Looking into the Future

The Maori birthrate is more than double that of the European, and while its death rate is also much higher, the natural increase of the Maori population is nevertheless above that of the European: and the Maori has become the youngest race in the world; 61 per cent of Maoris being under the age of 21 years.

It is the present rate of increase which gives rise to the possibility that by the end of the present century the Maori population will reach a total somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000.

The rising ratio of Maori to European in the population of New Zealand is likely to cause the Maori people some difficulties in over-coming the economic problems that will probably confront them in the future. These problems will be more difficult owing to the limited area of land owned by them. There is only sufficient Maori land left today to provide economic farms for one-quarter of the present population.

It is evident that the economic future of the majority of the race can only be satisfactorily met by migrating to the larger centres where the acquisition of professional, commercial and technical skills will have to be encouraged in every possible way.

This economic development must go hand in hand with social development as they are closely interlocked. This is illustrated in the Maori housing schemes in the main centres. The provision of a new standard house instead of primitive accommodation in slum areas leads to immediate beneficial changes in family life. Health, hygiene and diet improve; employment stability increases. The family's social position in the new community is stabilised, the children are more easily able to do well at school, and develop a new attitude of themselves that will help greatly in later years.

At this stage the question might well be asked: “Should not the Maori by now be able to overcome all the adjustment problems at present facing him?” Realising as we do, that another interesting feature of life in New Zealand is that of seeing Maori and European meeting each other, playing games with each other and working together with mutual respect and understanding, this talk of difficulties seems in the circumstances to be paradoxical.

Economic Traditions

The answer is that the situation in this country still reveals differences of historical background, ways of living, and economic conditions between the two races. There is also the difference of cultural background. Although the two races do come nearer to each other now because of the large numbers of Maoris coming into the main centres, basic things such as racial background are still in existence.

While human relations between the two races can be regarded as an example which other countries might well follow, certain reservations still exist in the minds of a number of people who feel that there are many obstacles standing in the way of complete equality being attained.

It is generally considered that there is a need still for a grater degree of understanding and more social intermingling than at present exists. Today almost everywhere, we are faced with the fact that if civilisation is to survive we must cultivate the art of human relationship—the ability of all races to live together in peace and friendship.

To understand fully the problems with which the Maori has to contend, some broad knowledge of his ancient life—more especially his economic and social problems—is desirable.

It is largely the form of society in which the Maori lives which shapes his personality and ability. Some understanding of these problems as well as goodwill, tolerance and a certain generosity of spirit on the part of the European section of our community are needed in order to help the Maori out of his present difficulties.

No society is ever static. Even in a primitive society untouched by civilisation—slight changes are continually taking place. In the main, these changes are gradual, and consequently such a society adapts itself gradually to this intrusion into their social set-up. But when the sharp impact of European civilisation is brought to bear on a group such as the Maori, then a violent shock is inflicted, and adjustment becomes difficult. The problem of adjustment is rendered more difficult by reason of the fact that while the Maori is endeavouring to adapt himself, the nature of the European culture is continually changing at a pace often too rapid for the Maori to keep up. The effect of all this is that, at the time of Captain Cook's arrival in New Zealand, the Maori was still in the Stone Age, so when settlers arrived later he was asked to bridge the gap between 500 B.C. and 1800 A.D. In addition he was called upon to keep pace with the unprecedented material progress achieved by the European during the 19th century. These demands introduced difficulties which seriously undermined the confidence of the Maori in his way of life; and in himself.

It is also desirable to introduce some sort of picture of the primitive economics of the Maori prior to the arrival of the early European settlers. Briefly stated, the natural surroundings forced the Maori to work hard for his living. His tools for all purposes were extremely primitive so his needs were only to be obtained at the cost of much effort. Work then had to occupy an essential position in Maori life.

The idea of work had a distinct social value. Labour was regarded as honourable, and no man demeaned himself by engaging in it. Chiefs lost no prestige in carrying out manual work. Self

interest alone was not the driving force; but he was actuated by the desire to promote the general well-being of the group.

With a commoner or a person of no particular rank, steadiness and skill in work helped to secure him a certain status in the community, and carried with them certain distinct social advantages.

The driving force which stimulated the activity of the Maori worker was largely due to the necessity to satisfy his vital needs and to the social approval which he received from the other members of his group. He gained tribal prestige: he was often praised for his work: his work was often admired.

Usually these tasks were of relatively short duration and if likely to occupy a long period were interspersed with other varied activities or periods of relaxation all designed to break the monotony of continuous effort. All these breaks or lack of continuous effort would upset the average European as being inexcusable. That these people should have no sense of urgency, no proper planning, and the fact that they appeared to have been able to manage perfectly well without time-tables merely made things worse.

The European being the product of a civilisation which sets considerable store by having every hour of the day worked out would view the Maori attitude to work with disfavour. On the other hand the primary motive which impelled the Maori to work was the necessity to satisfy the drive of vital needs. There was no means by which he could postpone or prolong the enjoyment of the fruits of his labour when they were ready for use. To him there seemed to be no point in producing goods or food for which he had no immediate use.

We have considered the factors that sustained a Maori community in pre-European days although there is an abundance of evidence left to us by early observers like Samuel Marsden, Judge Maning and others to support the view that the Maori of pre-European days was neither lazy nor thriftless but was capable of steady and strenuous work; nevertheless it can be said with some truth of him that he does not as yet take too kindly to occupations which demand unremitting attention and discipline. The communal nature of work, and the diversity of the occupations are two cultural elements which must be adjusted to assure that the Maori of today can fit in better with the pattern of modern condiions. Habits of punctuality and routine will have to be acquired because an individual accustomed to traditional conditions tends to look upon working for another person as he would regard doing a good turn for a friend or neighbour. He is willing to help, but not at the cost of his own convenience.

European Contact

The arrival of Europeans in increasing numbers in the early part of the nineteenth century led to the introduction of new ideas, attitudes, laws, religion, a new economic system, and also new and strange values. This new culture effected partial disintegration of Maori society. Later came the wars of the 1840's and 1860's. Then came a period of settlement and colonisation involving the breaking in of large areas of virgin country when the Maori often laboured side by side with the European settler performing the arduous tasks of bush-felling, stumping, draining, fencing and ploughing. While both peoples were engaged in these operations the Maori seemed to fit in with European life; but the growth of commerce, of the professions and of certain technical trades created a gulf that the Maori found difficult to bridge. in fact it has not yet been bridged to any marked extent.

Further changes resulted as time went on. and so it is realised that the Maori of today is a different person, living in a different society with an altered culture from his forebears who witnessed the arrival of Europeans.

In addition Maori people of today present not only the universal human individual differences in intelligence and temperament, but also differences brought about by the degree of miscegenation, degree of Europanisation, education and opportunity. These are a few of the factors at work today to produce variety and lack of uniformity such as do not operate among the Europeans. The result is that there is on the one hand a group of professional men, and on the other, another group very little removed from the living conditions which existed in pre-European days. The range between these two extremes is much wider than that of the extremes of European society.

It will therefore be seen that there is a wide variation in the attainment of the two extreme groups. One pattern along traditional lines is still followed by a large number of Maoris: the other pattern along westernised lines is followed by smaller number. But an increasing number of Maoris in the intermediate group also stand metaphorically speaking, with one foot in the older type of society, and one foot in the newer type. Those in this group are subject to two sets of social sanctions, neither of them very strong; b drawing apart from each other.

The Maori survived and very largely saved himself by setting to work to adjust himself to the new demands imposed upon him. They realised that the stronger culture will predominate There is now a fairly general agreement that the right course to pursue is to bring out all that best in the native culture and grafting the culture harmoniously with that common to New Zealand as a whole. Such a blending could in the end become something comparable with the Scots acceptance of English standards while still retaining the kilt and bagpipe.

