Maori contest this week-end

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33049, 17 October 1972, Page 10

Maori contest this week-end

About 400 Maoris from all round the South Island are expected to gather in Christchurch on Saturday for the annual South Island Maori Cultural . Competitions, which will be held this year in the James Hay Theatre.

The competition, which will combine the Waitaha (Canterbury) and South Island championships, will feature action songs, pois, hakas, traditional and choral items, and, for the first time, oratory. Three sections are provided — junior, intermediate, and senior — and in each section the winner will receive a cup and the placegetters certificates. Special awards will be made for oratory, ancient items, the bestdressed team, the best woman leader, and choral items.

However, the two trophies likely to be most keenly contested are the Kia Riwai Memorial Cup, for the team gaining the highest number of points, and the Robbie Waata Memorial Taiaha, foi the team gaining the highest points in the haka. Competitors and supporters will gather in Christchurch on Friday night and Saturday morning, and the competitions will be held on Saturday afternoon and evening. On Sunday there will be church services and a social function. The Maori Cultural Competitions were first held in Christchurch in 1965, under the sponsorship of the Department of Maori Affairs, and were organised by Miss Te Kiato Riwai, senior Maori welfare officer for the South Island, who had organised such competitions previously in Motueka. After Miss Riwai’s death in 1967 local Maori clubs formed a council to run the competitions, and this was given the name "Waitaha” (part of the Maori name for Canterbury) by the Maori

elders of Canterbury. Later a South Island Maori Cultural Council was formed, with representatives from Waitaha, Picton, Blenheim, Nelson, Motueka, Otago, and Southland. Each district now takes a turn as host of the competitions.