THE PIONEERS.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4046, 11 May 1938, Page 6

THE PIONEERS.

THEIt L is something joyfully infectious in ringing of jubilee bells, to which L* concrete evidence was afforded ... th r celebrations in connection with hu School on Saturday last. If the happy reunion of old scholars did mark an epochal event in the social life of the community, it ‘ also served to bring to the minds of all, and of the younger generation in

particular, the groat debt which the community al large* owes to the hardy pioneers who first peopled the Waiato. That a tribute to their indomitable courage and foresight was paid by each and every speaker was in accordance with the fitness of things, and demonstrated a deep recognition of what the present generation * owes 11 that hardy band of pioneers who dared and conquered. The true pioneers of this Dominion were those who came to make New Zealand their home and not those who came to exploit a new epuntry for whatever wealth it might provide and take it away to enjoy in the land of theii b’rth. Of such a nature were the pioneers of Te Rahu The oj iginal settlers came to make a home out of a wilderness, and being true to the ideals of the pioneer, many survived to see their work approaching that stage which they had years before envisaged. Be it remembered, a: Mr Harry Weal emphasised in his interesting address, the journey from Great Britain was to them not a matter of weeks in a floating palace but a period of months on, say. the “ good ship ” Cressy, to name one of the most known, or some such “ tub ” that anyone at the present time would be called a hero or a lunatic if he essayed to cross the Tasman in her But the pioneers did it, and did it with stout hearts. It was not only the terrors of the long voyage that the pioneers of Te Rahu, in common with those who settled in other parts of New Zealand, had to face: they were coming to a country inhabited by a hardy, hostile, warlike race, not far removed from the cannibal period. Il required hardihood, courage, and faith to be a pioneer in these islands in those days. It has ever been the way with pioneers—not only pioneers in settling new lands, but pioneers in thought, in religious belief, in political economy, and in every branch of science. In the martyrdom of man it has ever been the hardy, the fearless who led the way—the brave souls who were courageous enough to e-x--psess their thoughts in spite of opposition. to maintain what they believed to be right even if they had to die for it. Galileo narrowly escaped the siake for declaring that the world was round: it was the pioneering spirit ot Columbus, Frobisher, and Drake, to name only a few. that later proved it. Pioneers in science gave us the steam engine and made aviation and wireless telegraphy what they are to-day. it was the pioneers in politics who gave us freedom of speech. In short, it is to the pioneers that advancement ir. everything that pertains to a higher civilisation is due. The pioneering spirit is the spirit of progress, and too much honour cannot be given to those who have had the courage to leave the beaten track and search for something new. In every branch of life the honour and the glory go to the pioneers.