NEW RATANA PA

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 7

NEW RATANA PA

OPENING OF MEETING HALC

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, September 7.

With traditional Maori ceremony, the large meeting hall erected at the new Omeka pa of the Maori leader, Tahu Wiremu Ratana, at Te Poi, near Matamata, will be officially opened by the Minister of Lands (the Hon. F. Langstone) on September 21. It has been, named Te .Omeka.. in. memory of one of Ratana's sons who recently died. The settlement is to serve the needs of the Ngaiterangi and Waikato tribes in particular, but it will also be used as a centre for all Maoris impressed with Ratana ideals who live in the northern and north-eastern districts of the North Island.

It is expected that about 7000 Maoris will assemble at Matamata for the ceremonial that' is to accompany the opening, and already plans are being prepared for their reception. Mr. Langstone will be welcomed according to timerhonoured custom when he arrives in the marae, accompanied by the Hon. Rangi Mawhete, M.L.C., and Messrs. H. T. Ratana and E. T. Tirikatene, M.P.s, and P. Paikea, secretary of the, Maori Advisory Council.

Under the direction of Eatana himself followers of the movement have been building the pa for the past five months. One of the major tasks has been the erection of the large meetinghouse, possessing 4554 square feet of floor space, which has been subdivided into several apartments. It is expected that a population of about 600 people will be in permanent residence at Te Poi settlement.