Sword of Te Rauparaha Given to Museum A famous sword which once belonged to Te Rauparaha has been presented to the Dominion Museum by Mrs Pareraukawa Carkeek of Otaki, who is a descendant of Te Rauparaha's eldest sister, Waitohi. The sword is said to have been given to Te Rauparaha by Sir George Grey during the time that the great warrior was in exile in Auckland. Te Rauparaha's magnificent greenstone mere ‘Tuhiwai’, which was given to the Dominion Museum recently by the Wineera family of Porirua, is a symbol of the war expeditions which Te Rauparaha led; and this sword is regarded as being a symbol of the transition of the chief and his people from a long period of war and upheaval to a new era of peace.

‘Honour in Heaven’ After his return to Otaki in 1848, Te Rauparaha is said to have unsheathed the sword and thrust it into the ground. Turning to the subtribe Ngati Wehiwehi and addressing its chief, Paora Pohotiraha, he said: ‘Tokina to mea nei. Kua mutu taku ruri ki te Whenua. Ka ruri au ki te Rangihoatu. Hanga he whare karakia ma tatau.’ (‘Come and take possession of this weapon. I no more seek honour on earth. I seek honour in heaven. Go to and build us a church.’)

Sacred Earth of Rangiatea The chief, Pohotiraha, was he who had carried the sacred earth of Rangiatea from Maungatautari to Otaki. This soil is said to have come to New Zealand in the Tainui canoe, traditionally round about 1350. It was from the sacred altar of Ra'iatea, believed to be on the island of the same name in the Society group, and it is said that it is now deposited under the altar of the present Rangiatea Church at Otaki ‘Rangiatea’ is the Maori form of Ra'iatea. The sword remained in the possession of Paora Pohotiraha for many years and was ceremoniously handed to Heni Te Whiwhi in 1904, when Winia, daughter of Pohotiraha, became the second wife of Petera Te Pukuatua, a wellknown chief of Te Arawa. This history was recalled by Mr W. Carkeek of Wellington when on behalf of his mother, a granddaughter of Heni Te Whiwhi, he handed the sword to the ethnologist at the Dominion Museum, Dr T. Barrow. ? Two charming young Maori hostesses won many friends for New Zealand at an experimental ‘open house’ held in Sydney recently by the Tourist and Publicity Department. The girls, Miss Alamein Pitama, an N.A.C. employee based in Sydney, and Miss Maureen McKewen from the Tourist and Publicity Department's Wellington office, were largely responsible for the outstanding success of the occasion. ? An early Anglican Mission church at Parawai, near Thames, which is thought to be at least 100 years old, and which had become very dilapidated in recent years, is being renovated by a committee of Maori and Pakeha volunteers. Barry Paraone Matena, the son of Mr and Mrs H. Matena of Taumarunui, after successfully completing a course at the Air Force Boy Entrant School at Woodbourne, has been selected from several other candidates to go on a scholarship to Australia for three years. He will be trained as an electrical mechanic at the Royal Australian Air Force trade training school at Waggawagga. Barry, who entered the Royal New Zealand Air Force after gaining his School Certificate, is one of a comparatively small number of Maori boys who have so far chosen a career of this kind in the Air Force.