New Zealand extends from 34° s to 47° s and thus lies within the broad belt of westerly winds which encircles the hemisphere in the temperate latitudes. Situated in the midst of a vast ocean and far removed from the nearest large land masses, it enjoys a climate that is essentially maritime-temperate, characterised by rapid weather changes, frequent though not excessive rain, and a small range of temperature from winter to summer. Combined with an abundance of sunshine, these conditions are very favourable for a wide variety of plants, particularly for high-grade pasture grasses so important to the meat, wool, and dairy industries which produce the bulk of the country's wealth.

Within New Zealand the climate shows considerable variation, due chiefly to the shape and topography of the country itself. The chain of high mountains extending from south-west to north-east for 800 miles rises as a formidable barrier in the path of the prevailing westerly winds. The effect is to produce much sharper climatic contrasts from west to east than in the north-south direction. In some inland areas of the South Island just east of the mountains the climate is distinctly continental in character, despite the fact that no part of New Zealand is more than 90 miles from sea.

(1813–93).

First Speaker, House of Representatives.

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

Charles Clifford was born on 1 January 1813, near Liverpool, England, the son of George Lambert Clifford, a Roman Catholic of aristocratic descent. He was educated at Stonyhurst and gained some knowledge of surveying before being employed as an engineer by the London and North West Railway. Seeing little opportunity of advancement he decided to emigrate and, with his cousin William Vavasour, arrived at Wellington by the George Fyfe in 1842. The pair had formed a partnership before leaving England, but after spending some time clearing their land near Ngaio and Clifford's finding such hard work was not to his taste, they ran a land, shipping, and commission agency. Conditions were bad and, convinced that New Zealand was exceptionally suitable for sheep, Clifford explored the Wairarapa and leased some 20,000 acres from the Maoris. With another cousin, Frederick Weld, he drove his first sheep obtained from Sydney, and in May 1844 began a run in the Wairarapa. The undertaking developed satisfactorily but because of increased rent Clifford looked for land elsewhere. He found it near Cape Campbell in Marlborough where he leased over 200,000 acres which, although later reduced to 66,000 acres freehold and 12,000 acres leasehold, gave ample scope for development. Sheep were again purchased in Sydney and in August 1847 were on the Flaxbourne estate under the care of Weld. In December 1850 further land for a run of nearly 60,000 acres was taken up at Stonyhurst in North Canterbury and this was stocked two years later.

While he did not believe it was wise for his private affairs to suffer for the public good, Clifford was keenly interested in politics and, whenever he could satisfactorily combine the two, never hesitated to do so. He was one of the leading figures in the Port Nicholson settlement and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1844, in which capacity he was called on to attend meetings of the Legislative Council in Auckland. He found, however, that Governor FitzRoy would not brook opposition and used the official majority to ensure the passage of legislation. Clifford refused to attend the 1845 session and resigned stating that the meetings were an idle and useless formality. During the Maori troubles of 1846 he took an active part in the organisation of the militia.

Vavasour returned to England in 1845 and in 1847 the partnership was dissolved. Clifford visited England between 1848 and 1850 to obtain finance for his ventures. As a member of the Wellington Constitutional Association, he had begun to play an increasing part in the campaign for self-government and now he did his best to lay before the Colonial Office the settlers' view on the Government of New Zealand. He met with little success and became associated with the Colonial Reform Society, interested in the reform of colonial government and securing for the colonies control of their own affairs.

After the coming into force of the Constitution Act of 1852 Clifford was elected to the Wellington Provincial Council, heading the poll despite an attempt to stir up anti-Catholic feeling. He was made Speaker, an office he held throughout the first Council. He was also elected as one of the members of the General Assembly for Wellington, attending the session in Auckland despite his reluctance to be so long away from his home. Here, as expected, he was unanimously elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and immediately had to face the question of prayers at the opening of each meeting, an issue raised by James Macandrew Although Clifford was a religious man, he was not prepared to support an observance which might favour one sect or give the impression of an “established” or State religion, and this view was supported by the House. Later, Clifford was a member of the Committee which recommended that the Speaker should read prayers, and drew up the first prayer used regularly by the House.

