TRIALS DURING THE EARLY DAYS

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20956, 8 November 1939, Page 10

TRIALS DURING THE EARLY DAYS

FOUNDING THE DAIRYING INDUSTRY The Golden Age Before The War PIONEERING EXPLOITS IN THE WAIKATO There is no more romantic page in the history of New Zealand than that which records the trials and adventures of the hardy pioneers, who shaped the destiny of the small Dominion and laid the foundations of one of the greatest dairying countries in the world. It is these men and women, who followed in the wake of Tasman and Cook to carve out an existence in this outpost of Empire, that we remember on this occasion—the one hundredth anniversary of the annexation of New Zealand by the British Crown. They left for future generations a precious heritage which their sons and grandsons have been called on more than once to preserve from they who seek to destroy justice and freedom. On the battlefields of France and Gallipoli, New Zealand played its part with courage and determination and today its people are again called to make a contribution towards the preservation of progress and prosperity, which marked the first century of the Dominion.

In the Waikato the struggle to establish the dairying industry was long and difficult. When other parts of New Zealand were forging ahead the Waikato was looked upon as an uninviting area inhabited by warlike natives. As time went on missionaries ventured into the valley carrying a message of goodwill to the Maoris. These pioneers established the agricultural industry and, when the Waikato War broke out, the district had been trans-formed from waste-land to a prosperous farming settlement. Wheat was its first product and as early as 1845 an appreciable amount of grain was transported by road and river to the Auckland markets. The war ended the golden age of wheat-growing in the Waikato and upon the conclusion of hostilities the foundations of the dairying industry were laid.