GREAT HUI.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1934, Page 9

GREAT HUI.

WAITANGI READY.

3000 MAORIS FROM SOUTH. SPECIAL NIGHT EXPRESSES

(By Telegraph.—Special Reporter.) WAITANGI, this day. Last-minute estimates of the number of Mnorie who will be attending the. great Waitangi ]iui place the total at 5000, of which 3000 will be visitors. Everything is now in readiness for the reception of the first contingent of visiting tribesmen, who will arrive on the historic spot on Friday morning.

Over 2000 Maoris, representative of every tribe in New Zealand other than the Xgapuhi hosts, will make the pilgrimage by rail, and their transport will involve the running of at least three special night expresses between Auckland and Opua. Six hundred East Coast natives will arrive by road in a fleet of 120 motor ears, for which special parking accommodation has been provided at the Ti Point encampment.

Train Arrangements. Advice was received to-day by the camp commandant, Mr. Tau Henare, M.P., of the transport arrangements made by the Railway Department. These provide for the carriage to Auckland, mainly by special trains, of the following:—Whakatane and intermediate stations to Taurnnga, 100; Taneatua, 700; Rotorua, 200; Huntly, 100; Tβ Kuiti, 50; National Park, 500;, Wanganui-New Plymouth, 230; Otaki, 100; Hastings, 100. The Whakatane and Tauranga passengers will reach Auckland at G. 20 p.m. to-morrow, and the Taneatua party six minutes later. Both will travel to Opua by special train, leaving Auckland at 11.30 p.m. and reaching its destination at 7.5 a.m. on Friday. National Park, Te Kuiti and Huntly Maoris will reaci Auckland on Friday night in time to connect with a special train leaving for Opua at 11.30 p.m. and arriving there at 7.5 a.m. on Saturday. Wanganui, New Plymouth, Otaki and Hastings detachments will arrive in Auckland at 7.50 a.m. on Saturday, and remain there all day, joining the special Opua express at 11.30 p.m. a-nd arriving at Waitangi on Sunday morning.

It is expected that others who are travelling by road will etart to show up on Friday, but it is doubtful whether the automobile army from the East Coast will reach headquarters before Saturday or Sunday.

Sir Apirana Ngata. Sir Apirana Ngata, whose tribe is the Ngati-porou, will, with his East Coast followers, be housed in a commodious raupo-lined hutment close to the Memorial Treaty House, which will be the camp quarters of the visiting Earotongans. The Minister will take up hie residence to-morrow or on Friday. His arrival is being keenly awaited by the Ngapuhis, who are bursting to tell the temporal head of the race that the native land development schemes in the Far North have come through the re-., cent audit test with flying colours.

The. weather was definitely unkind to the ca.mpers yesterday. The rain waswelcomed for water purposes, but the wind was cursed. It razed one of the larger marquees and kept fatigue squads busy throughout the morning and early afternoon. Stays required strengthening, and strainers reinforcing, but the jobs w«re done with that cheerfulness which has characterised the work of the Ngapuhie since they went under canvas.

Control of Traffic. Heavy European traffic to the camp is expected on the days of the celebrations—Monday and Tuesday of next ■week—and a conference to finalise arrangements for control will be held on Friday afternoon between the native leaders and representatives of the Public Works Department and the Automobile Association. The preservation of law and order in the encampment is exclusively the responsibility of the Maori police, but the native leaders prefer that the control of motor traffic should be undertaken by European police. The new bridge across the Waitangi was opened yesterday for vehicular ■ traffic proceeding to the permanent motor camp on the Waitangi estate. Although space is limited, every effort is being made to provide room at Ti Point for spectators of the official ceremonies. The fence which separatee the area from the beach is being removed, and it is expected that if the audience views the proceedings from a squatting position, visibility for many hundreds will be possible. In anticipation of a large influx of visitors, temporary roadside stores have grown like mushrooms on the road from Paihia to Waitangi, and canteens have been installed by private enterprise in part of the encampment area and over the bridge on the Waitangi estate.