YOUR CLUB AND MINE AN OPEN PAGE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 136, 30 August 1927, Page 5

YOUR CLUB AND MINE AN OPEN PAGE

Each Tuesday afternoon a corner will be reserved for original contributions of general interest to womenfolk. The subject matter is for you to choose—whatever topic interests you may also be of interest or amusement to others, whether it be about your hobbies, experiences, or merely amusing musings about the ordinary round of the day. A book prize is offered weekly for the best effort, which should be brief, plainly written, and sent to “Your Club and Mine,” THE SUN, Auckland. AN OLD MAORI PAH The prize this week has been awarded to Miss M. Hutton-Whitelaw for the following article: Several years ago, while spending a holiday at Waiwera, I made an excursion to the summit of the hill just above the hotel, to visit the site of an old Maori pah. After much strenuous toil uphill, I at last reached my destination. Before me, and to the west, the hills, clearly outlined in the near distance, were thickly covered with that magnificent mixed bush, so characteristic of New Zealand. Below me lay more native bush, the contour of the land falling steeply to the sea on the east, while it dipped to a deep crater-like gully on the western side. To the north, the Waiwera Creek, one of many tidal mudstreams found on the Akarana Isthmus, widened to an estuary, meeting the sea at the base of a beautiful, towering bush-clad cliff, upon whose rocky base the waves dashed unceasingly.

Immediately in front of me was a small rise, desolate in its nakedness. No trees or shrubs grew near; not a bird or other living creature was to be seen or heard; even the very grass on which I stood was brown and withered (although it was April). The only objects visible on this barren ground were a few tall gaunt totara tree-trunks, about nine inches thick, and some 12 to 15ft in height, and covered with the lichen of many years. In the fosse, or ditch, surrounding the stockade of the citadel keep (the highest and most inaccessible point in the pah, and the last refuge of all) lay two or three more such posts, slowly, very slowly—for totara will weather the elements for decades — decaying, while standing in what was evidently the outer fosse of the pah, was another post, broken off to within 3 or 4ft of the ground. Such were the remains of an old Maori pah, which, commanding as it did, a magnificent view of the surrounding country, must have been well-nigh impregnable when held by the defending warriors. I gazed at the numerous war-pits surrounding the outer fosse, and slowly the long-slumbering ghosts of those old warriors seemed to materialise before my eys. In the warpits I saw the hidden forms of the toas (braves), with their rangitiras, waiting for the enemy to creep up, when, with a wild weird war-cry, which re-echoes from the surrounding hills, they bound up, and chanting or shouting the words of the battle-haka, rush upon the enemy. Brandishing their taiahas, meres, and clubs, with terrifying grimaces they advance upon 'the foe, attempting to instil into them an unknown fear which will make them turn and flee, pursued by the defending warriors.

Or are these lonely sentinels witnesses of some by-gone raid, when Hongi Hiki and his tierce blood-thirst-ing Ngapuhis swept down from Koro-l-areka and ruthlessly slaughtered the inhabitants? Perhaps this was a fight-ing-pah of the Ngatiwatua, or a defended replenishing depot of Honi Ileke. Was it raided by Te Whaakiaki, a savage war chieftain? Who can tell? The secret lies beneath the withered grass, as do probably the. bones of many of its warriors, and with the increase of t.iipc will remain forgotten, while the old stockade posts will fall, decayed and rotten. M. HUTTON WHITELAW.

Perfumes are right in the mode, and largely dictate its trend. Thus the Parisian eouturiere's dress creations blend with the blending of perfumes, and her client's complexion is "matched up” to the shade of her gown. Once upon a time dace was apt to be associated with advancing years. But all that is changed now; youth and the new youth alike have sponsored the dentelle mode, and proved how flattering it can be to all ages and all types. Lace, in a word, is winning all along the line. It is ou~rivalling crepe and georgette, even in their most attractive printed varieties, and is already foreshadowed as the thing” for quiet dinners. The fashion of wearing a coat to match helps at any time of the year. * * * We surely ought to be willing to break the close-fitting monotony of our pull-on chapeaux now and again! Some of the Paris milliners are turning out really superb felt capeline shapes with a perfection of line that proclaims them “real French models. ’ Models that never look “passe” or tired till their day is done. These large, picturesque hats are being received with enthusiasm on the French side of the Channel, and it is confidently predicted that the vogue will quickly establish itseli in London. There is a persistent rumour that evening gloves are coming back into general wear. The conventional oldstyle white kid has been much in evidence in Paris ballrooms, though many smart women have sponsored fantasies in peach-tinted-kid to match their stockings. I have also noticed oystergrey evening gloves trimmed with silver embroidery. There are special gloves, too, for the theatre. These are only wrist-length, and are finished off with deep gauntlets of dyed plumA substitute for the theatre cap appears in the form of “wireless” flowers. A large-sized chrysanthemum, plentifully besprinkled ~ with diamante, is worn over each ear in head-phone fashion, the tv/o flowers being, joined by a light jewelled fillet. Ear-rings grow more and more fantastic. Some of the latest are of crystal. cut like miniature chandaliers! Pierrot and Pierrette in coloured stones form another ear-ring motif.