Clifford was also one of the Committee to lay down the Standing Orders. He drew on the precedents of the House of Commons in his conduct of affairs but so great was his feeling on the subject of responsible government that, despite the growing custom in Britain against this practice, he spoke in debate in Committee. Later he had to handle the very difficult situation when the Administrator, Wynyard, prorogued the House without notice in order to put an end temporarily to the demand for responsible government. While Clifford's feelings were with the House, he carried out the Standing Orders and at the same time allowed the House to protest against an infringement of its privileges by the Executive.

A strong provincialist, Clifford did all possible to assist Wellington. He was re-elected Speaker for the second Parliament, and was knighted in 1858. During 1859 he decided to retire from politics and left New Zealand at the end of 1860 to live in England. He did not, however, lose interest in the colony and during the early years of the Maori Wars did much to represent the opinions of the New Zealand Government to the notice of the British authorities. When the House of Representatives decided to purchase a mace, Clifford was asked to act as its agent. He decided on the design and finally purchased it at his own expense. He was also responsible for the design of costumes for the Speaker and the Clerks. In 1871 he presented his portrait to the House as the first of what was hoped would be a gallery of Speakers. Unfortunately both the portrait and the mace were destroyed by fire in 1907.

Clifford interested himself in financial matters and was created a baronet in 1887. He died on 27 February 1893. Clifford married in 1847 Mary Anne (died 1899), daughter of John Hercy, deputy Lieutenant of Berkshire. There were four sons and a daughter by the marriage. He was succeeded by Sir George Hugh Clifford (1847–1930) who managed the Flaxbourne and Stonyhurst estates and took a keen interest in sheep breeding and horse racing.

Clifford established the high standard of the New Zealand speakership. He was just and firm and at the same time conciliatory, and did his utmost to see that the House obtained and maintained the privileges to which it was entitled. He was a successful business man and settler and also did much for the economic development of the colony.

by James Oakley Wilson, D.S.C., M.COM., A.L.A., Chief Librarian, General Assembly Library, Wellington.

• Early New Zealand Families, Cresswell, D., 1952
• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958)
• Clifford Papers (1848–54) (MSS), Canterbury Museum.

(1801–72).

United States Consul and early settler.

A new biography of Clendon, James Reddy appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

James Clendon was born at Deal, Kent. He became a London merchant and shipowner in association with his brother, John Chitty Clendon, and began trading to New Zealand about 1828. In 1830 he visited the Bay of Islands in the City of Edinburgh, bought land from Pomare at Okiato, a few miles south of Kororareka, and settled there in 1832 in partnership with Samuel Stephenson. His business prospered, and his friendship with Pomare, Nene, and other chiefs made him one of the most influential Europeans in northern New Zealand.

Captain Clendon exercised more power in the lawless thirties than did the Resident, James Busby, for he was actively in touch with the Maoris and the European traders and settlers of Kororareka, whereas Busby was cut off at Waitangi and too preoccupied with writing letters. When the Residency was attacked (April 1834), Clendon sponsored a petition from the settlers asking for military protection, but this was not afforded. He fell out with Busby in 1835 when he, Thomas McDonnell, and others tried to prohibit the sale of spirits which were causing havoc in Maori society. When Baron de Thierry claimed New Zealand as his kingdom, Clendon supported Busby's efforts to form a confederation of Maori chiefs, and witnessed the Maori Declaration of Independence (28 October 1835). During the tribal wars at the Bay of Islands in 1837, his intervention along with that of the Rev. Henry Williams saved the lives of many European settlers, and eventually brought about peace. The Bay had become the regular resort of American as well as British and French whalers and traders, and in 1839 Clendon was appointed American Consul, holding office till April 1841. This did not prevent him from rendering the fullest assistance to Captain Hobson in negotiating for the recognition of British sovereignty, and he was one of the witnesses to the Treaty of Waitangi (6 February 1840).

