The Rev James Buller by Bernard Gadd - Methodist historical/22(1,2) rev james buller.pdf · The Rev...

The Rev James Buller by Bernard Gadd

Wesley Historical Society (NZ) Publication 23(1&2) 1966 Page 1



CHAPTER ONE

The Years of Preparation England, 1812-1835

December 6th, 1812, was a clay of rejoicing in the Cornish home of James Fuller,

Deacon of the Helston Baptist Church, for his wife Jennifer, had been safely delivered

of a son.

Given his father's apostolic name, James Buller grew up to absorb the devout Christ

ian atmosphere of his home. But it was not till the years of adolescence had ended that

Buller grew into a personal Christian conviction. He began to attend the local

Methodist prayer and penitence meetings with the result that in 1832 friends invited

him to their Class Meetings. Conversion followed a period of deepening Christian

experience, and with it there developed a desire to serve as a lay preacher. Five

months after his conversion his name was placed on the Prayer Leaders' Plan, and in

October, 1834, "through the pressing entreaties of another local preacher," he took his

first service of worship. Taking services from time to time he became more and more

aware of a calling to the full-time ministry. In 1835 he preached his trial sermon to

qualify as a lay preacher before the Rev. Walter Lawry who had returned ten years

previously from six years of missionary work in New South Wales and Tonga.

But meantime Buller's private affairs were in a state of flux. It became necessary to

move from Helston, and by April, 1835, he was seeking Lawry's advice on

emigration. And what was more' natural than that New South Wales should have been

the colony selected? Anxious to help this promising young man, Lawry arranged a

loan of £80 to pay for the outward passage.

It was in October, 1835, that the newly-married Buller and his wife, Jane, both "young

and hopeful" sailed for Port Jackson1 aboard the Platina.

The monotonous eighteen week voyage was enlivened by the appearance off Cape

Verde, on the coast of Senegal, of "a suspicious-looking vessel." Therefore "rusty

swords, old pistols, and other arms were hunted up and put in order." However, the

intrepid voyagers were not required to put their valour to the test. Later, that "stormy

and grim-looking islet," Tristan da Cunha. was called at, and. at last. Port Jackson was

reached.

Emigrant to missionary, 1835-36

Port Jackson was "hot and dusty." In the streets a common sight was "convict gangs

with clanking chains, inarched to their daily work with an armed escort."



But in Port Jackson no suitable employment could be found. It was. accordingly, with

relief that Buller accepted employment with the visiting leader of the New Zealand

Wesleyan Mission, the Rev. Nathaniel Turner, as tutor to his large family for two

years.

Early in 1836 Turner and the Bullers sailed aboard the brig, Patriot, and on 21st April

they arrived off the Hokianga Harbour. Adverse winds kept them out at sea until the

27th when the bar was crossed. Here indeed was a strange new world for an

adventurous young man to enter.

"As we glided up the river with the flood tide they (the Maoris) were, here and

there, eyeing us from their low huts squatting on their haunches. Covered with

the Ngeri (a coarse flax mat) they looked like so many thatched beehives. . . The

river flows between lofty and woody hills ... As far as the eye can see mountain

seems piled upon mountain, in wild confusion, and all are crowned to their

summits with large trees. At nearly every bend a rude and lonely hut was

standing. This was made of slabs and thatched with grass. A boat, or a canoe,

floated in front of it or was lying on the beach. It was the house of some white

man, living in semi-barbarous style, with a Maori woman and surrounded by

their halt-caste progeny. He was perhaps an escaped convict or a runaway sailor.

About 200 of these classes were living on the shores of the river. They worked as

axemen, sawyers, etc. for the few traders who were located on their respective

establishments."

As Buller was to find, the European community round the Hokianga included many

strange and interesting people: men like Lieutenant Thomas MacDonnell, assistant

British Resident, saw-miller and trader, and Frederick Maning and "Cannibal" Jackie

Marmon, both renowned Pakeha Maoris. Two days' travel to the east was the

headquarters of the Anglican Mission, between which and the Wesleyan Mission

cordial relations had always existed.

The Maoris in the area numbered some "three to four thousand" and included such

famous chiefs as Tamati Waka Nene, Patuone and Mohi Tawhai. Some dozen sub-

tribes were ministered to by the Wesleyan Mission.

At length the mission station, Mangungu, was reached amid "the all-but-deafening

shouts in what then sounded in our ears as a very jargon." The station comprised

several acres "on a small promontory, running out to a point in the river, and flanked

by steep hills, covered with dense forest." The chief buildings -were a wooden church,

the school house, the Turners' home, "a capacious dwelling house of one storey, with

no claim to architectural style," and two raupo houses, the larger occupied by William

Woon and family, and the smaller assigned to the Bullers.



Buller found himself immediately attracted to the work among the Maoris. In October,

1836, he wrote that he felt quite at home in New Zealand and felt strongly interested

in the Maori people and their spiritual welfare. He began to spend more and more of

his spare time assisting the missionary work. "My first work was to learn the language

of the people," he later recalled. "This was no easy task; neither lexicon nor grammar

was to hand." Also, "not having a good ear, I found it difficult to lay hold of a

barbarous tongue." But "I managed to prepare a grammar and vocabulary for my own

use. Ere long I was able to take some part in school instruction. At the end of the year

I made my first attempt at preaching in Maori ... I afterwards found that I had made

some ludicrous mistakes." Nevertheless, by 1837 the District Meeting was

congratulating him on his proficiency in this difficult language.

In October, 1836, only six months after his arrival, Buller took the decisive step of

presenting himself to the annual District Meeting as a candidate for the ministry. The

meeting, consisting of Turner, the chairman, and Whiteley and Wallis, both of whom

were yet probationers, recorded its impression of Buller as "a young man of sterling

piety and very promising ministerial talent: remarkably clear in his Christian

experience and in his views of all our doctrines, which he most cordially believes."

Buller had expressed himself thus in his formal letter to Turner: "I have read the

standard works of (Methodism's) venerable Founder and do, from conviction, most

cordially acquiesce in the doctrines therein contained, as being agreeable to the Word

of God; and the doctrine of no other body of Christians with which I am acquainted

appears to me so much in unison with the tenor of Holy Writ, and the experience of

true Believers." In fact, "next to salvation of my soul, do I value my connection with

Methodism!"

Buller was duly accepted as an assistant missionary and the English Conference

informed of his candidature. In 1837 a salary of twenty pounds a year was voted by

the District Meeting in recognition of the considerable amount of time spent by Buller

on mission work in addition to his tutorial labours. Thus did Buller begin his

remarkable career of service to his Church.



CHAPTER TWO

Missionary to the Maoris Mangungu, 1836-38

During these years at Mangungu, Buller became closely acquainted with the people he

was gradually coming to feel he ought to serve, with his new homeland and with the

conditions under which missionaries served. This was a period of the highest value to

him despite his increasing feeling of "dissatisfaction with my present employment" as

his journal of the period records.

In this journal the outlines of his already strong character stand revealed. Buller was a

man of orthodox views: politically he was a staunch patriot ("Bless God for the

blessing of the British Constitution"); in religion he adhered firmly to the evangelical

faith ("To have our hearts fully warmed with divine love is the first great point"), with

its lively interest in "the all-important concerns of my immortal part." He duly

admired Nature with its "unrivalled beauty of the celestial canopy," for this was yet

the era of the romantics. As Dr Morley points out, Buller was "not naturally

imaginative."

But the key to his character is to be found in his ideal of discipline: discipline of self,

of family and in the Church.

"I am a strange being—quite a motley in myself," he wrote in 1838. "Oh, I need

grace—more grace—I want more submission-more devout resignation to the divine

will." Spirituality of mind and Christlikeness in all actions were his constant aims.

His eldest child, Tames Martin, was a two-year-old toddler when Buller wrote in

1838: "I endeavour to act on the principle of opposing his will by giving him nothing

that he cries tor and of enforcing my own wishes in every instance." Buller confided

pathetically, "I feel it is to my dear boy's peril if I yield to him. Yet it inflicts on me

the greatest pain thus to punish him especially when having received a whipping he

shows me the smart inflicted as if to appeal to my feelings of compassion."

Nevertheless, the "depraved nature" of man had to be tamed.

Of the Church Buller wrote, "A church without discipline is like a garden full of

weeds, and such is our case." The discords inevitable when a group of men of strong

character were forced into close proximity, isolated from their fellows, grated upon

Buller. In addition, he felt that Turner was preferring to establish the station rather

than to evangelize the Maoris. The result was that the Maori Church (some four

hundred strong) was in a "loose, undisciplined and unimproving state." "Order, order

is what is wanted." Buller cried out in the privacy of his journal.



Buller's own strongly independent and vigorous intelligence felt hampered and stifled

by his half tutorial, half assistant-missionary status. A yearning to be his own master

became ever stronger.

But Buller was, all this time, receiving a thorough grounding in the work of a

missionary. He helped in visitation of distant tribesfolk. in distribution of Quarterly

Membership Tickets, in maintaining oversight over the Church, in the District

Meetings, prayer meetings and in all the busy round of weekend activities. Of these

latter we have a glimpse in the words of Dr Beecham who told the Committee of the

House of Lords investigating conditions affecting New Zealand in 1836:

"I have been informed by those who have witnessed the celebration of public

worship in the principal church at Mangungu, that to hear seven or eight hundred

of the Christian natives correctly and promptly utter the responses, and then sing

the praises of God is highly affecting . . . Those who come from a distance to

attend Divine worship at Mangungu do not travel on Sunday but on the Saturday

and return to Monday. They refrain from all work on the Lord's Day."2

Services in English and Maori, prayer meetings, school classes. general meetings and

discussions made Saturday and Sunday exceedingly busy.

Through all this Buller came to know the Maori better. He regretted the squalor of

many of the villages and the Maori contentment with ancestral ways. He was highly

critical of the evils caused by the timber trade when Maoris cut forest timber to sell to

Europeans. "They neglect their domestic comfort and their plantations through which

they are often almost without food for many wrecks." Often they "break their

constitutions, while on the other hand, the only recompense they receive is a little slop

clothing, muskets, ammunition and the like." But, of course, it was the greater security

that muskets afforded that led to this desperate eagerness to obtain them. He deplored

the sale of land by the Maoris before they understood its true market value, with the

result that they had even by 1838 "alienated a good part of their most valuable

property for ever, for which they are nothing the better."

