Taupiripiri
[ picture to come here ]      The Speaker's Cane
 
Taupiripiri is the cane of the Chief Spokesman and recognises the qualities of leadership and authority inherited or vested in him.
 
The name in simple terms means ‘walking arm-in-arm, togetherness’ – it embraces all those things that give people dignity and worth, symbolising creation, family, community and society.
 
The Rotary Club of New Plymouth West presented the cane in 1982 to the then Governor Stewart Frame, to provide a Maori dimension to the office and role of the Governor of District 9940, our principal spokesman. It remains their taonga, their property, and each year is presented to the current governor during the official club visit.
 
Taupiripiri has 5 sections
  • The grip with the birds head and closed beak symbolises listening, observing, being informed so as to speak authoritatively for or against, but always with the objective of regulating order. [A speaker of authority in the Maori world is referred to as ‘He manu korero’ – to talk like a bird in full song.]
  • The second section symbolises the creation – man and woman – the environment.
  • The third section symbolises the formation and development of people.
  • The fourth section symbolises the evening of our lives.
  • The fifth section, which is not carved, represents the unknown, the tomorrows, and the after-life.
 
Taupiripiri represents all the ideals of Rotary.
 
Its name will remain for us as a reminder to walk arm-in-arm, to strive for all things together. 
 
The cane is the work of a Ngati Porou carver who was apprenticed to a Ngapuhi master carver of the old tradition, and this was the first test by which he would be judged.