LAND OF SUNSHINE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20731, 16 December 1932, Page 18

LAND OF SUNSHINE.

The Rangiora District.

MANY YEARS OF PROGRESS.

Festivity Week Begins To-Day.

It is 54 years since enterprising Englishmen raised a hamlet in the midst of a tussock-covered plain and called it Rangiora. The change to a borough was merely a formal thing, but it was significant of much. With self-control came responsibility borne by a succession of men of sound principles. Aspirations were fulfilled only at the expense of unceasing effort, and the prosperous and smiling countryside of to-day is the fruits of their efforts. The part played by the Borough Council in the conduct of the town's business is a notable one. The latest issue of the Municipal Handbook shows Rangiora to be the lowest rated borough per £IOOO of capital value in New Zealand. The Borough Council owns and administers the gas supply, electricity supply, the Town Hall and picture show, water supply, drainage system, fire brigade, library, and baths as well as the usual roading and other municipal amenities. This is distinctly creditable in a town of a population of 2200. Since 1929 the building permits have been as follows: 1929, £13,000; 1930, £21,000 (not including school buildings, £6000) • 1931, £7300 (not including the High School additions, £2453): and 1932, £1350 (not including the Borough Council buildings, £500). Since March last permits have accounted for £4200. The whole district has a record of which the residents are justly proud, and, with the commencement to-day of a week of festivity which will add to the brightness of the Christmas period, Rangiora opens its doors still wider to all who delight in a restful holiday in one of the finest country towns the Dominion possesses. It has rightly been called the Sunspot of North Canterbury, and, with trout-fishing, surf-bathing, and many other sports within a very easy distance, the holiday-maker will find himself in a country blessed with all that is desirable.

Since the jubilee of Rangiora m 1928 the town and district have shown remarkable progress. Some striking improvements have been carried out in the town itself, and it can now lay strong claim to being one of tho most up-to-date small boroughs in the Dominion. Tho community spirit was most evident during the jubilee celebrations, when practically everyone m the town gave the fullest assistance towards making the various gatherings successful. A similar spirit is being displayed at present in the energy ot the committee in charge of the Festivity Weet arrangements, with the Mayor (Mr W. A. Rowse) at tho head. Every effort is being put i'o: ward to make this Christmas period a distinctly memorable one. A Romantic History. The history of the Rangiora district does not begin with the establishment of the town as a borough. Tradition amongst the Maoris has it that their forefathers first settled w tho district from overseas in the x.mth century. For hundreds of years the country between Kaiapoi and Rangiora has been the habitat of the famous Ngatahu tribe. They were compelled to submit to the vigorous onslaughts of tho wiij Te Rauparaha in 1843. It was no lonp after the arrival of the *irst Four Ships in 1850 that venturesome spirits began to find their way to the fertile plains of the north. No roads guided them, but they pushed on through forest, swamp, and tussock, eager to discover what lay beyond. The earliest inhabitants were sawyers working in the giant bush near Woodend, and the name is significant.