EDWARD, KING OF THE MAORIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 7, 7 December 1936, Page 8

EDWARD, KING OF THE MAORIS.

A local resident writes as follows : The Proclamation of Edward, Prince of Wales, as Maori King was consummated on the steps of Peoti te Aweawe’s monument in the Square, Palmerston North, when the memorial shown below, engrossed on parchment, was placed in his hand by representative chiefs. According to Maori custom and tradition, no loyal subject has the right to question his choice of a life partner. To do so would he regarded as an act of disloyalty, punishable by death. Whether the King marries Mrs Simpson or not, by his love she has become Queen of the Maoris, and a cable to assure her of that fact has been suggested. In the resident’s conversation with an old chief this morning, the Maori said: “The fact that two unfaithful men had been rejected by her, was no justification of those who now seek to separate her from the most honoured man in the world.” The memorial reads as iollows“Haere Mai! To His ltoyal Highness the Prince of Wales, Descendant of Our Beloved Queen Victoria, Representative of King George, Put lire King of the Maoris. We, the Rangitane, Muaupoko, and Ngatinpu Tribes, welcome thee to this Land of Our Fathers, Ao-Tea-Roa, the Land of Your adoption. You have crossed the great ocean of Moana-nui-a-kiwi to renew and commemorate our loyalty to that Greater Britain, of which Wai-pou-namu is its most distant star and its most' loyal possession. We are the remnant of that once great Tribe the Rangitane, of Mauawatu, to whom our Queen Mother presented this now tattered Hag, Tane-nui-a-rangi, which is an emblem of our broken people. This llag, with a lasting love of your Great Nation, will be the abiding sign of your gratitude for the loyalty which prompted us to fight against our own people in order to protect the Children of your Race whom we regarded as our guests. Ln token of this, we now proclaim you to be our future King Edward of Aotearoa, and with all our hearts rely on Your protection and justice. May God bless and protect you and keep you in the estimation of all Nations as you are held- in the bonds of love by our people, your newest subjects. Haere Ra.” Dated May 4, ID2U, the memorial was signed by the following:—Hare Rakena te Awe Awe, Heiiare te Wlietu, Rata te Eangi, Mere Rikiriki, for Rangitane ; Kahu Kore Hurinui, Heimi Henare, for Muaupoko; Te Urn Angina and Wareua Hunia, for Ngatiapa.