TODAY IN HISTORY
TODAY is Tuesday, May 31, the 151st day of 2022. There are 214 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1871 — The New Zealand University Council holds its first meeting.
1879 — New York’s Madison Square Garden opens its doors for the first time.
1886 — In what is claimed to be an omen of the Tarawera eruption almost two weeks later, a phantom canoe is seen by tourists on Lake Tarawera.
1902 — The Boer War ends with the signing of the Boer surrender at Potchefstroom. The war was not without cost to the New Zealand contingents that served, with 71 being killed in combat, while 133 died from illness and 30 in accidents.
1911 — In Belfast, the White Star liner RMS Titanic is launched as one of the largest vessels afloat. It sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912.
1915 — German Zeppelin dirigibles bomb London for the first time.
1925 — Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, after drawing up its creed of faith, announces the establishment of his separate church, Te Haahi Ratana (the Ratana Church), which was formally registered on July 21, 1925. As a result, the Anglican Church excommunicates any Anglicans who join it.
1926 — The Imperial Cricket Conference confirms membership of the governing bodies of India, New Zealand and the West Indies, opening the way for these countries to play test cricket.
1928 — Aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith sets off from Oakland, California, to fly across the Pacific to Australia (he arrives on June 9).
1932 — Having set out from Spirits Bay in the far north, to walk the length of the country promoting New Zealand products, Esther James arrives in Dunedin, having walked 2253km since December 3. Her arrival coincides with ‘‘Come to Dunedin Week’’, a forerunner to Dunedin’s nowdefunct Festival Week. She arrived in Bluff on June 18.
1942 — Three Japanese midget submarines enter Sydney Harbour; the ferry Kuttabul is sunk, killing 21 sailors.
1961 — South Africa becomes an independent republic outside the British Commonwealth, with C.R. Swart as president.
1973 — New Zealand cricketer Glenn Turner completes the rare feat of scoring 1000 runs before the end of May in English county cricket.
1974 — Measuring just 3m by 2m, the Waitaki Bridge Post Office, believed to be New Zealand’s smallest, is closed after trading since August 1, 1896, originally being called Waitaki South. The first postmaster was James Kennedy, who received wages of £5 a year.
1975 — Eighteenyearold Mona Blades disappears while hitchhiking between Hamilton and Hastings. Her body has never been found and her disappearance remains a mystery.
1989 — A 6.6magnitude earthquake centred in eastern Fiordland is felt throughout Southland and Otago and causes minor damage.
2002 — The 15 European Union nations ratify the Kyoto Protocol against global warming as a bloc and use the occasion to criticise the United States for not ratifying it.
2005 — The Washington Post reveals that ‘‘Deep Throat’’, the legendary source who leaked Watergate scandal secrets to its reporters, was former FBI deputy director Mark Felt.
2008 — It’s better late than never for 1000 New Zealand Vietnam veterans, who are cheered by onlookers as they parade from Wellington’s Civic Square to Parliament, to be finally welcomed home, more than 30 years after their return from active service.
Today’s birthdays:
Frances Alda (born Fanny Jane Davis), New Zealandborn operatic soprano (18791952); Thomas Culling, New Zealand’s first World War 1 flying ace (18961917); Clint Eastwood, US actor (1930); Jim Bolger, 35th prime minister of New Zealand (1935); Terry Waite, Anglican Church envoy (1939); Gregory Harrison, US actor (1950); Lea Thompson, US actress (1961); Brooke Shields, US actress (1965); Phil Keoghan, New Zealandborn television personality (1967); Colin Farrell, Irish actor (1976).
Quote of the day:
‘‘In Maidanek, Poland, there was only one place where the children were treated kindly; at the entrance to the gas chamber each one was handed a sweet.’’ — Gideon Hausner, who led the Israeli Government’s prosecution of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. On May 31, 1962, Eichmann, who helped to organise Nazi Germany’s murder of millions of Jews, was hanged in Jerusalem.