CENTURY OLD

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 306, 27 December 1937, Page 9

CENTURY OLD

RIVERTON CELEBRATES V BALING STATION TO SEASIDE TOWN MEMORIAL TO PIONEERS [ Per Press Association. 1 INVERCARGILL, Dec. 26. The celebration of the centenary of Riverton, which was postponed a year ago on account of the infantile paralysis epidemic, was begun to-day with the unveiling of a memorial to Captain John Howell, the founder of the settlement a hundred years ago. Riverton is a seaside town, 26 miles west of Invercargill, and it was there that Captain Howell landed in 1835 and establislx'd a whaling base. The whalers often married Maori women and some of their descendants are living in the district to-day. With*the decay of the Bay whaling and the coming of the Scottish immigrants, a new order was introduced. The more progressive whalers turned their attention from the sea to the land. They took up pastoral runs and made Riverton their headquarters. Public offices were built, port facilities were begun, hotels were erected and gradually, but surely, the network of advance- : ment brought, visible evidences of justice, religion and education in the shape of police buildings, churches and schools. In Ihe late fifties, the old name of Jacobs’ River was dropped out of use and the new name of Riverton, bestowed by some unrecognised donor, took its place. The change of name symbolised a change lof character. From the Riverton of the sawmill range emerged the Riverton of to-day, providing pleasure for holiday-makers, utilising its tourist resources and making its living just as capably under the rush and busfle of modern life as did its first residents I under the storm and stress of whalAn indication of the keen interest being taken in the first centenary of European settlement in the south was afforded by the very big attendance at this afternoon's ceremony, residents of Riverton and other Southland districts being reinforced by many former residents of the town who were revisiting it 1o participate in the celebrations. The handsome stone memorial, a cairn made from local stone, was unveiled by Mrs. Hodgkinson, a daughter of Captain Howell, while speeches on the significance of the occasion were delivered by the Leader of the Opposition (the Hon. Adam Hamilton), Judge F. G. V. Acheson, of Auckland, the Mayor of Riverton (Dr. N. G. Trotter), the Mayor of Invercargill (Mr. John Miller), and chairman of the Centenary Company (Mr. T. Borland).