Maori Greenstone Presented to Council of Six Nations

Brantford, Nov. 3. - A greenstone sent to the Six Nations Indians near here by the Maori tribe of New Zealand will be as zealously cared for as the Iroquois Queen Anne Bible and communion plate presented to the Indians in 1712, it was reported here today.

The greenstone was presented yesterday to Chief Councillor E. P. Garlow by David Smith, 12-year-old son of Oliver Smith, Six Nations school teacher. The lad was hailed as the boy ambassador because he took a pair of snow snakes to New Zealand and received the sacred greenstone from the hands of Maori King Koroki last Jan. 7. The stone was taken from a Maori king's grave.

Young David visited his uncle, Dr. Daniel Smith, a veterinary surgeon, practicing in New Zealand since 1942. He returned in July, but the greenstone was not with him. New Zealand Government red tape had held up its departure from the country until only a few weeks ago when it arrived at Ottawa in a diplomatic pouch. A few days ago it arrived by special delivery at the Indian office in Brantford.

David told the gathering at the Council House that King Koroki, in offering the greenstone, hoped that it would ever remain the symbol of prosperity and blessing to the Six Nations.

Attached to the stone, polished smooth, and not unlike an oversize letter-opener, was a piece of Maori-grown flax, the same cord which fastened it about the neck of King Koroki's forefather when he was buried centuries ago. The cord was in perfect condition.