WELLINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1032, 23 January 1911, Page 4

WELLINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.

SEVENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE.-, Wellington was-71 years of age yesterday, and the event will be celebrated today by keeping- holiday. In history three score and eleven years is but brief, yet in that time a big city has been born and has grown. A beautiful bush-grown sparsely inhabited country has fallen under the sway of , the pushing Englishman, and how plays a. part in the world's affairs. ' -, Seventy-one years ago yesterdaiy tho Aurora, with, tho first, immigrants as passengers, beat up tho uncharted en'tranea'iahd ,arichor to the westward of Somes' Island. She had been preceded by the pioneer ship Tory,' . which.brought out., Colonel Wakefield, the - of'-'the-ITew: Zealand Land Company (founded by his ■ brother, Mr. J. Edward Gibbon Wakefield). The colbnel secured a large tract- of-country,' comprising. the present site of Wellingtonand suburbs and the' Hutt- Valley. The exchange made for the Hutt land and handed over to tho original Maori owners, was rather a remarkable one. It was as follows One hundred and thirty-five stands of arms, 2-4 kegs of gunpowder, one .- cask of ball cartridges, nightcaps,, pipes, a gross of. Jews' harps, 1200 fish-hooks, and a dozen sticks of ceiling wax. In the light of development" this may be accounted a very remarkable transaction -indeed. .-The, first settlement took place at Petone, and was callcd Britannia. At that time the Hutt-Valley was so heavily timbered that the surveyors used the river to reach desired points instead of hewing tracks in the bush. A big flood occurred within the first few weeks, 1 after which it was decided to build-the township at the southwestern side of the harbour—on what was for many years, called Thorndon Flat. From that it spread along the southern shore, and very gradually over Te Aro Flat, which was mostly lowlying swampy ground. So low lying, indeed, was the land that tho idea was once contemplated of making an inner harbour on the site of the Basin Reserve, and old plans of the city show a real "basin"—square in formation with a canal leading down Kent-Terrace to the waters of the harbour. The later growth of the city and tho reclamation of large sections of the. harbour are too well known to need further reference. Wellington, working under some rather grave natural difficulties, has dono well in its short life, and its tins harbour and geographical position no doubt ensures its future.