OUR PIONEERS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1952, 8 January 1914, Page 4

OUR PIONEERS.

Something has'been done in recant years to honour tho.. pioneers who settled this country in the early days, and to perpetuate the memory of those who have passed away. 'The men and women who pioneered New Zealand were brave and enterprising souls, who faced certain hardship's and the loss of much that they held clear in order to break out new'homes for themselves in a country that, to them, tvals a wilderness full of unknown dangers. ■ No New ZeaJandcr will deny the debt that we owe to the early settlers, but in the hurry and bustle of everyday affairs it is "sometimes apt to be overlooked when it might very well bo remembered. On that account any movement which aims at establishing a permanent record of the pioneers and their

achievements is worthy of sympathy and support. 5 .In another column will be found an appeal by the president of the Early Settlers' Association (the Hos. J.. E, Jenkinson) for donations to a fund which it is proposed to expend in setting up a memorial of some kind to the settlers who founded Wellington more than seventy years ago. . The object is a good one, and the appeal should command a rta-dy response. The Wellington Early. Settlers' Association, in common with kindred bodies throughout the country, has performed what may without exaggeration be described as a national service in bringing together the surviving members of the diminishing band of .pioneers, and in accumulating historical records of the early days of the Dominion. In. this way traditions are being preserved, which should be regarded by all patriotic New Zealanders as a heritage to be I passed on from generation to generation. The periodical reunions of early settlers and their-descendants have already attained a considerable popularity, and - are attended by i many people, who have no link of relationship- ; with i- those ' "first i families" which did the spade-work of colonisation,_ but are none the less able to appreciate the race of pioneers and the Manner in which they discharged their arduous task. The last winter reunion of , Wellington early settlers, held in the Town Mall, was attended by 1500 people, and prominent public men who attended and were proud to assist in'renderine a popular tribute.to. the.early settlers, expressed a hone thnt whim the-next, reunion was held the hall would he packed to the doors. ■ The race of pioneers ■■ is gradually passing away, hut there aro still living a number .of the. people who came out by the first.four emigrant ships to arrive in New Zealand, v--Not a few : of these hardy old:folks sire hale,and hearfy still, and carry thn burden of. .ycarsvas-'.lightly ;as--people iwho/are ir.nn.v'.years, their ■■juniors. , ..Still, : they: are' slipping away,,:one by)one';?.and the ■'proposal to , , provide a-lasting' ■memorial< of-their■■ achievements''lonjr ■ago-is one thnt should m.Tkc.n.Bcronji abj3cal ; : to;th<! .members of the,;present,

! {gorieftUonfejThetvgimmediate pro- ; iSjipsaUvpiiigfqrwardlfeby thcf ,; Early ) jSettli-rsJijfflsotiaticitr is ; to set', aside, ift 1 ii , &s t iiri)lus> royi' tiito■.'ffom tho■ ■a 11 -tlhy : he]d:afcNew ; ; ; : sgo.tliin'iwitl'i '.any donations received. , a'fiiHtl ;.for' : the lerociioriSof. : ;';i suitable memorial"to Hh;??scttlers ; -B'ho>!nnded .-at Pctone jß«aeh'|hvV]B!M)..and the , following Tyoiuy'Ss.ltfis intended to' co-Gpcratc movement having the same ibbjnct in ;vicw which may be initialed fiitvPeto'iw or the. Hutt. The form iwh'icli , : , the memorial' is to.take has 'not yet-, boon, determined, but prob'ably;nothing better could be selected .than a simple and enduring monu■lneiit which would symbolise and put on permanent record the venture of the early settlers and the manner in 'which they made good. This, however,., is a. matter which may very well be' left to the Association and to the surviving pioneers. Our pre.sent purpose is to suggest that the eall'on behalf of the early settlers is really a call on behalf _of New Zeai.larid and its best traditions. .