KING WELCOMED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 21, 25 January 1934, Page 8

KING WELCOMED.

MAORI GATHERING. MANY TRIBES TAKE PART. HAKAS AND ORATORY. (By Telegraph.—Special to " Star.") WANGANUI, this day.

A gathering of great significance to members of the Ratana movement commenced at the pa this morning and will continue for the greater part of the week. When Ratana and a number of his followers attended the funeral of the late Maori king, he extended an invitation to the new king to visit the Ratana settlement. In accepting that invitation the king and a party of 200 Maoris arrived at the pa by a special train this morning. For two days visitors from all parts of the island, and some from the South Island, have been assembling, and over 3000 are housed within the gates of the pa. Not since the day Ratana and his party returned from their world tour have there been such stirring and enthusiastic scenes at the pa. The visit of the king means a great deal, for it signifies the cementing of the tribes from the Waikato district with those in Wanganui and other parts of the coast, or, as one of the executive of the Ratana movement put it, it means the j fulfilling of statements of their forefathers that the Maoris should be as one family, and should not be split into various sections.

The whole of the occupants of the pa greeted the young king on his arrival. The king was escorted by Ratana and his followers to a uiarae, where the welcome commenced. After stirring hakas, the whole of the day was given up to speech making by the heads of the tribes, with many references to the happy time ahead. The king 6at with various leaders of the tribes, one being an elderly chief who likened the' visit of his party <-o the Israelites of old, who, freed from bondage, had marched into the "promised land." Another gave vent to Ins gladness at the end of his speech in typical European style by calling out, "Hip, hip, hurrah!"