OTAGO'S EARLY DAYS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8542, 24 March 1908, Page 8

OTAGO'S EARLY DAYS.

THE PIONEERS REMEMBERED. Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, March 24. A holiday was observed locally yesterday in honour of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of settlement in Otago. The principle event in conncction with the celebrations was (he opening of ihe Early Settlers' Hall, orcctcd in memory of the pioneers, and which will servo as a meeting-place and storehouse for records and mementoes of the early days. The opening ceremony was attended by a large and representative gathering', and spc-echcG were delivered bv leading citizens, who referred to the energy and stout-hea'rtedness of the early settlors. On the motion of Dr. Hocken, it was dccided " That this meeting, on the occasion of the sixtieth anniversary of the arrival of the first settlers to the .settlement of Otago, express their grateful recognition of tho labours of Edward Gibbon Wakefield in the colonisation of Now Zealand, and their desire that stopa should be taken .to raise a suitable memorial to his memory." Telegrams of congratulation were received from the Prime Minister and the Chief Justico, also from a number of Aucklanders who were boys in Dunedin in tho fifties.