The Wellingtion Independent Tuesday, January 22,1861. THE ANNIVERSARY.

Wellington Independent, Volume XVI, Issue 1490, 22 January 1861, Page 2

The Wellingtion Independent Tuesday, January 22, 1861. THE ANNIVERSARY.

.Ouß^on-age is no>v passed. To-day. we celebrate the twenty-first anniversary of the arrival of the Aurora- in this port| having on board the first party of immigrants. . So auspicious an occasion as the celebration of our twenty-first anniversary, deserved to be recognised Vith more public rejoicings than ordinary;, but only the usual routine ■■will" 1 be observed to-day. War, commercial dedepression, and the recent destructive gale, combinedly stamp the present as " hard times," and have indisposed the citizens to undertake the otherwise pleasurable task of inaugurating our majority by an appropriate fete. As the day promises fine, all that is wanting in the programme of public festivities will doubtless be made up in the private circle, where numberless re-unions of old familiar faces will listen to the. story of hardships endured in the "early days, and of the gradual reward which industry and economy have received in the well-to-do position which ia now enjoyed. We refrain from entering to-day, into any statistics of the past. We shall do so, however, on Friday, when v?s tUink we shall have reason to congratulate the Colony on the progress it has made ; for ■though well-nigh smothered in its birth and subject to violent convulsions in. its boyhood, the strength of character it derived from its Anglo-Saxon origin has enabled ifc to overcome the3e infirmities, and induces the firm hope, that, with the advantages of a good Constitution on its side, it will outgrow all incipient symptoms, and present that symmetry of body and vigour of mind which shall render New Zealand one of the worthiest of the many children of a right worthy sire. '