“THE JEWEL”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 812, 5 November 1929, Page 14

“THE JEWEL”

TE HEU HEU’S GIFT TO NEW ZEALAND AN INTERESTING CEREMONY THE SUN’S Special Representative. THE CHATEAU, Monday. Just prior to the official dinner to commemorate the opening of the Chateau Tongariro this evening Mr. J. B. Thomson, C.M.G., chairman of the Tongariro National Park Board, unveiled a tablet to the memory of Te Heu Heu Tukino, whose gift of 6,500 acres (including three magnificent mountain peaks) had formed the nucleus of the present superb park. “This splendid gift of Te Heu Heu,” he said, “is the jewel in the crown that is National Park.” Mr. Thomson then introduced Hoani Te Heu Heu, paramount chief of the Ngati Te Wharetoa, grandson of the donor, who was accompanied by Papakare Te Heu Heu, daug;hter of the old chieftain, dignified and handsome. Both distinguished Maoris were warmly greeted by the guests at the Chateau. “The work of the Park Board,” said Hoani Te Heu Heu, through his interpreter, “harmonises with the expressed wishes of my grandfather. I am proud to be a member of the board and to be associated in its work.” The inscription on the tablet reads: “Dedicated by the Tongariro National Park Board to the memory of Te Heu Heii Tukino, who presented to the Crown the mountain peaks of Tongariro, Ngaruahoe and part of Ruapehu, this forming the nucleus of the National Park.” The following paragraph is added, in Maori: “Tongariro is the mountain. Taupo is the sea. Te Wharetoa is the tribe and Te Heu Heu is the man.”