PIONEERING IN TARANAKI

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 17 November 1925, Page 9

PIONEERING IN TARANAKI

STRUGGLES AND TRIUMPHS OF THE EARLY DAYS

Their Stories Told by Men who Remember

One age moves onward and .the- next builds up Cities and gorgeous palaces where stood the rude log huts Of those that tamed the wild: Rearing from out the forests they had felled The goodly fabric of a fairer State. Theirs was the harder task; vet. not the less Shall they receive the blessings of their toil From the choice spirits of the aftertime.

I' X those inspiring -words the great American philosopher- poet, James Russell Lowell, expresses his ideal of the appreciation felt by the people of the present for the work of the pioneers, or perhaps he suggests what should be felt by those who have, benefitted from the labours of those great men and women by whose hands the foundations of the* present were laid stout and strong, so that they would sustain the building erected by the people of the present day. It is a fitting‘sentiment at a time like this, when, on the eve of another A. and P. Show —the fortysecond of an illustrious line —one’s thoughts are carried back over the years to the men of the past generations, and when —as in the pages that follow — some record is being made of the lives and experiences of those early sttlers, in the days when colonisation was in its infancy. For it is to be feared that, there is a strong tendency on the part of tli people generally to forget the great, work of those pioneer settlers and the deep debt owed by the present to the past. It is no mere platitude to say mat the foundations of the present are laid on the labours of the past..and espeeiallv on the men and women of the early days of a country. If they, as has mostly been the case, did their work well, it is reflected in the state of the country in succeeding generations, when they are gone, or when thy have reached the time when they must perforce take life easier. The people of the present day reap most of the benefit resulting from the work of the men 'of the early days. Many of them begin life, as it were, at the place where the pioneers are thinking of off Yet it is remarkable how the habit of wo v sticks to a man. and how much is done by men well up in years. Undoubtedly it is the fact that they maintain their activity and their interest ™ nt P a , j n ' snt. which keeps them voung and able to maintain their, work. Longfellow expresses the sentiment that should keep hold of life right' to Uuvjnd his beautiful poem “Moritun balulnnn « •

What then? Shall wo sit idly down amt say The night hath come: it is no longer day! Th O: night hath not yet come; we are not quite Cut off from labour bv the failing light; Something remains for us to do or dare; Even the oldest tree some fruit may bear. For age* is opportunity no less Than, youth itself, though in another dress, And. as the evening twilight fades away The skv is filled with stars, invisible by day.

It has been a striking fact that the tine men whose recollections are recorded in The Star to-day are men whose interest in life has been maintained throughout nad is still as keen as ever. \\ hile they lia.vc been able* to cull from the dim recesses of t lie past facts and incidents which, it is hoped, will be rend with interest by ail, the striking fact has been outstanding that the main reason they are able to do so is that they have kept right up with tire times aiul maintained their clearness of outlook by showing the same keen interest in all that pertains to the people of to-day as they did in the days of tbcii ov n vouth. , , . - . These stories are history which, by its recording here will be permanently available to the people of the future. It seems right and fitting, as it will be ot value to the generations to come, that they should be able "to read of the lives and doings of those wno went before. And these records offer a personal touch, and. a sense of intimacy of friendship, that is often wanting in a history written perhaps after those who tell the story of the past have moved oft the stage of human affairs, and left place tor others who have grown up to take the place they fil .d - The thought of what was done in the °arlv dais of Taranaki should be a direct and endunmr tion to .the young men and women of U>-da> to 1 TltelWittmfjSf, tirgiflTfif"their very be&t, so that those who come after may have an opinion of them such ns they tuemselves hold of the pioneers **t the v.*ars that are past-