During the second half of the nineteenth century many of the early European settlers had been accustomed to regard the Maoris as doomed to eventual extinction. Yet in spite of these predictions there arose amongst the Maori a new hope. Out of the gloominess of their future there arose a strong national effort to ward off the fate that seemed to threaten their very existence. It was an organised movement to overcome the conditions which threatened their existence.

At the beginning of this century many of young Maori leaders devoted themselves exclusively to the work of practical reform, sacrificing professional careers of high promise.

This band of young educated Maoris imbued

with this mission came to be known as the Young Maori Party. Its leaders followed different paths. Medical men were naturally interested in the promotion of health, hygiene and diet. They pressed for better living conditions, better sanitation, better water supplies that were available to the people. Solicitors became interested in the type of difficulties facing the Maoris in the use of their lands, but all these activities converged on the one goal a conscious adjustment of Maori society to the changed conditions and standards of life. On every side they encountered obstacles of which the most difficult were rooted in the customs and traditions of their people. The end of the last century found conditions reasonably favourable for the reception of the policies advocated by the Young Maori Party.

With youthful enthusiasm and Christian zeal these young Maoris set about the task of reviving their people, curing them of their diseases, teaching the ways of health, stirring their pride in the achievements of their ancestors, bidding them to go forward with hope. They went from one settlement to another instructing and encouraging. They realised that if the Maoris were to survive in the new industrial civilisation, they must work. “The gospel of work” wrote Sir Apirana Ngata, “is final, absolute; there is no alternative for us but to accept it. For if the Maori people do not accept it, and that soon, the race will die off the face of the earth”.

THE TREE IS FELLED

It was somewhere in the early 1700's, while Clive was cavorting about in India, that Konohe took Tataingaoterangi back to Whangara and wedded her to his son. From that union was born Hinematioro, in whose blood converged the lines of greatness of all the East Coast chiefs, and she was so distinguished in her lineage that her fame spread far and wide as the great Queen of the East Coast.

The rise of Hinematioro was the cause of the fall of our tree.

In the person of Hinematioro there occurred one of the fusings of the leading lines of exalted descent which made her the outstanding chief-tainess of her time. She became known throughout the country as the great Queen of the East Coast, though, because her mother had been given to Konohe, there are some who claim her greatness was modified by that circumstance. However, it may be expected that there were few who were game to make such a statement at that time, or they might have come to a grim end.

To so great a person there came, in those ancient Maori times, a constant flow of gifts. Food was here by right of mere being, and tributes of birds, fish, roots, rats and berries flowed in from all who desired to show their loyalty. There would be gifts too of toys, kites, jumping jacks, and other trifles beloved of Maori children, and their elders too.

As far as can be gathered Hinematioro was

born about the year 1745. That was the year when the Young Pretender failed in his attempt to win back the crown of England. And while the infant Hinematioro was cooing in her kit of flax-fibres, and Bonny Prince Charlie's defeated followers were being butchered by the red-coats or hung-drawn and quartered on Tower Hill, a young lad named James Cook was changing his occupation from apprentice in a haberdasher's shop to apprentice on a coastal collier in Yorkshire.

Meanwhile it became necessary to have a food store whereby the gifts of food which continued to pour in in honour of Hinematioro could be suitably stored and displayed. And so our tree, which had been tapu'd and set aside for just such a purpose, was selected to become the storehouse of Hinematioro. The tohungas came and performed their karakia to take the tapu off the tree that it might be cut. The leader of the working party, himself a chief of high rank, would approach the tree and make the first chip in its bark with his toki-pou-tangata, the greenstone adze, set in a richly carved haft, which was carried only by chiefs of high rank. The resultant chip would be offered to Tane, god of forests and birds. Then the men would move in and the felling of the tree would begin. They would chip away with their heavy stone adzes until they had gouged out a double ring around the tree, and the wood between those rings would be laboriously removed with a long handled, very heavy stone adze called a ‘poki’, hafted horizontal to the handle, like a chisel, instead of at right angles like an adze.

In due course the long arduous felling would be completed and our tree, with its smaller branches removed entirely, and the larger branches trimmed back near to the trunk would be dragged away, with many incantations and chants, to its resting place close to where the town of Tolaga Bay now stands.

It must have taken a hole at least six feet deep and at least two feet in diameter to have accommodated the ponderous butt of that mighty puriri log. Digging this hole with the stone and wooden implements then in use was no joke, but slaves were plenty and time mattered little, so finally the hole would be dug, and the last hand

ful of soil removed by the diggers. The front of the hole would have sloped outward at the top, and the back of the hole protected by a lining of heavy saplings to prevent the mighty butt from gouging into it.

A gigantic frame work, or staging or gantry would have been erected and over this would have been thrown a rope of twisted flax. Hundreds of men would have hauled and pushed, and pulled and struggled until finally the enormous tree would be firmly erect in its hole. As it was the storehouse of a person of such eminence it would, of course have been given a name. “Rakau Tamatea Reke” was the name given, in honour of that Tamatea Toi, great ancestress of the whole Wahineiti.

In due course a small carved receptacle, of the type we have come to know as a pataka would have been made, richly carved, and placed in position at the top of the pole storehouse some twenty feet or more above ground-level, and if old traditions are to be believed above fly level too.

The food store would then become a ‘timanga’ or ‘komanga’ and would then be thickly hung with food as long as Hinematioro's mana persisted. It would have been standing there for some 17 or 20 years when a strange ship would sail into the bay of Uawa, which we now know as Tolaga Bay. This ship would have been commanded by a young naval lieutenant, named James Cook whom we remember as having become a collier's apprentice some 18 years before.

Time went on, Hinematioro married and had children. These children in turn had children, and of them was Te Kani a Takirau, the greatest chief of the East Coast, who was invited to be the Maori king. Within the two generations between Hinematioro and Tekaniatakirau, many things happened. The Ngapuhi raided from far off Bay of Islands killing hundreds of East Coast people and stacking the racking ovens with their flesh as prelude to many a cannibal feast. Then came other pakehas, the whalers and the traders. Then the missionaries and the old ways of warfare, slavery and cannibalism gradually passed away. With them passed Hinematioro, lost, as an old old woman, in the welter of wars between the tribes.

But the tree remained and it saw all things. It saw the coming of Te Kooti, and the passing of the Hauhaus. It saw the beginnings of pakeha settlement and the spread of prosperity for both races. It too, though cherished by the tribe, felt the keen appetite of the passing years.

Many times its base rotted in the ground, but each time it fell it was re-erected, a litle shorter than before.

Somewhere between the time it saw Maori volunteers depart to fight for the Great white Queen in the Boer War, and the time the first world war started, it was removed to Whangara. Here again it was erected. It saw the men of the first Maori battalion come back from Hitler's war.

But during these years its deterioration increased and it was recently decided by the Whangara tribal committee to transfer it from its outdoor position on the grounds of the Whiterea Marae, to the Gisborne Museum. Here it will be preserved and erected in a suitable display. It will continue to belong to Ngati Konohe but a wider circle of people will be able to see this famous relic, the only one of its kind, which has witnessed over a thousand years of history here on the East Coast, and may exist to see another thousand.

Ngati Poneke
Comes of Age

The Ngati Poneke Association will celebrate its twenty-first birthday during Queen's birthday weekend next year. There will be an announcement over the radio later, but all those who were associated with the club in former days will be especially welcome.

In 1957 it will be twenty-one years from the date when Sir Apirana Ngata and Kingi Tahiwi set up the Association as we now know it as part of an effort to build the carved house at Waitara.

However, Te Ao Hou is told that before 1936 there existed a Ngati Poneke Organization which was not mentioned in the article we published about Ngati Poneke in our issue 12. We must apologise for this omission; the full story as told by Mr Arapeta Awatere is that on 29th March 1929 a group of people in Wellington formed an independent organization for welfare and relief work. This group had previously been part of a Maori group in the Hutt Valley, set up for the same purpose, but from 1929 they operated independently and called themselves the Ngati Poneke club. They put in money each week to be used by their members when in need, they operated a soup kitchen which was of great importance for city Maoris during the depression and they collected food from beaches near to Wellington to keep this kitchen going.

