Preface

This volume on the Life and Work of Sir George Grey is based upon a study of original documents in South Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Western Australia, and I trust that the record may prove to be authentic even though the conclusions arrived at are in many cases diametrically opposed to the views which have been expressed by other writers.

So much assistance has been rendered by means of interviews, correspondence and suggestions, that it is impossible to acknowledge the services of many kind friends except in a general way; but I desire to express my gratitude more particularly to the Rt. Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, K.C., M.P., sometime Secretary of State for the Colonies; the Hon. Sir Walter Hely - Hutchinson, G.C.M.G., Governor of Cape Colony; the Lord Plunket, K.C.V.O., Governor of New Zealand; Sir George Le Hunte, K.C.M.G., Governor of South Australia, and Sir Frederick Bedford, K.C.B., Governor of Western Australia, for the permission kindly granted me to consult official records in their possession. I am also indebted to their Excellencies for many acts of kindness which have greatly facilitated my researches in the Colonies whose affairs they severally administer.

To the Hon. Seymour Thorne-George of Auckland I am deeply indebted for the privilege of studying the valuable collections of Sir George Grey's private papers and correspondence which were entrusted to his keeping at the page xtime of his uncle's death; and I desire to express my thanks to Mr. E. Shillington, R.E., Principal Librarian of the Auckland Free Public Library; Mr. F. S. Lewis, M.A., Chief Librarian of the South African Public Library; Mr. J. R. G. Adams, Principal Librarian and Secretary of the Adelaide Public Library, and Mr. Charles Wilson, Principal Librarian of the Parliamentary Library, Wellington, for their kind offices and generous assistance.

During my visits to the various Colonies I have received valuable assistance directly and indirectly from the Rt. Hon. Sir Samuel Way, Bart., the Hon. Victor Nelson Hood, Mr. T. Gill, I.S.O., and Mr. Howard Davenport, of Adelaide, South Australia; the Rt. Hon. Sir John Gordon Sprigg, G.C.M.G., P.C., the Hon. Sir Lewis Michell, Kt, Mr. E. F. Kilpin, C.M.G., the Rev. J. Moffat, C.M.G., the Hon. A. Douglass, Mr. C. H. L. M. Jurisch, Mr. H. W. B. Robinson, Mr. C. H. Pennel, Mr. C. L. W. Mansergh, of Cape Colony; Mr. Burnet-Adams, Dr. J. Brill, of Bloem-fontein, Orange River Colony; Mr. L. Wroughton, of Maseru, Basutoland; the Hon. Robert Stout, K.C.M.G., of Wellington, New Zealand; Sir Frederick Stopford, late of War Office, London, and Mr. G. R. Parkin, C.M.G., LL.D., of Toronto, Canada.

It will not, I trust, be straining the uses of a preface unduly if I avail myself of this opportunity to give prominence to a practical question of much interest to students of Colonial history. In his preface to one of the editions of his book on Polynesian Mythology, Sir George Grey pointed out that there were MSS. relating to New Zealand in the South African Public Library, and others relating to South page xiAfrica in the New Zealand Library. "I must thus seem," he wrote, "to have made an injudicious arrangement regarding the place of great historical treasures." At the foot of the same page he added, "Ultimately I have no doubt also, that frequent exchanges of literary treasures will take place between them, and that they will thus each of them by relinquishing something, gradually acquire those manuscripts which in their respective estimations they think it most desirable that each country should possess." The time has come when, in the interests of scientific research, a redistribution on the basis of general utility should be effected. An exchange between the South African and Auckland Libraries could be made with great mutual advantage, and I am authorized to say that the Board of Governors of the Adelaide Public Library are willing to give reasonable compensation for any manuscripts that might be handed over to them.