(1821–1914).

Colonial and provincial politician.

A new biography of Montgomery, William appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

William Montgomery came from an old Scottish family which settled in Northern Ireland. His father, Josias Montgomery, was killed in an accident in the hunting field in 1825 and William was brought up and educated near Belfast. As soon as he left school he went to sea and by his ability, strong character, and unceasing study, was in command of a ship before he was 19. Australia attracted him and, finding it was impossible to hold a crew at Port Phillip, he sold his ship (which he had been able to purchase) and joined a party going to the goldfields. In a few years he made enough money to buy a sheep station on the Darling Downs. Seven years of drought ruined him and he crossed to Canterbury to make a fresh start. He went into business as a timber merchant and was successful. He made his home at Heathcote and in 1866 was elected to the Provincial Council for that district. During the next 10 years he was an active member, leading two executives and being appointed Deputy Superintendent of the province.

Montgomery was elected to the House of Representatives for Akaroa in 1874 and remained a member until he resigned in 1887. He was a liberal in politics and members of the House recognised him as their leader. He held office during the Stout-Vogel Ministry (1884) for a brief period, but when the Government was defeated, he unselfishly sacrificed his claim to office, and Stout was able to include Auckland members in his Cabinet and carry on. Stout said: “Such self-sacrifice and such self-abnegation will never be forgotten by me”.

Montgomery's greatest work for Canterbury was done as a member and chairman of the Education Board, under the provincial and, later, the national system. He was also a member of the Canterbury College Board for 30 years and chairman for 10. His labours for education were “incessant and far-sighted”. Professor Macmillan Brown spoke of him as one of the greatest friends of education Canterbury ever had.

Montgomery was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1892 and resigned in 1907 when he was granted the title of “honourable” for life. His nickname among his friends became “The Honourable”, a tribute to his high character bestowed half seriously, half jokingly, but with undoubted affection.

In 1892 Montgomery bought Wairewa, above Little River, at that time largely still in bush.

Saunders paid him a worthy tribute as “the most consistent, the most unselfish, clear-headed and clean-handed member” of the Grey Party. Certainly his powers of leadership rested on strength of character. He was in no sense an orator and relied mainly on a matter of fact presentation of his case.

He married Jane, a sister of C. F. Todhunter. He died on 21 December 1914 at the ripe age of 93. His elder son, William Hugh, took his M.A. at Balliol College, Oxford, with first-class honours in jurisprudence, and was M.H.R. for Ellesmere, 1893–99.

by George Ranald Macdonald, Retired Farmer, Kaiapoi R.D.

Family information: Lyttelton Times, 22 Dec 1914 (Obit).

(1813–77).

Politician and Speaker, House of Representatives.

A new biography of Monro, David appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

David Monro was the son of Dr Alexander Monro, Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh, and President of the College of Physicians. His own degree of Doctor of Medicine was taken in that University, with which his family had been prominently connected for over a century and a quarter, three generations having filled the professorial chair.

One of the original Nelson settlers, Monro arrived in the colony in 1842. He accompanied Frederick Tuckett, the surveyor appointed to select a site for the establishment of a Scottish settlement, on his journey to Otago in 1844 and described it in the Nelson Examiner in the following July.

He took an active part in the political development not only of the Nelson Province but of the colony as a whole. He accepted office, briefly, in 1849, as a nominee member of the New Munster Legislative Council and was elected to New Zealand's first Parliament of 1854 as the member for Waimea district. He served assiduously but unspectacularly for the first two Parliaments, then succeeded Sir Charles Clifford as Speaker in 1861. He occupied the Chair through six changes of government. Realising the need for dignity and decorum he was able, with his impressive deportment and extensive knowledge of House of Commons procedure, to lift the office of Speaker to a high plane. His smooth but firm control of debate set a standard which has rarely been surpassed in New Zealand.

He was entrusted, in 1863, with the task of reconstructing the Standing Orders on the model of those of the House of Commons, but it was not until 26 July 1865 that he completed the work. The draft Standing Orders which he then laid on the table were adopted, after long and careful consideration, with only minor amendments. Though few of his rulings still survive in their original form for the guidance of present-day Speakers, many have been absorbed into the traditions of our Parliament.

As Speaker, Monro ruled the House with impartiality, but he never concealed his political feelings. The antipathy between him and William Fox carried right through Monro's service in the House. His casting vote was responsible for the overthrow of the Fox Ministry on 28 July 1862. A few weeks later, when the Speaker had caused the clock to be altered in order to complete the formality of sending a Bill to the Legislative Council, Fox drew attention to the action by moving that a select committee be appointed to investigate it. Nevertheless, it was Fox who remedied the omission of the House to accord Sir David a tribute when he resigned the Speakership by moving, on 3 October 1871, that a suitable address of thanks be presented to Sir David.

On the other hand, Monro's friendship with Stafford was almost lifelong. They had been friends in Edinburgh and had been close together in their journeys to Australia and then to New Zealand, both settling in Nelson and from the beginning taking an active and prominent part in the political life of the district. Monro frequently wrote for the Nelson Examiner in support of Stafford's politics and, like him, was strongly in favour of the paramountcy of the General Government over the provincial system.

Monro resigned the Speakership at the end of the 1870 session, but contested the 1871 election for the electorate of Motueka. As the voting was equal, the Returning Officer exercised his casting vote in favour of Monro. A petition by the defeated candidate, heard by a special Election Petition Committee, was successful and Monro was unseated on 20 September 1871. He was elected as member for Waikouaiti in June 1872, but resigned after a year, because of failing health. He died on 15 February 1877 after a long and tedious illness.

David Monro ruled the House with dignity. His role was made easy by the courteous members who served under him, and the stature he achieved was due in great measure to the cooperation of the House. Such success would have been more difficult of attainment during the late seventies and early eighties, when bitterness within the House of Representatives brought in a period of unruly debate.

by Charles Philip Littlejohn, LL.B., Clerk of the Journals and Records, House of Representatives, Wellington.

• Colonist (Nelson), 17 Feb 1877 (Obit)
• Marlborough Express, 17 Feb 1877 (Obit)
• Lyttelton Times, 19 Feb 1877 (Obit).

(1811–87).

Danish statesman, Bishop of the Lutheran Church, and pioneer New Zealand farmer.

Ditlev Gothard Monrad was a son of Otto Sommer Monrad, an attorney of the Danish Revenue Department, and came of a long line of theologians and jurists, a direct ancestor, Jacob Monrad, being among the first to introduce the reformed faith to Denmark. Monrad was born in Copenhagen on 24 November 1811. As a child he lived with an aunt in Praesto, Zealand, where he received his primary education. He showed talent and was assisted by townsfolk to attend Vordingborg Latin School, entering Copenhagen University as a theological student in 1831. He graduated Master of Arts and made a special study of oriental languages, gaining a facility in Sanskrit, Hebrew, Syrian, and Arabic. A travelling scholarship enabled further study in Paris.

At Copenhagen University Monrad participated in the Liberal political movement and later was editor (1840–41) of the Liberal paper Faedrelandet, but his brilliant political contributions and pamphlets supporting liberalism resulted in suppression of the paper, confiscation of his writings, and personal censorship. In 1840 he married Marie Lytthans, daughter of a Copenhagen building contractor.

Appointed in 1848 to the first Copenhagen Citizens' Council, he interested himself in educational reform and travelled extensively studying educational methods. From 1843 to 1846 he edited Dansk Folkeblad, a Liberal weekly, and was then appointed pastor of Vester-Ulslev on Lolland, elected to the Copenhagen Diet (Staender) (1846), and, later (March 1848), appointed Cabinet Minister for Church and Schools. He was mainly responsible for the drafting of the Democratic Constitution that replaced the absolute monarchy. In 1849 he was appointed Bishop of Lolland-Falster, only to be dismissed in 1854 because he opposed a Conservative reaction against the constitution. Sent unopposed to the first democratically elected parliament (Rigsdag), he remained a member from 1849 to 1865.

