LOYAL MAORIS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2271, 3 October 1914, Page 8

LOYAL MAORIS

ETON THE WAHINES" WANT TO .. SERVE. .•--:•■ \ (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) ■■-,•• ■'■ \ Glsborne,, October 2. Local Maoris have thrown themselves.' heart and soul into the' arrangements for the projected.Native Expeditionary; Force. To-day, when the Gisborne'con-■ tingent of 16 was selected, some hun- ■ dieds came, forward:, They were men ■ of a: magnificent stamp, in some cases ' standing- as high as 6ft. 6in., and weighing as much a 6 16 stone, with : '■:.' out an ounce of fat upon their bodW': - Tbey pressed forward, eager to be selected; to go anywhere and fight anybody for King and Empire. • It was quite pathetic to see the look of disappoint-. went .which came over the faces of these young giants when they ; were told ■ that the weight limit was- 12 stone, and that no ouo over that, weight could be selected. Dr. Scott, medical examiner, declared that it was a positive' ' sin to have to .reject some of. the magnificent specimens of manhood .offering for the simple reason that they were over the weight limit set. Among the volumoers were a number of stalwart wahines, who became quito indignant when :they . wore ..told: that ,t! ladies could not be accepted. "I can shoot as well as any man who ever stepped,""declared one Maori maiden, who expressed utter scorn for the in- - comprehensible ways of the pakeha.in dispatching an army of men to fijvht without their women being there to, ' look after them. "How te poor Maori going to get on with no one to cook for him?" asked another, who had volunteered her services for the commissariat • department. When she was told that, the army had men' cooks her look of scorn was eloquent.