HISTORIC EVENT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23574, 7 February 1940, Page 13

HISTORIC EVENT

10,000 PEOPLE GATHER MAORI AND PAKEHA MINGLE i MANY NOTED VISITORS LORD GALWAY'S FAREWELL [BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] WAITANGI. Tuesday • One years after the actual event, the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi was re-enacted on the same ground in the i presence of a great gathering of over 10,000 Europeans and Maoris, with the Governor-General, Viscount Galway, as the central figure, and including representatives of the United Kingdom / and Australia, Cabinet Ministers, members of both Houses of the Legislature, foreign Consuls and leaders in many departments of New Zealand public life.

After the pageant there was a most picturesque meeting on the marae, shaded by English oaks and native puriris, in front of the splendid whare runanga which has been erected as the Centennial Memorial of the Maori race, and which Lord Galway i | officially opened. The Governor-General read a message of con- *! gratulation from the King and the deputy-Prime Minister, the i Hon. P. Fraser. read others from M. Daladier and the Govern- | ments of Belgium and. the Netherlands, together with a letter | from Lord Bledisloe, donor of the Waitangi' estate, enclosing a ' cheque for',£loo for the purchase of a suitable piece of furniture | for the new house. Before his departure, Lord Galway, who had bidden farewell to the Maori race, planted a pohutukawa in the lawn of the Residency as a permanent reminder of-the great occasion. The • time-worn original treaty, together with a number of other historical documents of great interest from the national archives, Were on display in the afternoon. The gatheri j ng wa s held in beautiful weather with a partly clouded j { sky and a fresh breeze, which contributed to everybody's enjoy--1 ment. Rain fell at about 7.30 this evening, giving promise of a wet night. ' However, by then the European visitors had departed.