490 Transacbims. — Miscellaneous. 



Hundreds of such useful little pamphlets were printed 

 upon a press of which so far no mention has been made — 

 that brought out by Bishop Selwyn in 1842, and known as 

 " the Bishop's, or the College, press" (te Perehi a te Pihopa, 

 or a Kareti). This small press issued its publications for 

 many years, and was longer independent of outside competi- 

 tion than the other clerical ones, the fact being that when the 

 Bishop founded his College of St. John, which was a few 

 miles out of Auckland, he was possessed with great ideas of 

 the future, and so laid its foundations upon those of his own 

 Eton. In early days he lived there, wishing to make it the 

 centre of all Church work. But gradually as time progressed 

 he saw good reason to modify his views, and one work after 

 another had to be given up. The Maoris were provided for 

 at St. Stephen's, Parnell, and the Melanesians removed to 

 Norfolk Island. The hospital was a disastrous experiment, 

 and the farming soon a failure. But in its heyday there were 

 students, scholars, bursars, and lay associates, who, in addi- 

 tion to their school duties, divided the charge of the whole 

 College appanage — farm, dairy, buttery, bakehouse, kitchen, 

 apiary, hospital, press, and bookbinding, amongst others. 

 Thus the departments, if not self-supporting, were worked at 

 a minimum expenditure, and thus the press was well able to 

 hold its own. Its fate is not quite certain. Mr. Harding, in 

 a letter to me, thinks it belongs to himself, but is not quite 

 certain. After purchase he leased it to a printer, who became 

 bankrupt, and it passed into other hands. To recover it 

 would cost more than its value, but Mr. Harding keeps a 

 strict eye upon it, and hopes to see it some day safely in some 

 nook of the Colonial Museum. The Bev. William Charles 

 Cotton, who came out with Bishop Selwyn as one of his 

 chaplains, was a great bee-master, and it was he who gave 

 to the Maoris, through his College press, the little treatise 

 on the bee — " Ko nga pi." 



Some conception can now be formed how faithful and 

 extensive have been the earliest efforts to impart a varied 

 knowledge to those interesting people whose heritage has 

 almost disappeared from them. The proof of those efforts, 

 extending over a period of forty years, forms the earliest 

 literature of this country, and reflects honour on those who 

 were its authors. A little of this interesting portion of our 

 history I have shown you this evening, and must promise to 

 return to it shortly. 



