(?–1848).

Doctor of medicine, early colonist, and journalist.

A new biography of Martin, Samuel McDonald appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

S. McD. Martin was born at Kilsmuir, Isle of Skye, and took his M.D. at Glasgow. He emigrated to New South Wales in the 1830s where he engaged in sheep farming. In 1839, anticipating the proclamation of British sovereignty, he visited New Zealand and acquired land at Coromandel. In Sydney he organised merchants and speculators with interests in New Zealand, and in January 1840 led a deputation to Hobson to ascertain British intentions. With another land claimant, Martin purchased sawmilling machinery, which they proposed to erect at Coromandel. He returned to New Zealand in 1840, but difficulties over his land claim led Martin to become a political journalist. In January 1842 he was appointed editor of the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, and wielded his pen against the Government coterie to such effect that the paper was suppressed two months later. Martin thereupon addressed a pamphlet to Lord Stanley (New Zealand in 1842) in which he chronicled pungently the shortcomings of Hobson's administration. On 22 April 1843 he began editing a new paper, the Southern Cross, and throughout Lieutenant Willoughby Shortland's administration he continued his vendetta against Government corruption, particularly in regard to native lands. He enjoyed friendlier relations with Fitz-Roy who appointed him a non-official member of the Legislative Council (13 May 1844), upon the understanding that this did not necessarily oblige him to support Government policies. He resigned on 3 March 1845, when he accompanied another early Auckland colonist, W. Brown, to England to petition the House of Commons on native matters. While there he published (1845) New Zealand in a Series of Letters, in which he gave a valuable, if controversial, picture of colonial politics. He was afterwards appointed Resident Magistrate at Berbice, British Guiana, where he died on 22 September 1848.

In his day Martin was one of the most forceful and influential political journalists in the colony. His opposition to the Government's native policies arose from his realisation of the manifest absurdity of the attempt to impose, at the stroke of a pen, English law and customs upon the Maoris, and in defence of this view he spared no one.

by Bernard John Foster, M.A., Research Officer, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• New Zealand in a Series of Letters, Martin, S. M. (1845)
• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958)
• Newspapers in New Zealand, Scholefield, G. H. (1958).

(1869–1950).

Geologist.

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

Marshall was one of New Zealand's outstanding geologists during the first 50 years of this century. He was born in 1869, at Sapiston, Suffolk, and attended school at Bury St. Edmonds and at Wanganui. He took degrees at Canterbury University College and Otago University, and was appointed lecturer in Natural Science at Lincoln Agricultural College in 1893. In 1896 he became a science teacher at the Auckland Grammar School, and in 1901 was appointed lecturer-in-charge of the Department of Geology at the University of Otago. He became professor in 1908, but left the university in 1917 to become headmaster of Wanganui Collegiate School. In 1924 he was appointed geologist and petrologist to the Public Works Department. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and president in 1924–25. He was president of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science in 1946. He wrote more than 140 scientific papers on most aspects of New Zealand geology.

Marshall had a persisting interest in the history of the Pacific basin, and in 1912 proposed the term “andesite line” for its western structural margin, called subsequently the “Marshall line”. In the 1890s he described many species of insects, and this biological interest was later evident in his work on Cretaceous and Tertiary molluscs. After detailed studies of the thick sheets of volcanic rocks in the central North Island, he found that many of these rhyolitic rocks are composed of fragments of volcanic glass explosively erupted and then welded together while still hot. For these rocks he coined the name “ignimbrite” which has now a worldwide usage.

In 1900, in Auckland, Marshall married Ruth Mary Dudley by whom he had one son and one daughter. He died at Ludlam Crescent, Lower Hutt, on 10 November 1950.

by Donald Rowe Gregg, M.SC., New Zealand Geological Survey, Christchurch.

• Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 79 (1951) (Obit).

(1899– ).

Authoress.

A new biography of Marsh, Edith Ngaio appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Edith Ngaio Marsh was born at Christchurch on 23 April 1899 and educated at St. Margaret's College and Canterbury University School of Art. For two years she was on the stage and in play production in London where next, in 1932, she kept a shop. But with the publication of her first book the following year she embarked upon a full-time writing career. Her output has been considerable and highly successful, and she is rated as one of the world's 10 best “thriller” writers, with more than 20 books to her credit. Her principal creation is the scholarly and polished detective Roderick Alleyn. She reverted to play production, specialising in Shakespeare from 1938 to 1949, and brought two theatrical companies to New Zealand. In 1950 she was producer for the British and Dominions Theatres. Of recent years she has resided at Christchurch, New Zealand, and is active in play production, painting, lecturing, and writing. She was awarded an O.B.E. in 1948.

