FIRST SIGHT OF CITY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20137, 5 January 1940, Page 10

FIRST SIGHT OF CITY

CHILDREN FROM UREWERA TRIP TO PALMERSTON Four Maori children whose ages range -from nine to 15 years, arc at present taking their first journey into the land of the white man. They have come out of the heart of the Urewera Country, where for months on end the only pakehas they see arc their three school teachers. They have come from a valley where nature reigns in quiet serenity to the hustle and noise of a modern city. Having learned before hand of the white man’s wonders, however, they are taking everything in their stride and enjoying it immensely. In Palmerston North they had their first train ride, had their first ride in a lift, saw their first talking picture, spoke and listened for the first time over a telephone, gazed in fascination at, to them, the fairyland of electric lights. Later they will go to Wellington. The children are accompanied by their schoolmistress. Miss I. D. Paulger, who, with two other women teachers, are the only whites at Maungapohatu, 12 miles back from the Wairoa-Rotorua highway, and approached only by walking or riding over a track that traverses valley and ridge. They came from their settlement by car direct to Palmerston North to attend a youth conference of the Presbyterian Church.