MAORIS TO BUILD VILLAGE

Taranaki Daily News, 1 September 1933, Page 9

MAORIS TO BUILD VILLAGE

TRIBUTE TO TURI AT PATE A RATANA PARTY ARRIVES AT SITE. MODEL PA OVERLOOKING RIVER. NO EUROPEAN BUILDING PLANNED Tahu Wiremu Ratana, the well-known Maori leader, has arrived at Patea with a party of 62 Natives, including a brass band, with the intention of establishing a model Maori pa as a tribute to Turi, the great navigator. Ratana’s view is that the present memorial does not adequately express the Maori tradition. A central feature of the village, which is to be situated where Turi actually landed on the bluff overlooking the mouth of the river, is to be a .Maori war canoe carved from wood in the traditional style and named Aotea. There will be no European building in the village. Slabs hewn from the standing bush, toitoi and raupo will be used for the construction of the buildings; iron and sawn timber will not be used. The timber will be obtained from some land in the possession of Mrs. Ratana at Taranaki-iti, eight miles inland from Patea.

The site is known as Rangitaawhi-te-wai-o-Turi, and in it is the celebrated spring Parara-ki-Teuru. It has been handed down from Turi to Ratana through his mother’s side. The meeting house will be called Matangirei after Turi’s wharepuni. The party arrived unexpectedly by motor-car and lorry. It is fully equipped, having all the necessary artisans for the work, which will be under the supervision of Ratana himself. Most of the men are young and, though residents of Ratana Pa near Turakina, represent tribes throughout New Zealand. The equipment includes a generator for electric light for use until Government power can be secured. It is hoped to complete the settlement by the end of October. The official opening, it is hoped, will coincide with the anniversary of the Ratana movement on November 8, when it was proposed to hold a big gathering of West Coast Maoris.

The Maoris are camped on the site. Until the whares are completed they are living under canvas, a pakeha hut on the site also being occupied.