In March 1840 it was decided to form a temporary capital at the Bay of Islands, and Felton Mathew, the Surveyor-General, selected Clendon's property as the most suitable site. Clendon demanded £23,000 for it, but eventually agreed to sell for £15,000. The property comprised 380 acres, a dwelling house, a large store, two small cottages, and sundry other buildings. £15,000 was not dear compared with the speculative prices then prevailing, but Governor Gipps repudiated the deal, and Clendon received only £2,250 in cash and 10,000 acres of compensation land at Papakura, nominally worth 1s. 6d. an acre but unsalable in the depressed market of 1845. He complained that he was very much the loser, forgetting that Okiato too was almost valueless by then.

In 1840 he was made a Justice of the Peace and became an ex officio member of New Zealand's first Legislative Council (1840–44). He served as police magistrate at the Bay of Islands during Hone Heke's rebellion, and his reports throw much light on the conduct of the war and the condition of the Maoris. One of his letters in the National Archives, Wellington, still contains samples of home-made Maori gunpowder, reminiscent of Governor Grey's prohibition of the sale of arms and ammunition. He later held various other offices – subtreasurer, registrar, police inspector, and customs collector at the Bay of Islands and at Rawene, where he resided after 1861. He continued in business till the end of his life, but latterly his affairs became involved through extending too much credit to his customers. He died at Rawene on 26 October 1872.

by James Rutherford, M.A.(DURHAM), PH.D.(MICH.) (1906–63), Historian, Auckland.

• Clendon MSS, Auckland Public Library
• C.O. 209 Series, Public Records Office, London (National Archives, Wellington).

There are few more beautiful inflorescences than the large panicles of white flowers, 2–4 in. in diameter, of the puawhananga or Clematis paniculata which appear in late winter and spring in the crowns of forest trees throughout New Zealand. This is one of the nine or so species of Clematis endemic to New Zealand. Altogether, there are about 250 species in this genus, mostly in temperate regions. Apart from the native ones, at least two introduced ones have become garden escapes. The commonest is the traveller's joy, C. vit-alba.

C. paniculata will climb to heights of 30 or more feet and the vine can increase to a thickness of as much as 6 in. through at ground level. Leaves are three foliate, and the broadly ovate leaflets are 2–3 in. long, entire to bluntly toothed. The leaves of seedlings and juveniles are much narrower. This variation of leaf form is to be found in other New Zealand species. The variation is so great in some species that it is difficult to separate closely related ones. Thus C. marata and C. bracteolata form a complex that is difficult to untangle. The flowers of C. paniculata are fragrant, but a species with much more strongly scented flowers is C. foetida, peculiarly named by a French botanist, for it is the opposite to foetid. This species is also found throughout the country. The flowers are yellow and are not nearly as conspicuous as those of C. paniculata. C. afoliata is a peculiar, leafless species in which the leaves appear as spirally coiled petioles only. It is found growing locally in a few places in the southern half of the North Island, and in rocky and open places in tussock grassland in the South Island.

by Alec Lindsay Poole, M.SC., B.FOR.SC., F.R.S.N.Z., Director-General of Forests, Wellington.

(1859–1929).

Sixth Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland.

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

Henry William Cleary was the sixth Roman Catholic Bishop of Auckland. From the time of his arrival in New Zealand in 1898 until his death, he was the country's most active Roman Catholic journalist. Cleary, the son of an Irish farmer, was born at Oulart, in the County of Wexford, on 15 January 1859. He was educated at St. Aidan's Academy, Enniscorthy (1874–76), and began his seminary training at St. Peter's College, Wexford City. He went on to Maynooth in 1878 and thence to the Pontifical Roman Seminary of the Lateran. From 1880 until 1883 he continued his studies at the Papal University of the Alpollinare. His studies were interrupted by recurrent illness, but he finally completed his training at the Seminary of St. Sulpice, near Paris, in 1884.

After his ordination at Enniscorthy on 11 January 1885, he continued to suffer ill health. He was first appointed to the House of Missions, then to parish work, then to his old college at Wexford, where he taught modern languages – he was familiar with French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. His health remaining poor, he was sent first to southern France and Spain and eventually to Australia. He arrived in Australia in November 1888 as an assistant priest for the diocese of Ballarat. During his 10–year stay in Australia he became an ardent controversialist in the press, and also published his first book, The Orange Society.