In 1935, some members of this group formed a concert party which soon had a membership of eighty and trained and performed in a hired hall. In 1936, the building of the Waitara house and the interest of Sir Apirana Ngata and others gave the association the form in which we now know it. (See Te Ao Hou, issue 12).

The Ngati Poneke Club is trying to make a full register of old members, dating from 1929. Information from anyone who was connected with the club at any stage would be warmly appreciated.

The birthday celebrations will be planned to appeal both to old and young. There will be Maori dancing, discussions on the past and future of Ngati Poneke, and on general Maori subjects; and there will also be some educational activities.

“Koia nei te he o te manu rere noa.
He topa mai kaore kau he tauranga e …!”

He mama ia te manu ki te haaro haere i nga takiwa nei, ki te whakahou i nga tirohanga kanohi o nga ra ka huri nei, i miharo ai te nga-kau ki nga ahua o era wahi o era wahi. Ko tenei e Te Pipiwharauroa reia atu e koe i te Rohe Potae o Tuhoe ki Te Kuiti, ki Tarawera, ki Tauwhare, ki Waahi, mauria atu te aroha ki a Waikato, ki a Maniapoto, ki nga hoa kakari o ko tata ake nei.

Tenei ka huri ake, e noho Waikato
Tenei te ngakau mihi, tenei te tangi nei

 

“Ah woe is the bird of passage,
It just soars on high with nowhere to land”.

With swift wings a bird flies over these lands to view again familiar landscape delighting the heart with its ever changing forms. You Te Pipiwharauroa will fly from the Domain of Tuhoe to Te Kuiti, to Tarawera, to Tauwhare, and to Waahi carrying with you esteem and regard for Waikato and Maniapoto foes of yesterday.

“We are departing, farewell Waikato
Our hearts are full of praise, tears of joy well up
We are exceedingly grateful
For all your kindnesses to us and others.”

 

 

Nui rawa ra te hari, o enei tangata
Mo te pai o to tiaki i a matou ma.

E rua aku marama i kopikopiko ai i roto o Waikato, i nga rohe o te kingitanga, e titiro ana ki ona mahara i roto i ona hui, e matakitaki ana ki te ahua o tona whenua. E reka ai te korero i te ahua o tera iwi me ata waiho marire mo tetahi po marangai, kia ki pohapoha te whare i te tangata, ka ata whakatu ai me te kapakapa ano te ringa: tera ano e pakiri o niho ki te kata. Tena ko te taonga nei ko te nupepa raua ko te korero tuhituhi, kaore e puta te nuinga o nga mahara i te kopiri o te marae hei koringa.

Tera e takoto ra te riu o Waikato, e hahae tonu ana i te puku o te motu a tuakina rawatia atu kei Te Tai Hauauru. Ko Te Heuheu i Tongariro te matapuna, kei reira pea te toka i patukia e te taniwha i pipi mai ai ko Waikato, ka ngaki mai i waenganui o Taupo ka titaha mai i a Te Arawa, katahi ka kopikopiko ka whati ka maro ka whakawiri ka miri i te whenua, i te rakau me te kohikohi haere i nga awa ririki i nga awa nunui i nga rukenga o nga repo, tae rawa ake ki Ngaruawahia ka tomo mai a Waipa, na reira nei i whakahiato mai nga wairere o nga whawharua o Maniapoto, ka hui raua ka poka i Taupiri a ka maro te whai ki Tamaki—Tamaki Makaurau—Ehara! Ka whakahokia mai e te whenua, a pakaru ke atu ana ki nga one kirikiri o Te Ta Hauauru. Mo konei te kupu nei, “Waikato Taniwha-rau! he piko he taniwha, he piko he taniwha:” ara, tetahi aronga o taua kupu, kei nga mana tangata ia tona tino taunga. Ka pae i te taha o te awa nei go Ngatiraukawa tae atu ki Maungatautari: i kona ki te takiwa atu o Ngaruawahia ko Ngatitaua, te iwi o Te Waharoa: ka takoto atu i kona a te moana atu ana ko Waikato he maha nga wehewehenga i roto. Taihoa e korero ake ai mo Ngatimaniapoto, mo Ngatiraukawa.

Ina ka takoto nga mania o Waikato, a waenganui tonu, me te mea nei i ata whakaturia ona pukepuke hei parepare, ko Maungakawa, ko Maungatautari, ko Kakepuku e titiro iho ana ki Puniu ki te rohe wehenga o Waikato o Maniapoto, ko Pirongia e toha ra ki nga hau e wha e kite atu ana i Kawhia, i Aotea, i Whaingaroa ko Taupiri ko te puke whakatauki a Waikato, e ki nei, “Ko Waikato te wai, ko Taupiri te maunga, ko Potatau te tangata.” Kei Taupiri ka whakanoti nga hiwi a puta uaua nga wai ki tera taha. Ka takoto atu i tua he maunga he wai he mania. E tika ana kia waiho te wai o Waikato hei mea pepehatanga, na reira nei a Waikato iwi i tupu ai i nui ai i kotahi ai i rangona ai e te motu. I ona ra e maru ana tetahi taha me tetahi taha o te awa i te tangata, inaianei kua tu takitahi nga pa, rokohanga ka whakauruuru ko nga pa o te pakeha i waenganui. Ko te whenua, he whenua ano mo nga kai me nga taonga e rite ana: he hua te parareka, te korau, ki etahi wahi he kumara, engari

 

 

I spent two months wandering around the Waikato district, the domain of the king movement, to glean something of the inner thoughts of the people and to learn something of that district. To fully appreciate the Waikato people the narrator would need the setting provided by a rainy night with a really full meeting house; he should add to his story with lively gesture and grimaces and roars of laughter would surely result. The written word is totally inadequate to do justice to the subject, the marae as it were is too limited.

There the Waikato river weads its way often splitting the very bowels of the earth to be disgorged into the West coast. Te Heuheu at Tongariro has the source, where legend has it a taniwha smote a rock and out of it gushed forth the river Waikato to make for itself a path through the lake of Taupo. Eschewing the Arawa domain, it wends its way gathering strength from its many tributaries until at Ngaruawahia it is joined by the Waipa which in its turn has gathered in all the Maniapoto tributaries and thus reinforced it flows by Taupiri and makes straight for the Tamaki river—Tamaki Makaurau. Alas it is diverted by the land formation and disgorges through the sandy wastes of the West Coast into the ocean. And so the name—“Waikato of a hundred chiefs (monsters), a chief (monster) at every bend” so named because of the people who live in the surrounding district. Inhabiting the area as far as Maungatautari are the Ngati Raukawa, thereafter as far as Ngaruawahia is Ngatihaua Te Waharoa's tribe, from there on to the mouth is the Waikato tribe with its many subdivisions. I'll say more about Ngati Maniapoto and Ngati Raukawa later.

 

ko te tarutaru hei kai ma te kararche kaore e tino ora ki reira i te kaha ake o te whenua, me whakawairakau ra ano ki nga mea a te pakeha ka tipu ai mo tetahi wa. Kaore e penei i o taua whenua o te Tai Rawhiti nei mo te tarutaru mo te otaota. Engari kei te kimihia e te matauranga o te pakeha he mahi pai mo taua whenu e puta nui mai ai nga hua, e puta ngawari mai ai. Otira hei aha kia korerotia, kei te pakeha ke hoki te whenua, ehara taua te motu i te tauhou ki to Waikato mate i te rau o te patu, mate tangata, mate whenua.

He korero hou enei ki etahi takiwa o taua o nga iwi noho kainga, na reira i mea ake ai kia ata whakakaupapatia ahakoa e ki tetahi wahi nui o ta tatou nupepa i enei korero.

