MONUMENT TO TE WHITI.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 281, 20 August 1908, Page 8

MONUMENT TO TE WHITI.

UNVEILING. AT PARIHAKA.

fm TELiGEANI.—SPECIAL CQItEESPONDEXT.) • ' New Plymouth, August 19.

Standing on its broad pedestal in a .little enclosure within the marae at Parihaka, - the monument of the. late , prophet and chief To Whitiis impressively handsome.: Its massiveness is well set off by a low oncldsing wallof concrete and iron scroll work. Hound tho foot: of tho- monument' are indny tokens-of mourning.' When the nionumeiit' was - unveiled- yesterday morning"' ; th6' tomb was draped with greener}'; The' unveiling ■ was an informal .proceeding. performed-. in : the forenoon, and many Europeans'.who had expected to ■ see -. a ceremony performed shortly after 'midday ■ arrived too. late. The : Parihaka peoplo were-disappointed-at tho small number of. peoplo, both Maoris and whites, who came'to: see the unveiling.' There wero about : one hundred European visitors, and some'two. hundred Natives from other parts.' Some of • theso had . come -from . as. far as Otago, and others from Waikanao and, other parts of tho island to do honour to the dead, but those who had seen the thousands who listened to To Whiti in his prime as their supreme earthly guide, could .not .but regard this gathering as meagre. After the arrival of the Europeans from Now-Plymouth, tho people gathered in tho marae, and a fow speeches were delivered. Taare Waitara, son-in-law of the lato Chief, spoko of tho orcction of .tho.monument as a new development among his people. He compared tho monument' to tho tablets of Moses.

. Mr. W. Gray spoke -of the .relations between Maori aud Europoan. Both races, he said, had come over the Vater to New Zealand. _He urged Maoris Temembbring their sea-faring traditions, to scrape; the barnacles from their national canoe. The monument, he said, bore evidence that the Maoris were now trying to adapt themselves to the ways of Europeans. •

Rangi Watson deposited as a gift to .Parihaka a sum of money from To Atiawa. This was acccpted as a gift of charity, the recipient announcing that, in .futuro, no payinont would-be received for tho .entertainment of Natives who visited Parihaka.

The Europeans present were entertained with lavish hospitality. . For the first time tho. free use of the. camera was allowed at Parihaka.