MAORI GATHERING

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5283, 20 December 1946, Page 5

MAORI GATHERING

SERVICEMEN'S HOSTESlljU IN U.S. DURING WAR -|U ' — Once more the walls of th||| Tamatekapua meeting hous||i| echoed the words aiid songs- djW! traditional Maori welconie Ias: liijht when Miss Nola Luxford wcll-known- New Zealand ser||I||| vicemen's hostess in New Yorlylj/i during the .war years, waFb'J] greeted by members of the Tai nui porutu Club. ■ '. «j Clearly and sharply the challengei lang out as Miss Luxford, accompaii- ':d 1 ied by her mother, Mrs. A, C. I her sister, Mrs. F. Spinney, and hgr » i| niece, Miss. G. S. Spinney, entered I the haH. - * • *1 .jlV, | Rising to welcome the guests, i spokesman for the Ngati-Whakaiia iflil | tribe, Chief Tuoro, M.B.E., said that the Maori people had for years beepj k ;king forward to extending traditional welcome to one who had donp 4|!^'?; so nvuch for both Maori and. pakeha; ^? boys in the United States durirtg the . f'J&j war years. ' ''-"jl'Tli! "We see in your faee a mirror/'i 4|j|| he said, "in which is reflected the fji|| faces of so many of opr boys whp 1 {|i|l failed to return. You showed no di$- • ' crimination in your hospitality . and J. 'II both Maori and pakeha were treated alike. For that we thank you and the 'LfNj welcome we extend you here to-night ^ in our ancestral hall, comes irom the >„ -.3^1 depths of our hearts."- .. • ' \) Chief Tuoro also extended a wel-> ^ eome to Mr. S. MacNamara, of Roto-' rua, Conservator of Fish and Game,-. ,4 ' This was, he said, the first cpportunity that the- Maori people had bf C ! welcoming him in his ollicial capaeity. L Le also extended thanks to the Unde'r-Secretary of Internal Aifaira,- Hf* Mr. J. W. Heenan, for inckiding the | ir, Maori welcome in Miss Tuxford's ' jV itinerary. * =, V itinefy. ' . 4; 1 r-J Mr. MacNamara briefly replied afidi i. • a welcome on behalf of both Maori and "pakeha was tendered to Miss I y Luxf ord by Mr. O. H. Coleman. After Miss Luxford had been presented with a greenstone tiki brooch 4 ;| by Miss Ngaire Morrison on behalf of J4 ti e Taiporutu Club, she replied ; ■ warmly tothe various speakers. . , H ; "This is," she said, "one of the most wonderful moments of my life.I have always felt very close to the Maori people through my associations with your boys overseas. Although I have been living out of New Zea*land for many years now, I have al- \$ ways been a New Zealander and al- iways shall be.-"^ ., Miss Luxford said thafc she . brought greetings from 60,000 people in tbe United States who had been associated with her dulr« . ing the war years in ihe Anzac • "Jf Club in New York. These people had Ioved the New Zealanders who had stayed with them ahd were always seeking news of them. "The lads loved New York/' $h6. f continued. "They used to trek tdflie lop of the Empire State Building, 10H storeys above the ground and survey, the city. Then they would come: baclc to the club, very tired, and yell • for a cup of good New Zealand tealV Miss Luxford told her ariiused audience of the riots that the Riwis ■ used to start at any odd moment when they decided to stage a haka. She recalled one occasion when a. party of New Zealanders, both Maori and pakeha, had danced a haka on the top of the Rockefeller Gentr© and American members of the gathering had not quite known what to do — Iaugh or run for their lives. The Maori soldiers, sailors and aifmen had "created a great record of bravery overseas, she concluded. iThe names of Second-Lieutenant Nga- ' rimu, V.C., and Lieutenant-ColonelS Dittmer and Love, both commanders of the Maori Battalion, were wellknown to the people of the United States. She hoped that the Maori and pakeha would walk forward together into the sun and carry On the traditions in peace as in war. Before supper was .served at JD p.m., the party were entertained to • many atcion songs, hakas and solo numbers by members of the club,