MAORI RALLY

Hokitika Guardian, 12 March 1930, Page 3

MAORI RALLY

DR BUCK HONOURED.

HISTORY OF THE RACE

By Telegraph, Per Press Association.

GISBORNE, March 11 For the past week Gisborne lias

been the centre of the Maoris from all

parts of the North Island for the purpose, firstly of attending a Hui and unveiling of memorials at AVaiomatini to the late Lady Ngata and Makar ini Ngata, son of Sir Apirana Ngata, both of whom died last year; and, secondly to l be present at the opening of a new meeting house at Kaiti, a suburb of Gisborne. The first ceremony was held on Sunday, and then the visiting tribesmen, number ing some hundreds, came on to Gisborne when the meeting house known as Te Polio 0, Itawini was opened this morning with all the old-time ceremonies.

Some hundreds of Pa.kelias were present and also a .very large number of Maoris. During tbe morning an important event was the arrival of Dr Peter Buck known as Te Rangihiroa, one of the most distinguished members of the Maori race, who has lately been carrying on research work for the Bishop Museum in the Cook Islands. Dr Buck is passing through New Zealand to take a steamer for Haiwaii, and he took the opportunity of revisiting Gisborne and attending the Hui at Kaiti Pah. Welcomes to Te Rangihiroa in the picturesque and flowery language were extended by Henare Ruru, of Tekaraka; Mokonui Arangi, of Te Arawa Canoe; Tai Tomo, s of the West Coast district; Mete Kingi, of Wanganui; Meta Taupoipoki, of Rotorua; and Sir Apirqna Ngata. Te Rangihiroa, in his reply, expressed his deep sympathy with the many names in which the depth of sorrow has been felt. “I left you, but never forgot you,” continued Dr Rangihiroa. “Since I left you 1 have been dwelling on the hilltops of a- distant land, where I was called to visit. From that elevation, I could-see my own people, | you of the Maori race, and in perspective I admired in you the characteristics which make of you a noble race. lam pleased to say I have learned a great deal of the connection of our people with these of older islands, but I have a great deal still to learn. So far, 1 would like you to learn that I have discovered that our people are . preserving a number of ancient and beautiful characteristics that have sunk out of sight in Uie other lands of the Pacific, and I would urge with all my heart, that you should keep them alive .through the years to come. The legend of the Fish of Maui is known abroad, and in Hawaii they have a song the meaning of which is that through the strength of the great ropes made in their land, Maui was enabled to achieve his historic feat of bringing Aotearoa to the surface of the Southern Seas. To-day we are weaving a strand of great and lasting strength —the best or our Maori people, such j as Sir Apirana Ngata, and those working in his shadow, men from all parts of the country—“to draw forward the Maori people to their greater destiny.”

The first of the Maori speakers to welcome the Pakehas was Henare Ruru, who extended to the new bishop of Waiapu, Dr H. W. Williams, greetings and congratulations on his attainment of the leadership' of the diocese, the third of his family to achieve that honour. The Maori people remembered with especial pride that Bishop Williams had been born in Poverty Bay. In the new meeting house was embodied an idea which Bishop Williams would rejoice to see thus fulfilled—a repository in which Maori arts and crafts would be preserved, as Bishop Williams himself had preserved the Maori language in books. To the Minister of Lands, Hon G. W. Forbes, Henare Ruru mentioned that the tribes had already had occasion to extend a welcome to him, and this present greeting was merely to assure him once again of the regard in which the Maori people held him. Sir Apirana Ngata stated that the dedication of the building bad taken place on the preceding day, immediately on the arrival of the visitors from the Coast. The new meeting iiouse, he said, was an attempt to reestablish a centre of Maori art. Sir Apirana then asked Mr Forbes to open the building;. Mr Forbes, in the course of his speech referred to the vaTue of the Maori relics and many manifestations of ancient customs to the Dominion from the material viewpoint of tourist attractions, and urged the more important point of the preservation of national charcteristics for their own sake. The Minister then opened the building and on his call cheers were given by the Pakelias for their Maori friends.

Mrs P. Tureia, one of the direct descendants of the occupants of Titirangi, the original Pa, presented the Minister with a beautiful Maori cloak in accordance with native custom, and later the Minister and Palceha' guests were entertained a,t luncheon.