N.Z. TERCENTENNIAL

Grey River Argus, 14 December 1942, Page 2

N.Z. TERCENTENNIAL

TASMAN’S DISCOVERY Ceremony at Hokitika SPEECHES BY MINISTERS AND DUTCH DELEGATES The three hundredth anniversary of the discovery of New Zealand by Abei Tasman was marked by a ceremony held at Hokitika on Saturday afternoon, attended by the Dutch East Indies delegation, representing Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, Ministers of the Crown and local authorities. The gathering was held in fine weather in front of the Soldiers’ Hall. The Hokitika Municipal Band was in attendance and the girls of St. Columbkills’ Convent School were also present. There was a large attendance of the public. Tn opening the proceedings. Mr. T. P. O’Neil. Chairman of the Westland County Council, expressed his appreciation of the value gained by the visit of the Dutch delegation in fostering understanding between the United Nations. It would be an inspiration to all present to see the members of the Netherlands delegation, and thanks were to be expressed to Queen Wilhelmina for her gracious action in sending the delegation to be at the tercentennial celebrations.

“Three hundred years ago to-mor-row Abel Tasman discovered New Zealand.” said the Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister in Charge of the tercentennial celebrations. “This is the anniversary we celebrate to-day—the anniversary of the first discovery oy European man of the shores of New Zealand —New Zealand, because it was discovered by a' Dutchman whose province, Zeeland, fronted on the North Sea—a sea as restless as that which washes the beaches of our own Wehtland. Three hundred years ago to-morrow, two small ships commanded by Tasman made their landfall somewhere between the part of the coast on which we now stand and Okarito. They made their landfall four months after leaving Batavia in the East Indies—three months after leaving Mauritius in the Indian Ocean —ten days after leaving Tasmania. the land that Tasman called Anthony Van Diemen’s Land —after long weeks in which they were heated by the winds and the seas of the southern ocean. They sighted a land which might have been the fabled continent of which men had dreamt for ages past; the great southern land, greater than all the other continents of the earth; a land of whose identity Tasman could not be sure; ‘a great land uplifted high’ which he called Statenland. in honour of the States General, the reoresentative assembly of his own Netherlands. And now, starting from Tasman’s own point of departure, the city of'Batavia in the Netherlands East Indies, another small band of Dutchmen have, three hundred years later, also arrived in New Zealand! and arrived, on the West Coast which Tasman sighted so long ago. They have come, as Tasman'did. to the West Coast, but come in a different way. Ta'sman sighted 'the West Coast in the south and headed north; thev sighted the West Coast in rhe north and have come south, and then bridged Cook Strait I by air, and only yesterday advanced to the west from 'he east after traversing all that part of our land which Tasman was never fated, either to set foot on or even -to see. “What manner of man was this Abel Ta'sman, . to whom, three hundred years later, both we' and his own countrymen have gathered to <lo honour, on these shores that he first sighted, so Jong ago? His name, always. will be associated with that of our own greatest navigator. James Cook. ’ Their names have jointly entered the pages of our New Zealand history, and no one. thinking of the process by which New Zealand became known to the world, can separate two names so great as these, one from the seventeenth and the other from the eighteenth centuries. We may think of Tasman not merely as a great sailor, but as a man who. in his workaday simplicity, his absence of frill and boastfulness, . sums up much that we admire in his countrymen. We do not indeed know enough about him to describe exactly a personality which shares the ooscurity of too many other figures of that century of whom we should like to know more. But we can say 'tha„

