TOTARA SYMBOL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 186, 7 August 1940, Page 8

TOTARA SYMBOL.

FIRST MAORI KING. CEREMONY AT THE DOMAIN. POTATAU TE WHEROWHERO. Symbolic of Maori rank, a totara tree planted in the Auckland Domain to-day as part of the Centennial Arbor Day ceremony, will commemorate Potatau Te Wherowhero, famous Maori chief, who later became the first Maori King. The spot chosen in the Domain was the site of the house occupied by Potatau before he accepted royal rank. At that time he was chief of all the Waikato Tainui tribes, and behind to-day's ceremony there lies a wealth of romance and the excitement of the days of old. In order to ensure pakeha and Maori' peace the Governor, Sir George Grey, conceived the idea of locating in residence in Auckland several Maori chiefs of prominence, and Te Wherowhero, as one of them, was given a residence in what is now the Auckland Domain. It is interesting to recall that when Te Rauparaha was detained by the Government Te Wherowhero asked the Governor to allow the troubles some chieftain to reside with him, undertaking all responsibility. Accepted Kingship. About 1852, when the Maori Kingite movement had gained ground, Te Wherowhero was nominated as the first king and accepted the kingßhip, leaving his residence in the Domain to take up his quarters in the Waikato. The house then became vacant, but later was used as a caretaker's residence until the late 'nineties. To-day there is nothing but a bare cleared patch to show where the house once stood. In view of the fact that this is th« Centennial Arbor Day, Princess Te Puea Herangi .was requested, on behalf of the Waikato tribes and Kingite people generally, to participate in the tree planting and , thSs to commemorate & chief and king whose memory is revered by the Maori race. The ceremony was carried out by Princess Te Puea, who was accompanied by a party of her kinsmen. It was all the more striking by reason of the fact that Princess Te Puea is the greatgranddaughter of the first Maori King.