FIRST SIGHT OF CITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23545, 4 January 1940, Page 6

FIRST SIGHT OF CITY

CHILDREN FROM UREWERA TRIP FROM ISOLATED VILLAGE [by TELEGRAPH —OWN COIUtESrONDENTI PALMERSTON NORTH, Wednesday Four Maori children, whose ages range from nine to 15 years, are at present taking their first journey into the land of the white man. They have come out of the heart of the Urewera Country, where for months on endsthe only pakehas they see are their three school teachers. They have come from a valley where Nature reigns in quiet serenity to the hustle and noise of a modern city. Having learned beforehand of the white man's wonders, however, they are taking everything in their stride and enjoying it immensely. In Palmerston North they had their first train ride, had their first ride in a lift, saw their first talking pictures, spoke and listened for the first time over a telephone, gazed in fascination at, to them, the fairyland of electric lights. Later they will go to Wellington. The children are accompanied by their schoolmistress, ' Miss I. D. Paulger, who, with two other women teachers, are the only whites at Maungapohatu, 12 miles back from the Wairoa-Rotorua highway, and approached only by walking or riding over a track that traverses valley and ridge. They came from their settlement by car direct to Palmerston North to attend a youth conference of the Presbyterian Church.