"HOTUNUI."

GREAT HOUSE-WARMING. EVIL SPIRITS EXORCISED. MAORIS AND THE MUSEUM. HALLS ECHO TO WILD HAKAS.

With the Maori equivalent of "bell and book," a picturesque party of Maoris this morning exorcised the bad spirits that might have taken a, fancy to inhabit "Hotumii" the splendid carved house which has just been added to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It was the native fashion of holding a house-warming, and at the same time there was a distinct ring of pathos about the whole procedings. People who have learned to appreciate the many fine qualites of this splendid people felt' sad that the only place in which a whare whakairo (carved house) —once as essential to Maori chiefdom as a castle was to an old-time baron—could be found complete is a pakeha museum. But there is another side to the question. As his Excellency pointed out the two races must live together and become more closely connected as the years passed, and he hoped that the Maori would always maintain his individuality and preserve his pride of race.

This morning's ceremony was really ths Maori part of the opening of Auckland's splendid memorial, and it was most fitting that our native friends should carry out things in their own way. Of late years they have been looking more and more to the museum as the natural treasure house for their heirlooms; they "realise that in the museum's safe keeping the remains of their art and culture are not lost, but preserved for both Maori and pakeha.

"Haeremai!"

When his Excellency the GovernorGeneral (Sir Charles Fergusson) and Lady Alice Fergusson drove up to the museum this morning shortly after halfpast nine, they found awaiting them a guard of honour from St. Stephen's Native School, and on the steps of the portico a band of Maori men and women, many of them wearing beautiful korowai and kiwi feather mats. Some of the "braves" flourished the taiaha, or spear, and one or two carried a mere of bone or greenstone. The women, with their bare arms, their hair bound with fillets, and waving green boughs, set up a shrill cry of welcome as the tribal "challenger," grimacing and waving his taiaha, retired before the oncoming vice-regal party. Then, as his Excellency reached the middle of the open space in front of the step?, the brown men "and women gave a vigorous powhiri, or dance of welcome, chanting the age-old song, "Haul hither the canoe!" which has welcomed folk in pa and kainga. from, times almost mythological. % Like an Old-time Village.

Between files of Maori women and girls in their mats the vice-regal party, which by now had been joined by the president of the institute (Mr. H. E. Vaile), Mrs. Vaile and others, proceeded up the steps and entered the forecourt. At the entrance to the great Maori court the Maoris halted and again chanted a wild welcome to the Governor-General and party. The shouts and cries echoed hollowly from the lofty roof and were broken up by the columns of pillars, and they faded away in an eerie manner. His Excellency and party were escorted to seats facing "Hotunui." In addition to the president of the institute there were present members of the council, his Worship the Mayor (Mr. George Baildon), who was accompanied by the Town Clerk (Mr. J. S. Brigham) and Sir Edwin Mitchelson, who for a number of years was president of the institute. The Maori men who were taking part in the korero gathered in the wideeaved verandah of the house, which stands Tight in the middle of the south side of the hall, facing the "Axe of Tapiri," as they call the magnificent war canoe, which is the chief glory of the hall. Several Maori matrons went inside the house, and as they looked out of the quite dark interior through the oblong opening which a pakeha would call a window, one could see only their animated faces, their flowing hair bound at the temples, their bare arms and their expressive eye 3. With an old tohungalike person standing at the doorway, the scene was vividly reminiscent of one of Angas' drawings of an old-time kaianga before life was contaminated by contact with the pakeha. Speeches and Gifts. In spite of the fact that the proceedings were not open to the public, there was a gathering of two three hundred people, about half being Maoris. The floor space in front of Hotunui was roped off, but as there are lots of steps leading into and out of the hall everyone could see what was going on. The aged Mita Taupopoki opened the proceedings by conveying greetings from the Arawa, and at the conclusion of a very graceful speech he handed a fine whalebone mere to his Excellency and a carved taiaha to Sir Edwin Mitchelson, who has always been a persona grata with natives. At a later stage Lady Alice Fergusson was presented with a fine korowai mat. Then followed a number of the leading chiefs who represented the Hauraki and Waikato people, .the people who consented to the house being brought up from Parawai, at the Thames, where it was likely to go to ruin, and placed in the Museum for safe-keeping. The last speaker was Te Puea (a relation of King Kata), who liails from Ngaruawahia. Not once in a> generation is a Maori woman's voice heard in the tribal counsels, but Te Puea is a woman of exceptional ability as well as a woman of high rank. She it was, who conceived the idea of the model village, at Ngaruawahia, and carried, it to a successful conclusion.

