WAIWETU MAGIC

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 147, 19 December 1927, Page 10

WAIWETU MAGIC

HOW CAME THEY?

SANTA AND THE CHILDREN

RAPID MOBILISATION

Eighteen months ago there was no Moera workers' homes suburb, but on Saturday afternoon between five hundred and six hundred Moera children each received a Christmas gift. The gifts were from the hand of a magical Santa Claus, ' who came down the chimney of the Hutt Park Grandstand (if it has a chimney); but the magic behind the appearance of Santa Claus is as nothing to the magic that mobilised the children themselves. Just think of it! Yesterday a Chinaman's garden, and to-day a garden suburb of over two hundred homes —shortly to be thro ehundred—averaging' nearly fonr children to a home! No housing campaign in New Zealand had ever before encompassed a conjuring trick like this. Children who but recently toddled in congested streets now learn to work in their own garden, and run and play in the open fields and the bright sunshine. They stream across the'sward of the Hutt Park and gather in the grandstand enclosure to see as real a Santa Claus as ever donned gown, mask, and beard. A TRIAL OF NEEVE. This Santa Claus must be real,- for there is no doubt about the genuineness of the shrinking fear which seizes the littlest ones at the great man's approach. Their hearts want to go forward for largesse, but their feet hold them back. A sudden spurt to advance is instantaneously converted into an equally sudden retreat to the sanctuary of mother's knee. A push on the shoulder from father propels young hopeful a foot into the magic ring, but—never in your life! He bounces back like an indiarubber ball at the prospect of contact ■with the venerable white beard. Have you ever tried to hand over Christmas presents to between 500 and 600 children? Well, at least you will concede that Santa Claus had a colossal .■job. And where did he get all these beautiful things? In a whisper—so that the children may not hear—be it communicated that all the funds were raised "within the Empire"; that is to say, Moera workers by house-to-house canvass .made a census of their olive branches, and the money for the Moera children's Christmas treat was collected by and from the Moera workers themselves. In this and in other directions they have shown a splendid community spirit.. They are co-opera-tive and social, and as a unit are likely to become a power in the land. They have their own executive, make their own internal arrangements, and are self-reliant. Preceding the gift-making, the children lined up in the enclosure, parents occupied the grandstand and other locations, and the assemblage in the Hutt Park listened to brief speech-making. The discipline of the little ones was really remarkable. The elder boys clasped hands in a row, and behind that barrier the smaller children wore safely and happily restrained. A couple of adult field marshals manoeuvred the little army into position, and' Mr. W. T. Strand introduced the Minister of Lands, the Hon. A. D. M'Leod. If any; individual has a right to. be I considered the official father of the big family: in the Park, it is Mr. Strand. Taking his cue from "Paddy, the next best thing," he told his hearers that they had missed securing the Prime Minister, who was engaged elsewhere, but they had secured "the next best" m the person of the Minister of Lands (Applause.) FIRST BUTTEK MADE IN WAIWETU. Mr. M'Leod in the course of his felicitations said that he was not keen on the name Moera (held to mean "Sleeping sun" or "Sleeping in tho sun"), and preferred Waiwetu, properly pronounced in its original form. It was a name he would like to see perpetuated in the district. It happened that, not very far from where they stood, a grand-aunt and ■>. grand-uncle of his (Mrs. and Mr. Sutherland) had milked the first cow and made the first handmade butter in the history of the North Island. The cow, which had been brought out from Caithness, Scotland was first landed in the Waiwetu 'district, which could therefore claim the credit of having laid the foundation Of the dairy industry. (Applause.) He praised the work of the honorary committee in the Hutt-Petone development scheme. That work showed what great service could be rendered to a district and a community by an honorary committee of the right kind of people. And though the Government was blamed for everything, even the weather, he supposed that the Government was entitled to some credit too. (Cries of approval). After all, it was a poor sort of Government that would not stand criticism. Eeferring to the gardens of the settlement, he said that if they would collect about £50 to be distributed in prizes to the best gardens, he would put £5 towards it. (At>plause.) Cheers were given for the Minister and for Mr. Strand. Mr. and Mrs. Sutherland arrived in Wellington in 1840. Their youngest son is still alive—Mr. David M. Sutherland, of Ngaipu, Hinekura. He is on the male side the sole survivor of the second generation. His parents once held andfarmed the land between Newtown and Lyall Bay. With Mr. Strand, who is Mayor of Lower Hutt, as well as a member of the honorary committee, came Mrs. Strand. The Commissioner of Crown Lands, Mr. H. W. C. Mackintosh, was also present. '