JUBILEE OF NORMANBY.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1933, Page 6

JUBILEE OF NORMANBY.

The celebrations at Normanby this week in connection with the fiftieth show of the Normanby Horticultural Society recalls once again the tremendous development that Taranaki has undergone in a comparatively short space of time. The fact that the last few months have witnessed a succession of jubilee celebrations is a striking reminder that from a European settlement point of view the greater part of South Taranaki is but

half a century old. The history of one place during the intervening years is much the same as the history of any other. Unbroken tracts of virgin bush, primarily opened up by the railway, have quickly yielded to the will of man, and the conversion of the bush to the rich green swards of to-day, accompanied by the transformation of bush tracks deep in mud to tar-sealed highways whereon the motor speeds its way, mark the triumph of the grit and. determination that characterised the pioneer settlers of the province. The Normanby district is a typical example of the result of this will to succeed. The neighbourhood is rich in associations with a period of strife that is now happily long past, but the stories and photographs published in yesterday’s News are vivid evidence of the fact that the conquest of the soil was not the only difficulty with which the pioneer had to contend. It is fitting that the Horticultural Society’s show this week should be the pivot about which the jubilee celebrations revolve, for it is largely due to the enthusiasm engendered by the annual shows in the past that the district enjoys such splendid pastures to-day. Settlers were encouraged to sow only the best grasses, and the value of the legacy thus left is difficult to estimate.. In congratulating Normanby upon the attainment of this important milestone in its life the rest of the province should be grateful for the example the district has set in making the cultivation of true husbandry its first and foremost aim.