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No. 9 (Spring 1954)
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Books

The Life Story of Maggie Papakura
J. F. CODY

There is a tendency, when surveying Maori writers, not to look beyond the two recently fallen giant totaras, Ngata and Hiroa; but there are many smaller trees that grew beneath their spreading branches.

One of these was Makereti, who was born a chieftainess of the Arawas at Waikarewarewa in 1872 and died a member of English County society at Oxford in 1930. Makereti is better known as Maggie Papakura, hostess and guide to the thermal wonders of Rotorua. T. K. Penniman, Secretary to the Committee for Anthropology in the University of Oxford, who collected and edited Makereti's writings and contributed a brief biography to her posthumous work The Old Time Maori, explains how she acquired her better known name.

She came by the name in a curious way. Europeans who saw her as a child naturally shortened her name to Maggie, and an unusually inquisitive visitor tried to find out whether she had another Maori name. She had not, of course, but she was willing to oblige them, and as she was standing near a well-known Geyser called Papakura, she promptly said ‘Papakura’, and the name stuck to her family.

Makereti spent many months writing and rewriting her manuscript until she was satisfied that what she had written was true in spirit as well as in fact. To give her work the final seal of authenticity she wrote regularly to her ‘old people’ as she affectionately called them, both for their permission to publish certain facts and for the guarantee that they were faithfully recorded. Finally, the completed work was sent to New Zealand to make certain that nothing was published without the sanction of the tribe and that everything was correctly described.

The care taken by her literary executor is the main reason why The Old Time Maori did not appear until some years after the author's death.

Makereti's book is really her biography, and should be in the hands of everyone who wishes to understand something of Maori mentality. The first chapter on social organisation and relationship explains clearly and simply the different methods of assessing kinship, and why the average Pakeha has the impression that every Maori is more or less closely related to every other Maori. It is indeed a striking illustration of the fact that there can be two points of view, both scientifically accurate, about such a matter as blood relationship. The chapter on marriage contains an infallible recipe for regaining a wayward wife or husband, as well as for turning the girl friend's affections in the right direction. There are chapters on children, food, fire, houses and weapons, every one of which is interesting and simply written.

‘MAN OF TWO WORLDS’

Review by KAATA

To join those who have already tested the fertility of the Maori historical field is yet another European—J. F. Cody, with his Man of Two Worlds, a biography of Sir Maui Pomare.

The author must be given credit for his sympathetic and understanding treatment and, indeed, his appreciation of a very great man who, as a humanitarian first and foremost, found a satisfactory way of bending politics to form the mould of a more or less permanent foundation for health measures for the Maori.

Sir Maui differed from his Maori colleagues in parliament in that he chose an independent course rather than hoist his colours to the Liberal mast, and his political life was not without disharmony. In the final analysis it becomes perfectly plain that politics to him was only a means to an end—and the end was his ardent determination to arrest the decline of his race.

It is undeniable that Sir Maui's efforts as the first Maori health officer and later as Minister of Health, as a member of the remarkable Young Maori Party, and as a Doctor of Medicine, won for him a very special place in both the Maori and European circles of his day; but in the opinion of this reviewer the author has not done full justice to a unique episode in the political as well as the national pattern of New Zealand life.

Readers will remain indebted to the author for the hitherto unpublished account of the first missionary effort of the Te Aute schoolboys to carry the new gospel of healthy living into the homes of the Maori people. This section of the biography amounts to a contribution by the late Rev. Reweti Kohere, himself an author

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and a contemporary of the Maori ‘greats’, and one of the participants in that memorable schoolboy trek which in effect marked the turning point for the Maori race. For that reason the incident will be regarded with some significance, if not with reverence.

It is a pity that Man of Two Worlds had not been more carefully read in the proof stages. Then blunders such as an index reference to a former Prime Minister as ‘Sir Gordon Coates’ might have been avoided. However, production errors notwithstanding, this biography of Sir Maui is worth reading even if it does not add a great deal of new material to that which is already widely known. Like the book on another great Maori, the late Sir Apirana Ngata, much of the contents of Man of Two Worlds comprises quotations from speeches. Were ot not for these, in both cases the figures concerned might well have eluded their biographers.

Man of Two Worlds is published by A. H. & A. W. Reed of Wellington (15/-).

TANIKO WEAVING

Here for the first time is a popular handbook on taniko. It is written in a simple, direct way with clear diagrams showing each step to be mastered. Some traditional designs are included, and there are complete instructions for weaving and finishing a taniko belt, so prized by Maori and pakeha alike.

This is a book that should find its way into every school in New Zealand, and it should be most useful to women who have no opportunity to learn from an expert in the traditional way. If it has a fault it is that the author contents himself with teaching the methods and gives very few suggestions for extending its decorative possibilities. There must be many decorative uses for taniko which have not been explored and many more articles that could be made with it. The author expresses the hope ‘that this simple introduction to the art will encourage many more to adopt it …’ There is no doubt whatever that Taniko Weaving will do just that, and we should be grateful to Mr Mead for this detailed, reliable and practical handwood.

Taniko Weaving is published by A. H. and A. W. Reed, of Wellington. (6/-.)

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Captain Brian Matauru Poananga, Adjutant of the 1st Northland Regiment, topped the list of New Zealand candidates in passing the entrance examination for the Military Staff College, Camberley, England.

Captain Poananga, who is 30, is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and served for a time with J. Force. Last year he returned to New Zealand from a tour of duty with K. Force, in which he held a staff appointment with the 1st British Commonwealth Division.

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The Maori baritone singer, Mr S. Tawera, of Wellington, competed with success in the vocal section of the Wellington Competitions Society's festival in September.

The only Maori taking part in the festival, Mr Tawera said afterwards, ‘If my people would only come forward to take part in festivals like this a lot of them would go a long way.’