Tribute to Hine Potaka Retiring President of the Maori Women's Welfare League

Te Ao Hou, November 1973, Page 27

Tribute to Hine Potaka Retiring President of the Maori Women's Welfare League Mrs Hine Potaka delivering her message to the conference.. I have visited many theatres, witnessed plays and musicals, but never have I seen or felt anything so beautiful or emotional as the real play of life that was staged at the Soundshell on Monday afternoon when the heroine of the stage, Hine Potaka, played out her part to perfection. The difference was the stark reality. The setting staged to perfection, the players fell into place. It was drama of the highest order. The five or six hundred members of the audience were gripped in an emotion so thrilling and glorious that their spontaneity Representatives of the Murupara and Te Whaiti branches present carved lintel and doorposts for League Head-quarters on behalf of the Waiariki area

Members of the retiring executive pictured before the results of new elections were announced. Seated, from left, Mrs Ruby Grey, Secretary, Mrs Miraka Szaszy, acting President, and Mrs Merimeri Penfold, Vice-president. Standing, from left, Mrs Irirangi Tawhiwhirangi, representing the Maori and Island Affairs Department, Mrs Shalima Vuibau, Auckland, Miss Jean Sutherland, Health Department, Mrs Hine Weka, Tairawhiti, Mrs Kawa Kereama, Ikaroa, Mrs Hilda Wilson, Taitokerau, Mrs Maria Copeland, Waiariki, Mrs Rose Howe, Tainui, and Mrs Elizabeth Murchie, Te Waipounamu. Executive members in the traditional ‘grand march’ at the social evening that concluded the conference

A wai for the newly elected President, Mrs Miraka Szaszy of Auckland. gripped them with tears and heartbreak. Never again will we see such a fleeting scene of beauty and pathos. The stage floor was covered with wharikis, natural dried flax with black patterns — the chairs set out for important guests. There was a little lull, an audible sigh from the members as Hine entered, a beautiful korowai wrapped over her shoulder. She was limping — she had in one hand a walking stick for support. The other arm was supported by Bishop Bennett. You could hear a pin drop as she slowly wended her way onto the stage. A sigh from the audi- Members of the Miriona Branch, Ikaroa, with their trophies, the Budge Memorial for tukutuku work, and Mrs Heeni Smullen with the Mira Szaszy trophy for literature.

ence when she sat down. We were all with her — helping her spiritually. It was indeed a noble gesture and maybe a very difficult one, for Hine is the kind of woman who would face a battery of guns without blinking. It was a tense moment when she stood up, right hand shaking as she leaned heavily on her stick, to address the meeting. We realised as never before, her dedication to our Maori race was real, was genuine. Her words will never be forgotten. As she looked over the audience and raised her eyes to include the upstairs gallery, it was a sweet embrace — as she urged us all to continue the work she was so concerned with. She was there against her doctor's orders — but her sense of duty was so great she felt she owed it to her members to come at great discomfort to herself, to explain her reasons for resignation. The greatest tribute to any woman was enacted by members when the audience rose as one and sang from the floor ‘He puti puti pai’ — a beautiful flower indeed, a tribute of the heart from every one there. Emotional, spontaneous and delightful and grand — something we will never forget — we would not have it otherwise. That feeling of aroha for Hine was evident as members filed up and spoke to her. Eve Magee, Waiariki