CENTENNIAL SUPPLEMENT

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4452, 30 January 1940, Page 3

CENTENNIAL SUPPLEMENT

The Centennial Supplement issued by the New Zealand Herald is an outstanding production of 90 pages. The volume is- entitled “The Story of New Zealand!*’—‘‘from the brave _ deeds of many yesterdays to the hchievcmcutsof to-day and the hopes _ for the morrow.’’ Although 1840 is. regarded as the official starting point in New Zealand’s: history, the (supplement gived considerable space to events leading up to that date. A description -of Pro-Maori New Zealand includes- the plant and animal life peculiar to thisi country and the story is told of Polynesian voyages across the ■'Pacific Maori culture and pursuits in the before the discoveries by Tasman and Cook are surveyed in the space of several pages. The- unhappy fate of various early expeditious, is a reminder that the Maori was. a man who exacted ment for wrongs., real or imaginary, the law of “utu” demanding a life for a life. The coming of the missionaries under Samuel Marsdcn, brought the da wn) of a new way of life for the Maori, on Christmas Day. in 1814 the Gospel being preached for the first time on New Zealand shores. Mansden and Iris helpers paved the way for Hobson and the Treaty of Waiitangi. Until tills time whalers and sealers., sailors im search of kauri spars and flax were the only Avhiite visitors, but now the country began to be populated with settlers of a more permanent nature. Tine beginnings, of the chief cities are described in detail, the many and varied enterprises which led to their founding being of interest When we consider that only a hundred yeans ago there were no ouch places as Auckland. ■Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Men of vision who wore unafraid of hard work laid the foundation for present living conditions. The’ development of prima'y production ; the discovery of gold and the making of roads- and railways were, all part .of the work accomplished in the first hundred years, of British settlement in New Zealand. This coniprchwiisive survey* is. worthy of a more substantial cover as it its likely to be used as . lai referonre book for years' to come. The «unplemeut, which is splendidly illustrated with old .and new photograph® and rip turns, closes on a fine note of ontirrnsim for the century opening before US'.