“Ko Waikato te wai, ko Taupire maunga, ko Potatau te tangata.”—Ko Potatau te tangata. Kei nga kaumatua e matau ana nga korero o te wa i hua ai te whakaaro i nga iwi kia whakaturia he kingi, he korero e tautohetohetia ana e rangirua ana ki taku whakaaro, na reira au i kore ai e whai kupu mo tera. Engari ko au kanui te miharo mo te pokanga o tenei whakaaro i te iwi Maori, kaore ano ra i matatau mai i nga ra o nga tupuna ki tera taonga ki te kingi, a mo te pokanga ake o te whakaaro i te mea kua tau te mana me te rangatiratanga o nga motu e rua ki roto i te ringa o te pakeha, o te Kuini o Ingarangi me ana iwi tae ake ki nga whakatupuranga e tu mai nei, i runga i te tuku a Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Na ka tu he kingi ko Potatau—he rakau hei-pou herenga mo te tangata, mo te whenua, mo te tikanga, e ai ki te korero. Ka waiho ko nga mania o Waikato hei papa e tu ai te rakau, ko nga mano o Waikato hei huruhuru mo nga waewae o te kingi. He parau pea tenei, engari he korero ano i hakiri ake, i puta ano te kupu i te motu, kaati kua tu mai ra a Potatau, kate mai i te ingoa o te kingi ki a Waikato, ko nga tikanga me nga whakahaere me tuku ki te motu. E ki ana au mehemea i pera, mehemea i whakarangona taua kupu kua titaha ake i te motu nei etahi mate taimaha i pa nei. Engari na Waikato i takiri tona tangata, i

 

There the plains of Waikato lie and in the very middle of which rise several peaks as if they were designed by Nature for forts. There stand Maunga-kawa. Maungatautari, Kakepuku, overlooking Puniu the boundary between Waikato and Maniapoto. Pirongia, with views to the four winds, looking out to Kawhia, to Aotea, to Whaingaroa, and there is Taupiri the traditional peak alluded to by Waikato in the saying “Waikato is the river. Taupiri is the mountain, and Potatau is the man. The hills seem to converge on Taupiri affording a difficult passage to the waters to flow beyond them. Beyond them lie a hill, water and a plain. It is very fitting that the river of Waikato holds such a high place in the tradition of the people. The Waikato tribe has grown into greatness, fame and unity because of it. In days gone by the lands adjoining the Waikato River were thickly populated but today the same areas are but sparsely populated—the pakehas are taking up large scale settlement. The land grows only those things suited to it. Potatoes abound, and so does rape and in some places kumara or sweet potatoes. Grass for stock does not grow naturally but needs the application of artificial fertilisers. The Waikato lands are unlike our lands of the East Coast for the growth of natural pasture. However the district is undergoing close study by experts for ways and means of bringing it into profit. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof the pakehas are in possession of the land we are not ignorant of what the fate of the Waikatos was through the confiscation—the people suffered their lands suffered.

* * *

“Waikato is the River, Taupiri the mountain, Potatau the man.” Potatau is the Man. The elders are the custodians of the sentiments which culminated in the peoples' election of the king, an oft time debated subject, and in my opinion, confusing, which speaks for my silence upon the matter.

But I am impressed with the thought that the King Movement should originate from the Maori people, when it was never ever contemplated in our ancestors' day, and that it should even be entertained, when the sovereignty of the two islands had already been ceded to the European, the Queen and her subjects, by the Treaty of Waitangi. So Potatau was elected to be the rallying point for the unification of the Maori people, the protection of their lands, and the retention of authority; the low-lying country of the Waikato became his footstool, and the Waikato people in their thousands his supports. Perhaps this has no foundation, but it was rumoured that the people had advised, now that Potatau was king, let Waikato be the guardian of the kingship, the machinery and organisation be the responsibility of the whole of Maoridom. I subscribe that if this advice had been heeded, the multiplicity of unfortunate consequences that befell the Maori people would never have been experienced. But

 

 

apo ki a ia te ingoa, te tinana, te mana, te whakahaere. “Tupu ake ai ano te rakau i tona wahi, ka hua, ka rere mai nga manu o te rangi ka kai.” He tika ano, engari tetahi ahua o te rakau toro ai nga pakiaka ka toha ki te nui o te whenua, ka u te tu a tena rakau. Mei pera te totara i tu mai ra i Waikato i toro nui nga pakiaka ki roto ki nga iwi ngotongoto ana te tupu, i te hua o nga wairakau o nga tai e wha; tera e tuaina a tona wa ka oti he whare whakairo nui whakaharahara e tomo ai nga iwi katoa ki roto. Te he o te rakau he maha nga kakano, he tau e reka ana ki te manu tenei kakano, he tau ko tera, kaore e pumau: a ki te kakano, he tau ko tera, kaore e pumau: a ki te kawa mai te kakano o Maungatautari, o Pirongia, i tetahi tau, ka aha etahi manu? Ka ahu noa ake pea ki te Pua o Te Roku, ki Pipiwhakao, ki runga noa o Ruahine, ki Huiarau, a reka noa te tau i reira, ka waiho ano ko nga manu tutata i Hurakia hei kopikopiko ki ona pua.

Otira ki roto ki te porotaka ano o te Kingitanga e rere mai ra i Manuka ki Mokau, Mokau ki Horohoro, Horohoro ki Wairakei i waenganui o Maketu o Tauranga, Wairakei ki Tamaki ka huri ki Manuka ano, kotahi ano te tangata, ko Potatau i ona ra, ko Tawhiao i muri iho, ko Mahuta e tu mai nei. Ko ia te huinga o nga kupu o nga tikanga, a e puta ana mai i a ia te kupu te tikanga. Na, ko taku tenei i titiro ai, he taonga te Kingitanga hei whakakotahi i nga iwi, i waiho ai hei karanga ma te kingi mai o Potatau a taea noatia tenei ra kia whakakotahitia nga iwi. A e kitea ana te pai te topu o nga iwi o Mahuta ki raro ki tana kupu. Na, mehemea i haere rua te whakakotahi i runga i te mana tangata kia kotahi ai he tatua hei whitiki, a i runga ano i te marama o te whakahaere kia pai ai te ahua o te tatua ki nga iwi, kua ea noa ake ra te karanga mai ki te motu. Ko tetahi o aku i titiro ai, na te pakanga a Tawhiao ki te pakeha, na reira nei i homai te mate mo nga whenua o Waikato, i mau ai era iwi nunui ki raro i te Kingitanga taea noatia mai tenei ra. Ka mea nga iwi, mate tangata, mate whenua—Kaore he rerenga atu ki waho, kei whea hoki he rerenga? I mua atu i te whawhai na te kupu whakatakoto i whakakotahi, I muri iho i te whawhai na te aitua i pa rite ki te katoa, mai i te kingi tae noa ki te tangata ware, na reira i whakakotahi. Mehemea i mau tonu te whenua o Waikato, i toitu tonu, kua kore noa ake ra te kingi i a Waikato ano te turaki, kua riro hoki ma nga ngangare mo te whenua e wehewehe te tangata, e tutituki nga iwi.

Ata titiro ki enei kupu e aku rangatira o Waikato, kaore i tuhia i runga i te kaika, i te ngakau whakahe noa ranei, engari he mea ata kimi na te maramatanga, he mea kapo haere nga kupu i o koutou arero ano i nga ra i haere ai au i waenganui i a koutou i au e mau ana i nga mowhiti o nga iwi o te paparinga o to tatou motu.

(Taria te roanga.)

