THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1938 ANNIVERSARY DAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22949, 29 January 1938, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1938 ANNIVERSARY DAY

The recurrence of Anniversary Day, as the people of" this city and provincial district delight to observe it, comes this year amid circumstances favouring consideration of what it connotes. Two years hence a full century will have elapsed since the events that gave this day its meaning. Preparations are in hand for a fitting celebration of what was then accomplished and of the remarkable progress made in the hundred years intervening. It is known that these preparations are based upon research into the history I of the period, particularly the story of its beginning, and already that story is the frequent subject of public utterance. By this means the minds of citizens are being turned, almost involuntarily, to appreciative thought of the task performed by Captain Hobson as the representative of the Crown in establishing British rule, and to thought, similarly appreciative, of the splendid work of the pioneer British settlers; and into the review comes, not as a remote element but as one inevitably entering, recollection of the helpful part played then and afterwards by members of the Maori race. To dwell on these things is to see in Anniversary Day much more than a joyous holiday. It acquires

an interest related to human life in its deeper aspects. Assisting also to create this historical atmosphere is the celebration now proceeding on the other side of the Tasman, where in Sydney, as the scene of pioneer British occupation a century and ahalf ago, Australia holds high festival. In that celebration New Zealand has an appropriate share, for from Sydney it received necessary and memorable aid in its own early days, both before and after the time when New South Wales was this country's Mother-State. It is easy, therefore—easier than on any Anniversary Day since the year of its inception—to think and speak to-day of what this holiday means. There is a touch of irony in the fact that others' work, in a faroff time, is made the occasion of leisured jollity. It would be a mistake, of course, to imagine that the life led by the pioneers had little pleasure. There is reason to believe, indeed, that in some respects their life was more carefree than ours. Hard as most of them had to toil, and difficult as were the primitive circumstances with which they had to contend, they won a great deal of enjoyment —records at hand bear convincing witness of this —out of their very exertions; they were immune from many of the burdens imposed by the complexities, even the much-lauded amenities, of modern life, and on occasion the simpler pleasures in which they indulged were as gay as any of our era. But this is only half of the story. The rest tells of wearying labour, disappointing reward, much actual privation. As bold enterprises took them out from their first dwelling-places by the shore, and new clusters of life were created in the wild, they had often a sense of isolation from the land of their birth. It seemed a world away. News of loved ones there was usually long in coming. And often there had to be a makeshift provision for urgent needs as they wrestled with strange conditions. Anniversary Day itself tells something of the hardships encountered. It appears that the first opportunity of observing the day passed without a celebration; circumstances did not favour holiday-making. After 1842, when notification of a public holiday to mark the date was first gazetted, five years passed before this was done again. An eminent early settler, Dr. Pollen, resident in Russell in those pioneer days, has left in Hansard the explanation of that gap: "there was very small occasion for rejoicing on the part of any portion of New Zealand during those five years." It is a thumb-nail sketch of conditions demanding strict and arduous attention to the earning of a bare livelihood. Those folk had their "depression," yet with courage carried on. From that speech of Dr. Pollen's, by the way, comes an explanation of the mistake in observing January 29 instead of January 30 as Anniversary Day: the 30th feßon a Sunday in 1842, the year of initial observance, so Saturday the 29th was chosen as a public holiday instead, and when "things began to look brighter and better" in 1847 the original gazetting of the 29th was carelessly copied. Dr. Pollen's advocacy of the case for putting things right led Parliament to set up a Joint Committee of investigation, and this committea recommended the adoption of January 30 as according with historical fact. The recommendation was adopted without dissent by the Legislative Council—he was a member of it — but the House of Representatives gave the matter no further attention. There have been recent local attempts to persuade authorities to act as the truth warrants. Four years ago the Anniversary Regatta Committee besought the City Council to do bo, but the request was refused, for reasons quite insufficient. In the historical atmosphere now prevalent there can be held a hope of better treatment of a j request so well warranted, when next it is made..