HE KORERO HARAREI na H. Te M. Wikiriwhi “Poia atu taku poi, Wania atu taku poi, Nga pikitanga ki Otairi, Papatairite atu ki … Poneke …” Me tapahi i konei taku patere, ka waiho ai ma te rangi o aku korero e kukume haere atu ki ona pikinga, ki ona hekenga me ona tauranga. Ko te take o tenei korero ko to tatou Kuini ko Erihapeti Te Tuarua, Kuini o Ingarangi. Kuini o te Komenawara, tae ana mai ki Aotearoa nei, me te Waipounamu, puta noa ki Wharekauri, me nga Moutere o te Moananui-a-Kiwa. He korero mo raua ko tona hoa tane ko Piripi Te Tiuka o Etinipara, me nga powhiri a nga iwi mo raua i Waitangi, i Turangawaewae, i Rotorua. I mutu mai taku wai i Poneke, notemea kei konei ahau e noho ana inaianei, otira he take ano i whakahua ai ahau i tenei taone nui o te motu. No te 23 o nga ra o Tihema, i te tau 1953, ka hoki atu ahau ki te wa-kainga, e ahu ana ki Waitangi ki te whai haere atu i te Kuini. Ka mohio mai ai koutou, he kotahi rangi noa-iho te hipanga atu i te 24 o nga ra o Tihema. Ko te ra tera i torere atu ai ki tona parekura kino, parekura whakaaroha, tetahi tereina mautangata o Poneke ki Akarana, i te papahorotanga o te piriti mau i te reriwe i te awa i Tangiwai. Kotahi rau e wha tekau ma iwa tangata, wahine, tamariki i taki matemate tonu atu i taua po, tekau ma whitu o ratou kihai ano kia kitea. He mea manaki to matou tereina o te 23, note-mea i nuku atu i te rima tekau matou nga Maori i runga i tera. Engari no tenei po, tokowha tonu i riro i te ringa kaha o Aitua. Tokotoru o enei he taitama-wahine e taki hoki ana ki o ratou kainga mo te Kirihimete. Kotahi o ratou he tamaiti kura naku i ako i Huiarau ki Ruatahuna, ko tetahi he hoa karakia noku i Poneke. I tangi katoa te motu i tenei Kirihimete mo to Koutou tira e hine ma Kaore i tika kia haere penei koutou, ara te korero, “Me ata maroke te hara-keke, katahi ano ka kitea te rito, aue, aku toto aku roimata, moumou koutou e.” “Ko te heke ra o Maruiwi, I toremi ai ki te Reinga. Kihai i mau te hu o Ruapehu, Kihai i hoki te waiora ki te Ao.” “Let me twirl my poi ball, Let my poi ball take flight, Away above the hills of OTAIRI, Then down to Poneke's vale …” Allow me to arrest my patere at this point, and so let the theme of this story propel it forward, either up or down, as the fates may decree. This story is about Our Gracious Sovereign. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of the Commonwealth, Queen of the North Island of New Zealand, and the Greenstone Island, extending to the Chathams, and beyond to the islands of the vast ocean of Kiwa. It is a story about Her Majesty and her Consort. Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and of the Maori welcomes extended to them by assembled tribes at Waitangi, Ngaruawahia, and Rotorua. My patere was interrupted at Wellington, for that is where I live today, but there is also a special reason for the reference that I make to the capital city of our land. It was on the 23rd December, 1953, that I went home on my way to Waitangi, to follow the Queen. You will gather from this, that but one day separated it from the 24th day of December. That was the day when a Wellington-Auckland passenger express train plunged into the flooded Wangaehu, resulting in the tragic loss of many lives. One hundred and forty-nine men, women and children perished that night, and the bodies of seventeen of them have never been recovered. The express train that took us home on the 23rd was fortunate, for there were some fifty of us, of Maori extraction upon it. Yet on the fatal night only five Maoris died at the cruel hand of Aitua. Three of these were teenage Maori girls going home for Christmas. One of them was a pupil of mine. Two years previously we were at the Huiarau Maori school in the forest village of Ruatahuna. One of the others was the Sunday school teacher of our small Church group in Featherston Street. A whole nation was in mourning this Christmas-tide for you and your compatriots young maidens. You should never have been snatched away like this, and it recalls those words of old: “The heart of the flax bush is not seen