"Pride of Race." His Excellency greeted the Maoris as representatives of their various tribes, and through . them the whole of the native race throughout New Zealand. He was there first as the representative of His Majesty the King, and secondly because he had a very great interest in the Maori people, in their history and their future, and he wished to show his love for them. He and her Excellency had listened with great pleasure to the ceremony, which was illustrative of the history, of the race. Those old ceremonies were of great value, and though they might have now lost some of the significance they still retained their traditional and historical, interest. Regard-

who were strangers to each other and each other's culture, should have come together as brothers and sisters. It was inevitable that in the past there should have arisen misunderstandings, but those were all past and done with. He was anxious to do all he could to bind the two peoples together, for he felt sure that as the years progressed they would be more closely connected. lUwas, however, extremely essential that each race should retain its own character and traits. The Maoris should always see to it that they retained their pride of race; they must never let their children, nor their children's children, forget the history, the poetry and the art of the Maori people. The Maori should never sink his individuality; he should always be proud of his race. A Real Treasure House. Mr. H. E. Vaile, president of the Auckland Institute, thanked the speakers for their appreciative references. He said the Maori guests were very welcome in the museum, and it was good to see such a representative gathering of Maori citizens. Mr. Vaile was sorry that King Mahuta was unable to be with them. It was often said that the Maori was the aristocrat of the peoples of the South Pacific, and certain it was that the Maori was the artist of the Polynesian race. The Maoris were great, artists, and it was well that they should understand that one of the chief objects of the museum was to preserve- Maori art and craftsmanship. "This magnificent building," continued Mr. Vaile, "was erected as much for the preservation of Maori art as for any other purpose. If we are to preserve the history of the Maori people for posterity, it must be done through the preservation of Maori art and Maori relics. In the past the Maoris have not given us the assistance that we should have liked, but we all hope that in the future they will help us to preserve the Maori treasures. They are safer here than buried."

The Mayor (Mr. George Baildon), in congratulating the natives on the success of the function, reminded them that he had been boi - n only a mile from the original site of the house which they had to-day opened in true Maori fashion. Because of that he was very interested in the ceremony. He supported Mr. Vaile's request that the Maoris would realise that the best place to keep their heirlooms was the museum. Mr. Baildon invited all the Maoris, to visit the Zoo this afternoon as the guests of the Auckland City Council. The Tohunga Taps. Following the speeches the Maori tohunga, Tutaneka, of llotorua, who wore a high headgear adorned with feathers, and had a kotiate (a ceremonial mere) in his right hand, advanced to the front of the whare and struck the right-hand side carved upright with the mere. He then advanced to the centre post and repeated the performance, and after striking the left-hand carved upright, intoned a weird '"karakia," or incantation, exorcising any evil spirits that might be lurking within. To the high-pitched chant of the tohunga the men chorused in fierce tones. Her Excellency was then invited to make '"a first footing:. , ' as the Scotch say. As she came under the overhanging eave of the verandah she had a mat thrown over her shoulders by several of the chief actors in the ceremony. The Maoris applauded her enthusiastically, and she was escorted into the whare by his Excellency. A great number of natives crowded into the whare through the carved doorway, and a moment afterwards there burst forth sounds that would have scared a pretty stolid pakeha, let alone a dusky evil spirit. However, their Excellencies emerged smiling—and Hotunui was duly exorcised and opened for tho last timo. The donor of the house, Eruini Taipari, of Parawai. Thames, was presented to their Excellencies, and others of the official Maori party were also introduced. Cadets of St. Stephen's Native School gave an uncommonly long haka. which apparently pleased their Excellencies exceedingly.

i "God Save the King ,, brought to a close a unique ceremony.