“N.Z. Centennial News.”
A Helpful Publication.

One of the many activities of the Department of Internal Affairs in preparations for the Centennial is the publication of a monthly magazine, “New Zealand Centennial News.” In his foreword of the first issue the Minister, the Hon. W. E. Parry, remarked: “The national purpose of the publication is mainly to enable all members of Centennial organisations to keep in helpful touch with one another and with the Department of Internal Affairs, which is administratively concerned with the celebrations. The magazine will also have reports of progress, from various viewpoints, in different districts, and other suitable information.”

In that issue and in others the primary purpose has been kept well in mind. The contents have included brightly-written “Centennial portraits”—brief sketches of the careers of Captain William Hobson, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, Colonel William Wakefield, and Tamati Waaka Nene in a series which will include other notable actors in the early historic stage of this country.

Among other features have been facsimiles of the hand-writing of Captain Cook and the two Wakefields, reproductions of famous scenes, and articles in which the romantic past has been recalled.

The anticipation that the magazine would be helpful in the Centennial work was quickly verified. The preface of No. 2 mentions that the initial estimates of distribution indicated that an issue of 2,500 would be sufficient, but soon after the copies had been sent throughout the Dominion it became evident that another 1,000 would be required.

From the range of contents of the first four issues it is evident that bound copies of the complete series will be good souvenirs of the Centennial.