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Te Ao Hou, September 1963, Page 49

In a dream, he was bound down firmly on his back on a broad platform which was slowly approaching a large circular saw rotating at great speed. He tried in vain to free himself; he yelled and struggled, but the more he struggled the firmer was the grip on him; as he neared the blade he noticed two men on either side of the platform. One was a tall fair man with black hair and heavy black eye-brows. Which of these two was he to appeal to for help? Which of them had a grain of pity for one in anguish and about to undergo torture and suffering? Which of these two was a Christian? Pohau hesitated as he looked appealingly from one to another. He chose the tall fair man, and immediately awoke to find this pyjamas soaking wet with perspiration. He lay in his bed fully exhausted but felt that his choice was the right one. Some days later, misfortune again befell Pohau. Archdeacon Samuel Williams died and made no allowance in his will for the financial assistance which he had promised Pohau towards his medical studies. Pohau had no option but to leave Te Rau and return to Otakou in the hope that his father would help him. But his father was not interested in medicine. ‘Whaia ko te mana o te Maori kua ngaro nei’ was his advice to his son. (Seek the dying prestige of the Maori.) Greatly disappointed, but determined to find some way of continuing his studies, he worked for some time with a surveyor, in the hope of raising sufficient money to make this possible. Months passed: months of anxiety and waiting. Pohau could not help but think of the dream he had at Te Rau. What was he to do? Had he after all chosen the wrong man? There was only one thing to do and that was to prove that his choice was indeed right. He applied to be readmitted as a theological student at Te Rau, and was accepted back. He graduated at the end of the college term, but he changed his intention of entering the ministry when he received advice that, through his father's being a beneficiary of the North Island ‘Tenths’, he had been given a Government grant to study medicine. But great disappointment met him on his return to Wellington. The Public Trustee informed him that it was a mistake, and that ‘no provision was made in the current estimates’. Pohau decided that having taken hold of the plough, he would not turn back; he must battle through to the end. His own father could not assist him, but in spite of all difficulties, he enrolled at Otago, specialising in clinical medicine. Towards the close of his university life, Pohau met with a serious accident whilst assisting at a post mortem. He cut his thumb and septicaemia set in. He was admitted to hospital and labelled as dangerously ill. Again in a dream he met the two men—the tall fair one and the short dark one—and he awoke to find two attendants answering to the description of his dream. From then on his condition gradually improved and within a short time he fully recovered. In due course he graduated, and so began a long and faithful career both in New Zealand and in the Pacific Islands. In 1913 Dr Ellison married Tini, daughter of the late John Taiaroa, a rangatira of the Ngaitahu Tribe. They had two sons and one daughter, Joy. Joy became very ill with pneumonia, and her father decided to take her to the Islands where she might have some hope of recovery. He applied for the first position in the Pacific Islands that was available, and was appointed resident medical officer for Niue Island. Unfortunately, Joy died in Wellington before the doctor and his family could leave for their new home, but having accepted the new post, the doctor could not retract from taking the position in Niue. This was the beginning of a prolonged service in the tropics. Dr Ellison was at Niue for three years as deputy resident Commissioner as well as medical officer. In 1921 he returned to New Zealand and became the Resident Commissioner, Resident Magistrate and Medical Officer at the Chathams. Two years later he was back at Otago University on a post-graduate course in surgery, and in 1925 he went first to Samoa to study tropical diseases, then to Makogai to study leprosy under a world-famous specialist on the subject. A year later, Dr Ellison was appointed Medical Officer and deputy Resident Commissioner to the Cook Islands but was recalled to New Zealand the following year and was appointed Director of the Division of Maori Hygiene. It was about this time that his wife died, and in 1928 he married Mary, daughter of Mr and Mrs G. G. Boyd, of Puketapu, Hawkes Bay. He returned to the Cook Islands in 1931 and in 1932 he became a Commissioner of the High Court. He retired from the Islands service in 1945 but when the Second World War spread to the Pacific, Dr Ellison remained in the Cook Islands. Continued on page 64