 

Waikato made their nominee absolute and exclusive, the framework, prestige, and administration of the movement their sole possession. “A tree groweth in its allotted space, beareth fruit, and the birds of the air eateth thereof.” Of a truth, but a tree sends its roots to reach out and embed themselves into the ground, so the growth of that tree is firm. Were the Totara that stands in the Waikato to grow likewise, its roots reaching out into the established foundations of tribal life, fertilised by the four winds of Maoridom, O, how deep it would strike; and lo, the day cometh when it shall be hewn and fashioned into an imposing carved meeting-house, that the people may enter in. But while that may be so, there is a disadvantage of a tree which bears prolifically. One season its berries may be palateable, and another season they may be bitter, there is no consistency; if then the berries at Maungatautari and Pirongia were unpleasant to the taste of the feathered flocks, how then will they be regarded? Perhaps a migration would take place to the more inviting fruit at Te Roku or Pipiwhakao, or atop the Ruahine, to Huiarau, where the feeding-place is more tempting, and those in the precincts of Hurakia remain to eat of its supplies.

Howbeit, there stands a figure within the circumference of that territory from Manuka to Mokau and through to Horohoro, from there to Wairakei midway of Maketu and Tauranga, thence to Tamaki to return again to Manuka. In his day it was Potatau, then Tawhiao, and now Mahuta, the summation of all plannings and deliberations. And now this is my observation, that the movement can be an instrument for the uniting of all tribes, as it has been to the Waikato since the days of Potatau. This unity is evident under the authoritative direction of Mahuta. Now if the binding force of authority were organised together with precision and efficiency of administration, so that it would appeal to other people, the whole of Maoridom would have long since come to the king's rallying call. Another of my observations was, that while Tawhiao's struggles against the pakeha affected adversely the Waikato lands question, the tribes became more united under the King Movement. So that the people began to say, with the defeat of man, came also the confiscations of lands. No place to go to, for where is there refuge? Prior to the war the demands of authority was the binding force, but in the post-war period the misfortunes that befell all, from the greatest to the least, cemented tribal relations. If then the Waikato lands had remained unaffected the King Movement would have long since been overthrown, for the land disputes would have divided the people and resulted in tribal clashes.

O my Hosts of the Waikato examine these observations, which were written neither in haste, nor to criticize unduly, but were obtained after a considered analysis of the position from your own orations in the days when I moved among you to make researches on our peoples' behalf.

Stirring Times

To an older generation the tomb on the hill and the stone in the paddock are tangible reminders of more stirring times, when Te Uri Taniwha, though small in numbers, were a factor to be reckoned with in the Maori diplomacy of arms. Before European times every one of the many volcanic hills was fortified to guard plantations and living quarters, but nowadays the resounding names of the fighting pas are all but forgotten. Nga Huha, Te Rua Hoanga, Kaiaia, Tapaporuruku, Tapahuarau, Nga Pukepango, are no longer the common names of populated places, but mere echoes of a past buried in manuka and gorse.

Pouerua, Maungaturoto, Maungakawakawa and Te Ahuahu are big enough, or farmed enough or prominent enough in the landscape to stay in the eye and the memory. On the eastern slopes of Pouerua alone, according to Henry Williams, about 1400 people made their homes where only sheep graze now.

When Marsden saw the area towards the end of the second decade of the 19th century most of the fortified hills had been abandoned, though remnants of stockades still stood here and there. But by 1827 agriculture on the rich volcanic soil had reached such a stage as to astonish the pakeha visitor. In that year Augustus Earle, artist and world traveller, walking from the Hokianga to

the Bay of Islands reported as follows:

At midday we arrived at what in New Zealand is considered a town of great size and importance, called Ty-a-my. It is situated on the sides of a beautiful hill, the top surmounted by a pa, in the midst of a lonely and extensive plain covered with plantations of Indian corn, Kumara and potatoes. To view the cultivated parts of this country from an eminence a person might easily imagine himself in a civilised land. For miles around the village of Ty-a-my nothing but beautiful green Gelds present themselves to the eye. The exact rows in which they plant their Indian corn would do credit to a first rate English farmer, and the way in which they prepare the soil is admirable.

Here at Te Ahuahu was the original home of Te Wera Hauraki, whose outstanding personality and extraordinary activities laid a thread of direct and continuous contact across a century and a half to the present day. If Te Wera did anything ordinary, it is not remembered. He seemed born to be a creator of legends, not by word of mouth, nothing he ever said seems to be recorded—but by his actions. Piecing together what is known of him from books and conversations, ends by giving one the impression that he was able to extend his power to associates.

Te Wera was one of Hongi Hika's trusted leaders. He was visited in 1815 by Kendall, and in 1819 by Samuel Marsden, and he came to some extent under missionary influence. In 1817 he served with Titore in a taua of 500 which raided round the East Coast, heavily defeating the Ngati-Kahungunu of Mahia peninsula, who could not face the muskets of the northerners. They brought back about 40 prisoners, amongst whom was an Arawa woman of NgatiRangiwewehi, named Te Ao Kapurangi, who became Te Wera's wife. Her part in saving many of her own people when she accompanied her husband's people at the sack of Mokoia in 1823, has become a genuine piece of New Zealand folk lore.

Hongi Outsmarted

She pressed Hongi, through her husband, to spare her NgatiRangiwewehi relatives, and Hongi rather grudgingly conceded that those who could pass between her thighs should be spared. Nobody now will ever know whether her ruse was her own idea, or whether, as a northerner by marriage she had heard the story of Te Hana who mounted the ridgepole of Tutangi Mamae to save her tribe. Whichever way it was, she out-smarted Hongi. In the confusion when that helmeted warrior was struck on his iron covered head by a ball from the only musket on Mokoia, Te Ao dashed ashore, stood astride the door-post of the meeting house, and frantically ushered her people to safety inside until the house would hold no more.

In a later raid Te Wera captured the Ngati-Kahaungunu chief Wareumu, and it was partly due to the close friendship which grew between captor and captive that Te Wera's fame and exploits came to be discussed, remembered and acted upon before Judge Prichard in the Maori Land Court only a few years ago.

After the Mokoia battle Te Wera and Pomare captured the Ngati-Awapa, Puketapu, at Whakatane, after which the taua broke up to scour the countryside. In an independent foray against Te Whanau-a-Apanui Te Wera's nephew Marino was killed at Te Kahu—a deadly victory, as it turned out, for those people.

Leaving Pomare at Waiapu, Te Wera returned Whareumu to his people at Mahia, and yielding to their persuasion, remained with them as a “stout fence against winds from all quarters”. Under this leadership, Ngati Kahungunu beat off the Ngati Raukawa and the Ngati Tuwharetoa who had driven the Kahungunu people from the plains of Hawkes Bay. Here at Mahia and on the Here-taunga plains Te Wera and his Ngapuhi lived with their friends and allies for many years. In 1836 Te Wera set out to avenge the death of his nephew Marino 13 years before. He defeated the Bay of Plenty people at Toka-a-kuku, and surprised his followers by forbidding the ceremonial eating of the dead.

Many years after Te Wera's death about 1839, another voyage of deliverance was made in his name. A Ngati Kahungunu boy, Renata Kawepo, recaptured by Te Wera from the Ngati Raukawa

people of Wellington, had been taken north and brought up by Te Wera's brother. Renata had been treated in the north as a rangatira. When he was about 30 years of age his family asked Te Wera's next of kin for his return, and as a result Te Wera's nephew Wiremu Katene accompanied Renata to Omahu.

When Kawepo died about 1870, Katene returned to pay his respects, and the past was recalled in all the detail of which Maori custom is capable. In recognition of Te Wera's leadership, and of the close ties between the two peoples over a long period of war and peace, Renata's people presented Te Wera's relatives with what can only be described as a huge collection of Maori treasures including tiki, earrings and a very large block of greenstone.

On his return, Wiremu Katene divided the gifts up amongst Te Wera's relatives, retaining himself the large block of greenstone, from which two mere were cut and shaped. (It is worth nothing that when it was desired only a few years ago to cut a piece from the remaining slab, nobody could be found in the country who could even cut the stone, let alone shape it into a mere.)

