MANY EX-PUPILS FROM BAY WILL GO BACK TO TE AUTE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 84, 18 August 1950, Page 6

MANY EX-PUPILS FROM BAY WILL GO BACK TO TE AUTE

Many ex-pupils from the Bay of Plenty are expected to attend the centennial celebrations at Te Aute College on August 26. Those who do will probably see some of New Zealand’s finest Maori carving placed about the high walls of the college’s spacious asembly hall. These carvings, when completed, will form a memorial to old boys who have served their country.

Elaborately carved panels, each richly decorated with traditional tribal motifs, have been stored at the college for nearly 25 years in anticipation of the time when they would be placed in the asembly hall.. The opening of the hall will be the principal event at the college centennary celebrations. The scheme for a memorial hall was conceived by the late Sir Apirana Ngata, and to him was to have fallen the honour of declaring it open.

In recent years various tribes have given carvings to be embodied in the hall. Most of them were done in the early days of the Rotorua Maori school of carving, and they are regarded as being of particularly high standard. Mr Pine Taiapa, who was responsible for much of this carving, is now working at the college, together with his son and his brother.