314 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



OTHER ALIENS ON TUTIRA PRIOR TO 1882. 



ACCORDING to the Wellington Acclimatisation Society's account, an 

 exact and democratic document, the courtesy prefix and initials of the 

 bullock-puncher responsible for their carriage inland being given, red- 

 deer were introduced in '62. At the suggestion of John Morrison, 

 then New Zealand Government agent in London, Prince Albert had 

 presented six deer to the colony three for Wellington and three for 

 Canterbury. Two stags and four hinds had been captured in Windsor 

 Park and there housed for a short period in preparation for their long 

 sea voyage. One stag and two hinds were shipped by the Triton for 

 Wellington, where on 5th June one stag and one hind arrived, the other 

 dying during the voyage of 127 days. About the same date the other three 

 deer were despatched for Canterbury, one hind only reaching Lyttelton 

 alive. This hind was reshipped to Wellington. For some months the sur- 

 vivors were kept in a stable near Lambton Quay, where, according to 

 the Society's report, they appeared to have been regarded somewhat 

 in the light of white elephants. There was considerable grumbling 

 by the public and by the members of the Provincial Government at 

 the expense of their upkeep. Eventually J. R. Carter, then M.H.R. 

 for the Wairarapa, offered to defray the cost of their conveyance to that 

 district. To this the superintendent of the province agreed ; the deer 

 were replaced in the boxes in which they had travelled from England 

 and carted he shall have his prefix to the last by Mr W. R. Herstwell 

 over the Rimutaka Range to Carter's station on the Taranaki Plains. 

 There they were given into the charge of James Robison. After several 

 weeks further detention they were liberated early in the year '63 ; 

 crossing the Ruamahanga, the little herd of three took up its abode 

 on the Maungaraki Range. 



