Great Maori Meeting.

Taihape Daily Times, 29 December 1917, Page 5

Great Maori Meeting.

H OWN NATIVE TSAI p 2iss3obf WU I A , gathepng, pf natives,., J jrf .ssma ( .and. the.’ Ngati }< f —peoples is to be held in., t “the house at ,Ppaea on Tues- ; % Year’s Day. Dinner, willi given in honour of all those , • who : attend, and all;Europeans arc cor,-, dially invited- to. be present. This meeting is' one of the most interesting:) * 'events,dp native usage,--when all younger peoplepassemble to have old traditions committed feo| them,;, and to hear ffisg fofy vfhieh |lfeJffibn, with triba| £ respbngibilftms/’ '■’up''. •These gatherings' & l’re‘ ’among the most important held by our Maori friends. The two chief speakers iyill be the two oldest and highest chiefs in the district —Hori Pohe and Pine Tuakau. George Poke is well remembered by old colonists as one of the cleverest advocates in the old-time Maori Land Courts, and the assistance he gave in deciding ownerships and partitioning amongst various hapus was highly valued by the then Land Court Judges. He virtually put through the division of the Awarua, Motukawa, Ohauka, and Oroumatua blocks, and, coming to the present time, he himself gave 3000 acres of the Ohauka land to the Government for Maori settlement. The other speaker at the Opaca meeting Pine Tuakau, is a great-great-grandfather, and reputed to be a centenarian. He fought with the British throughout the Maori war, being at the battles Ataka, Te Uariki, and he also fought against the famous Te Kooti. He remembers clearly the incidents at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. As both these old Maori chiefs are great orators, those Europeans who accept the invitation to bo present will get a most interesting insight into old Maori custom besides being highly entertained. Dinner will bo provided free, and no one who knows anything of the Maori will doubt their hospitality.