HISTORIC EVENT

Evening Star, Issue 21622, 18 January 1934, Page 6

HISTORIC EVENT

TREATY OF WAITANGI ELABORATE PREPARATIONS FOR ‘ CELEBRATIONS . . . t [Pe» Unrnn Pens* Association.] WELLINGTON, January 17. Although a few details are yet to be completed, most of the arrangements for the Waitangi celebrations next month have now been made. The ceremonies will take place on February 5 and February 6, the ninety-fourth anniversaries respectively of tlm negotiation. and signing of the historic Treaty of Waitangi. The Commonwealth Government of Australia will be represented by the Federal Minister of Commerce (Mr F. H. Stewart), and the State Government of New South Wales by the Secretary of Public Works and the Minister of Health (Mr R. W. D. Weaver), Over sixty members of both Houses of Parliament have already signified their intention of being present, including all the. Ministers of the Crown. A sleeping train conveying the parliamentary party will leave Auckland at 10.20 p.m. on Sunday, February 4, and will arrive at Opua at an early hour on the following morning. Arrangements will be made for the provision of meals at Opua and for transport from there by water to Ti Point and Waitangi. At 11 a.m. on February 5 the Prime Minister, Cabinet Ministers, and the members of Parliament, together with Mr F. H. Stewart and Mr Weaver, will be accorded a Maori reception at Ti Point, and will later be enter' lined at luncheon by''the Maoris at 2.25 p.m. Lord and Lady Bledisloe, who will proceed to the Bay of Islands from Auckland in the Government steamer Matai, will go ashore and bo received in traditional Maori custom at Ti Point. This ceremony is expected to last for two hours, after which their Excellencies and distinguished visitors will be entertained by the Maoris at afternoon tea. Up to the present no arrangements have been made for the evening of February 5, but in view of the large assemblage of Maoris at Waitangi it is anticipated that there will be a Maori concert. The morning of Tuesday, February 6, has been left free, but the time will probably be occupied in visits to places of historical interest around Russell and Paihi. At 2.15 p.m. on the Tuesday their Excellencies will be met at Treaty House by the members of the Waitangi Trust Board. Here there will bo a guard of honour provided by the crews of H.M.S. Diomede and H.M.S. Dunedin. After inspecting the guard His Excellency will break the flag at the masthead of the new pole recently erected. This pole is aproximately 90ft in height, and is stated to be almost the highest polo in the Southern Hemisphere. Following this ceremony, the foundation stone of the carved Runanga will be laid according to Maori custom, after which there will be a meeting of the Trust Board. It is expected that the majority of the Maoris attending the celebrations will be in cainp on February 2.

THE SOUTHERN MAORIS' GIFT . GATHERING AT PICTON. [Per United Press Association.] BLENHEIM, January 17. Their Excellencies Lord and Lady Bledisloe arrived at Picton to-night to attend the hui arranged by the southern Maoris to mark the occasion of the presentation to the Waitangi Trust Board of a magnificen carved chair to commemorate the gift to the nation of the Waitangi Estate, the ;ite of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. A large gathering of Natives 1 and Europeans attended the Maori welcome which was accorded to their Excellencies, and representative chifetains voiced the gratitude of the Native people to Lord Bledisloe for his historic gift. Enthusiastic and picturesque scenes were enacted in the course of the impressive ceremony which followed. The presentation takes place to-mor-row.