OTAGO EARLY SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2689, 27 September 1905, Page 14

OTAGO EARLY SETTLERS' ASSOCIATION.

I ■With the approach of the summer season :the Otago Early Settlers' Association is making preparations for the customary series of social gatherings, and as a preliminary a Jrery enjoyable social entertainment was held \n His Majesty's Theatre on Thursday. Tro Arrangements for this gathering, as well as Ifche date for holding it, were left entirely fin the hands of the secretary, and were iDharaoteTised by the usual completeness whioh is associated with everything Mr fcangkffds takes in hand. The programme Siras a short one, and interspersed with vocal nknd instrumental items there were two fcpeeohes, one by the chairman (Mr C. Dufoe, sa vice-president of the association) and an ''all-too-brief sketch of a holiday tour by f)r •Hocken. In addition to the two gentrloißjgiSL named, seats on the fitege^were occu-

pied by Messrs J. Duthie and J. Reid, vicepresidents of the association The Chairman said he was sure that he j voiced the sentiments of those present when he said that they all regretted very much the absence of their respected president from the gathering that night. They all knew the interest that Mr Donald Reid took in the welfare of the association, and the pride and satisfaction he always expressed when he spoke of the pioneer work of ibe early settlers of Otago. The object of the gathering that evening, and of similar gatherings indoors and outdoors during 1 the ( ensuing summer, was to bring the early settlers and their descendants together so that they might have social : nteroourse, and hs hoped that in the intervals between the ifcems on the set programme all stiffness and reserve would be thrown aside and that old acquaintance would be renewed and new acquaintance formed. Such gatherings as th<?v ield throughout the year had tke effect .

of inculcating a deep love in thp hearts of their young men and young women for New Zealand, and especially for Otago — for although they were all proud of New Zealand, they were more proud of Otago, and of the hardy and self-denying work of thcupioneers of settlement. He rememberod that the first job he worked at when he came to Dunedin was cutting down trees and timber in what was now Stafford street for the purpose of making a road. The characteristic- of the <arly settler was that he was ready and willing to turn his hand to anything, and the result of that splendid 1 energy, perseverance, and pluck was the building and founding of the city they now saw, and of which they were all so justly proud.— (Applause.) And it was a source of gratification that their city, substantial and ornamental and solid as it was, was being added to each clay, and there was now ap2Jroaehing completion a railway station which _ would be a" ornament $o any city in the

world. They also had their grand fleet of steamers with the red funnel, their university. High Schools, training college, and substantial institutions of other kinds that were characteristic of a progressive, goahead, and solid people. It was necessary, however, that in the march of their progress they should not forget the road by which they came, and in this connection he would impress upon the members of the association and their many friends the necessity for preserving the goodly heritage of relics and historical records which the association had in its possession, and which their secretary was talcing care of. but for which they wanted a home. For the safe keeping of these records and relics of bygone days they proposed to erect a memorial hall, and that was a matter which their president and secretary had strongly at heart, and with the* assistance of members of the association they would be able to carry that proposal to a successful issue. The pioneers of the Province of Otago had left a heritage of which their descendants were proud, and he was sure the young men and young women of the present and rising generation would assist to keep their memories green, and throw their energy into thp . movement for the building of a memorial hall and the preservation and collection of documents and articles connected with the early settlement and the progressive stages of their province.

Dr Hooken, at a later stage in the evening, gave a short address, limited to 20 minutes, on observations he had mad© during three years' travel abroad. In the time allotted he touobed hurriedly, but in a most interesting manner, on the impressions Jeft upon his memory by visits to Egrypt, Japan, Greece, ;md the Old Land. Of the. places visited he was deeply impressed with Egypt owing to its Biblical associations, and he saw in the Cairo Museum the mummy of the Pharaoh who persecuted the Jews. ~TJe also went for a trip up the Nile, and saw Ihe tombs o-f thp great kings of Egypt, Jaid bore by archaeological research and now lighted by electricity. What interested him most during- his \isits to Japan — and he visited that country twice — was the Japanese educational institutions and in this connection he mentioned that the Imperial University at Tokio was ii. the front rank of the universities of the woild. not excepting the Universities of Oxford and Cambvdgc, which had all the glamour of antiquity surrounding them. On the second occasion that Japan was visited he arrived a few days before war was declared, and paid a high tribiite to the manner in which the Japanese people, acting on the instructions of the Mikado, suppressed their feelings and kept in subjection every trace of excitement, and contrasted this command over their feelings by the Japanese with that other nations. A tribute of praisp was also metod out to the Japanese for their uniform politeness to strangers and visitors, and to the absence of that rude staving which was characteristic of people in other lands. The people of New Zealand, he r i?lt sure, rejoiced with the Japanese in the great surccs.-' that had attended them throughout the war— (loud applan=e), — but they would all share with him regret that since the ■settlement of peace their Japanese allies had not preserved that absence from evcitoment which they Lad at first shown. Tokio, ho misht mention, camp fourth'in the large cities of the world. Brief reference was made to Gr<»€cc, which was also visited, and to the disregard of law and order which piovailod there. After '•hort references to Switzerland and the Home Country, the Doctor concluded an interesting- epitome of interesting subjects with the remark that, after visitintr the countries he had named and others he had not mentioned, he returned to New Zealand with Ihe honest conviction that he had seen no country that was the equal of their own colony, which, if directed aright, had a glorious future be-foro i+. — (Applause.)

The musical programme submitted included a piano' selection by Mr Baxter Buckley, quartet.-- by Messrs Falck, Lemon, Soarle, and Wright (members of the Liedertafel) : so'os by Mrs L-omon, instrumental selections by Mr John Anderson (violin) and Mrs Miller (piano), trio by Messrs Falck, ]>mon, and! Soarlp, and songs and recitations by Mr Farquhar Young.

Dxiring +V>e oveninst tea anc? ro freslim^r.ta were served, and the formal proceedings concluded at 10 o'clock, after which a dance was h^lcl, to which a large number of the young reople remsined.

Stoat's and weasels are reported to be doing a lot of damage amontrst poultry in the Tapanui district at present..