CENTENNIAL FILM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 November 1940, Page 6

CENTENNIAL FILM

NEW ZEALAND’S FIRST HUNDRED YEARS DEVELOPMENT OF COUNTRY PORTRAYED. SCREENING BEFORE LORD GALWAY AND OTHERS. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. Produced at the Government studios, Miramar, New Zealand's Centennial memorial film of one hundred crowded years received its first screening this morning in the presence of the Gover-nor-General, Lord Galway, Lady Galway and their daughter, the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) and most members of Cabinet, Sir Harry Batterbee (British Trade Commissioner), many members of Parliament and leading citizens. The film takes about an hoar to screen. There is no crowding and actually the film suggests more than it shows. It excels on the pictorial side and wisely no attempt has been made to interweave any consecutive story. Scenes from the past have been recreated. These tell their own story, often silently, but very vividly. There is the Treaty of Waitangi and Captain Hobson negotiating with the Maoris, followed by the life of the pioneers in carving homes from the bush. A vivid portrayal of the Maoris comes with the war but the southern gold rushes bring ether scenes, the opening up of public works, with railway and road building and the quick progress of civilisation, land development, the rise of the freezing industry and the laying of the foundations of the Dominion’s primary production for shipment overseas. Here the film ceases to be historical and presents the culmination of the first hundred years, showing the country as it is today, its social advancement with the Plunket Society. State housing and the like and the welfare of the Maori, with a short dissertation on Maori problems. / The film is to be shown for patriotic purposes and Mr Langstone this morning expressed the hope that it would bring in a good sum. He characterised it as a lasting tribute to the pioneers, whose beneficiaries we were and congratulated all concerned on its making.