GOVERNOR AT ROTORUA

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 959, 30 April 1930, Page 16

GOVERNOR AT ROTORUA

MAORIS TENDER WELCOME MESSAGE FROM KING Press Association ROTORUA, Today. The Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, and liis party were entertained by the Maoris at a concert in the Peerless Hall last evening. Mita Taupopoki, Rangiteaorere and Naera Haukotokutu welcomed their Excellencies in typical Maori fashion, and presented to his Excellency a fine whalebone mere (kotietie), and a carved inkstand. A clock set in a beautifully carved frame was presented to her Excellency. Lord Bledisloe, in a most eloquent and stirring speech, thanked the donors for their gifts and reminded them of their historic past and traditional locality friendships. They were a race living in terms of equality with the people whom be represented. Before leaving England his Majesty the King commanded him to bear a message to his Maori people and he would take this opportunity to deliver it. His Majesty often thought and read about them. He prayed for their welfare and happiness, and he was particularly pleased that they were increasing in numbers. He trusted that they would continue to cultivate their language, poetry, traditions and handicrafts, and "v\ould hand them down to their children. Lord Bledisloe referred to the Treaty of Waitangi as the Magna Charta of the Maori race and also to the splendid generosity of the Arawas, which made the Rotorua High School possible. He adjured them to teach their children to be proud of the race and to b© as honourable as their . forefathers in their dealings with their fellow man, and to become useful citizens of Aotearoa. VISIT TO SCHOOL During the morning the GovernorGeneral addressed the senior children ai the Rotorua High School. Their Excellencies were welcomed by the chairman of the Board of Governors, Mr. R. B. Nesbitt, and by the principal, Mr. A. R. Ryder. Lord Bledisloe said it was very pleasing to him to note the harmony with which the Maoris and Europeans ' lived in Rotorua. The children of the district owed a debt of gratitude to the Maori race,, whose generosity enabled them to have such a beautiful school. He reminded the children of the value of education, and said they were heirs to a great heritage in becoming citizens of the British Empire, a great democracy which offered numerous opportunities to all who desired to progress. He exhorted them to be loyal to their God and to their King, and to do nothing that either would wish them not to do and to do nothing of which they would ever be ashamed. “God bless you, young people,” he concluded. “I wish you every success and hope that your lives may shine in the days to come, like th 4 burning lights in the great firmament of the | British Empire.”