First Maori Welcome to Their Excellencies Sir Arthur and Lady Porritt On December 5, 1967, Mr Piriniha Reweti, principal elder of the Ngati Whatua people of Orakei, joined the Mayor of Auckland and the President of the Auckland Local Bodies Association in welcoming our new Governor-General at a civic function held in the Auckland Town Hall. In introducing Mr Reweti, Dr McElroy, Mayor of Auckland, said that he was: ‘… the lineal descendant of those Ngati Whatua chiefs who welcomed to Auckland our first Governor, Governor Hobson.’ Dr McElroy went on to say that: ‘… It is fitting that 127 years after the arrival of the first representative of the Crown in New Zealand, a senior member of these same people should join with us in making welcome the most recently appointed representative of the Crown.’ After paying the customary respects to the dead, to the fallen of two World Wars, and to tribal representatives gathered from ‘the four winds’, Mr Reweti likened Sir Arthur Porritt's arrival to that of the first Pakeha to Waitemata, an event prophesied by his ancestor, Titahi, more than 150 years ago and remembered by the following chant: He aha te hau e wawā rā, e wawā rā? He tiu, he raki; he tiu, he raki. Nāna i ā mai te pūpūtara ki uta Koia te pou whakairo ka tū ki Waitematā, Ka tū ki Waitematā i ōku wairangitanga, E tū nei, e tū nei! What wind is it that roars and rumbles? It is the wind from the North, the North Wind, In my dreams (I saw that it will) drive (even) the nautilus ashore, (and will cause) a (new symbol of government to stand at Waitemata, Thus shall it come to pass. To Sir Arthur himself, he recited the familiar ‘Haere mai, e te manuhiri tūārangi …’: Welcome, Sir, you have come from far beyond the horizon and you have come out of love. Therefore draw nigh and be welcome. Mr Reweti's remarks were then interpreted by Mr M. Te Hau, Chairman of the Auckland District Council of Maori Executives. In reply, Sir Arthur Porritt turned to Mr Reweti and speaking without notes thanked him both for the warmth of his welcome and for the fact that it was the first extended to him by a Maori since his appointment as Governor-General. Whilst he could not match his ‘illustrious predecessor’, Sir Bernard Fergusson, in his command of the Maori language, he was not ‘entirely unfamiliar’ with it and could indeed follow the sentiments expressed by Mr Reweti. Sir Arthur concluded by expressing the hope that he would be able to acquire some facility in Maori before the end of his term of office.

The Sap of Life The sap of life runs slow For me—Time measured By the tawa trees upon The breast of Maungatapu; Above the river's swirling Torrent, where once the maiden Rangatira danced and sang. She gave her heart to Ngongonui, A-ee, a-ee, to Ngongonui the son Of slaves—a warrior brave, Who died because no son of slaves May wed a rangatira maid. A-ee, a-ee, the sap of life Runs slow for me. I sit beneath The tawa trees where once I danced A lissom rangatira maid. Dorothy H. Smith