Northland Maoris To Attend V.C. Presentation

Northern Advocate, 29 September 1943, Page 2

Northland Maoris To Attend V.C. Presentation

Nearly 150 schoolchildren, civilians, and servicemen from Northland will attend the ceremony at Ruatoria on Wednesday. October 6, of the presentation of a posthumous Victoria Cross to the parents of the late Second-Lieutenant Moananui-a-Kivva Ngarimu, who won the decoration during the fighting in Tripoli. The Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) will conduct the ceremony. Arrangements for the transport to Ruatoria of thousands of 1 the Maori servicemen. school-children and civilians have been made by the Maori War Effort Organisation. Today 27 children from Kaikohe travelled to Auckland. The children will be under the supervision of an Education Department official and will leave Auckland for Ruatoria tomorrow. Fifty civilians from districts between Auckland and the North Cape will arrive in Auckland tomorrow and 150 servicemen on Friday. Each group will spend one night in Auckland before leaving for Ruatoria, to avoid congestion. Representatives of tribes north of Ruatoria will be, billeted at Tikitiki, a few miles north 6f Ruatoria, and civilians and servicemen from south of Ruatoria will be billeted at Tokamaru Bay. Visitors from reiative tribes will stay at Lieutenant Ngarimu’s home pa, Hiruharama. and all service personnel will be billeted at Mangahanea. 10,000 To Attend It is expected that about 10,000 people will witness the ceremony at Whakarua Park. The sergeant of Lieutenant Ngamiru’s platoon (.Sergeant W. Teneti, D.C.M.) will be present. After an official welcome is extended to the GovernorGeneral, it is expected that there will be a march past of servicemen and school children. The decoration will then be presented to Mr. and Mrs. Ngarimu. Celebrations will include massed war dances by 1000 warriors on a huge stage .built for the occasion, and action dances by 1000 women. A grandstand to accommodate 5000 has been constructed. On the morning prior to the investiture, the new' meeting house, Ruakapanga. at Tolaga Bay will be opened by the Governor-General, who will also perform a similar ceremony at Tokamaru Bay, opening the meeting house Whanaua-a-rua, built in memory of the late Mr W. H. Potae. a chief in the district, who died recently.