As to Maori character he later wrote: "When free from the spirit of war the Maoris

were hospitable, courteous and generous; but they were naturally vindictive, cruel and

deceptive."

For all these ills, Christianization, which implied Europeaniza-tion,3 was the answer.

"Let them first be christianized and instructed," he wrote in 1838, "then they will be in

a state to enter into commercial negotiations." The height of missionary success was,

to Buller, typified by a Maori wedding in 1837. "The groom wore a suit of black . . .



The bride, neatly arrayed in a well-fitted cotton dress, leaned on the arm of Iraia

(Elisha), who was clothed in a black suit ... No English wedding could have been more

orderly."

The years 1837 and 1838 were also notable for a series of interesting and significant

encounters.

In January, 1837, news came of the assassination of two Maori teachers at a heathen

village. Hurrying to the scene, the missionaries found one, Matiu, dead, and another,

Rihimona, dying, "lying in the arms of his sister, suffering greatly." Immediately, a

war party bent on revenge set out. The missionaries hastened after them, hoping to

prevent fighting. But soon Buller and his companions were in the midst of a battle.

"Musket balls were hissing about our heads as we took refuge under some trees. Our

situation becoming unsafe and our presence of no avail, we left, after being there a full

two hours." Such alarms and hostilities continually disturbed the whole Hokianga

area, while news from other parts of the country showed that even worse happenings

were taking place elsewhere.

In February the Wesleyan Mission was "favoured with a visit from the truly venerable

Samuel Marsden "on what was to be his final trip to New Zealand. Buller noted "the

high esteem in which the Maoris held him," tor he was "a man of deep piety, good

sense, and Catholic spirit." For despite Marsden's apparent original intention of

keeping this country as an Anglican mission preserve,4 the Church Mission had treated

the Wesleyans as brothers ever since their arrival in 1822.

An arrival of a much different character came in November of the same year. Wrote

Buller: "Early in November, 1837, a strange character arrived in the Nimrod. This was

the Baron de Thierry ... He was by birth and education a gentleman, but a visionary."

Poor de Thierry! The land he had hoped was his (initially he claimed forty thousand

acres) turned out to be within the territories of the Wesleyan chiefs, Tamati Waka

Nene and Taonui. Buller "was present at a conference he had with the native chiefs at

Otaratau. They smiled at his demands." It ended in the cession of about three hundred

acres of good forest land to him in the presence of Buller, Woon, Whiteley and

Turner, all of the Wesleyan Mission, and McDonnell, merchant and former Assistant

British Resident. As late as 1842 de Thierry was seeking the aid of the Wesleyans in

support of his larger land claims.5 He was ignored. In Buller, de Thierry's French

descent excited the suspicion that "airy as his scheme was, his claim was recognised

by the French government."

No sooner had this affair started to die down, than another threat to British ascendancy

over New Zealand seemed to appear with the arrival on January 10th, 1838, of the



French Bishop Pompallier, the first Roman Catholic missionary to these islands. Great

agitation succeeded this unlocked for event. Buller attended a meeting of Protestant

chiefs on January 20th which discussed how to deal with the intruders. An equal

mixture of restraint and opposition was agreed upon. But the mood of many of the

missionaries was reflected in the instructions which arrived the next year from the

Wesleyan Missionary Society's London Headquarters: "Your course as Protestants, is

clear: With it (Popery) there can be no dallying. It ought to be encountered in the spirit

of uncompromising hostility."

Buller felt that Pompallier "was liberally supplied with funds by the Propaganda

Fidei." And worse, that "the agents of that Society are more zealous in treading in the

steps of Protestant missions than in breaking new ground." He was unhappy that their

work sowed "the seed of division among a people who were but just coming to the

light." He recorded his apprehensions at the time: "This monster, Popery, I trust will

not prevail."

Half way through that year an event occurred which led to the fulfilment of Buller's

growing wish for independence. On August 18th the Turners' house was burned down.

An emergency District Meeting decided that the best course was for the Bullers to

give up their house and to transfer to the Pakanae (or Newark) station at the Hokianga

Heads, there to assist John Whiteley. But within three months Whiteley himself was

sent to the Waikato to reopen the Kawhia mission station which had been closed since

1836 on instruction from London, following Anglican protests at Wesleyan intrusion

into the Waikato. Buller was at last in charge of his own Mission Station. The way

ahead had been clearly shown him.

Newark. 1838-39

Dr Morley wrote of the Newark Station

6 that "there were a considerable number of

natives resident there, and several villages were located in the fertile volcanic

valleys... It was some twenty-five miles from Mangungu . . . The land at Pakanae was

not equal to Mangungu, nor was the situation nearly so pleasant. Mrs Kirk states.

'There was something of loneliness about it.' "

Here Buller was to work for about eighteen months, for twelve of which he was in

sole charge. While at Mangungu he had been forming in his mind and committing to

his journal his ideas on the management of a mission station. His plans included

graded schools. teachers in outlying villages, regular visitation of all villages, a strong

evangelistic emphasis, and a strict, paternal relationship to the native Church. But

Pakanae proved to be difficult soil to which to transplant these high hopes.



The Roman Catholics were active, while the pagans showed little interest in the new

faith. In addition, the tribesfolk were smarting under the imagined insult of Whiteley's

removal to a different, and hostile, tribe in the Waikato. Their attitude was made plain

when in December, 1838, Moetara, a chief baptized by the Wesleyans, was refused a

Christian burial by his relatives.

But Buller toiled conscientiously. Towards the end of 1838 he was sent on a

preaching, tour of the northern tribes who were wanting missionaries. Within his own

area he kept up a round of services, visitation and attempted evangelism, with

occasional services in English at the home of a Captain Parker. Few results for all this

could be seen. It was only towards the beginning of 1839 that Buller was able to feel

he was making some progress into the people's confidence. But that year brought a

summons to relieve James Wallis at the Tangiteroria Station in the Kaipara area. By

February, 1839, the new missionary, William Woon, was installed at Newark.

While at Newark the Buller family had grown with the birth in 1838 of another son,

named Walter Lawry in memory of his father's earlier benefactor.

Tangiteroria, 1839-54

On February 13th, 1839, the brig Elizabeth, landed the Bullers on the banks of the

Wairoa River after a trip from the Hokianga made anxious by the captain's ignorance

of the coast down which they sailed. The family and their luggage were transported to

their new home, about half way between modern Dargaville and Whangarei, in a large

canoe. Buller's first impression of the place is recorded in his journal: "The station,

situated upon the banks of a winding stream, is closely environed by sombre,

impenetrable forest and a universal gloom prevails." "The station," he wrote later,

"wore a desolate look. The framework of a wooden house was standing and a few

acres of the forest felled: the huge logs and the blackened stumps made a picture of

ugliness. . . The natives were all away and there was no one to receive and bid us

welcome."

The station was found to consist of some three to four thousand acres, part of which

was leased to a Mr Hawke. No large Maori settlement was near, and, indeed, the

whole district's Maori population numbered only about four hundred. The principal

chief, Tirarau has his pa half a mile away. "He and his people were glad to have a

missionary near them, but did not care to listen to his teaching." This noted warrior

was related to some of the mighty war chiefs of the Bay of Islands. Several tribes were

served by the station: to the north were the Ngapuhi; to the east were the Uriohau; and

to the south were the Ngatiwhatua and the Ngatimoe. The new parish was an extensive

one, involving Buller in journeys of up to one hundred and twenty miles to reach some



settlements. To compound his difficulties for a time the new settlement at Auckland

was included in his territory. The total circuit membership for this large area was

returned as sixty-nine people, with twenty-eight on trial, at five places for October,

1839.

Tangiteroria Mission Station, Kaipara, 1845

The Church Mission confined its work to the neighbouring upper Mangakahia area,

and the Rev. Henry Williams paid the Bullers a courtesy call soon after their arrival.

But the Roman Catholics were active within the Wesleyans' territory, although with

little success. In part their lack of result can be attributed to Buller's stern opposition to

Catholicism, especially after a priest settled near Tangiteroria in 1843. By public

disputations, by stressing the text of the Bible, and by vigilant supervision of the

native Church and constant warning against the blandishments of the Roman faith,

Buller ensured that this new denomination should not spread easily. In February,

1844, Pompallier himself came to reason with Buller!

Buller soon found that "with savage tribes, the missionary ... is thrown upon his own

resources, not only for the conveniences but sometimes for the necessities of life." He

had to be jack of all trades in order to maintain and extend his mission property; he

had to be a trader to obtain certain essential goods; and to the Maoris he had to be

pastor, evangelist, doctor, magistrate, schoolmaster and counsellor.



In addition, Buller believed "that a Christian missionary, in his person, family and

home, should be a model for the people of his charge. They will honour him,

according to the proof of superiority lie manifests. For this reason, as well as for my

own comfort, I tried to surround myself, if not with the graces, at least with the

adjuncts of an English home." Dr Morley summed up Buller's achievement:

"Tangiteroria, with its excellently laid out orchard and neat and trim outbuildings,

soon became an object lesson" to the Maoris. "Dignified in manner, and possessing a

strong will, his people soon learned that a purpose once formed could not easily be

abandoned. Conforming in their villages to native etiquette, he taught those who

visited him, that on his own station the laws of English politeness must be observed!

and they proved apt pupils."

By 1841 John Hobbs could write that he was "much pleased with Brother Buller's

proceedings." Characteristically, Buller himself felt less satisfied. He wrote in

October, 1840: "This station may, comparatively, be called a grave where whatever

degree of zeal or talent a missionary may possess is buried. My 'one talent' I should

like to employ to the glory of God; but we do not, however, know what good may

ultimately result to the benighted few around us from our labours among them."

Success certainly attended Buller's diligent labours. By 1843 he was requesting

(vainly) the placing of a second agent at the Kaipara Heads. At several villages he had

built for his use small cottages so that he could stay several days. In time, a number of

villages could boast their own chapels, some very attractive indeed. Church

membership by July, 1843 had risen to one hundred and sixty with nine on trial, while

two hundred and sixty men and women attended Sunday Schools.

Buller was ably assisted by several Maori teachers, some of whom stayed in the work

for a short time only, but some of whom worked faithfully over a long period. It was

hard to find men willing to serve, especially as the Mission refused to pay them a

fixed stipend. That most faithful and zealous teacher, Taimona te Ikanui, received in

1844 twenty-five pounds a year, but by 1851 was being paid the munificent sum of

five pounds per annum! It is to their credit that any men worked under conditions such

as these.

