OUR COLUMBUS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10740, 10 November 1928, Page 3

OUR COLUMBUS.

IF COOK HADN’T COME. WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. SYDNEY, Oct. 26. ‘lf Captain Cook had never landed here. , . ” The ancient pantomime ditty propounded a variety, of theories, fantastic and facetious, as to what might have happened in that too-dreadful-to-be-contemplated event. But the Public Librarian (Mr T. Ifould) told the Millions Club what really and seriously might have happened. “If it hadn’t been for Cook’s discoveries,.” he said, “Australia would not . have been inhabited by British people j but- bv ■ the Dutch, ‘•'or the Spaniards, or the French—most probably the Dutch.” • And later on he observed that- if Cook had been captured by the French on the St .Lawrence River—he narrowly escaped that fate—“you and I would not have been here today.” “To us Australians. Cook is our Columbus” said Mr Ifould, careful to point out that neither Cook, in the case of Australia, nor Columbus in the case of America, were the actual discoverers. He mentioned also that so accurate were Cook’s "charts that .many of them were still used by the Admiralty, with only the very slightest alterations.

CLAIM TO FAME. PREMIER’S STATEMENT, “It has been rightly said that Cap'taiti Cook gave the Pacific as a field for trade,” '“said the Premier (Mr Bavin), in a statement on the bi-centenary celebrations, “and settlement to the human race. '“Cook’s title to deathless fame,” he said, “is that he conquered the Pacific for civilised use and gave Australia to the British Empire. In the 150 years or so which hhvo followed its discovery, Australia has made inarked progress, till to-day it stands out as one of the brightest jewels in the British Crown. “Let the citizens of Sydney, then, fittingly honor the memory of the man who was responsible for the discovery of our great heritage.”