NATIVE KORERO.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1351, 31 January 1912, Page 4

NATIVE KORERO.

BIG GATHERING AT WAAHI. (By Tclecraph.—Snc-clal Correspondent.} Auckland, January SO. A big Native gathering is being held at) Waahi, on the Waikato River. At this meeting, as at others held at Waahi, the light and shades of Native life appear in vivid contrast, and surprise, the vistor with their startling and appalling suddenness. Comedy and tragedy, the sublime and the. ridiculous, pathos and childish absurdity, appear to 6° hand in hand, and seem to bo as equally intermixed as is the hilarity accompanying the greeting of welcome friends with the weird, monotonous, and plaintive wailing that proceeds from the tent in which somo dozen short-haired dark-skinned women, dressed in sombre black, and with fillets of willow wreathed round them foreheads and shoulders, croon over all that remains of him who on Saturday was the stalwart healtliv-looking Whiu Himeona, a wellknown" nnd able Native who succumbed to diabetes. ... ... The business of the meeting, which will probably not begin until Wednesday, will take about a week to finish. It will deal mainly with the partition of the Native lands 'handed in for apportionment at the last meeting, held in August, 1911, the discussing of grievances, the acts of omission and commission by the different Commissioners, Rnynl and otherwise, the policy, social and land, of the future, and the contrast between the observance of tho terms of the Treaty of Waitangi in 18-10 and in 1912. Side issues such as the legality of tho election of Dr. Pomare may crop up, but these, will be subsidiary to the main issues to bo placed before those assembled. In addition to "King" Mahuta, there are present Mr. Hcnare Kaihau (es-M.P.i, Tupu Taiugakawa (Mnhuta's Prime Minister), and several other chiefs of note. Judging from the supply of provisions visible, a large attendance is anticipated, and shark, schnnpper, tuna (eels), and flounders would appear to be one of tho principal entries on the menu.