But life, especially for Mrs Buller, was lonely. European contacts were rare and mail

was infrequent. "For more than fifteen years." wrote Buller in 1878, "this solitude was

my home. There, nine of my children were born, and two of them buried ... With two

exceptions my children were baptized by their own father. When death came it was his

mournful office to read the solemn service at the graveside No medical adviser was at

hand, nor any kind counsellor." For one of the family these years were invaluable—

young Walter7 learned his interest in the flora and birdlife of New Zealand.



At no time did Buller lose his interest in keeping abreast of events overseas and in the

colony. For in New Zealand this was a period of great significance.

The journey to Port Nicholson, 1839-40

The 1839 District Meeting appointed Buller to travel to Port Nicholson to secure a site

there which the Revs. J. Hobbs and J. H. Bumby,8 the new Mission Superintendent,

had selected and arranged to buy, and to initiate a mission to serve the whole of the

Cook Strait area. Overjoyed at the prospect of a change, Buller noted in his journal a

few days before setting out: "I shall be truly glad to quit this station." Since the

expected mission vessel, Triton, seemed to have been delayed, Buller departed on

November 27th, 1839, accompanied by John Whiteley who was returning to his

station after the District Meeting. They sailed across the Kaipara in Buller's boat. After

spending Sunday at Otakanini they walked towards the Waitemata and across the

future site of Auckland. Next day a canoe took them over the mouth of the Manukau

and half way down the Waiuku Peninsula to the little Wesleyan village of Pehiakura.

There they baptized forty-five people and married sixteen couples! The following

night was spent as guests of the Anglican missionaries, R. Maunsell and B. Ashwell at

their station at the Waikato Heads.

A long walk along the coast followed, sometimes on the beaches, sometimes over the

alternating ridges and valleys inland, until they reached James Wallis's station at

Raglan. Buller stayed there several days before crossing to the Aotea Harbour where

he yielded to the Maoris' request to stay overnight. Reaching Whiteley's station at

Kawhia, Buller had to wait twelve days before securing guides willing to take him

south-east into hostile territory.

At length he was able to set out for Taupo. Eight days later they caught sight of the

great lake, and New Year found them encamped close to its shores. Buller noted that

the local natives "had a wild look." Sunday was spent beside the "very pretty lake of

Rotoaira" at the foot of Tongariro. Here "the people were very ignorant but desiring

instruction." A stretch of lonely country followed looking "as though the hand of

desolation had been on the stony, sterile scene." Then came three days of pushing

through dense forest.

On Friday, January 11th, 1840, Pipiriki, on the Wanganui River, was reached. So

anxious were these Wanganui natives to benefit from a missionary's presence that

Buller had to slip away. From the mouth of that river the party walked along the beach

beside the extensive sand dunes to Waikanae, where Buller was glad to meet the Rev.

O. Hadfield, "living in a tent there."



After a quick trip to Kapiti to interview the chief, Te Hiko, the party sailed for the

island of Mana, where Buller hoped to meet the influential chiefs, Te Rauparaha and

Te Rangihaeata. But a storm drove them into the Porirua harbour. Next day, having

successfully visited Mana, Buller crossed the neck of land to Port Nicholson, arriving

in late January, after a journey which took almost exactly two months.

Immediately he found himself involved in one of the turning points of New Zealand's

history. There at anchor in the harbour was the New Zealand Company's survey ship,

Cuba. And within days, the first immigrant vessel, Aurora, had dropped anchor. To

these folk Buller preached on their first Sunday in their new country.

All this was most interesting, but the hard fact was that the Company claimed all land

in the vicinity of the harbour, and Colonel Wakefield9 assured Buller (quite falsely, as

it transpired) that he and Bumby had reached an amicable agreement on the question

of the Wesleyan site, and intimated his regrets at Buller's fruitless journey. The fact

that the inhabitants of Te Aro pa denied having sold the site in question to the

Company did not influence the Colonel one whit. Further, Buller found that a Church

Mission agent had come into the district just prior to his own arrival.

So different was the situation from what had been expected that Buller decided to

hasten north by ship to stop his family from moving to Port Nicholson.

British sovereignty, 1840

New Zealand history was being made at pell mell speed. Reaching the north Buller

discovered that the Wakefield company had raced the Queen's official representative

by only a few days. No sooner had Buller completed his three month journey than he

found himself, in Bumby's absence in Australia, waiting upon the Lieutenant-

Governor at Paihia on behalf of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. So satisfactory did

Buller find Hobson's report of the Imperial Government's intentions regarding the

Maoris, that he urged his colleagues to throw "their mighty influence into the scale"

on Hobson's side.

The arrival of the New Zealand Company settlers and of the Lieutenant-Governor's

official party were obviously the prelude to increased immigration that would follow

the establishment of British authority in these islands. Buller welcomed such

colonization. "I believe," he later wrote, "it to be one of the means which God uses for

peopling the waste places of the earth." He firmly believed that "the Maoris never

could have utilised their large territorial possessions" but would have kept them as a

mere "perpetual reserve for wild pigs"! Buller evidently failed to realize the depth of



Maori love for their land "which is dearer to us than life," as Te Whiti said in after

years; or that to the Maori the forest itself was a prime source of food and shelter.)

"Colonization was the logical outcome of their Christianization," was Buller's

summing up of the Maoris' changing position in the colony. And now that Hobson

was here, the Wesleyans' loyal duty was not in doubt. It was with satisfaction that the

missionaries saw their friends among the leading chiefs sign the Treaty of Waitangi:

Tamati Waka Nene and his brother, Patuone, at Waitangi on February 6th, and Mohi

Tawhai at Waimate on February 15th.

One dark cloudlet only could be seen: Buller has recorded his (erroneous) conviction

that "the French bishop and clergy used all the influence they could command against

Captain Hobson's mission."10

The expanding church, 1839-44

Buller, as mentioned earlier, looked forward to the weaning of the Maori from his

ancestral customs and way of life as Christianization spread. But the alteration of a

people's whole mode of living, menta1 outlook and spiritual concepts proved a larger

task that the youthfully zealous Buller had previously envisaged. Condemning the

"absurdity and disgust of heathen customs," he objected not only to the horrible

custom of infanticide, committed by an unreprentant wife of Tirarau as late as 1840,

but also to folkways such as the tangi, tattooing and the haka, which "as a relic of their

old barbarism is not to be commended. Good taste, not less than sound morals, must

condemn the practice," he added censoriously. But in Tirarau and his people, Buller

had met his match. A sort of mutual respect developed between these two determined

men. Nevertheless, Tirarau clung to his Maoritanga, though seeking, where it seemed

convenient, to combine the new faith and way of life with the ancient. Even if in other

parts of the circuit the people seemed more amenable, Buller never ceased to deplore

his lack of success in his civilizing mission here at the heart of his parish.

In 1841 his work received a significant extension. The Governor had shifted the

capital to Auckland. Being the nearest Wesleyan minister, Buller was given the

responsibility of caring for Methodists among the rapidly growing European

population there. With characteristic decisiveness, he approached the Governor in

1842 and obtained "an acre of land, in a good position, as a church site." Public

meetings were held to launch a building fund, trustees were appointed and in July,

1843, the Revs. John Warren and J. Buller officiated at the opening celebrations in the

"neat wooden church" in High Street at the rear of the present Auckland Magistrate's

Court. The two hundred and forty pounds debt had been almost paid off.



The new Society began in 1842 with thirteen European members and one hundred and

fifty Maori members who lived some three miles out of town. Congregations during

the next year rose to about three hundred, indicating that the little church would not

long suffice. The young settlement enjoyed a reputation for wickedness, so that Buller

was anxious to see a more regular pastoral oversight. George Buttle was appointed to

supply until in March, 1844, the Rev. Walter Lawry arrived from England to take up

the twin positions of Auckland minister and Superintendent of the Maori Mission.

Gratefully, Buller was able to surrender this part of his work.

But the very next month Buller was back in Remuera to attend an important meeting

when four thousand Maoris came to Auckland to discuss land and related problems

with Governor Fitzroy. Since each tribe was accompanied by its missionary, the

Wesleyan ministers were able to savour a time of spiritual refreshment together.

Whatever his disappointments in some directions, Buller must nevertheless have felt

some satisfaction at the Maori Church membership figures by 1842. There were seven

societies with memberships of sixty-three at Kaihu, twenty-four at Tangiteroria,

twenty-four at Okaro, twelve at Otakanini, elevent at Tangihua, six at Oruawharo and

one hundred and fifty at Auckland, two hundred and ninety members in all of which

one hundred and forty-two were in the Kaipara area where church attendances

exceeded four hundred. There were eleven class leaders, and ninety-eight children and

three hundred and eighteen adults attended the Sunday schools, at which, in addition

to religious studies, reading, comprehension and spelling were taught. There was also

a small European congregation at Tangiterioria as well as at the Auckland church.

But early in 1842 came two incidents indicative of the increasingly uneasy relations

between Maori and Pakeha that prevailed where European settlement was most

intensive—namely, in the far north and around Cook Strait.

Some of Tirarau's people discovered a skull on the property of a settler, Forsaith, at

Mangawhare about forty-five miles from Tangiteroria. Convinced that the man had

used the skull for some fell purpose of his own, the Maoris determined to avenge

themselves by means of the traditional plundering party or muru. Buller immediately

wrote to Forsaith suggesting that he offer the Maoris some explanation for the skull's

presence on his property, and this, together with the persuasions of the Christian

Uriohau, postponed action. But no reply came. The offended Maoris set forth upon

their mission of punishment. As soon as he heard of this, Buller sailed his boat to the

place, to find that "all that was moveable had been carried away; doors and windows

smashed; floors and partitions pulled to pieces."



Flushed by success, Tirarau was soon laying claim to a portion of the land belonging

to Mair, a Justice of the Peace at Whangarei. Unable to prevent a party setting out to

demand compensation," and kept at home by family illness, Buller did what he could

in sending with the men a letter to Mair's manager to put him on his guard and

recommend him to be generous in order to prevent wholesale plundering. Ten days

later the party returned "laden with spoil... It turned out that they had visited every

family—there were seven—and by the war dance so frightened them that the poor

people were glad to give them anything they asked for to get rid of them."

Such incidents and many minor affairs gave Buller grave concern as to the future.