In 1898 Bishop Verdon of Dunedin invited him to become editor of the New Zealand Tablet. He held this appointment until 1910. During his editorship the paper received marks of Papal approbation. An Apostolic Blessing was granted by Leo XIII in 1900, and in 1908 Pius X conferred a Doctorate of Divinity on Cleary. During this period, too, Cleary published in Dunedin two more books, An Impeached Nation, dealing with the background of Irish agrarian disturbances, and Secular versus Religious Education. This latter was an elaboration of Cleary's contributions to a sustained controversy on religious education in the Otago Daily Times. He was also a contributor to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, published in the United States, during this period in Dunedin.

At the end of 1909 he left New Zealand on a trip which began with a visit to South America, where he established Catholic news agencies and linked them up with centres in New York and Australia. While Cleary was away, in February 1910, Dr Lenihan, the fifth Bishop of Auckland, died and Cleary was appointed to succeed him. He was consecrated at Enniscorthy on 21 August 1910, took possession of his see on 11 January 1911, and administered it thereafter until his death on 9 December 1929. During the period of his episcopate the Roman Catholic population of the diocese rose from 31,000 to 55,000, and the number of diocesan clergy, of parishes, and of primary schools increased more or less proportionately.

Certain groups of his people seem to have held a special interest for him: isolated rural Catholics, to whom he made long arduous visitations in the remote backblocks of his diocese; the Maori people, whose language he learned so that he could preach to them and catechise them in it, and for whom he established St. Peter's Rural Training College at Takapuna; and children, specially the orphans in the Star of the Sea Home at Howick. He was interested in collecting records of early missionary activity and went on from this to complete and order the diocesan archives. He was fascinated by the technological developments of his time and added a delight in aeroplnes and aeronautics to his passion for motoring and car engines. He was the first bishop in the world to use air travel for episcopal visitation and his flight in 1919 for this purpose was the first for any form of business travel in Australasia. He was a foundation member of the Auckland Aero Club and subscribed to the world's leading aviation journals, which he sent to the club's rooms.

In 1916 Cleary had to go abroad for medical treatment. On arrival in London he found that there was no Roman Catholic chaplain with the New Zealand Second Brigade in France. He volunteered as a chaplain and served in the front line for some months, and was reported as displaying conspicuous energy and courage. He returned to New Zealand in October 1917 and became a foundation member of the Returned Servicemen's Association. His response to the influenza epidemic of 1918 was warm and practical. As all the Auckland hospitals were full, Cleary converted three Catholic schools into temporary hospitals and staffed and equipped them for the use of all who needed them.

In 1918 he founded The Month, which he edited until his death. His avowed intention was to provide statements of the Catholic viewpoint on current events. The immediate and pressing need for such a journal he ascribed to what he declared to be the “campaign of defamation of Catholics” then being conducted in New Zealand. He intended the paper to be strictly non-partisan in party politics and he successfully adhered to this policy. The Month from 1918 on provides a record of Cleary's public activities and a full expression of his views on all the issues with which he was involved, since he wrote a great deal for the paper as well as editing it. At the time there were three issues of general interest in New Zealand with which The Month, under Cleary's editorship, was concerned. The first was the campaign to bring sectarian issues into politics. This began in the early years of the century, but entered a phase of much greater intensity in 1917 which lasted into the early 1920s. The influence of the Protestant Political Association on New Zealand politics in this period has not yet been investigated. But when the history of the association comes to be written, the early issues of The Month will constitute a major source of information and contemporary comment on some aspects of its activities.

On the licensing problem Cleary had a definite and frequently reiterated opinion. This was that the evils attendant on the drink traffic under the existing system were so great as to warrant the experiment of prohibition. He invariably emphasised very strongly that his views on this matter represented a personal judgment on existing local circumstances and were not to be regarded as official teaching or direction.

