TRIBUTE TO PIONEERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 130, 28 November 1940, Page 13

TRIBUTE TO PIONEERS

CENTENNIAL FILM

"ONE HUNDRED CROWDED

YEARS"

"One Hundred Crowded Years" is a film worthy of the subject it commemorates—New Zealand's Centennial. Produced in the Government Studios at Miram'ar, it received its first screening this morning at the Tivoli Theatre: There were present his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Galway, Lady Galway, and her daughters, the Prime Minister and most members of Cabinet, Sir Harry Batterbee, and many ..members; of Parliament and .leading citizens. .

"One Hundred Crowded Years" might very easily have been overdone, as there is such a wealth of material to select from in the story of New Zealand's rise from savagery to civilisation. But this.has been avoided: it takes about an hour to screen, and in", that time suggests much more than it actually portrays. It excels on the pictorial side, and'the Government, photographers show that in this respect they have but little to learn from overseas competitors. Quite wisely, too,.there has been no attempt to interweave any consecutive story into the film; scenes from the past have been recreated, and these tell their own story, often silently, but very vividly. The panorama opens with a glimpse of London -in 1839 whence were to come the new colony's first settlers. The Treaty of Waitangi paves the., w:.. for their arrival, and Captain Hobson is seen negotiating with the Maoris. Then come the pioneers, and one has glimpses of their struggles to carve homes out of the bush, and in these scenes . the cameramen have cleverly introduced some studies of New Zealand bird life. Hardly have axe and saw had time to p.oduce rough homes, when the Maori comes down like the wolf on the fold. This gives the opportunity for introducing an energetic war h'aka and some fighting, but the page is quickly turned to what took place in the southern regions of the country. RAPID DEVELOPMENT. The gold rush sets in, and to meet the need for communications a Public Works policy 'is inaugurated. Roads and railways spread their tentacles in all directions, and civilisation progresses in like measure. Then comes the discovery of the possibility of sending New Zealand's produce overseas in a frozen state, and in a series of scenic gems the film emphasises that New Zealand's life-blood is what it produces from the soil. .„ From this point onward the. film somewhat changes its character. Ceasing to be historical, it becomes what may be termed' "ordinary publicity." It presents the culmination of New Zealand's first 100 years in scenes showing the country's modern cities, the work of the Plunket Society. State housing schemes, and the like, with a very pleasing little glimpse of modern Maori 1' and a short dissertation on the Maori problem.

"One Hundred Crowded Years" is to be shown for patriotic purposes, and at the conclusion of its screening this morning the Minister in Charge of the Tourist and Publicity Department (Mr. Langstone) said that it was a film every NeAv Zealander would want to see, and he expressed the hope that it would bring in a good sum; The film, he said, was a lasting tribute to the pioneers whose beneficiaries we were, and he congratulated all those who had; been concerned in its making,