The year 1844 was of special importance for Buller. During the District Meeting of

that year, together with John Hobbs, James Buller was duly ordained as a minister of

the Wesleyan Connexion by Walter Lawry.

Lawry's son had spent part of that same year at Buller's station learning the Maori

language and seeing at first hand the work of the missionary. He had remarked upon

Buller's tremendous industry, his ardent spirit and his influence over the Maoris who

trusted and honoured him.

The uneasy flag, 1844-46.

"I was crossing the Bay in a boat when the flag pole fell." Thus did Buller witness the

symbolic act on July 8th, 1844, that was the prelude to eighteen months of turmoil and

bloodshed.

Looking back from 1878 Buller was clear in his own mind as to the cause of this first

Maori-Pakeha War. "The proclamation of Governor Hobson (in 1840) made it illegal

for any private person to traffic in land or to cut down timber on it. Thus sales that

were in transitu were arrested. The government, on the other hand, was not so ready to

buy as were the natives to sell. This dog-in-the-manger policy became an irritant."

This policy together with the Government's handsome profit on sales of Maori land11

led the Maoris to believe that "the Government had an ulterior design upon them," to

deprive them of their lands.

Attending a District Meeting in July, 1844, Buller found the Hokianga Maoris in a

ferment of excitement following Heke's overt challenge to British authority, and found

the prestige of the Government depressingly low even among these loyal people.

Buller was invited to stay and represent the Wesleyans at a Conference with the

Governor, but when Fitzroy's arrival was delayed, Buller had to return home. From

there he watched developments carefully.



In March, 1845, Heke and Kawiti sacked Kororareka. Panic spread among the

Europeans of the far north. The Mangungu missionaries, save Hobbs and an assistant,

had themselves evacuated (though Warren remained at Waima). The Whangarei

settlers fled their homes. Aucklanders feared for their town's security as, in the north,

Maori and British warriors fought a series of bloody engagements.

Though he was at a distance from the centre of conflict, Buller's position was not

altogether secure. Tirarau was closely related to Pomare and was Kawiti's grandson;

the Kaihu chief, Parore, was brother to Hone Heke. To Tirarau in early 1845 came a

letter from Pomare demanding that the Kaipara Europeans be sent away. More

ominously, Kawiti sent him a bag of bullets with a request for passage through

Tirarau's territory and aid in an attack upon Auckland through the undefended

Waitakere Ranges. But already many Kaipara chiefs had accepted Union Jacks as a

token of allegiance to the Crown, while the Hokianga leader, Waka Nene, was

actively assisting the British on the field of battle.

Taking stock of the situation, Tirarau assured Buller of his safety and asked his advice

on a reply to Kawiti. He accepted Buller's counsel and wrote "respectfully but firmly"

refusing passage or aid or molestation of Europeans. Tirarau wrote to the Governor

confirming his loyalty, and .Buller notified him of Kawiti's proposed attack.

In October, 1845, Buller wrote down his views on the situation: "The subjugation of

the rebel tribes is absolutely necessary. The security of the Colonists, justice to the

British Government and even mercy to the Natives themselves, require it. To make

peace with them on any ground short of their free surrender of themselves would

certainly tend to involve the country in another insurrection."

At the end of December the Bullers were able to "hear the boom of the cannon" during

the Ruapekapeka bombardment. And at length, on January 19th, 1846, came the news

of Kawiti's defeat. Heke, bereft of allies, fought no more.

A month had not passed before Kawiti himself with two hundred of his warriors

appeared at Tangiteroria. Buller was sorry to note that he appeared unabashed by his

defeat and was inclined to regard the honours of the conflict as equal. Amid the

ceremonies of welcome, Tirarau was careful to declare his friendship for the Pakeha

plainly.

Such a period of racial suspicion and strife as had just concluded could not but affect

adversely the work of the mission. Church membership declined; the numbers

attending divine worship dropped; and the number of class leaders almost halved. It



was not until 1853 that these numbers again passed pre-war levels. But by that year

about four hundred and fifty were attending church — perhaps eighty percent of the

total circuit population.

Two further matters are connected with the aftermath of the war. In 1846 the British

Government sent out a constitution introducing self-government to New Zealand. Of

this constitution Buller wrote that it "disenfranchised the Maori." Worse, the

accompanying dispatch on Maori lands stated that unless Maori title had been

definitely acknowledged by the Crown, then land would be regarded as becoming

automatically Crown land. To Buller this amounted to "annulling the Waitangi

Treaty." He and his fellow missionaries were among those who protested vigorously.

These ordinances aroused widespread interest and feeling among both races.

But Governor Grey was equal to this new crisis, also. He gained British approval for a

deferment of the proposed constitution in view of the still delicate state of affairs, and

he assured critics of the waste lands scheme that, in fact, there was no intention of

reversing the 1840 Treaty. Buller, for one, was satisfied that now all was well.

The later years, 1847-54.

From Buller's final years at Kaipara come evidences of further consolidation and

extension of the church.

In 1847 Buller inaugurated annual missionary meetings. Buller was fully aware that

many Maoris "thought the missionaries had boundless resources to draw upon, while

they had little or nothing to give." But "the Maoris had received the Gospel and they

should help to send that Gospel to others." With this in mind, he held in 1847 a

meeting to which all church folk from all tribes were invited. The convention lasted

from Friday through to Monday and proved successful beyond Buller's expectations.

Services of worship, a Love feast, Holy Communion, prayer meetings, public

meetings, discussions, examinations, all were included in the programme. Collections

were taken up. Neatness of dress was encouraged by judicious praise. By 1852, five

hundred were attending these rallies, which were held each year at a different centre;

and by 1853 over forty-seven pounds was being collected, for the Kaipara tribes were

not without worldly wealth as a result of the timber trade, a trade Buller continued to

distrust as diverting the Maori from the cultivation of his true wealth, the land.

In the year 1848 the recurring emphasis seemed to be upon education. In July, Buller

was elected a trustee of the proposed Wesleyan Educational Institute for the education

of missionaries' children. Regarding this notable and long-awaited innovation, Buller

wrote in 1851: "There is no one thing in the history of our mission for which I more



heartily praise God." For the education of their children had been a constant worry to

missionaries, often isolated far from any source of schooling apart from expensive

private tutors or the parents' own instruction.

This was also the year in which the Three Kings College opened with one hundred and

fifty Maori boarders in Auckland, to Buller's great satisfaction.

That same year Buller started his own boarding school for Maori children at

Tangiteroria. He had begun a day school soon after his arrival in 1839, but had found

the parents reluctant to send their children along regularly. But convinced of the vital

importance of education for the Maori people's future, Buller threw himself into the

new venture. In 1849 a large weatherboard school was built at Government expense.

A Maori teacher was engaged and twenty-eight children enrolled. In addition to tuition

in academic disciplines, character training was emphasized. But soon the school was

in dire financial straits. Apparently neither the Government nor the Church was able to

subsidize the institution to anything like the needful level. With regret, Buller was

forced to dismiss the teacher and close the school in 1852.

However, about this time an important change was being planned for the circuit. It had

become obvious that Tirarau and his hapu were not going to embrace Christianity

completely. At the same time, population was drifting southwards, where lived

peoples with a real enthusiasm for the faith. Accordingly, Buller negotiated the sale of

the mission station and purchased a new site, naming it Mount Wesley, just south of

the present town of Dargaville and on the west bank of the Wairoa River. Eventually

buildings were erected and by 1854 the new southern station was completed.

By the 1850s the spiritual results of Buller's work were becoming evident. A religious

revival had begun in Okaro in 1846 and spread to Kaihu. By 1850 the eastern, Uriohau

people were firm Christians. Indeed, it was only at Tangihua and at Whangarei that

Buller failed to win people to Christ. By now the Christians or adherents to the Church

were in the majority, while heathenism was clearly on the wane.

It was the Okaro Christians who in 1851 cared for the survivors of the wrecked

Alcemene, which, together with the Sophia Pate in 1841, was one of the two famous

shipwrecks on the western coast with which Buller was associated.

This period of Buller's later Kaipara ministry was coincidental with the arguments

and ruptures that rent the parent English Wesleyan Church. As a result of disputes

arising from Jabez Bunting's rule, some one hundred thousand Wesleyans left

their'denomination, only a few joining the emergent new Methodist churches. Buller,

as did all the New Zealand Wesleyan missionaries, firmly supported the authoritarian



Bunting, and alleged that the agitation had been caused by “factitious and wicked

men." Be that as it may, English Wesleyan Methodism was long weakened by these

tragic divisions, which spread in time, to New Zealand.

But the disputatious New Zealand missionaries could hardly point the finger at the

parent church. By 1852 another occasion for disagreement had arisen. The

appointment of Walter Lawry to the Superintendency of the New Zealand Mission, his

rather indefinite authority and his instructions to curtail New Zealand expenditure all

combined to exacerbate his colleagues. Appointed at the age of fifty-one with little

missionary experience and no first-hand knowledge of New Zealand conditions,

Lawry must have had a difficult task At the 1852 District Meeting at Auckland,

Buller, no ally to Lawry proposed that the matter should be cleared up by a frank

discussion in Lawry’s absence. However, the problem was only solved after a

Deputation arrived from England the next year. Lawry himself retired in 1854 after

thirty-seven years in the ministry.

By now Buller was being forced to examine his own position His family was large; his

doctor insisted that he seek appointment to an urban area away from the exhausting

labours of the Maori Mission Accordingly, Buller requested a transfer, with a sense of

sorrow at leaving the people he had worked hard to help, and whom he had come to

regard as real friends. The Maoris of his circuit were loath to see him go and insisted

upon accompanying the family as they set off by canoe for Auckland in 1854. His

period in the circuit had been prolonged by a year so that the business of transferring

the mission station could be completed.

Eighteen years of sterling labour, discouragements and great successes were at an end.

But new tasks were waiting and new opportunities for service to the Church as a

whole, in the execution of which Buller was to serve in the principal posts of

Australasian Wesleyan Methodism.



CHAPTER THREE

Minister to Colonists Wellington, 1855-60.

Following a short respite at Auckland, Buller, in April, 1855, took up his first

European appointment at Wellington.

Rev. Jas. Buller Mrs. Buller

(aged about 45 years - 1857) (aged about 40 years)

Of Buller at this time Dr Morley wrote that he "was then in his prime. Exceptionally

strong and energetic, an able preacher, and taking an interest in public affairs, he made

a deep impression upon the community." The Superintendent of the Wellington

Province, Dr Isaac Featherston, told William Woon in 1857 that he had never known a

minister to acquire Buller's extensive influence in any community in so short a time.

