HOME AGAIN

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19478, 23 December 1925, Page 13

HOME AGAIN

KATANA’S PARTY RETURNS AFTER TOUR Great was the rubbing of noses when the Tahiti berthed at Wellington on Monday, says the “ Dominion. ’ ’ Ra* tana and his parly had rcliirned. Each one of the twenlv fight Maoris bore evidence of having fallen a. victim to lhe Anif*rican mod'’ of dress, the. mon with nicely titling tailor-ma<le ’ suits in one <ase a pair of Oxford slacks flapping round the ankles of a ytiung fellow from the township of Ratana and lhe women very taste fully attired in navy bine costumes, with a. touch of colour to make their handsome faces show to greater adYantage. •lust to let their confreres on the wharf know that -they were all well and happy, they struck up a. lively band tune as the boat. \.as drawing alongside and the, ’ ’ Hacremais’ ’ flowed pb’nt i fully. M here was Ratana. the healer, Maori business uiauager, township builder? asked several people <>n the. wharf. Nobody knew. The followers of Ratana them solves nodilod their heads übstractedly wfem approached and asked if they could point, out, Ratana. Their leader, it. appears, ever shirking the ordeal of facing the. camera Ratana has only been photographed once—and not nt all keen on publicity, had hit out lor tbe. quiet of the city while his party waited for the best part of three hours going through the formality of haiing their baggage inspected by the I'ljstnins authorities. And there was plenty of luggage to gn through. Beautiful dresses ami silks, to say nothing of the modern suits of clothes, were given the. careful “once over” before they were, re packed for a township where they would be the envy of the less fortunate brothers and sisters 01 the tourists. A surprising feature of the general dress of the party was the artistic choice of colour, not, too vivid, and aiming at. simplicity wherever pos sible. Of course while the baggage was being inspected the ladies had to have recourse l" the inevitable, lipstick, because, after all, they are living in th<- twentieth century, ami there was a general spruii’iug up before they set, off home by the afternoon express. “ \ penny a fool, lor that,'' said the

Customs officer to the official photo-I graplier of the party, who was juggling! with several spools of kinematograph film, bui. the photographer, a eheertul young fellow, had not been travelling abroad for the best, part, of five months for nothing. ’’WbaC" he exclaimed, “are you going to >*.argc me for the shadow on the film? “H's your film, isn’t it?” was the officer's reply. “That's just, th- point,” quickly replied tbe photographer, “I. took all that film away with mo unexposed, ami because I have merely taken the- pictures on it you want to charge me for the shadow.” He was right, too. A little further cross-examination by the Customs official and the film was passed over “0.K.” There were no fewer than seven names “Rabina” in tbe Tahiti's pas senger list, representing tbe, sons ano daughters of the leader. There was T. W. Ratana, AJatiu Ratana, Te Orneka Rataua, T. H. Ratana. Piki Ratana, Te lago Ratana. Te Auepe Ratana, but bow many were sons and how many were daughters must ho left to those I who cau understand the Maori lau guagoMr Moko stated that the party wn well satisfied with the results of Iheir mission in America, which was; on the same lines :r- their tour of I rgland 1a..1 i year. The headquarters of ihc pirty ; were made al San Francisco, and th* , tour of the. Stales included Omaha. Chicago, lYptruit, Windsor (Ca.nada) Buffalo. New York, J'hiladelphio, .In dianapolis, St. ' oui.-, Kansas City, lil Paso (Texas), and Lor Angeles. A tre. mendous amount of work was done, a | great, deal by correspondence. Ratana i did not accept any monetary ronsidera. | tion whatever. Xbout 50f*0 letters were received when lhe party was in j

i Han Finni'i-rn. mainly because there were, people who had b'-cn cured by ' I’atana. Ninety-five per cent, of these inters were replied to, ami he cstini uted that, cures an I relief ha.d been effected in about On«? thing I hat greatly perturbed the parly was the appalling amount of crime in the j States, which perhaps struck them more I forcibly coming from a township where ! peace reigned with tranquil serenity. I Ratana's party will have much to |lpll iheir brothers and sisters when | i hey arrive, home.