TENNIS COMES TO LIFE IN THE NORTH

Te Ao Hou, March 1959, Page 28

Miss A. Emery from Hamilton, and Miss Ruia Morrison receive a cup for winning the Ladies' Doubles from the Mayor of Whangarei, Mr J. F. Johnson. Next to the mayor is Whangarei's lady warden, Mrs Iritana Rangikamaea Randall, whose untiring efforts greatly helped the success of the tournament. (Photo: Peter Blanc) TENNIS COMES TO LIFE IN THE NORTH by ANTIGONE KEFALA The rain poured down hitting the pavement in large bubbles, a curtain of water coming down continuously through which you could hardly see. Inside the marae everybody was up. Women passed in pyjamas and housecoats going to the showers, men in shorts with towels around their necks and children with large, dark bewildered eyes followed their mothers not knowing why they had to get up so early or what was this huge hall decorated with greenery. The cooks at the back of the dining hall, three tall monumental figures, were preparing breakfast. In the small office at the entrance of the marae —actually the Winter Exhibition Hall transformed into a marae for the four days of the tournament—the brains of the organisation were at work. The president of the Taitokerau Branch of the N.Z. Maori Lawn Tennis Association, Mr Lou Davis, with the secretary, Mr R. Kake, were busy ringing up to arrange accommodation, giving orders while at the other table the manager, Mr S. W. Maioha,

and the treasurer, Mr N. Pirihi, made their way through a pile of papers scattered on the table, their activity interrupted at short intervals by a voice booming over the loud speaker making some announcement or giving some orders. In spite of Northland's large Maori population, but probably because of the lack of adequate facilities to cater for such a large group of people, the tournament has never taken place in Northland before. It needed courage to take up the challenge in September of this year, and within such a short time, put in motion the huge organisation that functioned well enough during the four days of the tournament in spite of all the special difficulties of rain and floods. Help was received from all sides—the Agricultural and Pastoral Society put at the disposal of the committee their Winter Exhibition Hall—and private individuals and different firms in Whangarei donated the different trophies. Invitations were sent to all the Maori centres in the North Island and to King Koroki, who was unable to attend because of illness. A party of five led by Dr M. Winiata arrived as his representatives, the other members of the party being Mr T. Katipa, Rev. Mutu Kapa, Mr P. Herewini, Mrs T. Hira and Mr Potana Hira. Visitors and players came from all over the North Island from Waikato, Wairoa, Kaitaia, Auckland, Te Kao, Karetu, Hamilton and even as far as Wellington. Miss Ruia Morrison (Photo: Peter Blanc) Prominent tournament personalities watching the proceedings are, left to right, Mr J. F. Johnson, Mayor of Whangarei, Mr S. M. Maioha, tournament manager, and Mr Riri Maihi Kawiti, O.B.E., senior chief of Ngapuhi. (Photo: Peter Blanc) After the mihis the opening ceremony took place, the Mayor of Whangarei, Mr J. F. Johnson and other officials being present. Later, the prominent leader Te Riri Kawiti arrived, delayed by

At the back of the dining hall are two of the cooks—Messrs Dick Shortland and J. Kaukau expertly carving the meat for the hundreds of visitors. (Photo: Peter Blanc) the bad weather. In his welcome speech, he doubted the wisdom of a tennis tournament being held when the moon was dying—according to Maori tradition, this might well be the cause of the rain.