Printer's error aside, one may assume that the 1905 team which wore “all black” uniform–only recently adopted–would sooner or later receive such a name. The 1884 New Zealand team to tour Australia, and the first to go overseas, had for its uniform a dark blue jersey with a gold fernleaf over the left breast, dark knickerbockers, and stockings. It was certainly not “All Black”. In April 1893, however, when the New Zealand Rugby Union was established, it was resolved that the New Zealand representative colours should be “…Black Jersey with Silver Fernleaf, Black Cap with Silver Monogram, White Knickerbockers and Black Stockings…” This was the standard uniform for some years, though photographs of the 1894 and 1896 teams show that white shorts, and not knickerbockers, were worn. There is no photograph of the 1897 team in uniform–in the official photograph they are shown wearing long trousers–but in the New Zealand Graphic of 14 August 1897 there is a cartoon of a New Zealand footballer wearing a black jersey and white shorts.

The name All Blacks is given to members of Rugby Union Football teams which represent New Zealand. It came into vogue during the 1905 tour of the British Isles by the “Original” All Blacks, as that team is now called. According to the statement (July 1964) of W. J. Wallace, one of the four surviving members of the 1905 team, the title was the result of a printer's error. It appears that R. J. Seddon, then Premier of New Zealand, had arranged with the Daily Mail (London) to cover the tour, with the result that a reporter, Buttery, travelled everywhere with the team. After the match against the Hartlepool Clubs on 11 October 1905, at West Hartlepool, which New Zealand won 63–0, Buttery reported that the whole team, backs and forwards alike, had played with speed and precision as if they were “all backs”. This comment was repeated after the Northumberland game on 14 October (31–0) and the Gloucester City Club match on 19 October (44–0). But when the New Zealand team arrived at Taunton to play Somerset County (21 October), they found the whole town placarded with posters welcoming the “All Blacks”. Buttery inquired into the matter and reported to the team's management committee that the printer had in error inserted an “1” in “Backs”. The name appealed and henceforth the players were known as All Blacks.

Alexandra is located on almost level land at the junction of the Clutha and Manuherikia Rivers. Hills and mountains surround the river flats. Alexandra is linked with Dunedin, 137 miles south-east, by a branch railway, and is 18 miles south-east of Cromwell, the terminus. By road Alexandra is 27½ miles north of Roxburgh.

Alexandra enjoys a splendid climate, with an annual average of over 2,000 hours of sunshine. The rainfall is extremely low, averaging about 12 in. To date, the driest year recorded was 1964 when only 8·29 in. of rain fell. Because of the low rainfall throughout the district, irrigation schemes have been developed.

The fertile river flats in the vicinity of Alexandra are utilised for sheep farming and fruitgrowing. Fruit packing is an important seasonal activity in the town. The Government and several commercial firms have made Alexandra the administrative centre of Central Otago, and a high proportion of the town's labour force is employed in this way. A variety of retail and servicing firms cater for the needs of the surrounding rural population.

Alluvial gold mining was formerly the main activity in the area. One gold dredge worked on the Earnscleugh Flats, 5 miles north-west of Alexandra, until 1963. The first miners, Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly, prospected in the bed of the Clutha near the present town site early in 1862. In August of that year they disclosed the location of a rich goldfield named the Dunstan. Places and objects associated with the early gold-mining days abound in the vicinity of the town. Alexandra began as a miners' settlement and was known as Lower Dunstan and alternatively as Manuherikia. In 1863, on the occasion of the marriage of Princess Alexandra of Denmark to Edward, Prince of Wales, the town was named Alexandra South, the word “South” being later dropped when Alexandra in the King Country reverted to the Maori name Pirongia. Alexandra became a borough under the Otago Municipal Corporations Ordinance 1865, on 20 May 1867.

by Brian Newton Davis, M.A., Vicar, St. Philips, Karori West, Wellington and Edward Stewart Dollimore, Research Officer, Department of Lands and Survey, Wellington.

POPULATION: 1951 census, 1,414; 1956 census, 1,823; 1961 census, 2,292.

(1874–1946).

Educationalist.

The son of Joseph and Frances Alexander, Robert was born in County Donegal, Ireland, and was educated at the Royal Academical Institution, and the Royal College of Science, Belfast. Prior to his coming to New Zealand, he farmed his father's property at Imlick, near Londonderry. He was appointed to the post of Director of Lincoln College in 1909, following the resignation of William Lowrie who had accepted the position of Director of Agriculture in Western Australia. Under Lowrie's administration the college had greatly improved in efficiency and in public esteem. In 1909 there were about 50 students in residence.

