CEREMONY ON MONDAY

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 17, 20 January 1940, Page 13

CEREMONY ON MONDAY

UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL'

PAGEANT FOLLOWS

Complete arrangements have been made in connection with the dedication and unveiling of the Wellington Provincial Centennial Memorial on the Petone foreshore on Monday (Anniversary Day). The official ceremony will be dignified and impressive, and a large and representative attendance of pakehas and Maoris is expected. Paying homage to the Maori race, the Hon. P. Fraser, on behalf of the Government, will lay a wreath on the grave of Te Puni at 9.30 a.m. The arrival of the official party at the memorial is timed for 10 o'clock, when the band will play the opening bars of the National Anthem. Thereafter the programme will be as follows:— "God Defend New Zealand" (unison singing led by the choir). Maori haka of welcome. Church service conducted by the Rev. Brian Kilro; M.A., in accord with the first service for pioneers conducted by the Rev. John MacFarlane on the Pito-one beach in 1840. One Hundredth Psalm, "All People that on Earth do Dwell." Scripture reading, prayer, and hymn, "O God of Bethel by Whose Hand." Twenty-third Pslam, "The Lord is My Shepherd." Speeches by Mr. T. C. A. Hislop, Mayor of Wellington and chairman of the Wellington Provincial Centennial Council; Mr. G. London, Mayor of Petone; the Hon. W. Nash, Minister of Finance and M.P. for Hutt; Senator P. A. M. Mcßride, Assistant Minister of Commerce, representing the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia; the Marquess of Willingdon, representing the Government of the United Kingdom; and the Hon. P. Fraser, Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand. % A presentation will then be made to the Governor-General, Lord Galway, by Mr. Horace L. Massey, architect of the memorial, after which his Excellency will dedicate and unveil the memorial window. The National Anthem will follow, and the official party will inspect the memorial. HISTORICAL PAGEANT. Reasonable time will be allowed for the public to reach the Petone Recreation Ground after the ceremony for the Centennial historical pageant, which will be presented in three scenes. Scene one will take place on a symbolical representation of the ship Tory, and will depict the sale of Whanga-nui-a-Tara to the whites between September 20 and 27, 1839. Scene two will deal with the. hoisting of the flag at Pito-one on September 30, 1839, and as in 1839 there will follow a hakari which will take the form of a feast provided in true Maori fashion from stone-heated umu. At this stage the pageant will be halted while an official luncheon is given to distinguished visitors. The chairman will be the Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister of Internal Affairs and Minister in charge of the national Centennial celebrations. The pageant will be concluded after the luncheon with scenes depicting the arrival of the early settlers from the ship Aurora and the cementing of the friendship between the Maori and the pakeha, together with the famous injunction of Wharepouri to'his people. "God Defend New Zealand" will be sung a second time at the conclusion of the pageant, which should be most spectacular. The programme also provides for hakas, poi dances, and waiatas, to be followed by sports and other attractions.