Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1939 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 1 July 1939, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1939 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS

IHE approaching centennial of the beginning of settlement in New Zealand will bring with it many thoughts of the robust pioneers who risked their all in the great enterprise of laying the foundations of a new Colony in this distant land. The Minister of Internal Affairs has drawn attention to the appropriate expressions of the chairman of the Whangarei County Council, who said, “What the pioneers did eighty years ago is giving pleasure to the people of to-day, and what we do now must be to the benefit of the people in eighty years’ ■ime. It is in doing something that is lasting, something that will benefit future generations, that makes life worth living. Anything we do is not for the present, but on account of the past, and for the future. ... If the pioneers had thought only of themselves, there would have been many things not done that have been accomplished.” As our readers are aware, different parts of New Zealand were selected and settled by different colonising bodies, composed of enterprising pioneers, and the proposal is for their descendants to celebrate the centennials of their ancestors’ settlement in New Zealand in a manner which is suitable, and without reference similiar celebrations elsewhere. Thus in the extensive area north of Auckland, at conferences of local representatives at Warkworth, Paparoa, Dargaville, Kaikohe, and Russell, elaborate preparations are being made to celebrate their centennials appropriately. Russell is planning the erection of a new Town Hall and Memorial Museum, combined; Whangarei proposes to add to the beauty and usefulness of its already excellent parks, and is projecting the creation of a commodious motor park. The people of Kaikohe and the area surrounding it propose to hold a historical pageant on 2nd January, and included in the celebration will be “the re-enactment of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.’’ The Wellington Provincial Centennial Council has approved the erection on Petone beach of a Provincial Centennial Memorial which will take the form of a bathing-pavilion, combined with a memorial hall. The AVellington City Council has approved of a oroposal for building a Centennial lookout on the summit of Mount Victoria, commanding a view of "he city, harbour, and open sea. Paeroa proposes to re-name its commodious park by calling it the Coromandel Memorial Park, and to re-name a road by calling it the Coromandel Centennial Drive, the latter to be planted with trees, to each of which will be affixed a tablet bearing the name of a Coromandel pioneer. Auckland has definitely decided to commemorate the Centennial by acquiring I 0,000 acres of bush land in the Waitakere ranges at a cost of £15,000. The area lies to the west of the city council’s water supply reserve, and with it will form an extensive and valuable property. At Te Kuiti the intention is to develop 1 acres of land granted by the Government as a Domain, with a playground for children, and the olanting of trees. Several districts of the North and South Islands have decided to include play-areas for children in their provision for Centennial memorials. In Napier there are four proposals a tree-planting scheme, an aquarium, winter gardens, and an extension of the \rt Gallery. At Taumaranui a •neeting of residents has decided L o recommend the building of a est-room and a library as a Centennial memorial for the district. T here are many towns and districts which yet have to make their decision as to how they shall celebrate the centenary of their oundation. Among them is Nelon. although the matter has by no means been lost sight of.