SITE FOR MAORI PA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19962, 2 June 1928, Page 13

SITE FOR MAORI PA.

ADVANTAGES OF MOUNT EDEN INTEREST TO TOURISTS. REPLY MADE TO CRITICISM. Adverse criticism of. the . proposal to build a. model Maori pa. near the summit of Moufit Eden was replied <o yesterday by Mr. G. L. Taylor, chairman of tho Parks Committee of the Mount Eden Borough Council. "It is unfortunate that just at this juncture such criticism should be offered by responsible citizens, when it is obvious they have not visited the exact site and do not know the precautions which the Borough Council has. taken t» ensure that the natural features of the mountain, and the glorious views obtained from if, are not interfered with in any way," he said. "All the objections offered have already been met. ' In the' first place, the site selected for the pa.would not interfere with the view obtained from the. top of the mountain or from any point of vantage, said Mr. Taylor. Secondly, no excavating would be required, as some people seemed to think. The earthworks put up by the Maoris hundreds of years ago were still in a very good state of preservation, and on them the native dwellings and palisades would be built. Thirdly, there was no reason to ;fear, as apparently some did, that the pa would ever bo unprotected from prowlers and vandals. The Maoris had already offered to station one or two old native pensioners in the pa to act as custodians and guides to visitors with no expense to tho local authority.

Regarding the view that one small pa fell short of' conveying an adequate impression of the mountain in the days when it was covered in defences, Sir. Taylor said it was mistaken to suppose that Mount Edeu ever constituted one large stronghold. It invol\»ed, instead, a number of self-contained pas very similar in construction, and the proposal in view was to reconstruct one of them and make it an exact replica of tho type existing prior to the arrival of the white man. No such pa existed in New Zealand at the present time.

The suggestion had been advanced that nothing should be done until Sir Apiraua Ngata had been consulted in the matter. When Sir Apirana was in Auckland last January he not. only helped the Borough Council to finalise the selection of a site, but also voiced his approval of the whole scheme, and said that, when completed, the pa would not only be of local, but also Dominion, interest, as it would form a lasting monument to the Maori as he lived here hundreds of years ago.

"My reason for considering Mount Eden such a. suitable site for the pa is that it. is visited by thousands of overseas visitors, who are always desirous of seeing something of the life of the Maori," said Mr. Taylor. "We have nothing like- that, to show them in Auckland, but roust take them to Rotorua for it."