(1765–1838).

First promoter of missionary enterprise, explorer, and recorder of early nineteenth century Maori culture.

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

Samuel Marsden was born on 25 June 1765 at Farsley in the parish of Calverley, Yorkshire, where his father, Thomas Marsden, was a blacksmith and small farmer. Little is known of his family background. According to family tradition his family came under the influence of the Wesleyan movement. Marsden attended the Farsley village school, and then assisted his father for a number of years, acquiring a knowledge of farming and other practical arts which he put to good use in later life. The Elland Clerical Society, so called from a parish in Yorkshire at which it held meetings for a time, had as one of its objects financial assistance to suitable young men wishing to be educated for the ministry of the Church of England. In his early twenties Marsden was selected by the society as a recipient of its help. He spent over two years at the free grammar school at Hull, where Joseph Milner, member of the Elland Society and ecclesiastical historian, was headmaster. Milner and other influential reformers of the evangelical persuasion within the Church of England were among Marsden's mentors at this time. Marsden became a member of Magdalene Hall, Cambridge, in 1790, again under the auspices of the Elland Society.

The Rev. Richard Johnson, chaplain in the British colony of New South Wales, being in need of assistance, Marsden was appointed second chaplain on 1 January 1793. In consequence he left Cambridge without taking a degree. On 21 April 1793 he married Elizabeth Fristan. On 26 May 1793 he was ordained by the Bishop of Exeter. He and his bride took passage in a convict ship, the William, arriving at Port Jackson on 10 March 1794. Their first child, Anne, was born on the voyage. On 4 July 1794 they took up residence at Parramatta, some 15 miles from the main settlement at Sydney Cove in Port Jackson.

As background to a more detailed consideration of Marsden as a figure in the history of New Zealand, his life and activities in New South Wales may be briefly summarised. In accordance with Government policy he was given grants of land, the chaplaincies being official positions; and he acquired further land by purchase. These lands, situated near Parramatta, were worked by assigned convict labour, again according to custom. In due course Marsden became an outstanding and prosperous farmer, his holdings in 1807 being some 3,000 acres, a fact which met with some criticism locally because of the alleged preoccupation of Marsden with his temporal affairs. In 1800 he succeeded Johnson as principal chaplain, and was a senior officiating minister of the Church of England in New South Wales until his death, performing manifold good works. For many years he was a member of the Bench of Magistrates at Parramatta, his career in this capacity being a chequered one. In 1804 he was party to the administering of 300 lashes to a convict insurrectionist in an attempt to ascertain by confession where certain pikes were hidden. It should be remembered that punishments of as much as 1,000 lashes were not uncommon at that time. In 1822 Marsden and other magistrates at Parramatta, having refused to act with a fellow magistrate because of charges against him that were unproved, and having acted beyond their powers in trying a woman convict for perjury, were dismissed from the Magistracy. Marsden's relationships with many of the influential official and private personages of New South Wales were frequently stormy, and he suffered a number of calumnies which were proved to be untrue. His career in New South Wales marks him out as one of the colony's most formative early figures.

Marsden's interest in missionary activities had been quickened in 1798 by contacts at Port Jackson with missionaries from the London Missionary Society's station at Tahiti. He became active in helping the directors of the Society in their various endeavours in the Pacific Islands. Marsden, having met at Port Jackson some visiting New Zealand Maoris, among whom the Bay of Islands chiefs Te Pahi and Ruatara made a deep impression on him, proceeded to London and pressed the Church Missionary Society (a Church of England affiliate) to establish a mission in New Zealand. It was agreed that a nucleus of artisan missionaries should form a settlement, and that Marsden should supervise the mission on behalf of the Society. Marsden accordingly arrived back in Port Jackson early in 1810 accompanied by William Hall, a carpenter, and John King, a ropemaker, and their wives. By a coincidence Ruatara, whom Marsden had met in Sydney, was on the same ship. Marsden learned much about New Zealand from him, and secured Ruatara as a valuable ally at the Bay of Islands.

