Photo Exclusive – Kāpiti and Coast Independent

Minnie Clark of Kapiti Island Alive has kindly supplied us with some photo’s of Prince William’s visit to Kapiti Island on the 18th January 2010.

Please note that these pictures cannot be copied or distributed in any way or form without the express permission from the owner.

Prince William with a group of secondary students from Otaki College, Paraparaumu College and Kapiti College during his visit to Kapiti Island.”

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Prince William in relaxed mood with Prime Minister John Key and MP Nathan Guy during his visit to Kapiti Island. Those standing are rangers from DOC and Iwi liaison staff who advised the Prince about Maori protocol during his visit.”

Prince William has his first date with a Kiwi…on Kapiti. With him are Sara Treadgold and Anahera Herewini (holding kiwi)”

In a more serious mood during the visit to Kapiti Island, Prince William and Prime Minister John Key listen to the Maori welcome and introductory speech from tangata whenua representatives.”

Members of the special police protection squad keep a sharp lookout as a boat carrying Prince William and the official party head for Kapiti Island”

Doc staff members Ian Cooksley and Wayne Boness escort the Prince to his helicopter for the flight back to Wellington at the end of his visit to Kapiti.”

STORY OF THE WEEK

Kāpiti Coast councillors have toured of one of Aotearoa's unique buildings, the heritage - listed Rotunda at the former Otaki Health Camp, the country’s first.

Jeremy Smith reports that the 105-year-old, eight-sided rotunda predates the Health Camp.

It wasn't actually built in Otaki, but was one of two built in Rotorua in 1915 as part of a military hospital, on the site of Rotorua’s present public hospital.

Later they were taken to Otaki for the opening of the health camp in 1931.

Full story in the main column (December 19).

100 Years Ago — and the Maori Long March begins

Māori politics was dominated by the influential MPs (and sometime Cabinet ministers) Māui Pōmare ( Waitara statue photo above) and Apirana Ngata.

The 1920's also saw the rise of Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana’s religious movement, and the emergence of Te Puea Hērangi in Waikato.

Ngata worked hard to foster Māori scholarship and education and preserve traditional arts and culture.

He convinced the government to establish a Board of Maori Ethnological Research (1923), a Maori Purposes Fund Control Board (1924) and a School of Maori Arts and Crafts in Rotorua (1927).

The Reform government also took the first, tentative steps towards settling longstanding Māori grievances.

Agreements with Te Arawa in 1922 and Ngāti Tūwharetoa in 1926 recognised their respective rights over the Rotorua lakes and Lake Taupō, and led to the establishment of trust boards with some government funding.

Commissions of inquiry which examined Ngāi Tahu grievances (1920–21) and the Waikato and Taranaki confiscations (1926–27) recommended that modest compensation be paid.