Our Island Story

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 509, 25 March 1949, Page 13

Our Island Story

‘A NEW daily item in 2¥A’s pro-| grammes will provide a short glimpse, varying in length from three to five minutes, into New Zéaland history. The session, called To-day in New Zealand History, will be broadcast every day at 1.25 p.m., except on Saturdays, when the time will be 10.30 a.m. It will. start on Friday, April 1, and last for the next 12 months. Listeners will be told every day that something special happened on that day of the month at some time in the past. It might have been in the

time of Captain Cook, Captain Hobson, Sir George Grey or Richard Seddon, or in the last 10, 20, or 30 years; at any rate the event will have occurred, or the stage will have been

set for it, on that particular day. Though this new session has no connection with the Broadcasts to Schools which are heard on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, it will precede those broadcasts by five minutes, so that schools with radio sets receiving 2YA will be able to include it if they wish. Some of the happenings to be related will have been concerned with great events in our history-for example, the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, the assembly of the first Parliament, the first shipment overseas of frozen meat, or the first steps in a great scientist’s rise to fame. Some of the others will be of less importance, but nevertheless worth remembering. There will be not only tales of political battles, but battles of arms and tragedies in peace time. Nobody can read New Zealand history without learning something of the wars between the Europeans and the Maoris, while shipwrecks and other disasters such as earthquakes, will also come into the series. But more peaceful events will, naturally, predominate. The underlying idea is to illustrate, as far as possible, all phases of New Zealand national life, ranging from statesmanship to sport. It is quite pos- sible that there. will be references to people of whom many listeners of today have never heard,* but who have their story and their place. Listeners themselves will be asked to help in expanding the chronology. If they know of any anniversary for any day of the year which is not included in the talks, or which they think might be missed, they may send the information they have to the Director of Broadcasting. Local anniversaries, for instance, fall into this class; they should, of course, be supported if possible, by authority. The opening sub-titles are: April 1, "First footing the Tasman Glacier;" April 2, "The Siege of Orakau," and April 3, "Organising Our Surveys." These new sessions are being prepared by Dr, Guy Scholefield and Alan Mulgan. ©