MAORI PARTY BACK FROM VISIT TO FIJI
(P.A.) Wellington, July 2. Laden with gifts of colourful native I mats, baskets, tropical fruits and plants, ornaments and carvings, the Royal New Zealand Air Force Dakota , aircraft "Waikato Taniwharau” arrived at Whenuapai from Fiji with a party of 13 Maoris led by Princess Te Puea Herangl, who attended the recent double wedding of Tongan Royalty at Nukualofa, and later visited Aitutaki, Rarotonga and Samoa. The private secretary for Native Affairs to the Prime Minister, Mr. M. R. Jones, and 15-year's old Princess Pikl Koroki, daughter of King Koroki of Ngauruawahia, were also in the party. Wherever the Maoris went during their three weeks' trip, they were e ntertained witli feasts, songs and dances, and showered with gifts. On Atitutaki, they had to attend six feasts in one day. About eight cases of gifts, which could not be carried on the Dakot,. from the islands, are being shipped to New Zealand. The varied collection of presents ranging from pawpaws and gay hand-woven baskets to shell ornaments and beautifully-carved models of out-rigger canoes which arrived on the aircraft, were only a small part of the token of goodwill presented to the Maoris. Tiie ceremony witli which they were greeted at every' point, made a deep impression on the Maoris.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WC19470704.2.60
Bibliographic details
Wanganui Chronicle, 4 July 1947, Page 5
Word Count
215MAORI PARTY BACK FROM VISIT TO FIJI Wanganui Chronicle, 4 July 1947, Page 5
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the Wanganui Chronicle. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in