Throughout the 1920s the Bible-in-Schools League was active after a period of quiescence following its campaign of 1911–14. Cleary was the chief spokesman for the Catholic hierarchy in resisting the campaign, both in his voluminous and vigorous writings on the issue and as the representative of the hierarchy appearing before the Education Committee of the House on various occasions.

It is difficult at this stage to assess Cleary's significance in the social and religious history of this country. What should be noted is that the period in which he was active, both as a journalist and as a bishop, was one in which the Catholic community was necessarily particularly concerned with its position in New Zealand society. For the greater part of that period of over 30 years he edited one or other of the two Catholic journals. As these contain so much of his own prolific writing they constitute Cleary's contribution to the social education of the Catholic community, as well as being the most obvious expression of that community's attitudes, opinions, and preoccupations in the period.

Cleary's contribution to the institutional development of the Church was in no way remarkable. But by his temperament and interests, by the personal respect he won, and by his direct engagement in controversy, Cleary addressed himself to what was probably the most pressing problem of his own people at that time, their integration as a community into this society.

by Betty Mary O'Dowd, M.A., Warden, Helen Connon Hall, University of Canterbury.

• The Month, Dec 1929
• New Zealand Herald, 10 Dec 1929 (Obit).

(1798–1875)

Missionary and public servant.

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

Born in England, the son of a carpenter of Norwich, Clarke was apprenticed to a London gunsmith. Besides this trade, young Clarke picked up a number of other skills, including carpentry and an elementary knowledge of engineering, which were later to stand him in good stead. While still very young, Clarke became interested in missions and offered himself to the Church Missionary Society for work in one of their posts overseas. The society had need of keen, pious tradesmen for their mission in New Zealand to serve as catechists and accordingly Clarke and his young wife were dispatched to serve in this field. He arrived in Sydney in October 1822 and, after staying with Samuel Marsden at Parramatta for some time, was sent to work in a settlement then being formed for the aborigines of New South Wales. He stayed there for about a year and was then sent on to New Zealand, taking passage in the French hydrographic vessel Coquille, reaching the Bay of Islands on 3 April 1824.

Captain Duperrey of the Coquille made an amused comment on his young passenger: “dans sa nouvelle condition de missionaire, il avait pris un ton et des prétentions bien au-dessus de celles d'un simple ouvrier.” Obviously Clarke could not follow his trade as gunsmith in New Zealand, unless it were to repair the muskets of the warlike Ngapuhi, which Marsden would not by any means countenance. Hongi Hika was chagrined at this prohibition, protesting that he wanted a good workman and not another ariki, but Clarke managed to resist his blandishments, forgot his training in the gunsmith trade, and took up teaching.

Clarke was stationed at Kerikeri where he opened a school for Maori boys and girls, some of whom lived with his family. Here he taught the rudiments of reading and writing and of useful crafts and trades such as carpentry and black-smithing. He continued this occupation for the next six years until 1830, when he was selected to found the mission station at Waimate along with the Rev. W. Yate and two other catechists, Richard Davis and James Hamlin. His knowledge of carpentry and engineering proved to be of essential value in establishing this station. Here he continued his school for Maori boys and girls and a little later took on the additional duty of secretary to the local committee of missionaries.

From his first days in New Zealand Clarke took a great interest in Maori customs, laws, and habits, and seized every opportunity to increase his knowledge in this respect. Over the years he acquired a wide knowledge of these matters, and succeeded in gaining the confidence and respect of many Maoris. At the same time his energy and ambition drove him to expand his scholastic acquirements which, when he first arrived in New Zealand, appear to have been very modest.

In 1837 the Waimate mission station was visited by Captain W. Hobson of HMS Rattlesnake. Clarke's meeting with Hobson proved eventful for him, for on Hobson's subsequent appointment to New Zealand the impression earlier made on him by Clarke's apparent knowledge, zeal, and ability led Hobson to offer Clarke the position of Protector of Aborigines. Conscientiously thinking that his acceptance of this post would forward the ideals of the mission, Clarke accepted with the approval and blessings of his fellow missionaries. He was formally appointed on 6 April 1840.

