HASTINGS BOROUGH'S JUBILEE.

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 94, 7 May 1937, Page 4

HASTINGS BOROUGH'S JUBILEE.

With to-day 's issue of the Herald-Tribune its readers ard presented with an historical supplement givittg Some account of the birth of the towil of Hastings And of its growth to its present weJl advanced stage of development. The occasioA afforde^d for this is the celebration next week, coincidently with His Maje^ty's coronation, of the Borotigh's attainmeiit of its jubilee year — its 50th birthday, though that actually OCturred sonie few months ago. The story uxade up by the vhried contributions tn if is one that may perhaps interest most closely those of the inature generations that have watched and perhaps taken aii active part iii promoting the progfess'Of the town. At the same time, it will do the yottnger geherationsy who knoW ii only as something like it now stands to read the story afld so gain some conception of the pioneering spirit that stakfced it on its career and of the persistent and continUous ehdcW' otir that has helped to irtake it the pleasant habitation it it&W , is* Proni siich a readirig may be gathered an iiispiration to carry 6n the good work that has beeti so Weii begun. They will fifid the foundaitons for further progress well and tritlj laid, and it is for them to see that the strueture they can bear is built up upon the same sound lines. F6r them ail the rough spade-work has been done and ail moderh facilities are laid to their hands for carrying to fuJI fruition the labours of those who have, during the last sixty years i>r more, deroted so rauch of their time arid energy t£> the task of creating something in which a real civic pride may be takeb. If Hastings is to fulfil its destiriy as it should, ^hen ttrere is rieed for the yonnger folk to realise that there is still yery much to be done and that it is their duty tA fit thetnselves for doing it and to be ready to take up the runriing. In these days of rapid progress and keen competition there can be no standing still. We have eithe^ to join in the march with a hope bf reaching the front ranks, or else to fall behind and lose oiir place iii the. advaiice. The' example they have beOn set is one that shotild give every encouragement for the cultivation of the spirit of selfrfelianee that at the present time is being threatefied With extirtction. The story of Hastings shoWS clearly hoW much may be done by Steadily pursuing a course in which Self-reliance plays the chief part. Of Hastings it may triily be said, as much at least as of any town of like dimensions in the '* Doihinion, that it has been built up from the inside. It has been dependent to but a very small, an almost negliglble, ek tent Upon external or adventitious aid. , Whatever' of progress . has been achieved— atid in sb short a time there has been a "rOry great deal~ has resulted frOm the efforts of its owri citizens and of those they have placed in authority, and from the good Will that has always been extended to thexn by their - cotintry neighbours. Indeed, it may .be toore emphatidally said that the growth bf the town has so far been very largely due to the constant and continually increasing support lent to it by the farming folk fOf many miles round it. Without that no such progress could have been made, and that is .a thing that our citizens sbOiild riever lose sight of. In prosperity and in adversity the association between town and couhtry has always beeft of the very closest. The town itself may be said to have been borfi of the soil, artd throughoOt its.as yet s'hort history it has beefi to the koil and those who Work it that it has OWed the sourO€S of its Well-being and Of some of its finest betiefactions. Nor are our Maori friends to be forgotten, for they, too. have done no little to assist in building up the trade of the tOwn. So much, indeed, that it is something of a reproach t-j it§ Citizens that more has not been done in the way of studvin'g means for improving conditiohs among them as a body and promoting their welfare as a race. There are, however, web dome signs that indifference in this respect is being laid aside, and a movement made towards atoning for the neglect of the past. Looking backward to the past and fofward to the future, both retrospeqt and prospect may be regarded with satisfaction, with gratitude to those who have brotight the toWn to its present point of development and with stfong hopes for the like competence of those to w honrt, under much more favoiirftble cOnditions, its fortunes are to be committed.