Abstract
IN December 1642, Europeans first discovered New Zealand, although they mistook its general character. A century and a half later their mistake was rectified by Captain Cook. His reports attracted traders and whalers, but lawlessness, arising from “the absence of necessary laws and institutions”, led, a hundred years ago, to bringing the islands under the sovereignty of the Queen of England. It is the centenary of this event which New Zealand began to celebrate last week when a great exhibition was opened at Wellington. It is fitting in a new country that prominence should be given to the natural resources of the country, forests, farm lands, and minerals, and to the means which have led to their exploitation, of which the development of methods of transport has been pre-eminent. Two thirds of New Zealand's land is now ‘occupied’, for the most part not by great landowners but by persons holding less than 320 acres. It is these European settlers who have developed the resources of their country in such a way as to minimize the disadvantages of isolation from the great consuming centres of the world. Happily the economic exploitation of the country has not been accompanied by a disappearance of the native people, for the sixty thousand Maoris live in friendly co-operation with the Europeans and enjoy full social and political equality. This successful experiment in State-building will be worthily celebrated in New Zealand throughout the coming year, and it must be a matter of regret that the war, which has, once again, brought out the loyalty of the Dominion, should have prevented more active participation in this event by citizens from other parts of the British Commonwealth.
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Centenary Celebrations in New Zealand. Nature 144, 859–860 (1939). https://doi.org/10.1038/144859b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/144859b0