Buller certainly needed all these qualities of character as he embarked upon his new

ministry. He found that his "circuit was extensive." It embraced not only Wellington

itself, with its new wooden church at Manners Street, but also Karori, Johnsonville,

Porirua. Newclose and Tawa Flat. The second minister in the circuit, at first Charles

Creed but later Jonathan Innes, was stationed at the Hutt with oversight of Taita and



Stokes Valley. A general supervision of work as far afield as the Wairarapa and

Manawatu had to be maintained.

The central Wellington church had congregations of up to two hundred and fifty. But

things were not as rosy as this promised. Buller quickly pruned the membership roll to

one hundred and fifty-three. Weeknight classes and prayer meetings were poorly

attended and remained so despite Buller's efforts.

But "besides the colonial congregations," wrote Buller later, "I had six native churches

under my care, with more than one hundred communicants. I usually preached four

times on Sundays — twice in English and twice in Maori."

There were between one thousand and two thousand Maoris living at Porirua,

Wairarapa, Waikanae and Taita among whom Buller worked conscientiously. He saw

that a teacher was placed in each Wesleyan village, and he maintained regular services

of worship and of Holy Communion. This is his description of one quarterly

Communion service:

"The bark chapel is crowded—at least two hundred are present. . . All are clean;

most of them are well-dressed. The liturgy is read and the responses are hearty . .

. All listen with attention . . .About 60 partake of the sacrament. I believe all are

sincere, but I dare not think that all are converted."

By the time he left the circuit Buller was able to see the fruits of his toil visibly

represented by two new chapels, one at Te Aro and one at the Hutt. Buller's reputation

as an expert on the Maori led the Government in 1856 to seek his advice on Maori

administration and to invite him to contribute to the "Maori Messenger," an official bi-

lingual magazine designed to give practical advice on matters like agriculture.

Buller found several problems facing him in the European section of the circuit.

Finances were in a bad way, partly the result of damage to church properties inflicted

during the earthquakes of 1848 and 1854. There was no Trust to administer the

Wellington properties. There was a debt on a Thorndon site, and land originally

intended for a Maori industrial school in Wellington was lying unused. The people

were much inclined to leave the solution of these problems to the parson.

Accordingly, Buller set about solving them. In 1855 there was a credit balance in the

circuit accounts for the first time. A canvass raised money to help pay the minister's

stipend, and Buller himself advanced sixty pounds to pay off the cost of earthquake's

damages until the Connexion should contribute its share of the cost. The industrial

school section was sold and all circuit debt cleared. Nevertheless financial difficulties

were never far away, a request for help from Connexional funds in 1856 having been

rejected. But so heartened by Buller’s drive and industry were the circuit officials, that



in 1859 the Quarterly Meeting pledged itself to support a third minister. (It ought to be

added that after Buller had left the circuit, the meeting changed its mind!).

By 1859 congregations at Manners Street had increased so much that galleries had to

be installed, Buller organizing the fund-raising Prior to that the church had received a

notable addition with the installation in 1855 of "probably the first pipe organ used in

a Wesleyan Church in New Zealand," as Dr Morley noted. This, the result of a two

hundred pound gift and subsequent donations, replaced an orchestra of clarinet and

strings that had hitherto accompanied the singing.

Religious education continued to be a priority to Buller. A Maori day school was

begun in 1857. European and Maori Sunday Schools were actively encouraged and

reconstituted where necessary But Buller felt the provision of European secular

education to the Provincial Government, as it was his opinion that no good purpose

would be served by starting up denominational schools, since religious education was

permitted in the Provincial schools.

Circuit work did not exhaust Buller's activities. Between 1855 and 1862 he was

Chairman of the Wellington District, an enormous area stretching as far as Wanganui.

Further, almost annually from 1855 to 1874 he was elected as a New Zealand

representative to the Australasian Wesleyan Conference. For in 1854 an independent

Connexion, affiliated to the British body, was established to govern the Wesleyan

churches and missions of New Zealand, Australia, Tonga and Fiji. Buller attended the

inaugural Conference at Sydney in 1855. As a member of these conferences he was,

over the years, able to watch and influence developments that affected the New

Zealand Church. Upon his return he always gave his congregations a comprehensive

picture of the Conference's decisions and of the Connexion's working.

Translation to a town church did not necessarily mean that life became considerably

easier for Mrs Buller. Although her husband was not now away from home so

frequently for days on end, she still saw little enough of him. Buller's days began at 6

a.m. and ended somewhere about 11.30 p.m., with the period in between consumed by

meetings, visitation, counselling, preparation of sermons and study. Consequently,

Mrs Buller still had the major share in bringing up the children. Walter was away from

home in the employ of the Native Department of the Government, but Anna,

Margaret, Lilla, Fletcher, Wesley, Thomas and Boyce were living at home. (James,

the eldest, had died while yet a school child.) Buller wrote in a journal kept to show

nineteen-year-old Anna on her return from a holiday with her mother: "I wish Mother

to manage to show a little more attention" (i.e. in visitation) "to those who are worthy

of it. It would increase my usefulness among them. In going to a new circuit this must



be aimed at." Poor Jane Buller! She must have been exhausted after the lonely years at

Kaipara where most of her children had been born, while the years at Wellington were

hardly a time of relaxation.

As Buller's term at Wellington drew to a close, it was becoming obvious that fresh,

more dreadful racial conflict was brewing. Finally, on March 18th, 1860, the first

shots rang out in Taranaki.

Buller laid the blame for the drift to fighting squarely upon the Government. Maori

resistance to land sales he attributed chiefly to their diminishing dependence upon

land sales revenue12

to satisfy, "their newly-created wants," and to the "deepening

suspicion that it was the ultimate design of the Government to deprive them of their

land." That the King Movement itself arose "owing to a desire for law and order,"

since "we reigned but did not rule," was Buller's far from original belief. "Timely

legislation would have prevented such a movement; after it was started wise measures

might have turned it to good account.13

It would have been some relief could I have

persuaded myself that the war was unavoidable or the casus belli a righteous one," he

wrote.

On March 15, 1860, he was present when "the detachment of troops with their officers

embarked for New Plymouth. Most of the poor fellows appeared tipsy. . . I fear they

will have to work to do." And alter the fighting had actually begun he wrote: "I fear

that the hostilities commenced at Taranaki 'are of a very serious character." Buller

realized, as he put it in 1878, "There was a foolish idea abroad that nothing was

wanting but a military demonstration and a blow. Those who knew the natives could

say that war and ruin were convertible terms."

Anxious to help prevent the strife from spreading to Wellington, Buller in March

toured the local Maori settlements with Dr Featherston. They were able to allay fears

entertained there of the militia's activities, and to learn of the Maoris' pacific

intentions. Through the press he sought to quieten the European population's

suspicions and fears. He wrote, on returning from a day's journey with Dr Featherston.

"I am sorry I am going away so soon, as I find I might be of some use in case of panic

by my knowledge of the people, and the influence I might exert."

But the following month the Bullers departed for their new home, Christchurch. Buller

could look back over his ministry at Wellington with satisfaction, and was able to

write of the financial position: "My successor will enter upon his duties under very

favourable circum-stances." His words could equally have applied to other aspects of

the work in the circuit in which European congregations had climbed to one thousand

people and Maori congregations to three hundred and fifty.



The Quarterly Meeting thanked Buller for his "earnest and efficient ministry" which

had been "instrumental in awakening in the minds of many and especially of the

young, a deep sense of the vital importance of Christianity." Christchurch, 1860-66.

In many ways the period at Christchurch was to be the high point of Buller's ministry.

He found that "Christchurch was more like a straggling village" than the town it

became. But Canterbury's population was soaring: between 1858 and 1861 it doubled,

and doubled again between 1861 and 1864, while over the succeeding five years it

grew by nearly one third.

In the centre of Christchurch itself was "a neat, wooden church, in Gothic style, and a

schoolroom close to it." This structure was the heart of Canterbury Wesleyan

Methodism, the High Street church built in 1859 to accommodate three hundred and

seventy people. The circuit's one hundred and twenty-two members were served by

two ministers, the Superintendent being resident at Christchurch and his assistant at

Lyttelton. The circuit was extensive, regular services being maintained at

Christchurch, Lyttelton, Kaiapoi, Papanui, Woodend, Riccarton and St Albans.

Buller found himself among congenial people. The evangelical faith burned strongly

in these Canterbury Wesleyans, so that class meetings were springing up all across the

province. The fervour of the laity enabled the Church to ride on the crest of the tide of

immigration. Church membership expanded so rapidly that by 1865 there were 588

members with 75 on trial.

The times demanded vigorous, far-sighted, inspirational leadership, and Buller was the

man to give it. Within a short time he had not only won the admiration and support of

his own people, but had also won "an unsurpassed influence in the ecclesiastical life"

of the whole town, as the Rev. M. A. Rugby Pratt put it.

Determined to see that every possible place had the benefit of Methodist ordinances,

Buller increased the number of preaching places by ten during his first three years.

Not content with that, "for several quarters the Superintendent's name," as Morley

recorded, "also appeared on the Plan for two or more weeks on a missionary tour

when he visited outlying settlements, farms and stations where regular preaching

services could not be held."

In Christchurch the High Street church was rapidly becoming-overcrowded.

Therefore, in 1862 the congregation decided upon the raising of a larger structure. A

half-acre section on the corner of Durham and Chester Streets was bought and in

January, 1864, the Superintendent of the Canterbury Province laid the foundation



stone. On December 25th that year the church was opened, a Presbyterian minister

being the guest preacher. At his own first service Buller preached to a congregation of

seven hundred. Within a few months of the opening, a California!! evangelist, William

Taylor, conducted a revival mission in the church during which scores of decisions

were made for Christ. Nor was eloquent preaching lacking in the ordinary course of

things, for Dr Morley describes Buller's sermons during this time as "instructive,

impressive and delivered with forceful fluency."

The same period saw the construction of a roomy, two-storied, wooden parsonage on a

section in Ferry Road granted by the Provincial Government.

The rapid increase in the church's family meant that many young people came within

her influence. Buller, in addition to encouraging Sunday Schools, reorganized the

Bible Class of his church as a Young Men's Mutual Improvement Society with the aim

of inculcating a more intelligent grasp of the Christian faith.

