TREATY DAY

Te Ao Hou, November 1957, Page 64

TREATY DAY The anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, February 6, is to be set aside as a national day marking the establishment of New Zealand as a British country. The new national day will not, however, be declared a holiday. The Government thought it desirable that there should be some formal observance of the date on which the representatives of the two races pledged themselves to work side by side in the establishment of a new nation. Though Waitangi Day would not be a public holiday, arrangements would be made for such observances as the flying of flags from Government buildings, special references in the schools, and an appropriate ceremony at the treaty house, which was now a national trust. It is hoped that private organisations concerned with New Zealand's early history, a number of which had made representations to the Government to declare Waitangi Day a national day, would themselves arrange appropriate observances. Rev. W. Vercoe is conducting a class in the Maori language in Masterton. He has 35 pupils, 25 of them pakeha. The class is sponsored by the Wellington Regional Council for Adult Education. * * * To avoid the closing of St Stephen's School for Maori Boys, the Wellington Diocesan Synod last July guaranteed £1,000 a year assistance for three years. The money will be raised by increases in parochial assessments for general purposes. * * * The legend of Pania and the Reef was made into a play by Mrs V. May Cottrell recently and acted by the Takapau branch of the MWWL, Mrs Courell (Selwyn Road, Napier) has written to Te Ao Hou to say she would be happy to send a copy of her play to any other group interested in acting it. * * * Miss Diana Winterburn a third-year studen nurse at the Palmerston North Hospital, was elected Dominion president of the New Zealand Student Nurses' Association at its annual con ference in Wellington. She is the first Maori holde of this office in the 21 years' history of the association.