The Evening Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1942. TASMAN TERCENTENARY.

Evening Star, Issue 24376, 12 December 1942, Page 4

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1942. TASMAN TERCENTENARY.

Tr is fitting that four members of a Netherlands delegation should be taking part in tho celebrations of the discovery of this country by Tasman. On December 13, 1642, sailing east from Tasmania, he picked up tho coast of Now Zealand, the first European navigator to do so, somewhere about tho present position of Hokitika, and at Hokitika an official reception to the Netherlands delegation was given to-day. New Zealanders have had cause to honour Tasman. Tho British nation has had equal cause to honour and esteem, his countrymen, sharing qualities which they hold most precious in themselves, including the love of, freedom. More than ever have they reason to fee! admiration and affection for their Dutch neighbours to-day, when the two countries fight shoulder to shoulder iu freedom’s cause.

In Tasman’s age they were less friends than rivals. The Dutch had succeeded to the colonial heritage of the Spanish and Portuguese in Eastern seas, and the British, were waiting to renew their competition with them when they should have got rid of civil war. Batavia was the headquarters of the Dutch East Indian Company, and from Batavia Tasman, an outstanding commander, was sent on a mission to seo what were the limits of the great southern continent, believed l to from Australia to South America and to find a shorter trade route to Chile. New markets for trade were the first object of the journey; tho Dutch were practical men, as were the British of that time when they combined “ God’s glory ” with the “ benefit and advancement of every undertaker ” in the prosecution of the herring fisheries. Tasman had two ships, and a 1 council of command! which may well have cramped his style, for the. results of his expedition were a disappointment to his masters. Following the New Zealand coast northward, he anchored off Cape Foulwind, and at Murderers’ Bay, since renamed Massacre and now Golden Bay, occurred the fracas with Maoris, in which four of one of his boat’s crows were clubbed to death. After beating about iu the great bight which forms the entrance to Cook Strait and conjecturing a passage to the eastward, he sailed north. until ho rounded tho North Cape and named the Three Kings Islands, but sailed off again once and) for nil, when he failed there to obtain provisions for his crews. A ragged line on a map was left to indicate the northern and western shore of a country that nobody wanted. Nobody wanted it, indeed, for several decades after the fuller discovery of Cook, which did not take place until 120 years later, Tho hand's of the Dutch were soon full with other troubles. They did not hasten to publish Tasman’s map, but it helped Cook. Tasman named the country_ ho had discovered Staten Land, believing it might extend across the Pacific to what is now known as Staten Island, south of Tierra del Eucgo. When that geography became clearer the Dutch renamed it New Zealand, after a Netherlands province. Cape Maria Van Diemen (after a governor’s wife), Tasman Bay, and the Tasman Sea are other names that commemorate the visit of Tasman, to which will be added that of the new Tasman Memorial Park, to. be opened next week at Tasman Bay.