On 31 December 1863, on the eve of the Slesvig-Holstein war with Germany, Monrad became Prime Minister in a new cabinet. The defeat of Denmark and loss of the duchies brought such intense, if unjust, criticism on Monrad's conduct of the war and peace negotiations that on 30 November 1865 he left Denmark with his family to seek peace in New Zealand. There he purchased 482 acres of heavily bushed land in the Karere Block near the future site of Palmerston North. Living first in a small clay hut, he built a house of pit-sawn timber for his family and set about clearing the bush, introducing cattle and sheep and experimenting in tobacco culture. He had brought with him many art treasures, and his settlement in the roadless bush became an oasis of culture.

When, however, his work was interrupted by the southward incursions of the Hauhaus under Titokowaru, he buried his precious possessions and left with his family for Wellington, whence he embarked for Denmark, arriving there on 28 April 1869. His sons Viggo and Johannes returned to Karere to continue farming.

On his departure Monrad presented to the Colonial Secretary a valuable collection of engravings and etchings by famous masters, including Rembrandt, Rubens, Durer, and Van Dyck, which are now housed in the National Art Gallery. He later translated an abridgment of Maning'sOld New Zealand into Danish.

Monrad was one of the most outstanding men his country has produced. As a theologian, scholar, and politician he was foremost in the introduction of enlightened and progressive ideas in church, school, and government. His mental powers earned him the highest academic honours; he was a skilled translator of the Old Testament from the originals as well as an eminent political writer. His political downfall was coincidental with his country's defeat by Bismarck's ascendant Prussia, his attempt to introduce Christian ideals and principles into the political field availing little when he had to oppose the ruthless chancellor single handed. In New Zealand he showed his courage and versatility by attacking the heavy task of bush settlement. Though Monrad was only a passing figure on the New Zealand scene, this country owes much to him for his example of successful forest settlement and for his encouragement to thousands of his countrymen to emigrate here and undertake the same task.

by George Conrad Petersen, Editor, Who's Who in New Zealand, Palmerston North.

• D. G. Monrad, Norgaard, F. (1918)
• Politiker og Gejstlig (1948), D. G. Monrad, Stavnstrup, P.
• Pioneering Days in Palmerston North, Petersen, G. C. (1952)
• D. G. Monrad, Petersen, G. C. (1965).

One of the smaller southern glacial lakes, Lake Monowai is 12 miles long, 520 ft deep, 643 ft above sea level, up to 1 mile wide, and covers an area of 11 sq. miles. In plan the lake is shaped like a boomerang and has but one inlet on the northern shore. The only river flowing into Lake Monowai is Electric River; the small Monowai River draining the lake (495-cusec discharge) is used to generate hydro-electric power. The absence of a river at the head of the lake is due to the fact that the glacier ice, which carved the lake, spilled over a divide from a neighbouring glacier system and did not form a long trunk glacier. Lake Monowai can be reached by road from Tuatapere, but the road ends at the lake outlet and there are no walking tracks around the lake beyond that. The lake abounds in fish, and the surrounding forested mountains carry large numbers of deer and other game. The area is part of the Fiordland National Park.

The surveyor-explorer James McKerrow wrote the name of the lake as “Monowai”. This is probably a corruption of an earlier form, one meaning of which is “channel full of water”.

by Bryce Leslie Wood, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

(Latridopsis ciliaris).

This is a blue-grey and silver fish of shallow coastal waters, found usually where there is a rocky bottom. Adults reach 2 ft in length. Often moki occur in association with tarakihi and, like them, they are bottom feeders, eating a wide variety of animal life. Although found throughout New Zealand, they are more abundant south of Cook Strait. A smaller, blue-coloured moki also occurs in New Zealand's southern waters.

by Lawrence James Paul, B.SC., Fisheries Division, Marine Department, Wellington.