As a result of much consultation and finally of a family agreement before Judge Prichard in the Court at Kaikohe, the Te Wera mere and two pieces of greenstone were presented by family representatives Hone Haimona, Kerei Mihaka and Hare Ngawati to Lord Freyberg at Waitangi on February 6, 1952. In this way Te Wera's activities and personality have reached directly across more than a century of time to the present day. The relics at Waitangi are not rediscovered forgotten heirlooms, but tangible reminders of a remarkable character whose influence has lived on more than a hundred years after his bones were laid to rest on Te Ahuahu, in full sight of Taiamai.

Even today Te Wera is spoken of with pride by the elders of his family. But his grave on Te Ahuahu is neglected, marked only by a rough stack of lava rock, across which the grazing cattle wander. Te Ahuahu cone is too steep for the old people, and Te Wera too completely forgotten by the young. The tomb is like and unlike R. L. Stevenson's on Vaea in Samoa. Like because it rests on a steep hill and looks out across a magnificent view; unlike it because there is nobody to make it a place of pilgrimage like Vaea. Te Wera's tomb stands neglected like te tino o Taiamai, an object of occasional curiosity and a reproach to all of us too busy about our daily affairs to spare a salute to the stirring past.

FOURTH OF A SERIES OF SHORT STORIES

BY MAORI AUTHORS

was better. He remembered the patupaiarehe hated smells, so he took some kokowai from the pocket of his flax belt and smeared himself with it. The smell rose all round him.’

‘What is kokowai?’ asked Matiu.

‘It is a mixture of red ochre and shark oil and the people in the olden days used it to decorate themselves. But the patupaiarehe hated smells and the maiden who was chasing Ihenga hated smells even more than the older patupaiarehe. As soon as the smell of the kokowai reached her she wrinkled her nostrils in disgust and went straight back up the mountain.’

‘Gosh, that was smart of Ihenga,’ said Matiu.

‘Yes, it was very smart of him. He was soon down beside the lake again and there he found his dear wife and he told her about his adventure with the Patupaiarehe.’

‘Ae, a good story,’ said Matiu, ‘But where do you come in?’

‘I'm coming to that,’ said the pipi shell. ‘Ihenga was very interested in the Patupaiarehe and having heard that the maiden who had chased him was now safely married to one of her own tribe, he went back to Ngongotaha to visit the fairy folk. After that he became very friendly with them and it happened that when he was lost in the bush one day they came along and showed him the way out, Another day he found himself surrounded by about ten men of an enemy tribe and although he was very brave and a skilful fighter he knew he was no match for ten men. These people wasted time taunting Ihenga, reminding him what they would soon be doing to him and during these few minutes the patupaiarehe heard Ihenga's call for help and before the enemy could come close in and kill Ihenga, a thick fog arose up from the ground and hid him from their sight. Once again his friends had saved him.

Now Ihenga was very grateful and wondered what he could do for his friends in return. He made his way to the top of Ngongotaha and he asked the chief, O chief, what do you desire? I am sincerely grateful for your help and kindness to me. What do you desire? Do you wish me to go on a dangerous mission? Ask of me what you will and I will do everything I can to bring it about.’

‘My friend,’ answered the chief, ‘Now that you have asked me I can tell you that I desire above all things a meal of the sweet toheroa that are to be found at Whakatane. It will be a dangerous mission for you will pass through enemy country and I'm afraid our people can't escort you further than Tarawera mountain as that is the border of our territory.’

‘It shall be done,’ said Ihenga. Now it so happened that as he was leaving who should come running after him but the same patupaiarehe girl who had chased him before. What now, thought Ihenga and he was relieved when she called out that she had something to tell him about the patupaiarehe chief. ‘Ihenga,’ she said, ‘Our chief is really very sick. He needs the toheroa to make him well and he needs them quickly.’

He shall have them quickly,’ said Ihenga. When he reached his village he collected all the slaves he could find and set off at once for Whakatane. As he went he stationed slaves here and there along the track so there would be relays of swift runners to take the toheroa back to Ngongotaha.

Some other time I will tell you of that journey of Ihenga's. How he met with storm and battle and what a terrible time he had before he reached the beach of the toheroa. But he did reach it and his slaves soon had many kits filled with the shell fish. Immediately they turned in the direction of Rotorua and were away with their food treasure. You realise, of course, there was need to hurry; one reason was the old chief needed the toheroa to make him well and another reason was the patupaiarehe didn't eat cooked food so it was

(concluded on p. 48)

He Ahuatanga o Nehera

Kia oro Waikato mo nga manaaki i te huihuinga mo te Kingi i Ngaruawahia te nui o te kai te nui o te korero a te Maori ana tino kinaki mo te Hui.

I reira katoa te motu, i reira te Tairawhiti, i reira te Tokerau.

I te Hatarei i te Ratapu i te rangatahi te kororia o te hui. i a ratou mahi takaro i nga mahi takaro i nga mahi whakataetae haka whakataetae waiata. Kei te haere nga mahi a te rangatahi kei te whakaeke tonu nga pakeke inahoki no te Ratapu rawa ka whakaeke a Taranaki. Kei te whakamutumutu nga mahi waiata nga mahi haka a te rangatahi ka whakaeke te ope o Taranaki—i kona ka puta a te Maori ana tangi ko te awa o Waikato e tangi ana ki te maunga o Taranaki. I te Mane te 8 o nga ra o Oketopa ko nga pakeke anake i noho iho ki te ra o Koroki i hokihoki te rangatahi ki a ratou na mahi.

Kore i arikarika te tangata i hui ki Ngaruawahia a ka kaha a Waikato ki te whangai i ana manuhiri mano atu mano atu i reira te motu katoa.

Na Maharaia Winiata nga kaupapa korero a tae atu ana nga poroaki ki o tatou tohunga kia tae

 

The Hosts at the anniversary celebrations at Turangawaewae had seen to it that there was no lack of the two things needed for a successful hui, plenty of good food and plenty of things to talk about.

The tribal representation was extremely wide; the East Coast and far Northland some very distinguished leaders among the visitors.

During the weekend, the great majority of visitors were younger people who were principally interested in the wide sports programme and the action song competition. Gradually more older people started to arrive, such as the large group from Taranaki which was welcomed on Sunday afternoon. They came during the action song programme. At once a solemn and traditional atmosphere returned to the marae as the great mountain of Taranaki kept its copious greetings before the river of the hundred taniwha. On the Monday, 8th October, the day of the Coronation ceremonies, the young people had mostly returned to work and the older ones had the day to themselves.

Visitors fed during the hui numbered near to 3,000 during the weekend. As is the custom, visitors from far away were the first to be admitted to the dining halls. Over 7,000 meals were served every day in perfect time and order.

Apart from the tribes of the Tainui canoe,

 

 

ki te hui. I reira a Te Aka Rapana raua ko Hori Keeti a i haere mai raua me o raua ana iwi hei huruhuru mo o raua waewae.

Ko te take tuatahi a Maharaia Winiata me whakakotahi nga iwi o te Motu ki raro i te Kingitanga o Waikato. Ko ta te kotahitanga he pupuri te Maoritanga a ma nga komiti marae e whakatinana nga kaupapa o te kotahitanga. Ko te runanga o te tekau ma rua hei tohutohu i a Koroki. Kaore i tutuki nga kaupapa a Maharaia te whakamarama i te nui tonu o nga mahi me nga korero hei aruaru haere.

I tu a Iriaka Ratana te mema mo te Taihauauru, a Peta Awatere me Nehe Rire o Ngatiporou ki te whakapuaki i o ratou na whakaaro. I whakaae a Peta raua ko Nehe ki te kotahitanga hei hapai i te Maoritanga engari kaua e kawea ki raro i te mana o te Kingitanga. He nui a raua mihi ki a Maharaia mo ona whakaaro.

Haere ki whea, haere ki whea ka rangona nga korero a tena a ko te whakaaro nui o Tainui waka me waiho ta ratou mokopuna ma ratou ano e awhi. Ko etahi ano i whakaae nga ngakau ki te katoa o te kaupapa a Maharaia.

I whakatupato a Iriaka kei waiho te kotahitanga hei aruaru i nga whakaaro o te rangatahi.

