“Now no more about that, not ever. I’d like to raise another question, one that can’t possibly threaten your peace of mind and that’s often mystified me: What brought you and your brother to New Bentwick?”
“That is easy to answer.
“The first item was an article in the National Geographic — you probably know it, the American travel magazine, Berenice certainly does. The article listed the town as a place worth a visit by curious travelers; it provided a short history partly to explain why it was interesting. It was discovered (so we learned) around 1875 by the writer Samuel Butler, who spoke or wrote about it to a number of very rich capitalists, of the enlightened variety, I guess one would say. It was just a village then, called something like Onipouri, mainly fishermen and a few artisans.
“It was already a special sort of place, in its small way — for instance, the fishermen practiced what we’d call sustainable fishing, not only inshore but over a rather vast tract of ocean surrounding their bay. They’d somehow figured out that if they caught too many desirable fish, there wouldn’t be enough around for the next generation, so they laid down limits to the seasonal catch of john dory, albacore, and hake, as well as shellfish such as crayfish, pāua, scallops, and crabs. The village already exported much of its production to the south island, at first smoked or dried, and later, once they’d installed the necessary equipment, frozen, at that point extending their market to virtually the entire Commonwealth.
“The village fishermen didn’t impose their limits only on locals but on any outsiders who visited the waters the New Bentwickers laid claim to. They even had a fleet of little gunboats to make sure no intruders left with more than their paid-up allotment of fish. Remember that at that time laissez faire capitalism was encouraged in many lands and initiatives tolerated that would be prohibited today.
“The enlightened capitalists in any case were impressed by these practices as well as by a kind of pragmatic optimism in the village’s approach to public affairs. They formed a consortium and made a deal with its residents. The capitalists would build the first indispensable additions to the village; they would control the distribution of land and the design of the new town, and this right would pass to the successors that they designated. In exchange they would endow in perpetuity the possessions and activities of the present population, with the right to sell, rent, and bequeath them to whomever they chose, on condition that the said sales, rents, and bequests never alter the uses, nature, or functions of their possessions and livelihoods. Fishermen could continue to fish and cobblers to cobble, but they could not dispose of their properties or rights to the benefit of new enterprises. That didn’t mean much in the 1870s, but now it means no casinos, no grand hotels, no high rises.
“And nobody’s complaining. You see the first capitalists were far wealthier than what was required for their first commitments to New Bentwick, the point being that they had a good chance of maintaining and increasing their policy of endowment and support either through their children, if any were interested, or through legacies to eligible young outsiders. Until well into the twentieth century, remember, there was no inheritance tax and virtually no income tax to limit their investments.
“It’s astonishing how continuously the original policy has exerted its effect — look at John Bentwick, Wicheria’s guardian, he’s the great-grandson of one of the town’s founders and still promoting the place. That first generation bought all the village land for a generous price, and it also bought and incorporated thirty-three thousand acres of hinterland so that the town could become as self-sufficient in meat, bread, and produce as it already was in fish. They and their successors created little businesses — a ship chandlery, a clothing store, an outlet for farm equipment, a pharmacy-cum-infirmary, the little lodging houses and eateries; they recruited qualified craftsmen to satisfy the town’s growing needs; they helped fund the first newspaper; they invited three Christian denominations to build churches (chapels, really) and even Persians to open a mosque and a Bahai temple, and Jews to provide a synagogue; they helped these sects establish schools, and they saw to the building of secular primary and secondary schools, topping up salaries sufficiently to lure good teachers from their customary paths.
“As the project gained in renown, it added to New Bentwick’s attractiveness, not only to teachers but to writers and artists, even to business people unconventionally inclined. The undeclared rule that the community would be English-speaking didn’t make for provinciality. From the start its directors used it to seek out immigrants not only from Britain and the United States but Australia, Canada, the Raj, Britains’s African colonies, and of course New Zealand — a vast international reservoir of human material.
“Word kept spreading that this little community was developing according to unspoken principles that might be encapsulated in two words: what works. (However, any applicant for residency or employment who as much as whispered the word ‘Utopian’ was rejected out of hand.)
“After we had read the National Geographic article, Paul and I did a little more research, all of it encouraging. We ended having a meeting at the New Zealand consulate in London with someone from New Bentwick itself. She told us that our presence would be most welcome; and here we are. Someone with influence must have learned about our plans, because when we arrived, I had a plethora of