he put his hand with a will to any task that was assigned him, that whether he was engaged on scientific investigation, drawing up maps and sailing directions; whetner he was engaged in the less scientific pursuits of trade, carrying from one part of the East Indies to the other the pepper silks and spices on which the nte of the Netherlands so truly depended; whether he was assailing the Spaniard or outwitting the English he did his work with a singlemindeu endeavour 'to make a good job ot it. He made no false claims. He did not exalt his own merits. . To »■ self he seems t 0 have remained during his life fundamentally a> plain sailor and a business-like ships captain, and having made the sea his career, had few ambitions apart from the sea. In his modesty, in his ability to get on with the job, in his capacity for practical research, in his aosence of dogmatism and his devotion to duty, he may well stand for us as the embodiment of something abiding in the Dutch character, whether in the seventeenth century or in our day, whether in peace or war. “So much for Abel Tasman, three hundred years ago He gave New Zealand to the world by discovering it. We British have taken it. We have done much for ourselves, and in some ways have given the peonies of other countries something io copy. But what, in that process have we done to this fair land itself In process of colonising, settling and developing it we have ruthlessly torn from it the protective covering with which nature endowed n. We "have seen, as the years go by. that land uplifted high torn and scarred, drawn ba’ck into the ocean from which, a,ges ago, it arose. W have reached the stage when we must not merely pause, but actively woix to remake the land we have in so many ways treated so ill. Once morin this twentieth century can we go back and learn from those same Dutch people how humanely to treat our land. No land uplifted high was theirs. Their country has been right ]y known through European histo.y as the Netherlands—the ‘Lowlands. The people of these Netherlands, from the Very beginning of their history have literally had to snatch the muntrv from the jaws of a ravenous sea Bit by bit they * have built up a smiling land of p ard f e " s t ’ n ? t f v flel They great and surpassing fertility inej bn vp not merely c*efended the lano from the sea, tlVey have fough ana wnn h victorious offensive, inrougu the constructive genius of this inad race tha't great. expanse ot water the Zuyder Zee. is now sea no longer- and what they have saved from, and what thev have taken Horn t’np. Bpa they jealously guard. ine> V 4 the world’s greatest conservaSJ'lind"Ve" a” in TuoTSn'ent S y Of losing? Tasman gave us fi Zealand, let v.s learn front ’ countrymen in our day how to save New Zealand. » i n :„ “To-day, in the presence of h s nzMintrvmpn we are assembled at this and permanent friendship. VISIT TO SOUTH WESTLAND. P.A.* FRANZ TGSEF, Dec. 13. Owing to the recent floods m the district and damaged bridges the principal function of Westland s tei centennial celebrations had to. t ransferred to Hokitika from G->arit ’ where the headland behind, is believed to have been the first portion of the coast seen by Abel Fasman on his memorable voyage of discovery t« New Zealand. At the special request of Dr. C. O. Van der Blas, and the delegates, however, planes conveyed the party to Waiho. and the planes later encircled the Tasman memona at Okarito. Dr. Van der Plas waved to the group that surrounded the monument. ■ Proceeding still furtne‘ south, Dr. Van der Plas was delighted on approaching the Franz Jos f * glacier, over the face of wmen ne flew, by obtaining a momentary glimpse of the peak of Mount Tasman, the companion mountain to M't. Cook, that bears the famous Dutchman’s name, and which, said Dr Va i der Plas. was the finest memorial ms Countryman could possibly possess. The planes sped on high above a magnificent carpet of giant forest tree tops, which were patterned in scarlet by masses of rata, now coming into bloom. Before paying a brief visit by car to Okarito on Sunday Dr. Van der Plas and his companions attended a specially arranged service at Waiho.

Above the altar, framed in a unique setting of Rimus and crimson Rata, was the Franz Josef glacier itself a sight which the visitors subsequently Kitted was one of unrivalled S O “ S thT en seconi lesson, 'special Van"der P PlaTe kelTnaturallS sTo^Tn^'al soTpenFsome So o‘n PeSbf w”unnSe e tend because ot Indisposition sent tte following message, read by Mr Par j “It had been my wish and hope take part In the Abel Tasman Tercentennial Celebrations at HokitiKa to-day, but indisposition has deprived me of a very great pleasure, iuy thoughts, however, are with you all on this notable occasion, which has been intensified in its historic sig™ ‘ ance and enriched in value bv the fact that the neople of the Netherlanas and the British Commonwealth or Net tions are united not only in friendship but also ’in determined purpose to conquer the enemies of freedom and justice. The sympathy of all New Zealand to-day is with the Nethe lands Indies Commission tor Austra lia and New Zealand, vntually in exile, thev hold aloft then country’s flag of liberty and imperishable courage. In the turmoil. o if hie to-day, and despite the rava g es ° war, Dr. Charles O. van der Plas ana his associates, under the wise and brave guidance of their gracious Sovereign Queen Wilhelmina, revive in commemorative spirit the staunch fortitude and questing enterprise ol Abel Tasman and his intrepid men who, three hundred, years ago, in an immensity of unchartered seas, discovered this country. Let me, on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand assure our welcome visitors that they are among friends and’comrades in love of liberty and democratic progress.” . Mr Parry also; read the following message from the Deputy-Prime Minister (Hon. D. G. Sullivan): ‘ Kindl >’ convey to visiting Netherlands delegates,'to local authorities and the as--semblv of public my apology for absence due to pressure of official duties and the indisposition of the Prime Minister, making it impossible for me to leave Wellington in the circumstances. I would very much like to have been, with you to join in the Ter-centennial Celebrations of the first sighting of the land bv Tasman. Please express my regrets and my very best wishes for a successful celebration of the anniversary of such a notable event in our history ” Dr. C.. O. van d'er Plas, head of the Netherlands delegation referred to the first sighting of New Zealand by Western sailors. It was not! th e first time New Zealand had been sighted from the sea, for the brave Maori sailors had come to these shores before. It was hardly necessary for him to traverse the ground as the history of New Zealand had been well covered in an excellent series of booklets published by the Government. He also paid a tribute to the historical .works of Dr. J. C. Beaglehole, the ter-centennial poem written by Mr Allan Curnow for the occasion, and Mr Eric Ramsden’s article on Tasman’s discovery of New Zealand.