Ko etahi ano i ki e tika ana kia whai wahi te rangatahi ki nga korero engari ia ko ta te rangatahi ki nga korero engari ia ko ta te rangatahi waiho ma nga pakeke nga korero.

Te kaha o Waikato ki te takatu i te taha o nga

 

 

there were parties from Ngati Porou, Whanau Apanui, Whakatohea, Tuhoe, Ngati Poneke, Hokianga Ngati Whatua and others.

For the people a feast of discussion had been prepared. Invitations had been sent to all the tribes. In most of the tribal parties there were some people who came to Turangawaewae out of interest for the discussions which took place in the meeting house Pare Hauraki at night and on the marae on the Monday.

The Constitution of the Kingship and the machinery by which the constitution operates was explained to the visiting delegations. Discussions then took place as to whether such as institution could be adopted by tribes who generally have not accepted its principles for the last 50 years.

Speakers expressed interest in some organisation which would enable the whole of the Maori race to express its aspirations with one voice.

Prominent amongst the speakers were Mrs Iriaka Ratana, M.P., Mr Arnold Reedy, Lt-Col. Awatere and Hiroki Tangaere Waikare of Ngati Porou, Mr Hori Gage of Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Tongaawhikau, Te Kahui and Rangihuna of Taranaki. Te Aka Rapana from North Auckland and Te Ngakahu of Whakatohea.

The crowd was excellently disciplined and well conducted. Where needed, the marae police performed its task swiftly, efficiently yet gently. To the young people from the towns, it was a great

 

 

ahi. Ko ratou anake ahakoa te haere atu o etahi ki te whakatau atu.

Ka mutu pea i te iwi i hui ki Ngaruawahia te pai o te noho kaore he tutu kaore he aha, ka mutu ano ta nga pirihimana o te marae he haere-ere noa. He tino harare taua hui ki te katoa noa iho o te tangata. Ki te rangatahi he oranga ngakau te kitekite i o ratou matua tipuna.

I riro i a Ngati Poneke te Wikitoria mo nga mahi haka mahi poi a i a Tuhourangi mo nga waiata. Ka mutu i te rangatahi mo enei tu mahi ara ia i nga tamariki rawa atu.

I riro i te tiima o Tuwharetoa te hira mo te mahi purei whutupaoro 17 a Tuwharetoa e 3 a Maniapoto. I riro i a Tuhourangi te kapu a Te Pakaia a kei a ratou tepurei a tera tau ki a Tuwharetoa mo te hira mo te Koroneihana.

Iriro i te tiima o Aotearoa nga purei ma nga wahine ara te Basketball.

 

feeling to be free from the claims of city life and for a short period feel once again like members of a tribe in a meeting house. The old people too, in these days of rapid progress found the return to traditional ways to life a happy change and soothing to the nerves. One family in Katikati who had just moved into a modern house had been glad to see the old people go to the hui. They had been so upset by all the violent changes in moving house and getting into an unfamiliar environment that it was thought the hui would do them good.

The Hira Cup for hakas, pois and action songs was won by a well-disciplined and workmanlike display by Ngati Poneke; a lively and entertaining Tuhourangi performance came second and the local team, entirely composed of boys and girls from the Hamilton Technical College, very spirited and expressive, were given third place.

Ka nui nga whare kua hanga i tenei tau kua taha ake nei ki nga rohe tino Maori rawa atu i mua ake nei koore i mohio he aha tenei mea a te whare totika. Ina te korero mo aua rohe.

He pa tawhito a Rereatukahia kei te takiwa o Katikati. Ko tetahi korero mo Katikati no namata rano e ki ana rokohanga atu e Tamatekapua kua uru te kiore ki te pataka kai. Kaore i reka te kai ki a Tamatekapua i tona mohiotanga engari i kai katikati noa iho ia.

Ko te hunga kei Katikati e noho ana i tenei ra he iwi pukumahi. Ka nga tane kei nga mira, kei nga mahi huarahi a kei te reiriwei e mahi ana. Ko nga wahine kei nga mara kai, riwai, riki, ropere a asparagus e mahi ana. Ko etahi o nga tamariki i haere ki nga taone engari kaore i roa kua hoki mai ki te kainga ki te wahi matareka ki a ratoa.

I enei tau ka taha ake nei ka hokona e nga tane etahi rakau tawhito a hangaia ana he whare mo a ratou whanau ki te pa. I hangaia aua whare ki nga wahi katoa, a kaore i whakaarotia i tera wa me waiho he wahi kia watea ana hei huarahi. He pai tonu nga whare i te timatanga engari inaianei kua kanukanu a whakarihariha ana tera ki te matakitaki. Kei te mohio tonu iho te hunga noho i aua whare ki te he o ta ratou noho engari raha tonu nga whakaaro me pehea ra te rongoa. Kei te nui tonu te mahi me te moni.

Inatata nei ka haere tetahi pakeha ki te whakaa-hua haere i taua pa a kitea rawatia ake e mau ana aua ahua i roto i nga nupepa. Ka hu taua hunga he nanu ki te mahi a taua pakeha a whakataua ana me hanga he patu mo to ratou pa hei arai atu i te tangata.

Kaore te mate i mutu ki reira. Kua oho te Kauti Kaunihera a ka tae ki te whakahe i aua whare, me te tono ki te Tari Maori kia awhinatia taua hunga.

Ehara te Tari Maori i te tauhou ki taua hunga, kua tae nga awhina ki to ratou Komiti a iwi hei

 

Over the last year many new homes have been built in the most conservative settlements in the Maori world, where modern housing conditions were previously unknown. This story tells how new homes came to these settlements, improving material conditions but keeping intact the valuable traditional arts of the people.

Rereatukahia Pa, near Katikati, is quite an ancient settlement. One story about Katikati goes back as far as the times of Tamatekapua who is said to have visited the pa one day when rats had managed to get into the pataka. It was a great misfortune, because it was impossible to hide what had happened from the illustrious visitors who only sampled his food (kaikati) and did not eat much.

Those who live there today are hardworking people; the men labour in the nearby mills and for the Ministry of Works and the Railways; the women have for many years worked seasonally for the local croppers growing potatoes, onions strawherries and asparagus. Some of the younger people have tried living in the towns, but never stay away long; usually they are again after one or two months, because prefer the pa environment.

Some years ago, the men bought some hand timber and other building materia built wooden houses in the pa. Following Maori way, they placed the houses irregular over the papakainga, without thought of planning of roading. These houses soon deteriorated and began to offer an unpleasant sight to visitors and tradespeople. At the same time was an atmosphere of gloom and misery because people were aware of the conditions witout knowing how they could be remedied. Pogress was everywhere around them, but they left behind.

One day last year a pakeha visitor around the pa taking photographs and soon afther, to the people's horror, these photographs ed in a large newspaper of very wide tire. The people had a meeting to discuss he were going to meet this situation and the sion was; to build a fence round the whole pa, and stop all visitors from coming in.

However, the matter did not end the publicity had roused the County Council condemned the existing houses and fin

 

 

whakahou i to ratou whare kai a i karangatia he hui i tera tau hei rapu huarahi hei rongoa i o ratou mate. Otira i te uaua o te whakatikatika i nga taitara o nga whenua tuunga whare e kore e taea te rongoa wawe aua mate.

Kei te haere tonu nga hui tohutohu. Inahoki kua tae te Apiha Toko i te ora me te tangata mahi kari ki te korero ki taua hunga mo nga mahi hanga whare a whakapaipai marae hoki kua whakaaritia nga mahi kari mo nga roro whare me te whakamatakitaki hoki i nga whare kei te hang-aia e te Tari Maori mo te hunga whai whakaaro a manawanui kia whiwhi ratou

Kua karangarangatia he hui ma te hunga no ratou nga whenua kei runga nga whare i tutu ana a i tae te apiha whakatopu paanga ki aua hui. I whai hua aua hui motemea he tokomaha te hunga kua takoto a ratou tono ki te Tari Maori mo nga awhina hanga whare ka nui te whakama o nga pakeke mo to ratou ingoa kinotanga mo te porohe o ratou whare a kei te pakari o ratou whakaaro kia tutuki nga awhina hanga whare a te Tari Maori.

