Watching youth perform in the poi, haka and action song competitions The impressions of a younger member of the Maori race who attended the jubilee at Ngaruawahia last May CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF THE KING MOVEMENT 1858 — 1958 by RORA “Give us a king to judge us”. I Sam. viii: 6. “One from among they brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother”. Duet. xvii: 15. “Taupiri is the mountain. Potatau is the man and Waikato is the sea. each bend a taniwha, each bend a taniwha”. THESE were the arguments used to justify the setting up of a Maori King in the year 1858, after several years of indecision when many chiefs had declined the privilege in honour preferring others, like true rangatira. “Now let me ask you which of these titles do you prefer, that of chieftain or that of King?” “I prefer the title of King,” “Who is to be your protector?” “Jehovah.” “Is there no other?” “Jesus Christ.” These were the words spoken by the kingmaker on that far off day of May 2, 1858, when Potatau Te Wherowhero finally succumbed to tribal pressure from within and without, and was acclaimed king, possessing as he did the solid background of a high aristocratic lineage, and fine, central, tribal location, amidst famed features of landscape. He was anointed with oil by the kingmaker Wiremu Tamehana, and made his vow—” Ac,