MAORI IN COMMAND

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24951, 25 June 1942, Page 4

MAORI IN COMMAND

LEADER OF BATTALION PRIDE AND GRATIFICATION (P.A.) WELLINGTON, June 24. The news of the appointment.- of Lieutenant-colonel E. W. Love to command the Maori Battalion in .tbe Middle East has' been received with the utmost pride and gratification by the Maori people throughout the Dominion, and Mr P. K. Paikea, member of the Executive Council representing the Maori race, has sent a message of congratulation to him, stating that the honour conferred on him is one of which the Maoris are justly proud. The Maori people send their greetings and message of goodwill and love to him, states the message, and also to the officers and men of the Maori Battalion, together with an assurance of untiring efforts to keep the home front intact.

Lieutenant-colonel Love is the hus» band of Mrs Takau Rio Love, paramount chief, or Makea Nui Ariki, of Rarotonga, a title to which she succeeded by a judgment of a New Zealand court in 1940 and held against appeal last year. Colonel Love is also of very high Native rank. He hai been an officer in the New Zealand military forces for a number of ysars, and at the outbreak of war held the rank of captain in the Ist BattaliMj, Wellington Regiment. He went overseas with the main body of the Maori Battalion and fought in Greece, where he was first reported missing, but was later advised to be safe. He was afterwards promoted to the rank of major, and fought in the Libyan campaign at the end of last year.