The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1941. ANNIVERSARY DAY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 264, 29 January 1941, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 1941. ANNIVERSARY DAY

TODAY is commonly known as the Anniversary Day of the Au/jldand province a,nd as such is- recognised as a public holiday. The actual anniversary does not do justice to the city of Auckland which was settled long before the provincial status was applied and proclaimed*. But it is interesting to note that 98 years ago with Auckland little more thian a straggling trading post surrounded by a growing Maori population, the rich provincial lands were attached* and the whole of the unsurveyed Waikato, King Country, and Bay of Plenty pooled in with the Northern peninsula in order to make what was ultimately to become the richest and most populous area in the colony. On the 18th of September, 1840, Governor formally proclaimed the colony as part of the Empire from Fort Britomart, on. the hill ramparts overlooking the: tiny settlement, which was also dignified with the title —capital of New Zealand. While the South Island was receiving the visits of occasional whalers, Auckland was forging ahead, laying the foundations for the great centre it was destined to become. The Bay of Islands which up till then had acted as nursery' to the little known colony, had now to relinquish its charge and give way to the march of civilisation, which it had fostered and helped to create. Auckland received its first official batch of immigrants in 1842, when the 'Jane Gifford' and the 'Duchess of Argylle' arrived with 552 passengers, ft is interesting to note that most of these men and women were forced to wade through a sea of mud to the shore, whidi was a sandy spit on the site where the General Post Office now stands. Thus was Auckland born, but it is surprising that six short years afterwards a census taken showed that over 4000 houses or abodes' had been constructed, a tribute to the remarkable development which had taken place. To-day with a population of a quarter of a million and a provincial population totalling a further 170,000 the Auckland area holds sway as the most fertile) and the most productive land in the whole of the Dominion, its record providing a tale of remarkable achievement from the uncompromising start made by its founders a bare hundred years ago.