LONDON WAITANGI DINNER

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1934, Page 5

LONDON WAITANGI DINNER

DESCENDANTS OF PARTICIPANTS. ADDRESS BY SIR JAMES PARR. By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright. . London, Feb. 6. At a dinner at the Savoy 300 packets of seed of the manuka scrub gathered on the Waitangi estate and sent by Lord Bledisloe were distributed among the guests. The New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir James Parr, who presided, described to-day’s ceremony at Waitangi as “the New Zealand Runnymede.” He said he was glad that the guests at the dinner included Mr. J. M. Rendell, a grandson of Governor Hobson, and Mr. Hal Williams, a grandson of Archdeacon Williams, who, standing beside Governor Hobson, interpreted the treaty to the Maori chiefs. Had the Lord Privy Seal, Mr. Anthony Eden, been present, the list would have been complete, for Mr. Eden was a close kinsman of the first Lord Auckland, of Durham, who was a close friend and patron of Captain Hobson, and whose name was commemorated in the names Auckland and Mount Eden. Sir James Parr sent a message to Lord Bledisloe conveying a local message of thanks for enabling Waitangi to be preserved for all time as a memory of New Zealand’s past.