BATTLE-AXE FOR DUKE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27246, 13 January 1954, Page 3

BATTLE-AXE FOR DUKE

Presentation By Mr Ra Pomare

HISTORY OF WEAPON EXPLAINED

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, January 12.

Few persons noticed the fearsomelooking axe Mr Ra Pomare carried as he stepped forward to meet the Duke of Edinburgh in the Wellington Town Hall yesterday. The Duke, always ready to cope with the unexpected, was immediately interested when presented with the axe and was noticeably amused when he examined its head. There, stamped on the metal, was the familiar phrase “Made in Sheffield.”

But Mr Pomare, who, with his mother, Lady Pomare, represented the Maori race at the civic welcome to the Royal couple, had a reply. To the Duke and the Queen, who had also become interested, Mr Pomare told of the axe’s colourful history. It was once the possession of the great Maori chief, Hongi. When Hongi visited England in 1820, he was given the axe head by King George IV. That was where the “Sheffield” inscription came from. Hongi, an enthusiastic traveller, was granted an audience by the King who presented him with other weapons and a suit of armour, Mr Pomare said.

“Many a successful battle did the great Hongi wage with his treasured axe,” he told the Royal couple. As the Duke took a firm grip of the axe, he learned that its handle was once a bone of one of Hongi’s victims. The axe was a family treasure. “May it protect you from any eventuality,” Mr Pomare told the Duke.

After another close look, the Duke thanked Mr Pomare and handed the weapon to his aide.