Memorials Unveiled

Te Ao Hou, June 1964, Page 45

Memorials Unveiled Later, when the flagstaff in front of Poho-o-Rawiri was unveiled as one of the war memorials to those of the of the Maori race who fell overseas, Mr C. M. Bennett gave a commemorative oration on Te Moana Nui a Kiwa Ngarimu, V. C. Brigadier Dittmer, the first Commander of the Maori Battalion, unveiled a memorial to the late Reta Keiha, a former Commander who died in May 1960. The new president of the Association is Mr Henare Ngata, a son of the late Sir Apirana Ngata, and with him as his secretary is Mr Peter Kaua; both of these men are living in Gisborne. In future, reunions will be held on a biennial basis; the next one will be in Hastings in 1966. A general invitation was issued to all members of the Association to attend the opening of the Memorial building in Palmerston North

on the 27th June. Was the Reunion worthwhile? I say yes. In the first place there were men and their wives present from the very far North to the very far South of New Zealand. For many of them it was their first experience of seeing some of the richest farm lands in the country, and the farming members of the Association were able to see at first hand the productive nature of Poverty Bay and of some of the other districts they passed through.