The inception of the mission was delayed for a time by news of the massacre of the company of the Boyd (q.v.) on the New Zealand coast in 1809. In the following years Marsden maintained his plans. Thomas Kendall, a schoolmaster, and his wife came out to Port Jackson in 1813 as further recruits to the proposed project.

In 1814 Marsden sent Kendall and Hall on an exploratory visit to the Bay of Islands in the Active, a vessel belonging to Marsden himself. Kendall and Hall returned with Ruatara, Hongi, Korokoro, and other influential Bay of Islands chiefs, and reported favourably on the prospects of the mission.

Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales, supported Marsden in his desire to proceed with the establishment of the mission. On 28 November 1814 Marsden set out in the Active from Port Jackson with Kendall, Hall, King, their wives and children, and three artisans, accompanied by Ruatara, Hongi, Korokoro, and other Maoris. They arrived in the Bay of Islands on 23 December 1814, and anchored near Rangihoua, on the north side of the Bay. On Christmas Day Marsden held the first Christian service in New Zealand. On 24 February 1815 he purchased the plot of land at Rangihoua on which New Zealand's first missionary settlement was established. Two days later he departed for Port Jackson. On this first voyage Marsden paid visits to Maori chiefs at North Cape, Whangaroa, Waimate, Hauraki, and in the vicinity of the Bay of Islands. In his journal of the visit he recorded with telling power of narrative and description the story of these adventurous contacts, and of the Maori way of life at that time. In 1815 Marsden's plans for a seminary at Parramatta for the instruction of young Maoris came to fruition, and in succeeding years many New Zealand chiefs and sons of chiefs attended there.

In July 1819 Marsden departed from Port Jackson for the Bay of Islands on his second visit, accompanied by the Rev. John Gare Butler and family. Butler was installed at Kerikeri, in Hongi's territory, as superintendent of the mission. Marsden returned to Port Jackson in November 1819. Again Marsden's report of this visit contains invaluable details of his contacts with and observations of the old-time Maoris. He extended his sphere of contacts by visiting Hokianga, giving a detailed account of the district and the contemporary chiefs, and also the Taiamai district.

On 27 February 1820, Marsden was once more at the Bay of Islands, having come over with the naval ship Dromedary for the official purpose of using his influence for the securing of logs for naval purposes. On this third visit he remained in New Zealand for nine months. This was a particularly memorable visit from the point of view of exploration and ethnological observation.

When Marsden arrived at the Hauraki Gulf on the naval ship Coromandel, he made an overland journey in company with the Taiamai chief Te Morenga to Tauranga. Marsden returned overland to the Bay of Islands via Kaipara on the west coast and Whangarei on the east. Later he went with Butler in a whaleboat to the Auckland isthmus, and was the first European to cross it and describe Manukau Harbour, under the dates 9 and 10 November 1820. He proceeded thence along the west coast on foot to Hokianga, and finally rejoined the Dromedary, which arrived at Port Jackson on 21 December.

In July 1823 Marsden set out from Port Jackson for the Bay of Islands on his fourth visit, accompanied by the Rev. Henry Williams and his family. Butler and Marsden had fallen out, and Kendall was suspended from the mission for misconduct. Marsden determined to remove Butler from the mission and install Williams in his place as head of the mission. After Butler had reluctantly agreed to withdraw, Marsden levelled charges of drunkenness against him on the dubious testimony of two sea captains. Williams was installed at Paihia, which thus became the headquarters of the mission. This may be taken as marking the successful completion of Marsden's establishment of the mission. Marsden departed for Port Jackson from the Bay of Islands on 14 November 1823.

On 5 April 1827, Marsden paid his fifth visit to New Zealand, leaving again for Port Jackson five days later. The reason for this visit was to ensure the safety of the mission by using his influence in the pacification of the Maoris, following on news that the Wesleyan missionaries at Whangaroa had had to withdraw because of the conquest of the district by Hongi. Marsden, however, found that the feared threat to Paihia, Kerikeri, and Rangihoua had passed.

From 8 March 1830 to 27 May of the same year Marsden was again in New Zealand, being accompanied by his daughter Mary. The visit had been intended as a routine inspection of the Church Missionary Society's missions, but was enlivened by the “Girls' War” in the Bay of Islands district, in which Marsden and Williams acted as pacifiers. On this visit Marsden did not go farther afield than the Bay of Islands district.

