Clark pays tribute to Guide Bubbles

Prime Minister Helen Clark is welcomed on to the marae for the tangi. Picture / Alan Gibson.

Prime Minister Helen Clark was among mourners at the tangi of guide Bubbles Mihinui yesterday.

Dorothy Huhana Mihinui, 86, died suddenly on Monday at her Whakarewarewa home.

Helen Clark joined Rotorua MP Steve Chadwick and list MP Mita Ririnui at the tangi at Mrs Mihinui's home marae of Te Pakira at Whakarewarewa.

"It was with great sorrow that I learned of the passing of Bubbles," the Prime Minister said. "She was always a friendly face on my visits to Rotorua."

The Prime Minister described Mrs Mihinui as a towering figure in Te Arawa who made a huge contribution to tourism in the area.

"She will be missed by Rotorua and by New Zealand," she said.

Fellow MPs also expressed their sympathies through a statement released by Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell. The message said Mrs Mihinui gave 70 years' service to Maori tourism and the Rotorua community.

Mr Flavell said Te Arawa had lost a cultural icon. "Guide Bubbles was well-known to the Rotorua community and indeed to thousands of international visitors to our rohe [area].

"Her influence over the affairs of her hapu and the tribal confederation of Te Arawa was significant and she will be sadly missed."

Mrs Mihinui was invested as a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2002.

She also took on the Government in 2000 when she filed a Waitangi Tribunal claim with the Maori Council which forced the Government to join tobacco companies as defendants in a High Court action.

Mrs Mihinui said the health of Maori had been prejudiced by the Government's failure to warn of the dangers of smoking.

- NZPA