HUNDRED YEARS OLD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 February 1940, Page 6

HUNDRED YEARS OLD

NEW ZEALAND’S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT WAITANGI. LANDING OF CAPTAIN HOBSON REENACTED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WAITANGI, This Day. With the sun’s rays breaking through the grey covering clouds and lighting to the sparkling splendour of wavelets o£ the Bay of Islands, New Zealand began the celebration of its hundredth birthday. A hundred years ago Governor Hobson landed on the beach at Waitangi and with his arrival, New Zealand became a British possession. During the intervening years the country has seen the passing of perhaps the most momentous period in the history of civilisation, and as mankind has advanced, sc has advanced our own country.

Today at Waitangi, however, hundreds of people from all over the Dominion, for Now Zealand now enjoys that status, had the opportunity of witnessing the re-enactment of scenes which must have stirred the feelings of colonists one hundred years ago. They certainly stirred the feelings of those who were present at today’s ceremony and there were lumps in many throats and tears in not a few eyes as Captain Hobson's counterpart of a hundred years after set foot on the gravelley beach from a pinnace manned by sailors in old-fashioned uniforms. On either side of Captain Hobson’s craft as she approached the beach were Maori war canoes, the largest of which 120 feet long carried a full complement of 150 warriors, latooed and dressed in Maori mats and carrying arms with which they were familiar centuries ago. After the actual landing, Captain Hobson, and his suite, who were greeted on the beach by a group representing early settlers, dressed in the gay costumes of the period, were preceded up a steep path, the famous Nias track, to the Treaty House by groups of armed Maori warriors, where they were greeted with cheers from hundreds of people who had gathered on the surrounding hillsides. Captain Hobson slowly made his way up the path and entered the Treaty House building, whic might aptly be termed the cradle of New Zealand’s history. NEW ZEALAND’S BIRTHPLACE. If the landing of Captain Hobson as the first event in the signing of the Treaty carried the stamp of realism, the scene on the square front of the Treaty House, where the enactment of the actual signing of the Treaty was carried out was even more realistic. There, on a spot which is literally the birthplace of New Zealand’s story, the past lived again. Under a dias m/de from canvas were seated the men responsible for bringing the young country under the sovereignty of Great Britain. There were Captain Hobson, Captain Nias, Felton Mathew, the first surveyor-general; Henry Williams, Richard Taylor, William Colenso, and other missionaries; Bishop Pompalier and many others in front of them. Seated in a rough semi-circle on the grass were Maori chiefs and their followers. clad in mats. The men's faces were moko’d in ancient style. Grasping their tahias and other weapons they, more than those on the dais, made the scene dramatic and even inspiring.

SIGNING OF TREATY. To the thousands watching the historic scene it seemed a propitious omen that, just as the speech-making preparatory to the treaty signing was about to commence the sun should break through. The treaty signing ceremony was conducted according to the procedure laid down exactly one hundred years ago. Today, in this historic scene, none showed greater interest than his Excellency, the Governor-General. Lord Galway, who. accompanied by .Lady Galway and suite, was greeted with thunderous applause as he inspected the guard of honour from the Maori Battalion. WORLD-WIDE CONGRATULATIONS World-wide congratulations have been received on the occasion of the achievement of the centennial. One from the French Prime Minister. M. Daladier, expresses, on behalf of the French Government and the people, as well as his own personal greeting, ■warmest facilitations and sincere wishes for France's ally, the Dominion of New Zealand, “whose achievements in the past are a pledge of her magnificent future.” Another to the Prime Minister from the former GovernorGeneral, Lord Bledisloe. states: “Especially shall my wife and I be with you in heart and mind when you meet together at. Waitangi on February 6 to cement that compact treaty of Waitangi, and while looking back with pride and thankfulness to God for the progress and blessings of the past hundred years to contemplate with confident resolve the future greatness of the Dominion, and the mutually trustful relations of the two races. Maori and Pakeha, in achieving it.” Lord Bledisloe also enclosed a cheque for £-100 sterling for the purchase of articles of furniture for the attractive whare-runanga which the Maoris have erected adjoining the treaty house. Other messages of felicitation were received from the Mayor of Durban. South Africa, the secretary of the United Kingdom branch of’ the Empire Parliamentary Association and the Government of Belgium.

SENSE OF NATIONHOOD LORD BLEDISLOE’S TRIBUTE. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received This Day. 1.45 p.m.) LONDON, February 5. Lord Bledisloe. in a letter to “The Times." recalls that February G is New Zealand's centenary on which the King's subjects throughout the world will exclaim: God bless her.” He hopes that the corporate sense of nationhood, signalised by the nationalisation of the Waitangi Estate, which he and his wife effected in 1033, will be permanently and indissolubly cemented because hereon largely depends New Zealand's mana. He adds: “The ambitious programme of social advancement has tended during the past three years to evoke an acute difference of outlook and some doubts about the Dominion's continuing stability. Let us hope that this disharmony is transient and these apprehensions gt'ciundlesji. No more

lovable or more loyal people than the New Zealanders can be found anywhere in the world nor has any nation a more delectable habitat. God grant that temporary asperities may be softened, national solidarity established, and that this little gem of the Empire will march into the new century unanimously determined to make it an exemplar of all that is best in the ideals and aspirations of the British race.