INITIATIVE NEEDED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27038, 24 March 1949, Page 8

INITIATIVE NEEDED

PROGRESS OF OTAGO LESSONS FROM PIONEERS “Let us not be complacent, or the time will come when only the inhabitants will think Dunedin is great,” said Professor R. R. Nimmo, of the University of Otago, in concluding his address at the gathering of early settlers and their descendants in the Town Hall last night. Professor Nimmo was introduced to the large gathering by the chairman, Mr W. R. Brugh, as “one of our own brilliant sons who went afield and made a name for himself and Otago.” “There are people who feel that the past should be neglected and that only the future should be faced,” Professor Nimmo said. He thought, however, that few in the audience would take that point of view. He drew an analogy between science and the progress of Otago, stating that in both cases a study of the past was invaluable because of the lessons it held for the present and the future. “Progress will continue only when people believe that the University of Otago is the best in New Zealand,” Professor Nimmo concluded. “We must see that it has opportunities for development.’’ A telegram from the Prime Minister, Mr P. Fraser, conveying his best wishes and congratulations to the Early Settlers’ Association of Otago, was read by the chairman.