Description
Grey, Sir George, Polynesian Mythology & Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealanders.. as furnished by their priests and chiefs. (London: George Routledge and Sons, ND)
Octavo, xiv, 247 pages, bound in royal blue cloth covered boards stamped in gilt. End papers are a good Victorian brown. Cover states title as Polynesian Mythology with a gilt ornaments. Top edge of text block gilt.
Condition: Text block is solid as are hinges. Gift inscription dated 1926 on first blank page. Spine cover shows heavy wear with 1/4 inch missing on bottom. Light toning with no foxing on text block. Image below shows an accurate image of damage, but has undergone some color correction causing some odd effects.
“Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Cape Colony (South Africa), the 11th Premier of New Zealand and a writer. By political philosophy a Gladstonian liberal, Grey eschewed the class system for the prosaic life of Auckland’s new governance he helped to establish.
“Grey served as Governor of New Zealand twice: from 1845 to 1853, and from 1861 to 1868. He was arguably the most influential figure during the European settlement of New Zealand during much of the 19th century.
“During this time, European settlement accelerated, and in 1859 the number of Pākehā came to equal the number of Māori, at around 60,000 each. Settlers were keen to obtain land and some Māori were willing to sell, but there were also strong pressures to retain land – in particular from the Māori King Movement. Grey had to manage the demand for land for the settlers to farm and the commitments in the Treaty of Waitangi that the Māori chiefs retained full “exclusive and undisturbed possession of their Lands and Estates Forests Fisheries and other properties.” The treaty also specifies that Māori will sell land only to the Crown. The potential for conflict between the Māori and settlers was exacerbated as the British authorities progressively eased restrictions on land sales after an agreement at the end of 1840 between the company and Colonial Secretary Lord John Russell, which provided for land purchases by the New Zealand Company from the Crown at a discount price, and a charter to buy and sell land under government supervision. Money raised by the government from sales to the company would be spent on assisting migration to New Zealand. The agreement was hailed by the company as “all that we could desire … our Company is really to be the agent of the state for colonizing NZ.”[14] The Government waived its right of pre-emption in the Wellington region, Wanganui and New Plymouth in September 1841.” – Wikipedia
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