TARANAKI'S ANNIVERSARY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 351, 31 March 1910, Page 4

TARANAKI'S ANNIVERSARY.

Sixty-eight year* ago to-day the settlement of Taranaki wag founded, when the advance band of colonisers from the Old Country effected * landing where this 'town now standi. How the choice fell on New Plymouth instead of Waitara as a landing-place and capital of the province, 'Which then only existed on the maps of the New Zealand Land Company in London, haa often 'been told. It ia pleasing to notice that as the years roll by, a keener interest in and appreciation of the work of the pioneers is being evinced by their more fortunate successors of to-day, and within the past two year* the occasion of the anniversary of the first settlement has been fittingly celebrated—as it should be. No part of New Zealand can show a record of hardship, of endurance, of resource, and of pluck excelling that of the pioneers of Taranaki settlement. Unfortunately th» festivities that were planned and the reunions that were looked forward to have perforce to largely be foregone through stress of weather. To the fast decreasing hand of early settlers, however, we desire to express the hope th«t they may long be spared to live in t'h« eniovment »f the peace and plenty their self-denving efforts of early days entitle them to. , ,v -,