MAORI WELCOME

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22469, 2 January 1943, Page 4

MAORI WELCOME

American Officers Entertained

Festivity At Ngaruawahia

(N.Z.P.A.) AUCKLAND, Jan. 1. A New Year’s Eve which they said they could not quickly forget was spent at the Ngaruawahia Maori Pa by a large party of officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps They went there at the invitation of the Maori King Koroki who was represented by his aunt, Princess Te Puea. The visit lasted from about 6pm until some time after 1943 had been gladly welcomed and the way in which the Americans had appreciated and enjoyed the hospitality so freely offered to them by the Waikato tribes was to be judged from the farewell songs exchanged by vistors and hosts at their parting. The American party was led by Captain S. D. Jupp, Senior United States Navy Officer in New Zealand who, with all his officers, showed the utmost pleasure at being given a chance to enjoy an experience which was completely new to them. They equalled the Maoris in their courtesy and paid them very high and sincere compliments on their singing and dancing, and were amazed at the standard of the native craftsmanship they saw in the carved meeting house at Mahinarangi and in the king’s house at Turango which is joined to it. Representing in their junction the friendly reunion of the Waikato and East Coast tribes, Chief To Po King! represented the Waikato tribes in a speech of welcome. The speech was in Maori and was interpreted by Lieutenant W. P. Clark, who, with Captain Werohia, was in the uniform of the Maori Battalion, and so gave the Americans a hint of the reason for the very noticeable lack of young Maori men on the marae. Dinner followed and it was served on a table long enough to accommodate all the visitors and astonished the Americans in its excellence and variety. After coffee the party attended a concert of Maori action songs and dances by warriors and women. Supper on the same lavish scale as the dinner was served in the King’s diningroom. The Americans left the marae shortly before 1 a.m.