WHATAWHATA JUBILEE

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20730, 14 February 1939, Page 6

WHATAWHATA JUBILEE

Celebration of the sixtieth anniviersary of the Whatawhata school serves as a reminder that that district is only 40 years younger than the oldest European settlement in New Zealand, and that both and the whole country are still very young. One hundred years ma} 7 not be a very long period in the development of a world-wide Empire, but its very brevity gives some cause for pride in what has been achieved since the first European settlers bravely pushed their way into the wilderness that the Waikato was only 60 years ago.

Against some other provinces, the Waikato is comparatively youthful in settlement, and the advanced stage it has ireached in so brief a time gives its people confidence that much greater things are in store. Many of those who attended the Whatawilafya jubilee on Saturday can clearly recall the conditions that obtwued there over half a century ago. The contrast is almost starting. Those who have shared in that remarkable progress have every 7 reason for pride in their work, and it was fitting that the achievements of sixty years should be so celebrated.

If such change has been possible in the past sixty years, what might not be done in the next sixty 1 In that question lies the chief value of the jubilee celebrations. It gives occasion for thought, for a renewal of the resolution that has made progress possible and for a revival'of the indomitable pioneer spirit that has made Whatawhata and the "Waikato what they are. Is the younger generation of to-day capable of a similar effort ? Is there an equal incentive for the nation-building effort 7 Is the population to increase ? Are closer settlement and an ever-increasing production to be based on the efforts of those whose achievements are now being celebrated 1 If the character of the British people has not undergone a drastic change for the worse, the future of the Waikato and of New Zealand is safe in the hands of the younger people.