EARLY SETTLERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 198, 16 May 1919, Page 10

EARLY SETTLERS

_ -o PROPOSED MEMORIAL. A withering of members of the Early Settlers': Association,,, presided . over by Mr. J. E. Jenkinson, tfas hold in tjodber's Rooms, Cuba Street, last evening. There' wns a good attendance •Mr.' Jenkinson explained that the association's financial year had ended on April 30.' ' The next meeting would be the annual meeting, and he wanted members to consider very seriously the programme for the ensuing year. Ihe committee proposed that two objects should be , aimed at,'and it'wanted thorn toi bo fully understood and fully discussed. Ihe proposed memorial to the- early settlers who had landed on Petone beach was ono object that should be kept steadily in view. . 'Tliore w».s considerable diversity of opinion as to where the memorial should bo. situated, and even as to where the first' settlers had. actually landed. He suggested that instead ot erecting a- memorial on Petone beach, the association should place one upon Tinakori Hill, whero it could be seen ,bv all. A memorial set up on the beach would not be conspicuous. The continuation of the journal that had had to bo drOßped through the influence of the war. was the other outstanding subject for consideration. Ho believed that the journal would be well supported if it wore revived. Mr. ('Farmer") Dayeh (Wairarapa) said thnt if a little energy wore put into its cause, tho association was capable of thriving well. He wanted to see jt one day hold its meeting in a building of its own. Mr. Gcorgo Jones was invited to say a few words about the early gold-digging days. Ho mentioned, in tho course of his narrative that Mrs. .Tones and he had been wedded fifty years, and that Mrs. .Jones still wore upon her finger her original ring of Kaiwarra gold. Captain E. Vine spoke warmly in support of the memorial scheme mooted by the chairman. He shared Mr. Jenkinson's view that Tinakori Hill was a suitable site for an ordinary memorial,, but ho believed that tho best memorial of all would be a hall, in which the periodical gatherings of early settlers and ' their 'descendants might be held. ' Councillor L. M'Kenssie said that the suggestion for a memorial was one of sufficient importance to warrant tho association in going to the Government for assistance.