Marsden was now 65 years of age, and the New Zealand mission, under the firm leadership of Henry Williams, no longer needed his frequent presence. In his later years an increasing mellowness developed in him, enforced in some degree by the infirmities of age. He made one more visit to New Zealand, his seventh, being in the country from 7 February to 4 July 1837, in company with his daughter Martha. He returned to Port Jackson with Hobson (later to be Governor of New Zealand) in the Rattlesnake, visiting en route, as a fitting climax to his travels, the Society's station in the Hauraki Gulf, and the Maoris of Cloudy Bay, Cook Strait.

On 12 May 1838 Marsden died at Windsor in New South Wales, and was buried in the cemetery attached to his church at Parramatta.

Marsden's wife had predeceased him in 1835. She had been an invalid from paralysis since 1811. Marsden was survived by a son, Charles Simeon, who dissipated the holdings he inherited from his father, and five daughters, Anne, Elizabeth, Mary, Jane, and Martha. Family papers show that Marsden was a devoted husband and father.

No stronger or more dynamic personality than Marsden's was ever in New Zealand. His untiring efforts to bring the New Zealand Maoris within the Christian fold, pursued to the limit of his great physical vigour and with unflinching personal bravery, had great direct and indirect effects on the history of New Zealand. Among the direct ones were the success of the mission itself, the interest in New Zealand as a sphere of British influence and settlement which this occasioned, the inland explorations which Marsden carried out, and his introduction of key personages in Henry Williams and other outstanding early missionaries. The indirect ones were the effect – not entirely happy – of these accelerations of European impact on the Maoris themselves, and the invaluable factual contributions to Maori ethnology with which Marsden's writings endowed New Zealand's early literature. Marsden himself was not sympathetic to much of the Maori culture, thinking, under the influence of his stern evangelical creed, that many elements in it were of the Devil. Nor was Marsden always tolerant of or merciful toward what he conceived to be human error, whether of thought or deed. On balance, however, Samuel Marsden must be set down as the outstanding European figure in the history of New Zealand in the decade from 1814 to 1823.

by Charles Andrew Sharp, B.A.(OXON.), M.A.(N.Z.), Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington.

• The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, 1765–1838, ed. Elder, J. R. (1932)
• Samuel Marsden, Johnstone, S. M. (1932)
• Marsden and the Missions, Ramsden, E. (1936).

(1889– ).

Physicist.

Ernest Marsden was born at Rishton, Lancashire, on 19 February 1889 and educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Blackburn, and the University of Manchester, where he studied under Lord Rutherford. He held a fellowship at Manchester University from 1911 to 1914, when he became professor of physics at Victoria University of Wellington (1914–22). During this period he served overseas with the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force, was mentioned in dispatches, and received the M.C. From 1922 to 1926 he was Assistant Director of Education, but in the latter year was appointed Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. On his retirement in 1946 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society of London and became in 1947 president of the New Zealand Royal Society. He is a member of the Board of Science and Art, the New Zealand Nuclear Science Committee, and is a guest research worker at the Dominion Physical Laboratory (Lower Hutt) and the Royal Cancer Hospital (London). Marsden was knighted C.M.G. (1946). He holds the degrees of D.Sc., Manchester, and hon. D.Sc., Oxford, as well as other awards. In May 1965 Victoria University of Wellington conferred on Marsden an honorary doctorate of science.

Throughout the Western world marriage is understood as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman for purposes variously stated, but which would be agreed to include mutual aid and comfort and the procreation and education of children. The existence of facilities for divorce in most countries is not inconsistent with this concept.

British sovereignty brought with it to New Zealand the marriage law of England. Although with slight modifications it was suitable for the white settlers, it was in many ways inappropriate for the Maoris at the time. An 1842 Ordinance seems to have assumed that the marriages of Maoris according to their customs were unaffected by the imported law. In 1888, however, the Supreme Court, in a decision which was doubtful legally and deplorable socially, held that the ordinary marriage law applied to Maoris; and that the children of Maori customary marriages were illegitimate. Such marriages, however, continued to be recognised for the purpose of succession to Maori land until 1951. Since then, all marriages in New Zealand have been governed by the same law.

Most marriages in New Zealand are church weddings and these have full legal effect, the officiating minister registering the marriage for State as well as church purposes. The system is an adaptation of the English system to a country with no established church. Purely civil marriages are also provided for, slightly less than one marriage in five being so celebrated. Exceptionally, where one party is a serviceman unable to return to New Zealand, marriage by proxy is permitted.

