TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY. 13th SEPTEMBER, 1939. A DELAYED CENTENNIAL.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4185, 13 September 1939, Page 6

TE AWAMUTU COURIER. Printed on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. WEDNESDAY. 13th SEPTEMBER, 1939. A DELAYED CENTENNIAL.

THE decision of the Centennial Committee in Te Awamutu to defer any contemplated celebration of the Centennial is fully in keeping with public desire; indeed, in the circumstances, it would have been folly to proceed. Fortunately there had been no commitment, so it may stand as a hope deferred without loss or confusion tc anybody. It merely remains a hope postponed and many hopes must stand ,asid<? just now when tasks of construction give place to the duties of preserving intact the institutional and constitutional systems which represent so many years of peace-time endeavour. It is remarkable that the Government pursues its course and decides to encourage the holding of the Centennial Exhibition at a time like this. In its material aspects there may very well be a desire to continue with undertakings already begun, but the Centennial is more a matter of sentiment—an outflow of public enthusiasm at a time of recognition. Can there well be enthusiasm when sterner tasks than usual ai e being faced ? In Te Awamutu, m any case, there is evidence of a desire to apply all efforts in the discharge of those many new responsibilities which came when the wardrum? sounded. Cheerfully can hopes in other directions be deferred. In due time it means—of this there is neither doubt nor uncertainty—that Centennial will combine with Peace in a more gladsome celebration of what, at the last moment of this first century—crowded in on our national life and called for supreme and unstinted effort. Not very well can we pause in the midst of such endeavour fpr merry-making, but when the sounds of war cease then, and only then, may we more heartily give way to those expressions of thankfulness which will mark the Centennial. This no doubt was recognised by the Committee when it scheduled an application for subsidy for utilisation in an appropriate manner and at a suitable time. Our task just now is to hold intact all existing institutions and to develop those which* service the essential requirements that arise in emergency. Beyond that hopes can well stand deferred, and the celebration of the Centennial is a hope which will not suffer by delay.