Even here in Canterbury Buller found work to do among the Maori people of the

Banks Peninsula and coastal areas. Finding an Anglican clergyman, J. W. Stack, at

Kaiapoi, Buller extended to him his full co-operation. 1863 brought the Wesleyan

minister, the Rev. Te Kole Ratou, to Raupaki from where he took up the work Buller

had been maintaining and continued the friendly relations with Stack. And even here

in the south were felt tremors from the war in the north. "Emissaries came from the

disaffected tribes in the north, to stir up evil passions among the natives. To counteract

their influence. a meeting was convened in the Town Hall, where Mr Stack and myself

acted as interpreters. This was highly satisfactory in its results." reported Buller.

In addition to the normal pastoral and administrative work of a circuit. Buller was

called upon to act as the virtual leader of the Wesleyan Day School movement. For in

Canterbury, denominational schools were strong. By 1864 there were some thirty-

seven Wesleyan, Presbyterian and Anglican schools as well as twenty-two private

schools Of these denominational schools, seven were Wesleyan, situated at

Christchurch, Lyttelton, St Albans, Papanui, Kaiapoi, Woodend and Upper Heathcote.

The Provincial Government assisted by financial grants, but, as W. A. Chambers

writes, "The heaviness of the (financial) burden can best be judged by the fact that in

1864 when all these schools were operating, the Methodist Church membership, upon

whom the bulk of the responsibility rested, was only three hundred and twenty."14

Thus it was that in 1864 Buller waited upon the Provincial Education Commission's

chairman and obtained from him grants totalling one hundred and fifty pounds per

quarter for these schools, plus the right to retain all school fees. In return, the church

set up sub-committees of (he Quarterly Meeting to administer each school. Buller was



on the Christchurch, St Albans, Papanui and Woodend committees. He was also

chairman of the Board of a leading denominational school, the Christchurch Wesleyan

school, and was a member of the Board of the Nelson as well as of the Canterbury

Colleges.

It would almost seem that fate intended Buller to be personally involved in as many of

the turning points in our country's history as possible. Gold was discovered in Otago

in 1861, and on the west coast of Canterbury (now Westland) in 1865. What could be

more natural than that Buller should offer to visit these new goldfields in 1865 in

order to initiate a Wesleyan pastorate there? Taking horse, he travelled westwards,

over plain, mountain and river (paying twenty-nine shillings to feed his horse at the

Greenstone diggings) and arrived eventually at the mushroom town of Hokitika. In the

words of the man appointed as first minister there, arriving immediately after Buller's

departure in August, Buller during a brief sojourn "had preached on the two Sabbaths

of his stay, had secured a large church reserve in a central position, and had organized

a Church Building Committee."15

Buller took his responsibilities as Chairman of the District seriously. For example,

1862 saw him visiting the Otago goldfields and the town of Dunedin, where Wesleyan

work had lapsed. He gave his full support to a local group of enthusiastic laymen with

the result that a Society and a Building Committee were organised, and he promised

them a minister. The Otago Heads Maoris received a pastoral visit. In 1864 Buller

travelled to Invercargill and in 1865 to Timaru where he effectively organised the

Church's work.

None of this exhausted Buller's energies, for he found time to participate in public life,

joining the Bible Society, speaking his mind when it seemed necessary, and assisting

at public rallies such as that which sought to raise funds to help Lancashire operatives

financially distressed because of the American Civil War.

But the pinnacle of his career came in 1864 when he was elected to the Presidency of

the Australasian Conference, an honour rare for a New Zealander. He distilled

something of his thought and outlook into his Conference sermon. He declared that "A

Christian minister could have only one subject, Jesus Christ, that wide reading, deep

thinking and constant studying were necessary to enable the message of Christ to be

related to the broad field of human knowledge and need."16

It is small wonder that the 1864 District Meeting was waited upon by a Canterbury

deputation which successfully asked to retain the services of their pastor beyond the

usual term allowed under the itineracy regulations; or that the October Quarterly



Meeting of 1865 should record "its grateful recognition of his pastorate during the

periods of labour among us."

Buller had skilfully guided Canterbury through a period of tremendous expansion

during which nine new, debt-free churches had been erected in addition to the

magnificent Durham Street edifice, numerous new preaching places created, and

during which circuit membership had increased nearly four-fold. This period had,

indeed, been the highlight of Buller's ministry thus far.

The success of these years is all the more remarkable when one learns of the family

tragedies that occurred during the period. A son was accidentaly shot and killed during

a game and, in 1864, Buller's beloved daughter, Maryanna, died. But nothing could

dim Buller's faith in the all-merciful and all-wise God he loved and worshipped.

Auckland, 1866-70.

Having received a unanimous invitation from the Auckland Quarterly Meeting, Buller

arrived in that town after the conclusion of the 1866 Conference.

Here he found much that was familiar and challenging. The area included within the

circuit boundaries was large, services being held regularly at High Street, Hobson

Street, Union Street, Parnell, Remuera, Epsom, Grafton, Three Kings, Whau Road

(Avondale), Titirangi, Howick, North Shore, and further afield at Whangarei (until

1866), Thames (from 1867) and in the Manukau Circuit. Three ministers served the

Wesleyan community of one thousand, eight hundred and fifty.

Since Buller was also Chairman of the Northern District between 1866 and 1873, he

had often to be on the road.

He found, too, some difficult problems. The Pitt Street Church was in the process of

construction and was opened several months after his arrival, in October, 1866. The

erection of this imposing building loaded the circuit with a large debt which in 1867

was still five thousand pounds bearing interest at the rate of 10 per cent. Additional

circuit building debts stood at eight hundred pounds, while even the ordinary circuit

accounts did not balance because of the heavy removal expenses borne by the circuit

coupled with the necessity of refurnishing the parsonage. Buller attacked these

financial problems resolutely, yet could achieve little beyond balancing the circuit

accounts. It was not until William Morley arrived in 1879 that the Pitt Street debt was

finally cleared.



More serious was the declining membership and the decreasing numbers at class

meetings. To set the latter in perspective, Rupert Davies' words on nineteenth century

English Methodism should be remembered: "Opposition to the Oxford Movement and

assimilation to historic nonconformity tended, as the century wore on, to take the

emphasis away from the Sacraments—and gradually to some extent from the Class

Meeting, which was becoming formalized and a little artificial—to the Preaching

Service."17

The total Auckland Wesleyan worshipping community was not shrinking

in size, though its growth was appreciably slower than in other main centres. Further,

among the Pitt Street people was abroad a spirit of criticism of the ministers for failure

to visit homes more often and for failure to attend all devotional meetings. Buller felt

obliged at the December Quarterly Meeting of 1868 to comment, in all humility, upon

these rather unfair reproaches.

Between 1867 and 1869 Buller made many lengthy journeys in his capacity as

Chairman of the District. On a tour of the north, he revisited Tangiteroria in 1867 and

"stood by the graves of my children." At night "I could not sleep; the rush of

memories of the past filled my mind." Again, in 1869 (a year during which he saw

little of Auckland) he toured the north. The Waikato area and the mission enclaves in

Kingite Territory—Raglan, Kawhia and Aotea — were not neglected. While returning

from a visit to these places in 1869 he found at Ngaruawahia "public expectation was

tiptoe" at the prospect of a meeting between the visiting Prince Alfred, Duke of

Edinburgh and the Maori King. Buller was there when Tawhiao's reply came-' "Give

us back Waikato, then, and not till then, will we see your Grovernor, or your Prince."

On July 1st, 1867, Buller represented his denomination at the valedictory to Bishop

Selwyn, who had arrived in New Zealand in 1842. Buller expressed himself as "a

sincere admirer of his talents, piety and zeal," though in his book. Forty Years in New

Zealand, Buller comments, "The first outcome of his (High Churchly) zeal was to

throw the people back upon unprofitable questions. Up to that time, the converts of the

two missionary societies looked upon each other as belonging to one body and held

intercommunion. But, unhappily, that was now forbidden ... I think no one regretted

the result more than the Bishop himself."18

One comment Buller made in his address is

of particular interest today: "Some good men cherish the idea of an outward and

visible unity of Christendom. In theory, this may be a 'consummation devoutly to be

wished,' but, for my part, I see no reason to expect it, or to hope for it. Freedom of

thought and liberty of conscience must produce differences of religious opinion,

varieties of church polity and diversity of church formularies." Throughout his life

Buller lived up to his conviction that there should be amity and co-operation between

the various Protestant denominations.



Half way through 1867 the Thames gold rush began. Much population drained to the

new fields. A gold rush mood made itself felt even within the Church, leading Buller

to comment: "I am sure that the Caledonian Mine has wrought unspeakably worse

moral and religious evil in the churches than it has bestowed material wealth upon the

world." The Auckland junior minister, the Rev. G. S. Harper, who had already served

on the West Coast, was the first Wesleyan minister to preach at Thames. Buller

arrived not long afterwards. As a result of the exertions of these two men, church

societies, Sunday Schools and church structures were established in the two

settlements at Thames by 1870. In 1868 Buller secured land for a parsonage to enable

Harper to move to Thames.

Impressed by Buller's leadership, the 1868 Quarterly Meeting unanimously invited

him to remain a fourth year.

The next year was not long started when shocking news arrived. On February 28th the

Rev. John Whiteley was murdered by Hau Haus. Buller was shaken to the core. Only

a policy of deliberate extermination of Europeans, he wrote, could have led to such a

deed. He bitterly blamed the government for its indecisive and weak policy in the

conduct of the war which, having been begun, should have been concluded as quickly

as possible through the use of as much force as was needed to crush armed resistance.

The episode highlighted the whole sad business of the desertion of the orthodox

Christian bodies by thousands of Maoris. Buller put his finger on the cause of this: "A

simple people are governed by one idea. When they accepted Christianity, it became

the absorbing subject of their inquiry; but when political disquietude prevailed, the

reading of the Scripture gave way to noisy debate." Buller's analysis of the Pai Marire

faith in his Forty Years in N.Z. has placed subsequent historians in his debt.

Fundamentally, as he pointed out, Pai Marire "was a compound of Judaism,

Mormonism and Spiritualism, and its rites were bloody, sensual and devilish. It had a

political rather than a religious meaning" and "their bitterest hatred was reserved for

the missionaries."

