ARAWA MEMORIAL

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 11, 10 December 1926, Page 11

ARAWA MEMORIAL

TO FAIJJEN MAORI SOLDIERS. DUKE OF YORK TO UNVEIL IT.

ROTORUA,. Dec. 8. A very striking memorial to the Alaori soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War is being erected in the gardens at Rotorua by the Arawa Trust Board and will be unveiled by the Duko of York on February 28 at mid-day. . The memorial will be 25 feet high, standing on a granite base, and on the top will be a bronze statue of King George, while standing at the foot of the column is to be a bronze Statue of Rangitihi, the ancestor of the Arawas, who had eight children. For the latter reason the column is eight-sided, the lower one of which will contain the names of the soldiers, with the badge of the Pioneers in the centre. Above the names are eight panels with carvings in stone illustrative of the loyalty of the Arawas. Among them will be carvings of Queen Victoria, King Edward and King George, a soldier, a sailor and a Sister of Alercy. The cap of the column will have five panels illustrative of Alaori ancestors and phantom bird spirit, Rev. Samuel Alarsden preaching, the signing of tho Treaty of Waitangi by Governor Hobson, and war weapons. Just below the King’s figure will he the famous Arawa motto, “Te Arawa e Waru pu Alanawa,” which can be interpreted to mean .that the Arawas, with eight different ways of considering any subject brought before them, must come to a good final decision. On the base will be a model in stone of the famous Arawa canoe.