The position of Protector of Aborigines was created on the instructions of the British Government, and its purpose was to protect the Maoris from injustice, cruelty, and wrong, to establish and maintain friendly relations with them, to encourage the development of their capacities, to preserve their health and general well-being, to educate their youth, and to diffuse the blessings of Christianity. In practice, the interpretation placed by Hobson and Clarke on these instructions tended to emphasise the work of the Protector in preventing fraudulent dealings with the Maoris over their land and in upholding the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi.

These admirable intentions were the result of an increased enlightenment on the part of the British Government towards the native races over whom British rule was being extended, and they owe much to the efforts of missionary and other charitable bodies (in particular, the Church Missionary Society in the case of New Zealand) to inject a measure of their evangelical Christianity into colonial administration. The Church Missionary Society took a jaundiced view of the colonisers of New Zealand, especially the New Zealand Company and its settlers, which was shared to the full by Clarke. This low opinion of his fellow countrymen was not altogether unjustified, but it became exaggerated, and Clarke tended to take the view that all Maoris were or would probably become the innocent victims of unscrupulous and rapacious Europeans.

Partly because of Clarke's unrivalled knowledge of Maori affairs and partly because of his connections with the influential Church Missionary Society, by whom he was highly esteemed, he was able to exert great influence over Governor Hobson, his temporary successor Shortland, and Governor FitzRoy. Clarke's approach to the task given to him strongly affected the direction of the local Government's administration in the early, critical years of the colony's history. It may be questioned whether this administration was directed to any particular end, or whether it merely did what it could to survive from day to day. It is certain, however, that it was powerless to achieve anything but the simplest aims – any larger ambition, such as stabilising the economy, maintaining peace, or introducing law and order, was well beyond its resources and capacity. In these circumstances it is no wonder that the operations of Clarke's department were almost a caricature of the British Government's intentions in establishing it. Besides the local Government's lack of means, it must be observed that, although these intentions were expressed clearly enough, the local Government was never vouchsafed any precise directions as to how they were to be achieved with the resources made available to it.

Nevertheless, despite these unpromising circumstances, Clarke managed to carry out his duties with considerable credit to himself. His observations on the state and feelings of the Maoris and on their relations with the settlers and the Government were keen and penetrating. In general his assessments were sound, although at times it appears that he could not completely reconcile himself to the fact that New Zealand was being, and would continue to be, colonised by Europeans. He was fully aware of and deplored the ineffectuality of the local Government; to its numerous unfulfilled promises and unexecuted threats he attributed much of the unrest among the Maoris. On a number of occasions he submitted that the Government should have been in a position to give the Maoris a check, and to have dictated rather than entreated peace.

For all his desire to do good and his abilities, Clarke was in some respects a baneful influence. He made himself a hated figure among many of his fellow settlers by his arrogance and indiscretion and by some sweeping generalisations about Maori-Pakeha relations. These were not only wrong in themselves but they also brought his office into disrepute and hopelessly prejudiced most of the settlers against it. By doing so the chance that his functions would be useful and beneficial was substantially reduced, and brought into popular contempt the British Government's well intentioned aim to smooth the path of settlement by benevolent persuasion. A greater man than Clarke would not have tolerated working for such an ineffectual Government; a stronger Government would not have tolerated a man of Clarke's temperament in a key position.

The Protectorate Department was abolished by Governor Grey in 1846, and Clarke was offered another position in terms that made it impossible for him to accept. He then retired to his property at Waimate and resumed his connection with the Church Missionary Society as local secretary. His mortification was increased by Grey's bringing an action against him to test the legality of his claims to his Waimate property, and to add to his troubles the Church Missionary Society dismissed him, along with the Rev. Henry Williams, for failing to surrender the title deeds to their property. Finally, however, a reinvestigation of his land claims upheld Clarke's contentions and in 1859 he was awarded their full extent.

