MAORIS FOR SAN FRANCISCO

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2353, 8 January 1915, Page 7

MAORIS FOR SAN FRANCISCO

8 K SHOWS A DAY k £2 A WEEK , Maoria > selected at Ohmemutu, Rotoraa, and Whakarewarewa who are to perforin for a year at na i m a L ® s P° s ition. These Natives have'been engaged bv Mr Arthur G. Annesley, on behalf of a big syndicate which holds the amusement! concession at the Exposition. Mr. Annealey has been in New Zealand for the last two months-getting together his troupe of haka and poi dancers and singers. Aocording to Mr. Taite Te noT't °^ a who speaks perfect English, there are twenty-eight Natives m the troupe—fourteen men and a similar number of women. All 2' to V! four of tho women are married, and, in the case of the marned women their husbands are members 1,-wl The 'contract under wnicn these Maoris leave their Native shores is one that bindj them to give performances of their dances and songs j m 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily during the duration of the Exposition—sis per--formances a day. Their fares (second olass) were being paid to and from America, they were being kept whilst in San Francisco, and for their services the men of the troupe were to receive the equivalent to £2 per week and the women £1 10a. per week. On the onrface it does not look as though the Maoris had profited' very muoh from the experience of others who have gone abroad under similar engagements heretofore. Money is cheaper and salaries larger than in any other part of the world, and the Natives will find that their £2 per week will not have the purchasing, power in San.Franoisco that it has here. It is not known what kind of accommodation the Maoris.aie to be provided with, but the assumption is that it will hardly be up to the standard of a secondclass hotel in Wellington. When the steamer left last evening some of the younger girls appeared rather despondent, and more than a furtive tear was shed as the Marama moved away from the King's Wharf. May this be the least of their troubles.