PURIRI WALKING STICKS

Hokitika Guardian, 24 April 1931, Page 5

PURIRI WALKING STICKS

GIFTS TO PRIME MINISTERS LONDON, March 11. When the New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, was in England lie arranged foi- presentations to be made to Mr Ramsay MacDonald. British Prime Minister, and Lord Craigavon, Prime Minster of Northern Ireland, as a slight token of appreciation for their courtsey and hospitality. The presentations take the form of handsome walking sticks made of the New Zealand wood, puriri. Lord Craigavon received his recently, through the High Commissioner on his 60th birthday, and has written his acknowledgment of the. gift direct to Mr Forbes. On the morning of March 19th, Sir Thomas Wilford is to call at 10 Downing Street, to hand over the other walking stick to Mr MacDonald. Afterwards they will go together to the meeting of the Committee of Imperial Defence. The High Commissioner will no doubt tell Mr MacDonald of the rarity of the pui'ifi tree. He will also be able to tell him of the Speaker’s Chair in the Upper Chamber at Wellington is made of puriri, and the Speaker’s Chair in the House of Representatives is made partly of this timber. There was evidently not enough available at the time to complete the two chairs with the same wood. As the tree grows mainly in the Auckland district Sir Thomas Wilford is rather proud that he himself has a puriri in his garden in Wellington.