DOMINION DAY

Evening Star, Issue 23380, 25 September 1939, Page 6

DOMINION DAY

THIRTY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONHOOD CELEBRATED TO-DAY Thirty-two years ago New Zealand attained the status of a dominion, and while the anniversary of that event is held to-day, having been fixed for the fourth Monday in September, the actual date of the changing of the country’s status from a colony to a dominion was September 26. The announcement was made by the then Prime Minister (Sir Joseph Ward) following a trip to Britain, and in due course a formal Order in Council was issued by King Edward VII. Nothing of any great value, politically, was gained by this change of status, except that we had as the King’s representative a Governor-General instead of a Governor. However, the euphonious title of Dominion gave the impression that as a nation the country had “ grown up,” for a Crown Colony implies something small which requires the benevolent oversight of a higher authority. If the designation “ Dominion ” implied manhood, it was fully deserved, for in the preceding 69’years a nation had been created, and its wise self-government over a greater portion of that period warranted the bestowal of the new dignity to which it had achieved. Actually, there is little outward or visible sign in the life of a city to-day that it does mark such an important anniversary, but some business houses and the trading banks, which always recognise it. are closed.