8 AUSTRALASIAN 



from the old country, an operation which was attended with 

 . far greater difficulties even forty or fifty years ago than in these 

 days of rapid steam navigation. 



INTRODUCTION OF THE BLACK OR GERMAN BEE INTO 

 NEW ZEALAND. 



The first bees introduced into New Zealand are said to have 

 arrived in the ship Westminster, in the early part of 1840. 

 These bees belonged to Lady Hobson, wife of the first Governor, 

 and were watehed over on board the vessel by Mr. McElwaine, 

 the Governor's gardener. They were landed at the Bay of 

 Islands. Mr. William Mason, who was, at the period above 

 mentioned. Government Architect and Inspector of Public 

 Works, told me that he distinctly recollected seeing the bees 

 on board the ship, and that they were in straw hives, which 

 were wrapped in blankets. He believed they remained at the 

 Bay when the Government party left to establish the seat of 

 government on the Waitemata, now the city of Auckland. 



Dieffenbach, in his " Travels in New Zealand," mentions 

 having seen (in December, 1840) a hive of bees, thriving 

 remarkably well, with the Rev. Richard Taylor at Waimate, 

 but says " the bees had been introduced into New Zealand 

 from New South Wales." This may be an error. It is not 

 improbable that the hives referred to may have been stocked 

 with some of Lady Hobson's bees, but it is also quite possible 

 that they may have been brought from New South Wales where 

 they had been first introduced in 1822. 



For the introduction of bees into this colony we are also 

 indebted to the late Rev. William Charles Cotton, and to 

 Mrs. Allom, mother of our respected and esteemed fellow- 

 citizen, A. J. Allom, Esq., of Parawai. With regard to 

 Mr. Cotton's success, I quote the following from the British 

 Bee Journal of January 1st, 1880 : — 



"In 1841 Mr. Cotton became chaplain to the late Bishop of New 

 Zealand, Dr. Solwyn, with whom he embarked on board the Tomatin 

 at Plymouth, on the 30th December of that year. On the voyage out, 

 and subsequently, Mr. Cotton rendered the Bishop much assistance in 

 translating the Bible into the native tongue. 



"Mr. Cotton took with him four stocks of bees ; and many 

 marvellous stories are told of his mastery over his favourites on ship 

 board. He was very successful in the introduction of the cultivation 