The Mokau River, which is a catchment area of 550 sq. miles, rises on the south-western slopes of the Rangitoto Range. Its upper catchment adjoins that of the Wanganui in the south, and the Waipa, a major tributary of the Waikato, in the north. The lower course of the Mokau River lies through rugged country rising to almost 2,000 ft, much of it clad in dense native rain forest. This lower course lies through easily eroded tertiary sandstones and mudstones, within which occurs coal of the Mokau coalfield. For several miles south of Piopio, a small town some 12 miles south of Te Kuiti, the Mokau River flows through limestone-capped hills with greywackes of Jurassic and Triassic age outcropping in its bed. The river falls rapidly from the area of more-resistant rocks to the softer ones, where during the last glaciation, when the sea was some 350 ft below present level, the valley floor lay considerably lower than it does now. Sea level rose with the melting of the continental glaciers and the Mokau River aggraded its valley floor. The lower valley is still subject to extensive flooding.

At its mouth the Mokau River is confined by a sand bar, and on the raised beaches formed during past interglacial periods, ironsand dunes have been deposited. The river carries a predominantly fine sediment load, has a low gradient over the last several miles of its course, and is tidal for some distance upstream. From near Piopio the river enters into a broadly open, low-rounded topography above the steep-walled, narrow limestone gorges.

In pre-European times the Mokau River marked the boundary between the Tainui and Taranaki tribal areas; in particular, the territory was often under dispute between Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Tama. Although a small tribe, Ngati Tama, held their own against all comers until the early part of the nineteenth century when two battles altered the traditional power balance in the district. About 1815 there was a disastrous battle, Nga-tai-pari-rua, against Ngati Rakei on Mokau beach. Six years later a strong Maniapoto war party, armed with muskets, invaded the district. There was a fierce engagement at Pararewa in September 1821, when the Ngati Tama and Te Ati-awa were heavily defeated and Tupaki, the great Ngati Tama war chief, was killed. After this the remnants of Ngati Tama joined Te Rauparaha's trek south to Cook Strait. Their departure left Taranaki open to the depredations of Te Wherowhero and his Waikatos.

The river for its whole length once formed the boundary between the Auckland and Taranaki Provinces, and today forms the boundary between the land districts The port, Mokau, at the mouth of the river, is no longer used.

The meaning of the name is obscure. One variant is “winding stream”; another, that the river was named Mokau by Turi from his having slept there.

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

The Mohaka River (catchment 910 sq. miles) drains the complex of mountains from the north face of the Kaweka Range northwards for 35 miles. Two of its major tributaries, the Taharua and the Waipunga, rise on the Rangitaiki Plains on either side of the head of the Rangitaiki River. The third large tributary, the Hautapu, rises on the south side of Maungataniwha (4,491 ft). With the exception of the heads of the Taharua and Waipunga, on the Taupo pumice alluvium of the Rangitaiki Plains, which are low-scrub and tussock covered, the whole of the western catchment of the Mohaka is densely forested, precipitous country. After passing out of the axial range, the Mohaka turns abruptly northwards and flows for 25 miles between the axial range and the limestone-covered dip slope of the Te Waka-Maungaharuru Ranges, before turning to flow into Hawke Bay. The river is everywhere deeply entrenched in spectacular gorges, either in hard rock of the main range or in soft Upper Tertiary mudstones. The lower 17 miles is some 250 ft below broad gravel terraces formed during the last glaciation. Because of the river's deep entrenchment, flood damage is small. The minimum measured flow was 600 cu. ft. per second in 1948, and peak flood was 225,000 cusecs in 1938. The 1938 flood inundated and badly damaged the road bridge on the Napier-Wairoa highway.

