A SIGNIFICANT CEREMONY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22991, 19 March 1938, Page 14

A SIGNIFICANT CEREMONY

The ceremonial opening of .King Koroki's new house, "Turongo, 1 ' at Ngaruawahia, has Ijeen a happy event. For the tribes most intimately concerned, and especially for Princess Te Puea, whose practical interest in the building project has been so helpfully manifest, the occasion has been one of joy in accomplishment of a cherished purpose ; but far-, beyond the loOal bounds of Waikato —to use a familiar word in its historical meaning—the attraction of the event has been sympathetically felt. Much water has llowed down the courses of the Waipa and the Waikato since the King Movement was initiated, and through the arches of the years its meaning is better understood than in the sadly turbulent days of the 'sixties. Seen in perspective/ it was not without justification. The contemporary words of Sir John Gorst, better able than most to pass judgment on its arising and progress, can now be read with wide acceptance : "There has been no single cause ; different sentiments attracted adherents, who joined in the scheme with different views; and as one set of motives after another was in the ascendant the character of the movement itself was continually changing." Fundamentally, it involved no antagonism to British government; rather was it designed, as Wiremu Tamihana, "the King-maker," set out clearly in writing, to put an end to intertribal feuds —to cause the flow of Maori blood to cease. Ihe subsequent entering of other motives obscured this vital object and brought bitter, sinister developments, but they belong now to an outgrown past. In the ceremonial participation of all the tribal groups tracing their descent to the seven canoes of the "Great Fleet," and in the place of honour given to the Governor-General, the truth of this has been inspiringly emphasised.