The impression that Whiteley's murder had made upon Buller's mind can be seen in

the views he expressed in a lecture to the Y.M.C.A. on June 25th, 1869. He lamented

that "the viciousness of many of the Maoris was in spite of better knowledge." In

speaking of the blame for the present war he said that the Government must "sustain

this responsibility." For, having "petted and spoiled" the Maoris during the earlier

governorships, they had failed "to establish the supremacy of law instead of the

sword" among those people. "Our laws are powerless with them." But now "by the

stern logic of facts, the Maori must how to our superiority." As for the colonists: "To

charge them with desiring war is ridiculous . . . Did the settlers get land—did they



wish to get land—in any other way than by fair and honourable purchase? I challenge

anyone to say so."19

Buller finished on a strange note in view of his calling and his

audience: "Prepare yourselves for emergencies, and you will overcome them ... I am

not recommending a war-spirit, but the decision which is necessary to peace. If the

Maori3 believed that every Pakeha was well armed, had strong nerves, and was a

dead-shot, it would fill them with unbounded respect for him." "I can admit the Maoris

to be my friends, but not to be my masters," were his final words.

But Buller was not content to criticize and lament. During these years in Auckland he

helped in the reorganising and revival of the northern Maori Mission. Everywhere he

went he sought to give pastoral oversight to the Maori. In 1878 he wrote of his vision

of "a native church, with its native ministry leading tribe after tribe to the foot of the

Cross and crowning Christ as 'Lord of all.' "

The Auckland ministry was now at its close. Measured by statistics, not much had

been achieved. But new opportunities had been seized in Thames, and a faithful

oversight had been exercised as Superintendent of the Circuit and as Chairman of the

District.

Conference gave Buller the chance to consolidate the advance he had initiated at

Thames by appointing him Superintendent of a new Thames Circuit.

Thames, 1870-73.

Says Dr Morley: "In the early days of the Thames settlement there were two distinct

townships. Shortland was the favourite place tor residence, but the erection of the

wharf a mile and a half away led to the business being largely concentrated at that end,

where, in honour of the Superintendent of the Province, a town was laid out and called

Grahamstown."

Arriving in 1870 at the Grahamstown part of Thames, Buller found that "the town was

in an embryo condition: the streets were but a congeries of mud-holes in winter; in

rainy weather the drains over-flowed; and the hills at the back were honey-combed

with tunnels . . . In winter the mud was, in places, knee-deep between my house and

the church, for roads were not yet made."

But conditions seemed ripe for a rapid extension of church work among the town's

12,000 people, even though by 1870 the rush was over and population was drifting

away.



The circuit grew quickly. Membership, just over one hundred in 1870, had risen to one

hundred and sixty-three by 1872. One year after Buller's arrival there were six

hundred Sunday School pupils cared for by the circuit. Ten class leaders and nine

local preachers assisted with spiritual oversight of the people. In December, 1870, the

Rev. W. J. Williams, the later Methodist historian, arrived as junior minister and was

stationed at Coromandel where he had the care of what was virtually a second circuit.

By 1871 Buller was hoping for the appointment of a third minister to a circuit he

considered "likely ere long to be second to none in the colony." In fact, a second

minister was sent to Thames in 1873, but was withdrawn within twelve months as

population was steadily declining, contrary to Buller's earlier expectations.

Youth work was a feature of the circuit's activities, a vigorous Sunday School Union

of seventy-three teachers meeting quarterly. The Young Men's Class Meeting,

however, declined in numbers until it ceased to meet, and other classes were not

numerically prosperous. But congregations increased in size, eight hundred people

celebrating the 1871 anniversary at Thames, and attendances of two hundred being not

uncommon at weeknight meetings. Buller was a noted public lecturer and speaker.

Services were conducted at the two Thames churches. Shellback, Eureka Puriri, Punga

Flat, Tapu and Coromandel. Everywhere there were active building programmes. The

Shortland church, built in 1868 was modernized in 1871. The Grahamstown church,

opened in 1868, had to be enlarged in 1871. At Coromandel a new church and a

parsonage were provided for the new junior minister by 1871. Tararau (Shellback) had

its new church on a new site the following year. The Thames parsonage was enlarged

to accommodate the Bullers' large family. No large debt resulted from this

programme, though the circuit's ordinary budget was little in credit.

All this meant heavy work for Buller who was still Chairman of the District. January,

1871, found him confiding to his diary that it was not "posible when a minister does

his best to overtake the visiting."

The long years of arduous work were telling on Buller who celebrated his sixtieth

birthday in 1872 and his health was not good. This fact probably heightened a feeling

of depression and inadequacy which led him to note in his diary: "I wonder I have

kept in the ministry so long." Still grieving at the loss of his children at Christchurch,

and dismayed at the misconduct of two of his boys, Buller began to think of

retirement. Always prone to self-criticism in the intimate pages of his journals, and

essentially a lonely man, he blamed himself for the want of a "powerful visitation of

the Holy Ghost" upon the circuit's life. However, there can be no doubt that Buller

expected too much both of himself and of his fellows.



In 1871 Buller found himself the target of Roman Catholic attack. The Rev. W. J.

Williams delivered a series of lectures on "Martin Luther and the Reformation."

Roman Catholic indignation was further increased when Buller lectured on "Martin

Luther: The Lesson of his Life." Says Buller, "I endeavoured most studiously to avoid,

not only anything like bitterness, but what might seem illiberal.” Notwithstanding this,

"one hundred roughs" came up from Coromandel, armed with revolver and

shillelaghs, and paraded the streets and threats were made against Buller. Previously

he had been heckled during a Protestant fund-raising rally. Trouble was averted by the

prompt action of police and volunteers. The whole affair was obviously the result of

the religious fanaticism of some of the Irish immigrants (then, it must be conceded, a

depressed class of people who could feel little loyalty either to Britain or to the

Protestant faith that oppressed them in their homeland), and the local priest, "an

amiable and good man" had no part at all in this unsavoury business.

Buller's repeated clashes with Roman Catholicism throughout his career had left him

no friend to that denomination, and while at Thames he became chaplain of the

Orange Lodge, claiming that in so doing he was helping protect liberty of speech and

conscience.

Buller's service in Thames lasted but three years. Early in 1873 came the farewell

gatherings. Some seven hundred Sunday School children gathered to show their

affection for their pastor, while the congregational soiree attracted crowds, including

representatives from all the local Protestant churches. Soon the Bullers were on their

way to what was to be their last regular circuit appointment — Christchurch.

Christchurch, 1873-76.

The Christchurch to which the Bullers returned was a much larger town than that

which they had left in 1866. But the circuit was more compact in area and smaller in

membership, the result of an earlier division of the former Christchurch Circuit into

five. Work was now concentrated upon Durham Street, Montreal Street, Waltham,

Woolston and Lincoln Road. Membership stood at about the three hundred mark from

which it rose little during Buller's stay.

The fervent spirit still remained. Two of the peaks of these years sprang from this

zealous faith: a month of inter-Free Churches prayer meetings and pulpit exchanges in

1874, and the Durham Street mission of the Revs. A. Fitchett and J. Berry, during

which many were converted, in 1875.

Circuit extensions continued apace. A new stone schoolroom was added to Durham

Street in 1873 at a cost of two thousand pounds of which sixteen hundred pounds was



raised by a bazaar. The next year an organ was installed in the church. In 1875 the St

James Church in Montreal Street was moved out to Sydenham. 1876 saw the purchase

of a section in Colombo Street and the erection of the East Belt church, which was

opened in April by Buller's successor, William Morley.

Financial problems were of a minor order, canvasses and fund-raising functions

reducing circuit debt by 1876 to one hundred pounds. Though collections at class

meetings were declining, congregational collections on Sundays were replacing them

as a source of revenue.

Now an elder statesman of his Church, Buller was much occupied during these years

with Connexional matters. Since 1871 he had been strongly advocating some

independence for New Zealand from the Australasian Conference. He proposed a

scheme for a separate New Zealand Conference retaining some links with both

Australia and England. Thomas Buddle led the opposition to any idea of separation.

The Northern District Meeting, to which Buller put his earlier proposals, contained the

bulk of the New Zealand Church leaders opposed to separation — Hobbs, Wallis,

Warren and Henry Lawry. But the other two Districts and some Australian Districts

saw to it that the Australasian Conference had before it a New Zealand request for

more autonomy. The result was that in 1873 a scheme was agreed upon for a Triennial

Australasian General Conference, and a subordinate, annual Conference for New

Zealand and for the Australian Colonies.

It was Buller's privilege as the last New Zealand ex-President of the former

Australasian Conference, in January, 1874, to rise and say to the twenty-three

ministers and probationers assembled at Durham Street: "I now declare this

Conference to be duly, and legally constituted." The election of officers resulted in the

elevation of Thomas Buddle to the Presidency and of Alexander Reid to the

Secretaryship. The ordination charge to the five ordinands was delivered by Buller.

The following year it was Buller's turn to assume the Presidency. "As he rose to

address his brethren his thoughts naturally turned to the years which had gone, and he

saw again those first small District Meetings at Mangungu, the first Australasian

Conference which he attended, and now the New Zealand Church that was able to

stand alone. He exhorted his brethren to follow in the footsteps of the pioneers whom

he had known, proud of their church and her tradition, yet remembering that 'with all

true Protestants we are one'."20

In May the New Zealand delegation consisting of T. Huddle, A. Reid C. Rigg, A.

Fitchett and W. Morley to the last Australasian Conference he was to attend. Always a

keen supporter of lay representation and rights at Conference, he was disappointed to



find Conference still unwilling to accept this principle. Indeed, it was not until 1877

that even the New Zealand Conference admitted laymen with voting and speaking

rights

The forty years of hard work for the Church had left Buller's health permanently

impaired. Conscious of this and of the passing years and moved by a desire to revisit

the country of his birth together with his wife, Buller requested the 1876 New Zealand

Conference to release him into retirement. With reluctance to lose a man of Buller's

stature, the Conference agreed. It was in some ways a happy Conference for Buller,

for the result of the post-war activity of the Wesleyan Maori Mission could be seen

when it was agreed to re-open the Three Kings College for Maori boarders. Buller was

able to support yet another project dear to his heart when it was proposed to associate

with this college the training of men for the ministry.

Returning home, Buller prepared to quit New Zealand amid many expressions of

gratitude for his work from the Church and from sister communions. On March 4th,

the eve of their departure, the Bullers were presented with a gift of two hundred and

fifty pounds, a token of the people s affection.

