rotary club to SPONSOR MAORI WAR MEMORIAL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 90, 1 September 1950, Page 5

rotary club to SPONSOR MAORI WAR MEMORIAL

The Whakatane Rotary Club has decided to sponsor the collection of donations throughout the Whakatane district for the Maori war memorial gates now being erected at the Whare-o-Toroa Pa, Whakatane. The club will have collectors calling on organisations for donations, which are to be acknowledged in the Bay of Plenty Beacon. Donations for the memorial may be sent to the club, which is being organised for the collection by Mr C. Kingsley-Smith. When he outlined the scheme to the Rotary Club on Tuesday evening Mr King-sley-Smith pointed out that it was one of the first straightout Maori war memorials constructed in the Bay of Plenty. It would commemorate the 500 odd Maoris of the Matatua district who were killed in the Boer War and World Wars I and 11.

“Our. wars, remember,” declared Mr Kingsley-Smith.

Although there had been many memorial schemes organised by Pakehas to whom - the Maoris had contributed, he said, there had not been any organised by Maoris where Pakehas had been asked to contribute. He thought this was an opportunity for the district to show appreciation in a tangible way of the fine sacrifice made by Maori soldiers** from the district.