Alexander's views as to the primary functions of the college were in line with those of the Board of Governors–its task was to train men for practical farming. Provision for those who might be undertaking research or advisory work was regarded as of secondary importance. Prior to 1914 these latter services were practically nonexistent in New Zealand, but during the war and the immediate post-war period there was an increasing awareness of the need to expand these services and to provide the appropriate training for the men who would have to staff them. Alexander, however, displayed little sympathy with these new attitudes and showed a great reluctance to modify in any way the course of training at Lincoln to assist those students who had elected to take degrees. During the early 1920s there was a considerable amount of controversy as to the form and content of agricultural education, but here again Alexander made few positive contributions.

After 25 years' service as Director, Alexander resigned in 1936 following a dispute with the Board of Governors which hinged partly on personal issues and partly on the dissatisfaction on the part of the board with the way the college as a whole was functioning. He died in Christchurch on 20 November 1946.

Despite the criticism of his seemingly rather narrow range of vision, it must be noted that many of the men trained at the college under Alexander form the nucleus of the present organisation of agriculture research and extension work in New Zealand. He had a good knowledge of accepted methods of farm management, though his conservative outlook in later years hindered the development of the college farm. He was a sound judge of sheep, but was much less successful with the college dairy herd. Although little interested in plant breeding himself, he always gave full support for Hilgendorf's work in this field.

In 1906, at Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Alexander married Alice McRae, daughter of Thomas McKinley, by whom he had two sons and two daughters.

by Patrick Russell Stephens, M.A., Economics Section, Department of Agriculture, Wellington.

• Life and Work at Canterbury Agricultural College, Blair, I. D. (1956)
• The Development of Agricultural Education in New Zealand, Wild, L. J. (1952)
• The Press (Christchurch), 21 Nov 1946 (Obit).

(1818–94).

Wesleyan missionary.

John Aldred was born in 1818 at Stutton, Suffolk, England, where he later qualified for the Wesleyan Ministry. He was ordained at Bristol on 4 September 1839 and was selected for missionary service in the South Seas by the Centenary Wesleyan Conference at Liverpool. On 8 May 1840 Aldred arrived at Hokianga in the Triton and, shortly afterwards, accompanied Buttle and Ironside to the mission at Ahuahu, near Kawhia. Later in the year the three travelled overland to visit the Wanganui and Taranaki settlements. On their way they fell in with a Waikato taua who were returning from a campaign in Taranaki with a large number of prisoners. The missionaries interceded with the Waikato chiefs and secured the prisoners' release. They then accompanied these back to their homes; and, in return, the grateful tribes set aside 100 acres of land for mission use.

Shortly after their return to Kawhia Aldred sailed for Port Nicholson which he reached on 23 December 1840. He took up residence in Manners Street, near Te Aro pa, and was the first Wesleyan missionary to be permanently stationed in Wellington. On 16 June 1842 he paid a brief visit to the Chathams and was the first clergyman of any denomination to do so. While there he ministered to the 600 Maoris who had accompanied W. P. Pomare on the Ngati Awa migration seven years previously.

On 24 February 1843, shortly before the Wairau Affray, Aldred left Wellington to take over the Wesleyan Mission at Nelson, where he remained until 1849 when he was appointed to the Hutt Valley. In January 1854 he transferred to Christchurch and became the first resident Wesleyan missionary to be stationed in the growing Canterbury settlement. Previously the needs of the Wesleyans in this area had been catered for by Watkin, who made periodical trips from Wellington. Aldred opened the first Wesleyan Chapel in Christchurch and was assisted in his work in the province by the Rev. W. Rowse, who was stationed at Lyttelton. In 1859 he returned to the Hutt Valley and, later (1862), to Wellington. He was appointed to Dunedin in 1864 and travelled widely in the Goldfields districts. In 1867, while riding between Port Chalmers and Dunedin, Aldred met with an accident which obliged him to retire from the active ministry. He settled in Christchurch, where he undertook connexional work and took an interest in the British and Foreign Bible Society.

On 1 May 1849 at the Wesleyan Chapel, Auckland, Aldred married Mary Australia, daughter of Walter Lawry, General Superintendent of the Wesleyan Missions in New Zealand and the South Seas. On the same day, in a double ceremony, Lawry's son, Henry, married Hepzibah, a sister of T. S. Forsaith.

Aldred died at Christchurch on 14 January 1894, leaving two sons and three daughters.