Despite the suspicion with which he was regarded by most settlers, Clarke managed to retain some popularity in the Bay of Islands, as was shown by his election to the New Ulster Council (which never met) in 1852 and to the Auckland Provincial Council in 1853 – a seat which he held until 1855. In 1861 he was appointed Civil Commissioner and President of the Bay of Islands Runanga, which formed part of the machinery of Grey's Maori administration. This was no doubt a tribute to his undoubted abilities and to the respect in which he was held by the Ngapuhi tribe. In 1864 he was appointed Judge of the Native Land Court. His concern for Maori education continued unabated as is shown by an interesting and comprehensive plan he drew up and submitted to the Government in 1862. His increasing age soon caused him to withdraw from public affairs, and he died at his home at Waimate on 29 July 1875.

Clarke left a large family, of whom three had notable careers. George Clarke (1823–1913) was educated by the Rev. William Williams and acquired an extensive knowledge of the Maori language and of Maori customs and law. He was appointed clerk in his father's office in 1840. He was interpreter at the trial of Maketu for murder in 1842, and soon afterwards was attached to Spain's Land Claims Commission as interpreter and Maori advocate. His youthfulness and the mere fact that he was the son of his father caused him to be regarded with extreme suspicion by the New Zealand Company, whose land claims Spain was adjudicating upon, but his abilities were never impugned. In 1848 he sailed to England and became a minister of the Congregational Church and was appointed to Hobart, where he ministered for 52 years. He was Chancellor of the University of Tasmania from 1898 to 1907. Henry Tacy Clarke (1825–1902) accompanied the British troops to Ohaeawai in 1845 as interpreter and was there wounded. In 1860 he was appointed Resident Magistrate at Tauranga and Civil Commissioner in 1873. In 1874 he was promoted to Undersecretary of the Native Department, later becoming Judge of the Native Land Court. In 1879 he retired to Waimate where he became a highly successful farmer. Edward Blomfield Clarke (1831–1900) entered the church and served for a time in Victoria, but returned to New Zealand in 1860, when he took charge of the Maori school at Tauranga. In 1865 he proceeded to Waimate and was soon afterwards appointed Archdeacon of Waimate. In 1885 he returned to Auckland, where he took charge of the Maori population of the diocese.

by Michael Wordsworth Standish, M.A. (1920–62), late Dominion Chief Archivist, Wellington.

• Maori Affairs Department Archives (MSS), National Archives
• CrownColony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958)
• Notes on Early Life, Clarke, G. (1903)
• The Letters and Journals of Samuel Marsden, 1765–1838, Elder, J. R. (ed.) (1932)

(1933– ) and (1931– ).

Rugby footballers.

A new biography of Clarke, Ian James appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

Donald Barry Clarke was born on 10 November 1933 at Pihama, Taranaki, and educated at Morrinsville School. He began his rugby career as a member of the Kereone Club and represented Waikato as full-back in 1951, 1952–54, and 1955–1961. Since 1956 he has represented New Zealand and toured Australia (1957 and 1962), South Africa (1960), and the British Isles (1963). He also represented New Zealand in all tests against the visiting French team (1961). In 1960 he was awarded the Sportsman of the Year Trophy. Clarke also holds the record for the highest scorer in New Zealand first-class rugby (1,754 points). He has represented New Zealand in 87 matches, in which he scored 773 points, thus beating the record previously held by W. J. Wallace. During the 1963–64 tour of the United Kingdom Clarke played in 26 games and scored 149 points. In his career he has played in 214 first-class matches, and has represented New Zealand in 30 tests in which he scored 199 points.

In March 1965, when Clarke announced his retirement, he had scored in first-class Rugby the amazing total of 1,851 points. This was made up of 22 tries, 366 conversions, 320 penalty goals, 28 dropped goals, and 3 goals from marks. He had played in 98 matches for Waikato and 89 for New Zealand.

In addition to his rugby record, Clarke has achieved some note as a cricketer, being a New Zealand trialist (1958) and having represented the Waikato, Auckland, and Northern Districts.

His elder brother, Ian James Clarke, is also a well-known rugby footballer who plays in the prop forward position. Ian Clarke has been an All Black in 1953 and 1955–63, and has represented New Zealand in 82 matches, scoring six points. In 1955 he captained the All Blacks against Australia. He is the first All Black to tour the United Kingdom twice and, towards the end of the 1963–64 tour, he was invited to play for the Barbarians. Ian Clarke holds the New Zealand record for first-class matches played – 253.

