1859 correspondence regarding Auckland to Tauranga and Maketū Postal Service
This set of poorly photocopied letters in the former New Zealand Room Vertical Files have been transcribed. Written March–December 1859 they reflect efforts to secure postal services for Tauranga and Maketū.
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Petition (9 March): Rev. Seymour M. Spencer, Rev. Thomas Chapman, Ellen Spencer, and Henry Bennett request a semi-monthly mail service to Auckland, at £12 per year.
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Forwarding (21 March): Superintendent’s Office (Daniel Pollen) sends the petition to the Colonial Secretary.
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Recommendation (10 May): Superintendent Robert Williamson proposes Spencer, Chapman, and John Faulkner as local Postmasters.
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Refusal (21 December): Rev. Spencer disavows authorship, notes Chapman’s withdrawal, and declines the post.
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Official memoranda (late 1859): Government notes all three nominees refused; Henry John Tancred advises that future petitions be made directly by settlers.
Transcripts follow.
No. 2 – Petition from Tauranga and Maketu Residents
Tauranga, 9 March 1859
Sir,
Having heard that a requisition has been addressed to Your Honor by the European residents of Tauranga, for the establishment of regular Postal Communication between that district & Auckland, we the undersigned beg on behalf of ourselves and other European residents of Maketu, Tauranga &c to prefer our request for a share in the benefits of such communication.
At present we are entirely dependent upon chance means of forwarding and receiving letters in anything like reasonable time; and too frequently when matters of the most pressing importance arise, we are put to the greatest inconvenience owing to the want of regular postal communication.
Our numbers, it is true, are at present but few, but being as we are in the midst of a numerous and influential portion of the Native population, we would respectfully urge the desirability of our having the opportunity of becoming acquainted with what is transpiring in the capital and other parts of the province, so as to be able to speak with certainty when questioned by the Natives, as we often are, with respect to reports which they have heard as to the probable intentions and policy of the Europeans towards them.
For the present, we think that the establishment of a Semi-Monthly Post to and from Auckland for Maketu and Tauranga would suffice; and we can undertake that the cost of such Postal Service shall not entail upon the Government a greater cost than Twelve pounds per annum, or a Pound per month.
Hoping that our request may receive your favorable consideration and support,
We have &c
(Signed)
Seymour M. Spencer, Missionary, Tauranga
Revd. Thomas Chapman (C.M.S.)
Ellen S. Spencer
Henry Bennett
No. 1 – Superintendent to Colonial Secretary
Auckland, 21 March 1859
Sir,
I have the honor to forward enclosed herewith copy of a letter under date March 9th instant signed by the Revd. L. M. Spencer and others at Tauranga, requesting that the benefits of regular postal communication might be extended to their district.
I have &c
(Signed) Daniel Pollen
for the Superintendent
The Honble
The Colonial Secretary
Auckland
No. 3 – Superintendent to Colonial Secretary
Auckland, 10 May 1859
Sir,
Referring to your letter of date 25th March ultimo, and to the correspondence on the subject of Postal Communications with Tauranga and Maketu by way of Opotiki and Taranua, I have the honor to inform you that the Revd. Mr. Spencer the Resident Missionary at Tauranga, would readily undertake the duties of Postmaster for that district; while the Revd. Mr. Chapman at Maketu, and also John Faulkner at Tauranga, would, I believe, undertake the duties of Postmasters for those places respectively.
I have &c
(Signed) R. Williamson, Superintendent
The Honble
The Colonial Secretary
No. 4 – Revd. L. M. Spencer to Postmaster, Auckland
Tauranga, 21 December 1859
Sir,
I am duly in receipt of yours of 14th December, enclosing New Zealand postage rates; also a copy of a letter from the Postmaster General requesting my full Christian name to be given, in order to the preparation of a warrant of appointment. And I now beg to state, before matters are pushed any further, that I believe a misapprehension of the real circumstances of my connexion with the Post Office has been entertained, and therefore it will be proper for me to make a simple statement from the beginning.
By Mr. Smallfield, the idea was entirely his own, and I can truly say that the possibility of such an arrangement had never occurred to me. Nor did I at that time think that such a plan would be entertained only in compliance with the desire of Government; and so far from its being asked for, it was likely to be as disadvantageous to us in our isolated position on account of our being dependent upon our Maori neighbours for getting in necessary supplies from the coast.
Yours &c
(Signed) Seymour Mills Spencer
P.S. It may be proper for me to state in addition that I do not consider myself bound by any Memorial, for the only one which bears my signature is in Mr. Smallfield’s handwriting, drawn up according to his own ideas, and much more strongly expressed than if I had written it myself – moreover it includes only Maketu & Tauranga.
I also took upon me to write Mr. Chapman’s name, presuming he would be in favour of it, but within a few days he has written positively to request that he may have nothing to do with it, directly or indirectly.
(Signed) L. M. Spencer
Departmental Memorandum (late 1859)
The attention of the Honble the Colonial Secretary is requested to the accompanying copies of correspondence, which has lately taken place in reference to the establishment of a mail line between certain settlements on the coast of the Bay of Plenty.
The special points of this correspondence calling for his observation, are the manner in which the Government was misinformed as to facts in the first instance.
Summary (marginal notes):
Revd. Spencer denies ever applying for or accepting duties as Postmaster, and declines the appointment.
Revd. Chapman refuses to act as Postmaster, and disowns use of his name.
Mr. Faulkner also refuses to act.
Henry John Tancred Note (late 1859)
… and the inconvenience likely to result from a departure from the rules so judiciously suggested by the Colonial Secretary (in the case of the Memorial from the settlement of Manganui) – that persons memorializing His Excellency’s Government for the establishment of new lines of Post, should do so directly; so as to be able to state their own case in their own words.
(Signed) Henry John Tancred