The minimum age of marriage is 16 for both parties. Marriages of persons under 16 were made void in 1933, but the law was altered in 1939 and they are now valid although unlawful. Generally the consent of both parents if living is needed to the marriage of anyone under 21, but absence of consent does not invalidate the marriage. Consent is required to protect minors from imprudent marriages rather than to vindicate parental rights. If no parent or guardian is living, the consent of a Magistrate is needed, and a Magistrate may over-ride a refusal of consent by a parent or guardian. As elsewhere, the proportion of minors marrying is increasing. In 1961 about two brides in five and one bridegroom in 10 were under 21.

The modern concept of marriage as a partnership, while increasing the possibilities for happiness, can make unions less stable. The number of broken marriages is a matter of deep concern to many today. To make divorce appreciably harder is, in New Zealand circumstances, no solution. Better education for marriage, and assistance to married people in overcoming their problems, promise more. Appreciation of this has caused a growing interest in marriage guidance organisations along British and Australian lines, with the State encouraging, providing facilities, and training counsellors.

by Bruce James Cameron, B.A., LL.M., Legal Adviser, Department of Justice, Wellington.

• New Zealand, the Development of its Laws and Constitution, ed. Robson, J. L. (1954)
• Family Law, Inglis, B. D. (1960).

(Makaira audax).

This is the common big-game fish of New Zealand waters, but the species ranges over much of the warmer water areas of the Pacific. It grows to about 9 ft in length with a weight of up to 380 lb, but the average is about 250 lb. It differs from the black marlin in having less depth to the body, more conspicuous vertical stripes, and is considerably smaller. Both species visit northern New Zealand waters from December to about April. Marlins differ from the broadbill in having a retractive sail-like dorsal fin, paired flanges on each side near the tail, and curious bony extensions of the vertebrae which interlock and give both strength and flexibility to the backbone. The vertebrae in the broadbill lack these interlocking structures. Marlins fight magnificently and frequently leap clean out of the water. The flesh is good eating, having a distinctive and very palatable flavour.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

Black Marlin (Istiompax indicus) is the largest of three species of marlins which have brought New Zealand into prominence as a base for excellent big-game fishing. The best grounds are off the Bay of Islands, Whangaroa, and Mayor Island. An example taken at the Bay of Islands in 1928 weighed 876 lb. This fine fish is dark blue above, with indistinct vertical stripes and bluish-silver below. It is deeper in the body and a much larger and heavier fish than the striped marlin.

by Arthur William Baden Powell, Assistant Director, Auckland Institute and Museum.

Not surprisingly the region has a more than average proportion engaged in transport and communications, 11·11 per cent, for it acts as an important bridge between the Islands. The establishment in 1962 of a car- and rail-ferry service between Wellington and Picton is rapidly transforming the transport pattern between the two Islands and has given a fillip to Picton's development. In 1961, 49,662 tons of cargo were carried by the Straits Air Freight express service (the tonnage for 1948, the first full year of operation, was 5,859). But as the rail-ferry service is now in some ways in direct competition with air freight, both services will have to maintain their operations at profit only by an increase in volume. Within the region itself transport is constricted to a limited number of routes. Not until 1945 was Blenheim connected to the main railway system of the South Island. This delay inevitably stimulated road transport and all traffic between Blenheim and Nelson still goes by road.

In terms of the national economy the Marlborough region is a small one, containing only 1·15 per cent of the national population. It is not an unfavoured region and has shown itself capable of maintaining a moderate rate of expansion during the post-war period. It contains no outstandingly undeveloped resources and, while in previous decades it has been an area of marked outward migration, since 1951 it has been capable of sustaining an increase and finding employment for that increase. It is anticipated, hopefully, that in the period 1961–81 the population will increase by 37·40 per cent, that is to say, at half the national rate of increase. But whatever the actual increase sustained, it is certain that growth will follow the trends, already in existence, towards a greater degree of urbanisation and a concentration within the more favoured agricultural districts of the region.

by Samuel Harvey Franklin, B.COM.GEOG., M.A.(BIRMINGHAM), Senior Lecturer, Geography Department, Victoria University of Wellington.

• Marlborough – a Regional Survey, N.Z. Ministry of Works (1962)
• N.Z. Journal of Agriculture, Vol. 86, Apr-May 1953, “Farming in New Zealand – Marlborough”, Beggs, J. P.