WAITANGI CENTENARY

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 31, 31 October 1932, Page 10

WAITANGI CENTENARY

Ngapuhis’ Offer of Memorial

The desire of the Ngaptthi tribe to erect an appropriate memorial on the site of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which was recently presented to the nation by his Excellency the Governor-General, Lord Bledisloe, was mentioned by the Minister of Native Affairs, Sir Apirana Ngata, when speaking during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives on Friday.

Sir Apirana explained that during his visit to ,the North Auckland district the members of the Ngapuhi tribe had intimated that they would like to see some memorial on the spot where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. No money was available, but he had pointed out that the centenary of the signing of the treaty was eight years off. The Ngapuhis Were milking 1000 cows, and he had suggested they should set aside five shillings per cow each year in order to build up a memorial fund. If that were done there would be £2OOO in hand when the centenary came around. It had been suggested that the memorial should take tlie form of a carved meeting house. That would also be handed over to the nation, and it would not be unworthy of the magnificent gift made by his Excellency; ’