Soon the ship was drawing away from the wharf, away from the city in which Buller

had seen so much success as pastor, public figure and as educationalist.

CHAPTER FOUR

Preacher in Retirement The return home, 1876-80.

The ship, Waimate, took Buller, his wife and their youngest daughter to Britain via

Cape Horn in twelve weeks. Right from the start of this voyage it was clear that Buller

was too active a man to retire in the accepted sense of the word. Rather, he was freed

to serve wherever opportunity arose. On shipboard he took services and delivered

lectures, hoping, perchance, to arouse some soul to spiritual awareness.

In Britain, despite his bad health, he travelled widely and even went on missionary

deputation to Ireland. Everywhere he spoke he sought to inform the people about New

Zealand and to arouse missionary zeal.

He attended the 1876 English Conference, and his heart was full to find himself

returned home, an ordained minister, and to be able at last to take his place among the

six hundred men here in the heart of Wesleyan Methodism. He voted on one issue

only — lay representation. He seized the chance while at Conference to talk with

young men and persuaded about twelve of them to emigrate to New Zealand with the



aim of joining the ministry there. Among these men were future President William

Baumber, future assistant-Secretary of Conference J. T. Pinfold, future sub-editor of

the Advocate T. G. Brooke, and S. Griffith.

In England Buller published two notable books — Forty Years in New Zealand in

1878 and New Zealand Past and Present in 1880. These books added to his reputation

as an authority on New Zealand and as an enthusiast for emigration thither. He was

often able to assist prospective emigrants with advice and information.

Regular articles in the New Zealand Wesleyan kept New Zealand readers informed of

happenings in England and in English Wesleyan Methodism, and conveyed something

of the atmosphere and concerns of the parent Church.

New Zealand again.

But New Zealand called, and in late 1880 the Bullers returned to take up residence in

their loved city of Christchurch. Soon Buller was active in Church life again.

Then, in April, 1881, came the tragedy of the sinking of the Tararua. Among the

drowned were two New Zealand Wesleyan ministers, including President of

Conference, John Richardson, of St Albans church. Buller immediately began to

organize relief for the dead men's dependants, and in addition took over the St Albans

Circuit himself. This, his final ministry, lasted until March, 1882, when the new

appointee arrived. Once more stirring sermons were heard, now tinged with a mellow

note of human sympathy and tenderness. Membership of the circuit increased, and

circuit accounts achieved a strong credit balance. Upon Buller's arrival at the 1882

New Zealand Conference the members rose as one man to applaud this Father in God

of their

But plainly Buller's last years were upon him. He suffered bouts of great pain, though

nothing could dampen his interest in the work to which almost his whole life had been

devoted.

In the fullness of time, on November 6th, 1884, a month short of his seventy-second

birthday, James Buller gently quitted this life.

His remains were interred in the city m which his last years had been spent. At the

Durham Street Church his memorial service was held, and on the walls of that mighty

monument to his faith and industry was erected a memorial tablet.



The Church's tribute to Buller was printed in the Minutes of the 1885 Conference at

Dunedin:

JAMES BULLER

Who was born at Helston, Cornwall, December 1812, and died at St Albans

November 6th, 1884. At an early age he was converted to God, and shortly after

his conversion was admitted as a local preacher. In 1835 he left Cornwall for

Sydney, and in the following year proceeded to New Zealand as tutor in the

family of the Rev Nathaniel Turner- He rapidly acquired a knowledge of the

Maori language, and in 1837 was received as a probationer for the Ministry. For

sixteen years he laboured with great diligence and fidelity as a missionary

chiefly, among the Maoris of the Kaipara District, though frequently making

long journeys through other parts of the country to promote the welfare of the

entire Native race. In 1854 he entered upon the Colonial work, and with great

acceptance exercised his ministry in Wellington, Canterbury, Auckland, Thames

and Christchurch Circuits He was appointed six years in succession by the

Conference to the Canterbury Circuit, and it was during that period of his

superintendency that the Durham Street Church was erected - a rare monument,

in those early days of the Province, of large faith and energetic labour: By reason

of his genial disposition and the urbanity of his manner, Mr Buller lived in the

affectionate esteem, not only of the Methodist people of his charge, but of the

members of other sections of the Church wherever he laboured. As a student he

was exceedingly painstaking and diligent, and the marked development of his

intellectual powers and oratorial gifts was a result of this careful mental culture

Hence as a preacher he was always clear and vigorous, frequently eloquent and

impressive. While ardently attached to Methodism, he cultivated a catholic spirit,

and was ever ready to rejoice in the success of Christian effort in denominations

other than his own. The esteem in which he was held by his brethren is shown by

the positions of trust to which from time to time he was by their suffrage elected

For twenty-one years in succession he held the position of Chairman of the

District. In 1864 he became President of the Australasian Conference, and in

1875 was called to fill the chair of the second New Zealand Conference. In 1876

he became a supernumerary and paid a visit to England, where he resided five

years, publishing while there his Forty Years in New Zealand. During the last

two years of his life he passed through much suffering; but his pain was borne

with meekness and resignation; his piety became more mature, his experience

richer and more freely expressed. His mind remained clear to the last, and on the

day of his death he joined in prayer to God, and expressed his joyful confidence

in Jesus, his Saviour and Lord.

"Servant of God, well done!

Rest from thy loved employ,

The battle's fought, the victory's won,



Enter thy Master's joy."

A few weeks afterwards, on December 23rd, Mrs Buller passed away. The editor

of the New Zealand Wesleyan wrote: "She never really overcame the sad sense of

loss occasioned by the removal of her husband of nearly fifty years of her life:

she dwelt upon the last words and the parting scene in a manner which showed

how much of her own life had been buried in her husband's grave; and it was

well, therefore, when her own summons came . . . Kind-hearted, hospitable Mrs

Buller! How many will remember her with gratitude and give God thanks that

she was spared so long, and strengthened so much to be a true helpmate to Mr

Buller to the end."

Thus the book was closed which had opened with the conversion of a young man

about the year 1834 and the departure for a new land of two young people in 1835.

Rev. Jas. Buller (in later years)



NOTES

1. Buller: 40 Years in N.Z. (1878) from which come most undated

quotations.

2. Buick: The Treaty of Waitangi, pp. 8-9.

3. Matheson: Thesis, p.10: To all missionaries "It was axiomatic that if the

natives were to adopt Christianity they must renounce their native

customs."

4. Tapp: Early New Zealand p.40.

5. Gilmore: Some letters of Baron de Thierry, p.4.

6. History of Methodism in N.Z. p.70.

7. Author of A History of the Birds of N.Z., 1873, and A Manual of the

Birds of N.Z., 1 882.

8. Arrived March 1838, drowned June, 1840.

9. Brother to Edward Gibbon and chief N./. Co. agent in N.Z.

10. Buick op. cit. p.197: "We have his (Pompalliers) own perfectly frank

accounts of his conduct, in which he explains that, while he did not exert

himself to promote the fortunes of the compact, he took no steps to

secure its rejection or even to prejudice its chances."

11. The Government paid between 3d and 1/- an acre but sold land at £1 (5/-

after 1853) an acre.

12. Matheson, Thesis, p.9: "Unlike the Church of England clergy, the

Wesleyans did not seem to have felt that the principles on which land

sales were negotiated were defective enough to justify Wiremu Kingi in

his resistance to the survey of Maori land in Taranaki."

13. cf. Sinclair, The Origins of the Maori Wars, pp.79-80: "The Maoris were

reacting against the coming of Europe, not against the absence of

European rule ... Nowhere has good government proved a cure for

nationalism."

14. W. A. Chambers, Our Yesterdays, p.22.

15. Haslam (ed.) Gold Diggings and the Gospel, p.8.

16. M. Turnbull, Thesis, p.123.

17. Davies: Methodism. p.156.

18. cf. Evans: Churchman Militant, p.66: "To Selwyn the Churchman the

Wesleyans were Nonconformists who had regrettably left the Church in

defiance of the expressed wishes of Wesley himself. In N.Z. this was a

new idea." p.70: "The discussion arising from this difference of opinion

took away much of the satisfaction of my visit to the South Island; as

much of my time there we spent in answering unprofitable questions"

(Selwyn's own journal).

19. But Sinclair, op. cit. p.45: "The colonists' demand for land increased and

(lie Maoris . . . became more reluctant to part with their land. (The



settlers) demanded that the tribes be forced to part with their unused

land, and a war of conquest was in sight."

20. M. Turnbull, op. cit. p.126.

LITERATURE CITED Buick, T.: The Treaty of Waitangi (1936).

Buller, J.: Forty Years in New Zealand (1878)

:unpublished journals and papers.

Chambers, W. A.: Our Yesterdays (1950).

Davies, R.: Methodism (1963).

Evans, J.: Churchman Militant (1964).

Gilmore, I. R. M.: Some Letters of Baron de Thierry (1949)

Haslam, J. (ed.): Gold Diggings and the Gospel (1964)

Matheson, P.: The View of the N.Z. Clergy of 1860

on Race Relations.(unpublished thesis, 1959).

Morley, W.: The History of New Zealand Methodism (1900).

The New Zealand Wesleyan (1885).

Sinclair, K.: The Origins of the Maori Wars (1961).

Tapp, E. J.: Early New Zealand 1788-1841 (1958).

Turnbull, Margaret (nee Blight): The work of the Rev. James Buller in the Methodist

Church of N.Z. (unpublished thesis, 1950)

SOME OTHER WORKS CONSULTED Brownlee, J.: The influence of early church leaders and missionaries on Maori-Pakeha

relations and constitutional development 1839-48 (unpub. thesis, 1957).

Laws, C. H.: First Years at Hokianga (1945).

Reed, A. W.: The Impact of Christianity upon the Maori people.

Scholefield, G. H. (ed.): Dictionary of N.Z. Biography (1940).

Sinclair, K.: A. History of N.Z. (1959).

Taylor, N. (ed.): Early Travellers in N.Z. (1959).

Turnbull, Michael: The New Zealand Bubble (1959).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Grateful thanks are expressed to Mrs Margaret Turnbull (nee Blight) for permission to

use material from her unpublished thesis, on the work of the Rev. Jas. Buller, and to

the authors of other theses and books quoted.

Thanks are also expressed to the Alfred and Isabel and Marian Reed Trust, and to Mrs

E. P. Salmon, for generous contributions towards the cost of publishing this work.

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