480 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The 30th December, 1834, must always be one of New 

 Zealand's earliest red-letter days, for on that date arrived at 

 the Bay of Islands in charge of William Colenso what, for 

 reasons given above, must really be considered our first 

 printing-press. Repeated applications had been made to the 

 Church Missionary Society for one, and for a competent 

 printer, with the result that Mr. William Richard Wade was 

 sent out as superintendent of the press and Mr. Colenso as 

 the printer. Mr. Wade, however, never took any active duty 

 of the kind, so that the whole work from the first devolved 

 upon his companion. Mr. Wade was appointed to ordinary 

 missionary duties instead, and these he discharged until 1842, 

 when he retired from the mission, chiefly on account of his 

 views on baptism. Pie then went to Hobart, where for years 

 he remained minister of the Independent Church. He wrote 

 an interesting little book entitled " A Journey in the Northern 

 Island of New Zealand," which was published at Hobart in 

 1842. But it is with Mr. Colenso we have to deal. The 

 3rd January was a day of immense rejoicing, amongst the 

 natives especially, who shouted and danced upon the sandy 

 beach as the pukapuka was safely landed. This was no easy 

 operation, as the press and type were very heavy, and there 

 were no facilities in the way of boats or jetty. However, the 

 difficulty was overcome by lashing together two canoes, upon 

 which the precious burden was placed, and dragging them 

 ashore. 



All sorts of difficulties beset the zealous printer, of which 

 he gives an interesting account in his "Fifty Years Ago." 

 Many necessary articles were wanting, and the printing-paper 

 had been actually forgotten. Fortunately, a small supply 

 was found in the store-room at Kerikeri, doubtless some that 

 had escaped the experiments of Mr. Yate and his "devil," 

 and the missionaries contributed a little of their writing- 

 paper. Amidst these difficulties it was not until the 17th 

 February that the first printing was begun, the little office 

 being then crowded with spectators to witness the remarkable 

 performance. The famous first book was the Epistles to the 

 Ephesians and to the Philippians. It is a small 8vo of six- 

 teen pages, in double columns. Twenty-five copies were first 

 printed as presents to the mission folk— the ladies bound 

 them in pink blotting-paper — and afterwards 2,000 were 

 printed for general distribution amongst the natives. In 

 December following, and uniform with the Epistles, the 

 Gospel of St. Luke was printed, in sixty-seven pages, and the 

 three were bound together. Of this 1,000 were printed 

 during 1835. Mr. Colenso's hands were now quite full. With 

 great ingenuity he constructed from very simple materials 

 those necessary adjuncts to his press which, in such an un- 



