FRIEND AND PROTECTOR

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 171, 22 July 1930, Page 17

FRIEND AND PROTECTOR

HEIRLOOM FOR WARD FAMILY

MAT FROM SOUTHERN MAORIS

FOR USE AT SPECIAL TIMES.

(By Telegraph.—Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON", Monday.

A few hours after the death of Sir Joseph Ward, the Southern Maoris' representative. in the House of Representatives, Mr. T'. Makitanara, visited the Ministerial residence and with solemn address to the dead statesman laid on his body a valuable Maori mat known as "Parawai." This covered the casket throughout the mournful journey from Wellington to Bluff Cemetery and was finally removed just as the remains of Sir Joseph Ward were being laid in their last resting place. Then it was formally handed to Sir Cyril Ward, the successor to the title, and it has been explained to him that the mat is to be reserved for use only on occasions of the death of a person of high rank, also that it should be regarded as a family heirloom. Sir Cyril Ward has accepted the charge, and Mr. Makitanara has written an account of the ceremonial mat and the obligations involved in its ownership. These mats take many months to make. They are of fine flax and feathers and are among the most valu-' able of Maori treasures. They are used among natives only for covering persons of high rank, and in past times, when handed down from generation to generation, any change of ownership was accompanied by the recital of the names and exploits of the former owners. Thus was the genealogical history of the family kept in living mind. The mat in Sir Cyril Ward's possession is a tribute of the whole of the South Island Maoris to their friend and protector, the .late Sir Joseph Ward.