HISTORIC EVENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 127, 25 November 1942, Page 3

HISTORIC EVENT

TASMAN TERCENTENNIAL

NETHERLANDS DELEGATION

Sunday, December 13, will be the three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of New Zealand by the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman. This notable occasion in New Zealand s history will be marked by a visit from a Netherlands delegation led by Mr. Charles van der Plas as personal representative of her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina. A memorial will be unveiled on the coastline near Takaka to mark Tasman's nearest approach to land, and at Torrent Bay a national park of some 38,000 acres bearing Tasman's name will be dedicated by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, and a special commemorative booklet will be issued.

An outline of the arrangements was given today by the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser). The Prime Minister said that the question of fittingly celebrating the Tasman tercentennial had been under consideration since as ,far back as June, 1938. It had been kept in mind during the preparations for and the celebration of New Zealand s centennial in 1940, and had the war not broken out the Netherlands' connection with New Zealand would then have been recognised by, a gift to Holland, the gift contemplated at that time being an engraved stone from the Golden Bay district, suitably inscribed, for dispatch to Tasman's home town m Holland. Since the New Zealand centennial celebrations concluded, arrangements for the Tasman tercentennial celebrations had steadily progressed, and so far from Japan's entry into the war in any way leading to the curtailment of them the Government had felt that the increasingly close co-operation between our own and. the Netherlands people in the Pacific gave an added incentive to carrying out the celebrations on a fitting scale. "The Government," continued the Prime Minister, "accordingly conveyed an invitation to the Netherlands Government through the Consul of , the Netherlands inNew Zealand (Mr. M. F. Vigeveno) to be represented by a delegation at the celebrations. A reply was received recently that her Majesty Queen "Wilhelmina had been pleased to accept the invitation; that a delegation representing the Netherlands Government would come to New Zealand from Australia headed by Mr. van der Plas, president of the Netherlands Indies Commission for Australia and New Zealand, who would also act as her Majesty's personal representative, and that her Majesty would be pleased to send a personal message to New Zealand on the occasion of the anniversary. The delegation, which will also officially include the Consul of the Netherlands in New Zealand, will arrive early in December. TWO MEMORIALS. "The first function of the celebrations will be a State luncheon in hon-1 our of the delegation and this will be given in Wellington on December 9. To mark the tercentennial permanently, the Government has decided upon two memorials. The first is a simplydesigned but strikingly effective memorial at Tarakohe to mark Tasman's closest approach to land. The most suitable place for this memorial, after very full investigation, was found to be on land owned by the Golden Bay Cement Company. The company most generously is giving the site of the actual memorial and also an appropriate surrounding area to be set aside for all time as a reserve under the Scenery Preservation Act. In addition the company is giving all the cement required in the construction of the memorial. "The Government has also decided to set aside in the Totaranui and Kaiteriteri survey districts of Tasman Bay an area of 38,000 acres of Crown land, provisional State forest, and other land for the purpose of constituting an Abel Tasman National Park. Also, the Department of Internal Affairs will issue a small but handsomely produced booklet commemorative of the occasion. THE CELEBRATIONS. "The actual celebrations, following on the State luncheon in Wellington, will comprise a function at Okarito on December 12 near the memorial erected by the people of Westland in 1940 in connection with the New Zealand centaonial celebrations. I wish to pay a special tribute to the Westland County Council for its initiative and public spirit in proceeding to make arrangements to hold this special function before it was actually aware of the Government's intention to celebrate the Tasman tercentennial. It has given the Government very great pleasure to accord the function the status of a national celebration. On Friday, December 18, the unveiling will take place of the Tasman Memorial at Tarakohe, and on Saturday, December 19, the celebrations will culminate with the official opening at Torrent Bay of the Abel Tasman National Park by the Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall."

The Prime Minister added that a suitable itinerary had been arranged to enable the distinguished Netherlands visitors to see practically the whole of the beautiful West Coast and Nelson country. Full particulars of the itinerary and of incidental functions and civic receptions would be announced later. The delegation will [be accompanied during its visit to New Zealand by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry).