THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, MAY 24, 1948. EARLY WAGONING DAYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26779, 24 May 1948, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, MAY 24, 1948. EARLY WAGONING DAYS

The day of the wagon and its team of straining horses is over, but its memory remains keen and precious in the minds of those who saw and participated in the development of the province when oxen or horses were the only means of transport other than the broad backs of the pioneers. Nostalgic reminiscences of this stirring chapter in the history of the province have been contributed to the correspondence columns of the Daily Times in an unceasing stream in recent weeks, and in this flood of recollection there is much valuable material for the historian of the future. Even before such amenities as roads came into being these hardy wagoners urged their teams wherever horses could find a footing or wheels could grip the ground, and in many places where the employment of horse® was impracticable patient teams of oxen would plod with deliberate step towards the isolated communities that are the prosperous towns of to-day. The freights these wagons carried were varied and precious, but all contributing towards the creation of an organised pattern of living in the lands beyond the city. There were stores for the canvas shops in the gold centres, machinery and piping for the dredging and sluicing claims, timber for the erection of homes, and furniture when the buildings were completed; and, as settlement progressed, the Wagons brought back the wool, wheat and other produce from the lands of those pioneers whose stake in the province was a permanent one.

They were, indeed, romantic days, but they are not so far distant. There can hardly be a mature adult in the community who has not some memory of the wagoning era, even if that memory be no more than a recollection of the clatter and bustle as a panting team drew up at a city wool store. Nor, with the passing of the wagon, did romance depart from transport. The heroic mould in which the early wagoners were cast is still in use. The spirit of the man who guided his team of oxen into the wilds of unknown Otago nearly a century ago was alive in his son, who drove a spluttering, jolting “ horseless buggy ” where no machine had been before; and it is alive to-day in his grandson who pilots huge machines through the air or attempts to pierce the supersonic barrier. Romance, like speed, is a relative evaluation, and custom has decreed that it shall be measured in yesterdays. What is familiar to-day becomes an anachronistic survival to-morrow, and romantic artifact the following day. So it is that the wagon, once the only means of transport and. with its team, the most important agent the development of civilised existence in Otago, is now an exhibit in the Early Settlers' Museum, a curiously ponderous thing in wood and iron, evoking in the young no more than a passing wonder how such vehicles could ever be used, but in the old a host of memories of the days that time has stolen.

EMPIRE DAY

To-day is Empire Day, an occasion for stocktaking on the part of all members of the British Commonwealth of Nations at a most critical period of history. Even in the short space of the post-war years great and significant changes have taken place in the structure of Empire, and the difficulties of a unified approach to world problems have been intensified by the complex nature of the organisation, which now includes as equal partners the peoples of many races and beliefs. Yet the Commonwealth remains strong, and as the outward bonds of allegiance continue to be discarded it will be within the power of people of all the nations in this loosely-knit brotherhood to strengthen the invisible ties which, in the past, have maintained the Imperial Commonwealth in the forefront of the battle for freedom and democracy. The “ secret thing ” that will make the nations of the Empire secure will be —as the Earl of Gowrie says in his Empire Day messagefriendship, the friendship between fa self-reliant community of free nations closely linked together, believing in the rights of the individual and the rule of law. Yet, as Lord Gowrie emphasises, the future will be secured only by our own exertions, and only by proclaiming truth as “no uncertain faith.” In order that our endeavours should be coordinated towards the maintenance of friendship and peace, however, it is essential that the nations of the Commonwealth should meet in frequent conference to plan the'course of co-operation in matters pertaining to trade, communications, defence, foreign affairs, and other important policies consistent with the obligations that each has assumed towards the United Nations. The particular responsibilities that Great Britain, the heart of Empire, has accepted i in the new planning of Europe is only one of the cogent arguments in favour of an early meeting of Commonwealth representatives. The British Government is not unaware of the need for such consultation, and has already issued invitations for a meeting that will mark the resumption of the Commonwealth parliamentary conferences which proved so valuable before the war as opportunities for the exchange of information and views. The union represented by the leaders who will assemble at this conference will represent a unique community of peoples who, together, must be regarded as the greatest force for peace in the world to-day, provided always that wise statesmanship succeeds in strengthening the bonds of friendship by which the nations of the Commonwealth are already united.