(1905– ).

Artist.

A new biography of Clark, Russell Stuart Cedric appears in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on this site.

p>Russell Stuart Clark was born at Christchurch on 27 August 1905, studied at the Canterbury College School of Art and was subsequently for a number of years engaged in commercial art and teaching. During the Second World War he was the official war artist in the Pacific. Since 1940 he has been illustrator to the New Zealand Listener and to School Publications and has also illustrated a number of books, including the series on Maori life published by A. H. and A. W. Reed. Clark has been senior lecturer in painting at Canterbury University School of Art since 1946, but has found time to execute a number of major commissions in sculpture and mural painting. He is represented in the National Art Gallery and in the public galleries in Christchurch, Dunedin, Napier, and Invercargill

In June 1964 the Arts Advisory Council conducted a closed competition, £1,000 prize, for a piece of sculpture to be placed in Riddiford Park, Lower Hutt. The judges – J. C. Beaglehole, P. A. Tomory, C. Firth, W. A. Sutton, and C. Brasch – unanimously selected Russell Clarke's model Free Standing Forms.

(1766?–1831).

Shipbuilder.

Captain David Clark was superintendent of Raine, Ramsay, and Browne's Horeke shipyard from late 1826 to 1830, and there built, launched, and sailed to Sydney on completion the schooner Enterprise (40 tons), the brigantine New Zealander (140 tons), and the barque Sir George Murray (392 tons). Enterprise was wrecked near Hokianga Heads in April 1828; New Zealander, said to have been the fastest sailer out of Port Jackson, was wrecked at Te Mahia in 1836; Sir George Murray, seized on her arrival in Sydney for sailing without a register, was bought by McDonnell. Difficulties in obtaining registers for these vessels led to the recognition of a New Zealand flag in 1834.

After delivering Sir George Murray to Sydney in late 1830, Clark returned to Hokianga in New Zealander in March 1831 and traded at Kohukohu. He was drowned in the following November, aged 65. His son, Hori Karaka Tawhiti, was a member of the House of Representatives for Northern Maori from 1876 to 1879. Tawhiti's mother was Parehuia, daughter of the Ihutai chief Te Wharepapa, who joined Heke in the 1845 war.

by Ruth Miriam Ross, School Teacher and Authoress, North Auckland.

• O.L.C. files (MSS), National Archives
• Wesleyan Missionary Letters (MSS), Turnbull Library
• Nine Months' Residence in New Zealand, Earle, A. (1909)
• New Zealand or Recollections of it, Markham, E. (1963)
• New Zealand, Polack, J. S. (1838).

The Clarence River, 125 miles long, drains an area of 1,270 square miles and rises on the eastern slopes of the Spenser Mountains. The river drains Lake Tennyson and flows south for about 25 miles, after which an easterly and then northerly direction is followed over a distance of 15 miles to the junction with the Acheron River. From here the river flows in an easterly direction for 12 miles and subsequently follows a fault angle depression in a north-easterly direction for more than 50 miles, and separates the Inland Kaikoura Range to the north-west from the Seaward Kaikoura Range to the south-east. The river then cuts through the Seaward Kaikoura Range in a winding gorge 7 miles long, entering the sea 30 miles north of Kaikoura.

The vegetation of the upper Clarence region consists of tussock on the lower slopes of the ranges, with grassed river flats between; these are in part used as cattle-runs for Molesworth Station. A seasonal, dry, north-westerly climate, together with overstocking and introduction of noxious animals, has caused considerable erosion in the middle Clarence, where briar and manuka form an additional pest. This region is used as mixed cattle and sheep-runs, the only homestead being Bluff Station, which can be reached only by pack track and by air. Quail Flat Station is the other station and is used only seasonally.

The river gradient is relatively steep and frequent gorges give this river system a hydro-electric potential.

by Geert Jan Lensen, New Zealand Geological Survey, Lower Hutt.