The Hawera Star. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1925. THE EARLY SETTLERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 17 November 1925, Page 4

The Hawera Star.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1925. THE EARLY SETTLERS.

Delivered every evening by 5 o'clock in Haw era, Itanaia, Normanby, Okaiawa, Eltham, Mangat-oki, Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville, Paten, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakarnara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser Road. at)d Ararata.

Again tins year The Star, has made the eve of the Egmont Show an occasion for dipping into district and provincial history. There is no quarter of New r Zealand richer in historical associations than Taranaki, and it is very doubtful if there is any other as rich. This being so, it might be assumed by a stranger in our midst that the present generation would be fully conversant with the story of the past. Unfortunately that assumption is far from correct. In a general way the youth of to-day knows the early; history of New

Zealand, but it is in much the same way as he knows that of Australia, of North America and of Great Britain. And such knowledge —which is no more than history in skeleton —is often distressingly “dry.” ‘ iThe idea which many of us gather At- school is that history is a reeord of half-understood “movements” encrusted with dates and now and then relieved by some brilliant military or naval exploit. True history is the story of peoples, not of countries. It is the iutimate record of men’s lives so far as those men mirror the times in which they live; and, as such, historj l - is more fascinating than the greatest; novel ever written. In the four pages of historical matter which The Star presents to its readers to-night, the personal touch is strongly in evidence. This is not dry history, but the living, pulsing story of life in the spacious days of the past. Year by year it is becoming increasingly difficult to secure accurate firsthand information of the beginnings of settlement in Taranaki, and it is only through the generous co-operation of more of the surviving pioneers that The 'Star has been able again to place on record facts and impressions which would otherwise be engulfed in the abyss of time. Natural modesty has made many of our veteran friends hesitate when approached! to give their reminiscences. Thej- have objected that their recollections cannot be of interest to any beyond themselves and their own circle. But when the . names of many who were their comrades long ago are recalled, they mostly are brought to admit that some of their memories may be lost for ever unless they do their part to avert that loss; and then they have gladly helped. To these pioneers we tender the thanks alike of ourselves and of our readers. It is their story and they are telling it. If the part The Star is taking, in putting the story on record, serves in any degree to deepen the appreciation felt by the people of the present for the grand an<J enduring service of the past, then the work of publication will be Tichly rewarded.