But of New Zealand, he said it was not the resources of minerals, such as gold, that mattered, nor the fertile land —it was the gold in the hearts of the people, a free people, free from fear and from want who were able to look each other in the face. New Zealand had made a magnificent war effort, and, as in the last war,, not because there was any immediate danger to herself. She supported his own view that “it was better to die standing than to live kneeling.” Dr. van der Plas also referred to the struggle that Holland had faced in th fi interim between the last war and the present war. Holland had realised the necessity for trying to re-' arm in 1936, but it was recognised that her armaments, which had been bought and paid for should go to other places. It did not matter whether one country was destroyed. What mattered was whether humanity as a whole kept its ideals and won in the end. In 1940 the British Empire, through

its perseverance had saved not onty herself but humanity and the world, Dr. van der Plas said. In the Latch East Indies every effort had been made to hold UP/ the Japanese advance as long as possible. It was realised then that a bomb on Pearl Harbour and on Malaya was a bomb on the Netherlands Empire. Dr. van der Plas said that there was a difference between the present war and the outbreaks which had occurred in the past, which were purely local, such as the wars conducted by Genghiz Khan. In the present war there was a systematic breaking of the spirit of millions of people with the idea of turning them into slavery. It was impossible for those who had known nothing of this terrible yoke to understand .what it meant. Hon James O’Brien said that he was voicing the feelings of everyone in regretting that the war had taken place, but, once in it, the people of the United Nations had toi go through with it. No country was more proud to stand with the British Empire than New Zealand, and no part more so than the West Coast. The legislation of Richard John Seddon was a model which other countries were copying and it was hoped that after the present blood bath was over, New Zealand would build a higher culture, leading to the development of science, art and literature.

Mr A. R. Elcock, Mayor of Hokitika, spoke of the discovery of New Zealand by Tasman. Tasman, he said had discovered the land, but Dr, van der Plas and his party were discovering the' people. Mr James Donovan, a member of the Westland County Council for 47 years, also sooke, expressing his welcome to the delegation snd wishing them a valuable and interesting air tripi to South Westland, where they would see the monument erected at Okarito in honour of Tasman’s discovery.

Private Puhuru Tainqi expressed the greetings of the Maori people to Dr. van der Plas and his party, and presented him with a piece of greenstone. Dr. van der Plas, in reply referred to the relation of the Maoris to the Indonesians in the Dutch East Indies, and Mr Parry spoke of the manner in which the Maori had been made the equal of the pakeha in New Zealand. The afternoon was concluded with the serving of refreshments by members of the Jlokitika branch of the W.W.S.A.

During the proceedings, a period of silence was observed, at the request of Dr. van der Plas .in honour of the forces fighting; for the Allied Nations and all oppressed peoples.

CIVIC RECEPTION AT GREYMOUTH.

The official party will return by air to Hokitika to-day. After motoring ■to Ross they will then travel to Greymouth, where a civic reception will be tendered this evening. A visit will be paid during the journey to the Maori Pa at Arahura'.