HAERE MAI!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 74, 29 March 1943, Page 4

HAERE MAI!

AMERICANS GREETED

NGARUAWAHIA WELCOME

The banks of the Waikato River at Ngaruawahia on Saturday presented scenes of activity associated with the annual St. Patrick's Day regatta, when a large party of officers and men of the United States forces in New Zealand were entertained by Maoris of the Tainui Canoe. King Koroki made one of his rare appearances in public, ana, with the chiefs and elders, Process Te Puea and others, welcomed the visitors at the Ngaruawahia pa.

Among the guests were the Pimie Minister, Mr. Fraser, the Minister of Native Affairs, Mr. Mason, the .Minister in charge of the Maori Wai Effort Mr. Paikea, the senior American naval officer in the Dominion, Captain S. D. Jupp, the military attache at the United States Legation, Colonel J. H. Nankivell, the United States Consul in Auckland, Mr. Hiram A. Boucher, and MajorGeneral P. H. Bell, D.S.O. The morning was occupied with powhiris, hakas and speeches of welcome. The Prime Minister received from King Koroki magnificentlycarved gifts intended for President Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt, and in turn presented them to Captain Jupp with an invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt to visit New Zealand.

In the afterncon the Maoris performed poi dances and hakas and sang their ancient songs. There were also canoe hurdle races which greatly amused the visitors, while a spectacular feature of the afternoon s programme was the appearance on the river for the first time of two of the three great carved war canoes built for the Centennial celebrations curtailed by the war.