

 wrote, "Employed with James Smith in printing off a few 

 hymns in the native language. We succeeded beyond our 

 most sanguine expectations. . . . You will perceive by 

 a copy of a hymn forwarded by this conveyance that we 

 shall be able in a short time to manage it." 



There appears to be no copy in this country of any work 

 done by Mr. Yate and James Smith, but I believe several 

 copies are among the records of the Church Missionary So- 

 ciety iu England, and I have seen a photographed copy of 

 the catechism which is said to have been printed in the 

 year 1830. The " short time " referred to in the above 

 quotation seems never to have arrived, for the press, the 

 printer, James Smith, and the type disappeared as mys- 

 teriously as they appeared. Where * the press was set up 

 — whether at Waimate or Paihia — is a mystery, and no one, 

 as far as I can find, has ever been able to discover anything 

 about the press, for which Mr. Yate sent thanks to London, 

 and about which he never once made mention, either in his 

 book, published in 1837, or in his many communications 

 during the seven or eight years that he remained as a mis- 

 sionary in the country after his return from Sydney. It 

 could hardly be supposed that the " translation committee," 

 of which Mr. Yate himself was a member, would be un- 

 acquainted with the press and the printer that arrived in 



* Since writing this paper I have heard from Alex. H. Turnbull, Esq., 

 of Wellington, that the Church Missionary Society has a copy of a 

 Church catechism printed at Kerikeri in 1830. — H. H. 