In his day Aldred enjoyed a considerable reputation as a Maori scholar and specialised in Maori land tenure. When W. J. Hamilton was investigating Maori titles and negotiating land purchases between 1856 and 1859, he recorded that he “could find no competent European Maori scholar in the Province save Rev. J. Aldred of the Wesleyan church … (who) … is repeatedly thanked for his services at Akaroa, Port Levy, Rapaki and Kaiapoi”. Up until the arrival in Christchurch of Canon Stack, Aldred and J. Buller acted as official Maori interpreters to the Provincial Government.

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

• Early Wellington, Ward, L. E. (1928)
• Maori and Missionary, Pybus, T. A. (1954).

Albatrosses are the largest members of the rather diverse order of sea birds known as petrels. Of the 13 species of albatross, nine occur in New Zealand seas–seven mollymawks and the two great albatrosses, the wanderer and the royal. These latter are among the largest of all flying birds and, like all but four species of the family to which they belong, are confined to the S. Hemisphere mainly between 30° and 60. The breeding grounds are wild and remote islands of the sub-Antarctic, but the royal albatross, Diomedea epomophora, is remarkable in that a few pairs of the Chatham Islands subspecies regularly breed at Taiaroa Head, the eastern headland at the entrance to Otago Harbour. This they have done since 1919 though the first chick was not successfully raised until 1938. As a result of increasingly careful protection in recent years, breeding success has improved and between the laying of the first fully successful egg in 1937 and the year 1959, some 36 young were reared. The breeding colony now numbers 10–12 pairs.

Breeding is a protracted affair with petrels, especially so with the great albatrosses which take some 10 months to complete the process and so are able to reach breeding condition only in alternate years. Petrels lay but one egg, incubation is shared, and the Taiaroa royals, which lay in November, will not hatch their young until 11½ weeks later. For about the next eight months, the growing chick is looked after and fed by its parents though often left to itself for long spells while they are at sea gathering food, which is fish and squid. The chick is fed by regurgitation and what almost amounts to forced feeding. The youngster's snowy-white down is eventually replaced by feathers and in September, after a period of much ground practice, it launches itself from a cliff and begins its long life at sea. The breeding stage is not reached until the bird is about eight years of age.

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

The long-finned albacore (Thunnus alalunga) is a member of the tuna family, and is a brilliant blue above and bluish silver below. It is readily distinguishable by the extremely long pectoral fins which fit into depressions on each side of the body to reduce resistance when the fish is being propelled at speed by the sculling action of the powerful tail. The pectoral fins are employed for sudden turning motions.

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

In recent years many fanciful legends have been woven about Rewi's famous message from the ramparts at Orakau. The following, which reconciles Pakeha and Maori sources, is the record of the conversation between W. G. Mair, Hauraki Tonganui, and Ahumai Te Paerata.

Early in the afternoon of 2 April 1864, the last day of the siege, General Cameron offered the garrison a chance to surrender. Accordingly, W. G. Mair and Mainwaring showed a flag of truce from the British sap. Immediately the firing ceased and the Maoris crowded to the ramparts. Mair and his companion then emerged from the sap and walked to within a few yards of the Maori defence works.

Mair addressed them: “E hoa ma, whakarongo! Ko te kupu tenei a te Tienara: ka nui tona miharo ki to koutou maia, kati me mutu te riri, puta mai kia matou, kia ara o koutou tinana.” (“Friends listen! This is the word of the General. Great is his admiration of your bravery. Stop! Let the fighting cease; come out to us that your bodies may be saved.”)

Hauraki Tonganui (speaking for himself) said: “E hoa, ka whawhai tonu ahau ki a koe, ake ake! Hoki koutou katoa ki Kihikihi, ka hoki matou ki to matou kainga, me waiho atu Orakau nei.” (“Friend, I shall fight against you for ever, for ever! Let all of you return to Kihikihi, and we will go to our homes and abandon Orakau.”)

In the meantime Mair's message was conveyed by Te Huia Raureti to Rewi, who was sitting with the council of chiefs at the northern end of the pa. After some discussion they decided to refuse Cameron's offer and Rewi said: “Kaore e mau te rongo–ake, ake!” (“Peace shall never be made–never, never!”)

Raureti returned to the parapet where Hauraki Tonganui replied to Mair in Rewi's own words. As these were uttered all the people in the pa shouted: “Kaore e mau te rongo–ake, ake, ake.”

When the final decision was made, Rewi came out from the north-west angle of the pa and stood in the trench a few yards behind Raureti and Hauraki Tonganui.

At that reply Mair said: “E pai ana tena mo koutou tangata, engari kahore e tika kia mate nga wahine me nga tamariki. Tukuna mai era.” (“That is well for you men, but is not right that the women and children should die. Let them come out.”)

Somebody, probably Te Paerata, the old Taupo chief, said: “Na te aha koe e mohio he wahine kei konei?” (“How did you know there were women and children here?”)

