MAORI CARNIVAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 10, 27 January 1937, Page 6

MAORI CARNIVAL

Ultimate Aim is to Build Model Native Village FRIDAY'S CEREMONIES The Maoari queen carnival and ball in aid of the marae and church building at Kohupatiki, ' the settfement in which ihe Bishop of Aotearoa, . ike Robin, the former Australasian wrestlingg champion, and others have. their respective . homes, will conclude on Priday night in the Assembly Hall. It is the hope of the organisers that in time a, model Maori village may be the culmination of the present eifort. With that object in view the proposed church will be built on conventional Maori architectural lines, and the wharekai . will be ornamented in the interior . with Maori craftsmanship. Thoughtful people throughout New Zealand are now realising the value of Maori arts and crafts and the necessity for fostering their development. The effort which is now being made to raise funds by the Maori queen carnival will be the first of many deiiuite attempts to revive ,the picturesque aspeets of the old-time Maori pa. Such an object deserves all the encouragement and praetical assistance which pakehas can give, for the more the old arts and crafts of the Maori can bedeveloped and perpetuated the greater will be the bequest which this generation can leave to the coming generation. Any donation will be thankfully acknowledged by Bishop Bennett. The Maori queen carnival bail. which opens at 8 p.m. at the Assembly Hall on Priday, ''will be'suspended for half an hour at 10 p.m., when the coronation ceremony will be opened by a Maori procession down the main body of the hall towards the meeting-house erected on the stage where haka, poi and Maori songs will be sung in honour of the queen. The coveted position of queen* will not be known until cloae on 10 o'clock. Tickets are expected up till 9 p.m. The Mayor, Mr. G. A. Maddison, has very kindly con«ented to perform the crowningg ceremony. On Priday at 1 p.m. there will be a t'ull-dress rehearsal of tbe five Maori queeiw with their attendants at the Assembly Hall. Mr. Paora Pahau, of Taupo, who acted as judge of the Rotorua Maori competitions organised by the Town Council, has arrived, and is giving the 4 ushing touches to the Maori items. He will lead the Maoii procession.