ROUSING FAREWELL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20184, 29 February 1940, Page 12

ROUSING FAREWELL

MAORIS LEAVE FOR CAMP WAIROA LUNCHEON (Special to the Herald.) WAIROA, this day. There was - a large contingent ox Maoris at the Taihoa Hall at midday yesterday to bid farewell to a batch of 35 men for the Maori Battalion who left in the afternoon for camp at Palmerston North. Included in the party were three recruits from Wairoa, a fourth who had been selected being unable to leave because of a bereavement in his family. The other members of the party came from the Gisborne and East Coast districts a'nd on arrival at Wairoa yesterday morning from Gisborne they were escorted to the Taihoa Hall, where they were the guests of the local Maoris at luncheon. Among those who attended the gathering to give the recruits a farewell were the Mayor and Mayoress of Wairoa, Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Harker, and the chairman of the Wairoa County Council. Mr. A. T. Carroll, and Mrs. Carroll. The men left, for Palmerston .North by a soeeial railcar, which departed from Wairoa at 2.5 p.m. and before their departure the men from Wairoa were each presented with a parcel from the working committee of _ the Wairoa branch of the Patriotic Society, the presentation being made by the secretary to the committee. Miss B. Hill, As the railcar pulled out the Maoris were given a rousing farewell.