Mair answered: “I rongo ahau ki te tangi tupapaku i te po.” (“I heard the lamentations for the dead in the night.”)

While this conversation was going on, Rewi was considering Mair's second proposal. Before he had come to any decision, however, the question was taken out of his hands because Ahumai Te Paerata, daughter of Te Paerata, and one of the few survivors of the siege, stood up on the parapet and replied on their behalf: “Ki te mate nga tane, me mate ano nga wahine me nga tamariki.” (“If the men die, the women and children must die also.”)

Then, realising that there would be no further parley, Mair said: “E pai ana, kua mutu te kupu.” (“It is well; the word is ended.”)

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

On 2 August 1838, at Little Port Cooper, Captain Jean Langlois, a French whaler from Havre, negotiated with a number of Maori chiefs for the purchase of a portion (30,000 acres) of Banks Peninsula. In the following year, when Langlois returned to France, he set to work to market the property he had “acquired”. After complex negotiations, groups of merchants in Nantes and Bordeaux reached agreement with him to form a company to establish a French settlement at Banks Peninsula. The Nanto-Bordelaise Co. was formed on 8 November 1839 and immediately entered into negotiations to secure Government support for the scheme. On 11 December 1839 King Louis-Philippe approved an agreement whereby the Government undertook to provide transport for 80 colonists who would found a French settlement at Akaroa, now renamed Port Louis-Philippe. In order to protect the colonists a warship was to be sent out in advance of the emigrant ship. Its commander would exercise the powers of Commissaire du Roi, both in regard to the proposed settlement and to French whalers working in New Zealand waters.

On 19 February 1840 the Commissaire du Roi, Captain Lavaud, sailed for New Zealand in the corvette Aube, while Langlois and the emigrants followed on 20 March in the Comte de Paris. When Lavaud reached the Bay of Islands in July he found that Governor Hobson had secured British sovereignty of the whole of the country in the previous May; moreover, by a separate act on 17 June, Bunbury had acquired similar rights over the South Island. Confronted with this fait accompli, Lavaud could only report the situation to his superiors and make his way to Akaroa to meet Langlois and superintend the establishment of the colonists in their new home. In the meantime, and in order that he might reinforce his prior British claim by an act of Government in the district, Hobson dispatched HMS Britomart with two Magistrates to Akaroa. Lavaud followed leisurely and arrived five days later than the Britomart. The Comte de Paris arrived on 17 August, two days after Lavaud. In this connection it must be admitted that the “race to Akaroa” between the Britomart and the Aube for the possession of the South Island is, as McLintock says, “nothing more than a particularly tenacious legend of the period” which has no basis in fact.

When Lavaud came to investigate the validity of Langlois's title to the land, he discovered that other Europeans held equally valid claims to parts of the territory. He also found that the Akaroa chiefs had not been consulted when the original deed was drawn up and that very few of the Maoris who had signed this had received the subsequent payments made by Langlois. The Akaroa Maoris were willing to sell their land, but resented any attempt to occupy it without payment. In order to avoid this difficulty Lavaud promised to arrange for the necessary payment, while the Maoris agreed to allow the settlers to occupy the site in the meantime.

On 27 August 1840, when the Britomart left, C. B. Robinson remained in the settlement as British Magistrate. He quickly established a modus vivendi with Lavaud and they worked harmoniously together. The former agreed not to display the British flag on shore pending a settlement of the question of sovereignty, while the latter agreed to provide what-ever force was needed to maintain law and order.

In the following years the settlement became firmly established and, as the soil proved to be extremely fertile, the colonists prospered. Lavaud's period of service at Akaroa expired on 18 January 1843 when he was succeeded by Post-Captain A. Bérard. He was the last Commissaire du Roi to hold office in New Zealand and with his departure on 10 April 1846 the formal connection between France and the Nanto-Bordelaise Co. settlement ceased.

During most of this period the company's land title remained unsettled. The Land Commissioners, Colonel Godfrey and Mathew Richmond, who investigated the matter, found it too complicated for them to solve. Accordingly, they merely recapitulated the evidence which Sir George Grey forwarded to London. There, after protracted negotiations, the company was awarded 4 acres for every £1 they could prove to have spent on the settlement. On 30 June 1849 the French company's remaining interests in New Zealand were bought by the New Zealand Company for £4,500.

Today, apart from a few French street names, there remains little to show Akaroa's origin as a French settlement. It is a county town within the Canterbury Provincial District and has a population of 630.

Akaroa is the South Island form of Whangaroa and the generally accepted meaning of both is the literal one, “long harbour”.