The river is crossed by two very spectacular bridges. The railway viaduct, 312 ft high and 911 ft long, is one of five railway viaducts in this area that are more than 200 ft high. A recently completed road bridge on the Napier-Taupo road is 165 ft high and 708 ft long.

The literal meaning of the Maori name is “a place for dancing”. This name is believed to have been brought from Hawaiki and its significance is now obscure.

by Thomas Ludovic Grant-Taylor, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.

The Moeraki Boulders are situated on Koekohe Beach at a place named Kumara, midway between Hampden and Moeraki townships in North Otago. Access to them is gained by a small one-way side road, 1 mile north along the main road from Hillgrove railway station. The boulders are grey-coloured septarian concretions, which have been eroded out by wave action from the cliffs of soft, black mudstone that back the beach. In places, partially exposed concretions can be seen in the cliffs. They originally formed on the sea floor when the mudstone was accumulating during the early Tertiary period some 60 million years ago. The largest concretions are traversed by cracks, filled by yellow calcite. In some the upper part is worn away; only a shell remains, looking like discarded segments of orange peel. The concretions weigh several tons and are up to 12 ft in circumference. Similar concretions are known on the north-facing foreshore of Shag Point, some 12 miles further south, but these are derived from older (upper Cretaceous) mudstone.

According to Maori legend, the origin of the boulders dates from the loss of the Arai-te-uru, one of the large sailing canoes that came from distant Hawaiki. On her quest south for the precious greenstone, the canoe was wrecked near Shag Point (Matakaea). The reef which today extends seawards is the canoe's petrified hull, while close by, in the shape of a prominent rock, stands the petrified body of her commander. Strewn along the beach are the boulders which represent the eel baskets, calabashes, and kumaras washed ashore from the wreck. The name Moeraki (Moerangi) means “drowsy day”.

by Alexander Russell Mutch, B.SC., A.O.S.M., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.

These birds belong to the order Dinornithiformes, which is confined to New Zealand. Like kiwis they are very ancient birds of uncertain relationship. Their earliest fossils date from the upper Miocene era – approximately 15 million years ago – but their origin is certainly much earlier. Together with the elephant birds of Madagascar, they comprise some of the largest of all birds though some species were of moderate size. Moas were flightless Ratite birds (that is, with no keel to the raft-shaped breastbone or sternum), and are now extinct. Two families, six genera, and about 25 species are recognised. They occurred in North, South, and Stewart Islands, with South Island supporting the most species, about 19, and with Stewart Island the least, two. The process of extinction of moas was probably greatly accelerated following the arrival of man in New Zealand before A.D. 1000. The earliest Polynesian inhabitants, the moa hunters, used moas for food, their bones for implements and ornaments; the eggs were used for water bottles. Giant moas were probably extinct about A.D. 1500; the smaller bush moas may have lingered on in remote parts of the South Island until the early nineteenth century.

Moas had massive skeletons with small, broad, flattened skulls, short bills, and no wings. Their feathers were similar to those of the emu. The largest egg known is about 10 by 7 in. In New Zealand moas took the place of absent grazing and browsing mammals, and apparently fed mainly on grass, leaves, and fruits. In some places deposits of gizzard stones of white quartz have been discovered. Bones are found mainly in swamps and caves, the first being discovered in the early 1830s.

by Gordon Roy Williams, B.SC.(HONS.)(SYDNEY), Lecturer in Agricultural Zoology, Lincoln Agricultural College.

Is a prominent and well-known peak on the south shore of Milford Sound, named because of its resemblance to the shape of the bishop's mitre or head-dress, when viewed from the south. The name was probably given by the survey ship HMS Acheron in 1851. The peak rises almost sheer above the Sound to a height of 5,560 ft and the summit actually consists of five closely grouped individual peaks. The best access to the summit is via the western slopes from Sinbad Valley. The peak presents a most striking appearance from the Milford Hotel at the head of the Sound and this view has been publicised in many illustrations and posters.

by Bryce Leslie Wood, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Dunedin.