The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 30. THEN AND NOW.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 265, 30 March 1911, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, MARCH 30. THEN AND NOW.

In the earth's history seventy years is the merest trifle. Nature herself hard-, ly changes during such a brief period. It is too short a time for noticeable evolution to be effected, but in the history of this province the year 1841 marked the dawn of things, and we who garner the seed sown by pioneers speak of the '•'forties" as "the old times," "the early days," as if we were obscured in the most remote antiquity. It is a pathetic thought that- during a slightly longer period than the one named that the whole earth is repeopled, that the uncountable millions of human beings return to the earth and that their successors, animated by exactly the same impulses, aspirations and hopes, continue the fight for life as if there were no to-morrqw and no yesterday. The slow irrevocable processes of Nature are benevolently imperceptible. We do not hope the less, or strive the less because so many of the brave old pioneers have gone the way of all flesh, but we are spurred to a better endeavor by the providential preservation t.o us of many of those early settlers who blazed the track for us. A notable visitor the other day who knew Taranaki when it was "more like New Zealand" referred to it as "the clean-shaven province." Its beard took thousands of years to grow, and the pioneers were the barbers. Incalculable prodigies of hard work have been performed since those settlers of the forties saw for the first time the primeval bush, noted ita glories, and, with the undying instinct of the race, scorned its difficulties. There dribbled into Taranaki little lots of people from the west country whose forbears had been used to the grip of want-determined folk whose history on land and sea is a history of grim fighting with human foe and with the elements. No people remain so true to type as the west country people; no people are so little affected by environment, and no people are more dogged. It is the fashion nowadays to compare the old-time settler with the settler of to-day, to the latter's disadvantage. It would be necessary to reproduce the conditions existing in this province in the forties to prove the inferiority of the children of the people who were courageous enough to face the unknown. Pioneering of the old kind is impossible to-day in this country, and "spoon-feeding" is commoner because it is more readily available. Wo must not deprecate the progress that has made it impossible for present-day settlers to undergo the trials present in the early days. If the trials were present, the people would still face them. There are plenty of problems to be solved now, even though the province is "cleanshaven" and our "friend the enemy" is milking cows instead of shooting nails into the pakeha. In the early days it was absolutely necessary for the settlers to tackle the situation. There were no fatherly organisations to watch them from the cradle to the grave. They were self-dependent and self-reliant. ' They could not "sample" the country, and, finding it not paved with gold, take a fast steamer back to Southampton. They ■battled the thing through because they had to. They thrived on difficulties, on rough food, on hard work, and an occasional fight. They lived under natural, and, therefore, perfect conditions. The community that lives in the midst of difficulties and dangers is frequently a happier community than the one living in the lap of luxury and a "silken peace. They were not special men and women, selected for extraordinary virtues, strength of will or anything of the kind. They wore ordinary, every-day, unsophisticated people who learnt as they went along and

generally lived long enough to note that a their children obviously believed the new ti generation to be a smarter one than the old. There were fewer parasites and a 0 larger proportion of workers in those c> days. Strong arms were more than white collars, and the land-worker was rr more esteemed than the land-shark. To- t day in New Plymouth we are honored '/ by the presence among us of these hu- Is man links with the past, the people who a blazed the track for us, laid the corner stone of our prosperity, and gave us our j, life. The history of the beginning of i colonisation in any new country is the same in all parts of the world. The J necessity for strong souls creates them. v The pioneer is generally rather surprised d that he should be honored and made much of. He anticipated nothing of the a kind when he merely did those things that were necessary to be done in order that he and his should survive. The law of self-preservation has given Taranaki its rich and prosperous condition to the present generation. The present generation instinctively feel that they are indebted to the folk who left the known for the unknown, who bore the axe anA the rifle, who faced every peril known to colonisation, and who yet succeeded, in spite of all difficulties, in fathering and mothering a virile, hearty race, capable, too, if called on, to cheerfully undergo the difficulties, the privations and the pleasures of those ancient days. Around us, because of early struggles, there is peace, plenty and prospects for even a more perfect prosperity. Viewing these things with gladness, the people of this province may well thank Providence for the fathers and mothers of Taranalci.