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

• OLC/1048 (Nanto-Bordelaise Company), National Archives
• History of Canterbury, Vol. 1, Hight, J., Straubel, C. R. (joint editions) (1957)
• Crown Colony Government in New Zealand, McLintock, A. H. (1958)
• The French at Akaroa, Buick, T. K. (1928).

At certain key points there are other types of equipment designed mainly to enable aircraft to approach an airport safely. Distance measuring equipment (DME), which is installed at certain points including Wellington and Christchurch, enables a pilot to read on an instrument in the aircraft his exact distance from a selected point which he is approaching. Radio ranges, installed for example at Whenuapai (Auckland) and Christchurch, provide radio beams along which an aircraft can be steered to approach an airport. Mangere Airport will be equipped with the instrument landing system, which, by radio, provides the pilot with a visual indication of a glide path and tells him not only whether he is travelling in the right direction but also whether he is at the right height and descending correctly.

Wellington is equipped with an extremely advanced form of radar. Radar (radio detection and ranging) works by emitting a train of very short pulses of radio frequency energy which are reflected back from distant objects to a sensitive receiver near the transmitter. Distance is measured by the time taken for each pulse to return to the receiver. These reflections, appearing on a sort of television screen, enable the operator to see where the objects (in this case aircraft) are, and how far away they are. The operator can then inform the pilot of his position, his direction of flight, and of any other aircraft in the vicinity. He can keep a continuous watch on any aircraft and, by talking to the pilot, can bring the aircraft to its destination when the pilot cannot see.

Wellington employs radar in two main forms–surveillance radar and precision approach radar. Surveillance radar enables the operator (radar director) to observe and control all aircraft within about 100 miles of Wellington. An aircraft wishing to land at Wellington may be taken over at a certain point (between 6 and 10 miles from Wellington) by precision approach radar which enables the radar director to watch the aircraft so closely that he can “talk it down” virtually to the runway threshold; the final landing is made by the pilot who can then see the runway and, if it is at night, the runway lighting. Other forms of radar in use in New Zealand provide aircraft with warning of storms ahead and, by tracking balloons from ground stations, provide information on wind speed and direction at different heights. The navigational aids described above can only be used by aircraft fitted with the necessary equipment. Other aircraft may use visual aids (landmarks or aerodrome markings) and obtain advice by radio, but their operations are necessarily restricted in conditions of poor visibility.

The navigational aids are backed up by a network of radio communications, which enable aircraft to keep in touch with the Department of Civil Aviation's officers and provide direct radio communication between airports and the Department's control officers and others throughout most of New Zealand. Hence aircraft know where they are, thus enabling them to pursue their flights in safety. But they also know that, when an aircraft files a “flight plan” with the Civil Aviation Administration, all the airports and traffic controllers along its route are warned in advance to expect it and to keep watch for it. In addition, weather reports from places ahead are relayed by radio. The complete system of navigational aids and communications means that the captain of an airliner, flying between main centres, is never out of touch with ground stations which advise, warn, and direct him. A Viscount airliner flying from Auckland to Wellington, for example, is in touch throughout the flight with ground controllers, first at Auckland and then, through successive relay stations at Mount Egmont and Colonial Knob (Porirua), at Wellington. When the aircraft is about 100 miles from Wellington it may be picked up on a radar screen there and watched all the way to the airport.

New Zealand is unusual in that the same air traffic control organisation provides control both of Air Force and of civilian aircraft. Other countries which have separate control systems have had some unfortunate experiences, with the result that they are now considering common control, as in New Zealand.

Piston-engined aircraft on the main route (Dunedin-Christchurch-Wellington-Auckland) flying at lower altitudes than the Viscounts and Friendships follow prescribed routes known as airways, and they also are constantly in touch with the ground. They maintain prescribed heights in order to avoid collisions with aircraft going in the opposite direction. Aircraft flying away from the main routes are not kept under such continuous control, although information on weather conditions, serviceability of navigational aids, state of destination aerodromes, and location of other traffic is passed to flight captains to enable them to plan their flights accordingly.

Aircraft which are unable to use comprehensive navigational aids (either because the aircraft are not equipped or because the route is not adequately provided or because the pilot has not obtained the necessary instrument qualifications) must fly under visual flight rules. This means broadly that the pilot must be able to see where he is going and, therefore, may not fly in cloud or darkness. He must keep at least 500 ft away from the nearest land or water; this is specially important in hilly country. If he flies above 3,000 ft, then, like aircraft under instrument flight rules, he must keep to certain prescribed heights in order to avoid collisions.

by Donald Frederic Toms, Divisional Controller Air Services, Department of Civil Aviation, Wellington.