CENTENARY OF AUCKLAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 266, 9 November 1935, Page 8

CENTENARY OF AUCKLAND.

It would appear that at the representative conference called by the Mayor of Auckland for Monday night an early decision will require to be made as to whether the residents of this city intend to celebrate the centenary of Auckland or the centenary of Mew Zealand. If the former, it. is very doubtful if there is one resident in a thousand who knows the date in September which would have to be observed, for Auckland, unlike all the other provinces, has never celebrated the anniversary of the city, but always the anniversary of the "colony," as it then was. Even that date, January 29, is incorrect, for the correct date is Januffry 30. If, therefore, there is any intention to join in with a national scheme, in which all the other provinces are likely to participate, it would appear hopeless to commemorate September 18, a most unsuitable time of the year for outdoor functions in any case, and the choice would appear to lie between January 30, for the reason mentioned above, and February 6, the date on which the first signatures to the Treaty of Waitangi were taken. There should be a general attempt to sink all provincial events and to make the centenary of New Zealand a truly national occasion. The meeting on Monday may decide that if it is possible to achieve this desirable object it would be well worth while to abandon the old date, in the same way as all the other provinces would have to abandon theirs, and combine to observe whichever date is the more generally favoured elsewhere, January 30 or February 6.