I te taenga o Te Ao Hou ki Rereatukahia kua oti te ono o nga whare tekau ma rua. I te ngaro ke nga tane ki te mahi engari ko nga wahine i te kainga e mahi taonga ana hei whakapaipai i o ratou whare hou. Kua uru nga moenga me nga

 

 

Department of Maori Affairs was called in to help.

 

 

aha ake ki roto i aua whare ka mutu kei te toe ko te whakapai haere i nga marae he mahi kari me te aha ake. Kua tata nga mahi kai ka raru-raru nga wahine na reira taihoa ake te mahia ai nga kari.

Kaore ano kia uru he tangata ki roto i aua whare noho ai motemea kaore ano kia uru noa te hiko, kia oti rano te hiko ka whakanohonoho ai te hunga no ratou nga whare kia noho pai ai aua whare kei kuka wawe i te auahi a kei paru hoki ite hinu kanara, kei te tika tera.

Kei te whakahihi rawa atu taua hunga mo o ratou whare hou, he timatanga tera mo nga ahutanga pai. He nui nga mahi a iwi i kite Te Ao Hou. Ko Ripine Wharekaua to ratou kuia mohio ki te waiata a mana e whakaakoako te rangatahi. He iwi kai ngakau taua hunga ki nga taonga Maori.

Ehara i te mea i whaiti nga mahi penei a te Tari Maori ki Katikati ara atu ara atu engari na nga nupepa i panui ko tenei. Ka kite te Tari Maori i te iwi e noho porohe ana ka rapa ia he rongoa. Ko te nuinga o nga mate penei na te kuare ki nga huarahi whakatikatika. Kua haere nga apiha o te Tari Maori ki te tirotiro i tana 42 rohe kei te noho he tana 4000 Maori. Kaore te Tari Maori e hopu noa ake ana ka timata ki te mahi engari matua korerorerotia ai ki te iwi Kei Ratana. kei Ngongotaha, kei Katikati hui katoa kua oti tana 36 whare a 13 nga mea kei te whakaaroaroa mo te mahi. Kei te haere tonu nga mahi whare mo te hunga kei te tono whare mo ratou i waho atu o nga mahi penei me Katikati. Ko te whai kia oti tana rua toru whare ki nga rohe he hei tauira hei whainga ma etahi. Ka oti he whare kitea tonutia ake te rangarangaihitanga mai o nga tangata mo ratou nga whare, kaore e roa kua oti he kari kua tipu he putiputi.

Ahakoa he tokoiti te iwi kei te noho he engari ia ko nga mahi hei whakatikatika i o ratou makenu ara noa atu.

 

heads of families applied to have houses built under the Maori Housing Scheme. The elders still regretted the publicity they had been given and the shame it had brought on the community, but they were ready to work with the department and happy to pay for the new houses.

When Te Ao Hou visited Rereatukahia Pa, six of the twelve houses had just been completed. The men were all at work, but the women were busy making curtains. Furniture had already been bought for the new houses which looked lovely inside. Unfortunately the houses had been finished too late to lay out gardens this year, and the women were just about to return to their seasonal jobs.

We noticed that the houses were not yet occupied. It was explained that the power board had not yet connected the power (although when this article is printed, no doubt this will have been done) and it would be such a pity if the new houses were spoilt by cooking over an open fire (the stoves are electric) and the children dropping candle grease over the walls. No doubt the house-wifely instinct was right and it was better to wait a few days.

(concluded on page 57)

NGA WEERA E TORU

To Matou Kainga, kei te taha uru o te rohe e kiia nei i te reo pakeha, Bay of Plenty. Huri haere i tenei wahi he hiwi anake, a etahi o nga hiwi nei, ki te titiro atu a te tangata, ano he weera, kua puta mai i te wai ki te whakata i o ratou manawa. Ko to matou whare kura, kei

 

THE THREE WHALES

We live in the Western Bay of Plenty where there are many gently rolling hills. Many of them are double-humped and evidently reminded our Maori ancestors of whales surfacing to air. Our school is surrounded by hills of this type. This is an old Maori legend concerning them.

 

 

waenganui i enei hiwi. He korero ano mo enei hiwi, a ko tenei te pakiwaitara.

I nga wa o mua, tena pea te nui o te weera i tenei wahi, ara, i te kokoru.

I tetahi ata, ka kau haere tetahi weera me tana kuao, engari no te tata rawa ki uta, ka mau i runga i te one. Ahakoa pehea te kaha o te korikori o nga weera hei kia hoki ai raua ki te wahi hohonu o te moana, kihai i taea. I te tawaritanga, ka titiro haere te katua ka kite i tetahi puna wai. I tana matewai, katahi a ia ka kori haere atu ki te puna nei ki te whakangata i tana hiahia. Te wai nei, he wai makutu, a i te inuhanga o te katua, huri ana a ia hei hiwi.

Na, i te whainga i tana whaea, ka kite te kuao i te puna nei ka inu, ka mate, ka takoto i te taha o tana whaea, he hiwi ano. No reira e rua enei hiwi, tetahi he hiwi nui tetahi he hiwi iti.

I tenei wa katoa, tera te matua e whakaaro ana i te ngaro o tana whanau i to ratou kainga moana. Kapi katoa i a ia nga hohonutanga o te moana. kahore kau i kitea, Katahi a ia ka haere ki te rapu haere i uta, a ka kite i tana whanau kotahi maero te tawhiti, atu i uta. Ka karangatia e ia tana whanau, ka hamamatia tu, kahore i aro mai. No reira ka kori haere atu ki te tiki i tana whanau. I te taenga ki taua puna nei, ka inu a ia, mate ana, a waiho ana e toru nga hiwi nei.

I enei wa, ka kitea ano nga hiwi nei, ko Kopukairua i te tonga, ko Mangatawa tapu i te raki, a kei te taha ko te kuao kahore nei he ingoa.

 

 

Once upon a time the Bay of Plenty was apparently a favourite spot for roaming whales. One sunny morning a mother whale with her little bull-calf strayed too close to shore where they became stranded. Furiously they struggled to regain the ocean depths but in vain. In their exhaustion Mother Whale espied a nearby spring to which she wriggled. Thirstily she drank with mighty gulps but unfortunately the water contained magic. Lo and behold, life left her body; she became a gently-rolling hill.

In search of his mother Baby Whale came upon the self same spring. He also drank from it and he also became a gently-rolling hill, nestling beside his mother. There were now two hills, one big and the other small. Father Whale worried about the mysterious disappearance of his family from their ocean home. Where could they be? He wandered everywhere searching all the depths of the ocean.

Finally, in desperation, he decided to search the land. With a heave of his gigantic body he was ashore and there, about a mile inland was his family. He called to them; he bellowed; but there was no response. Lashing his powerful tail he struggled towards them. Thirst stopped him at the magic spring. He drank. There were now three gently-rolling hills. There they have remained to this day where, to our south lies Kopukairua, while, to the north lies sacred Mangatawa with the nameless baby close beside her.

 

 

Katahi a ia ka ngau i te harakeke here i a ia, a i tana waimarie, pakaru ana. Ka piki a ia ma te puaretanga ki te tuanui o te whare ka peke ki runga i etahi harakeke, oma atu ana. I a ia e oma haere ana, ka tutaki ohorere a ia i tetahi o ana tangata ano, e kimi ana i a ia, katahi raua tahi ka oma.

I muri tata tonu i a raua ko te hoariri, na te mea i kitea a Mataroria e tetahi o nga kaititiro e peke ana i te pakitara. Kua puao tonu hoki, engari kahore i tino roa ka tae te tokorua nei ki tetahi repo.

Katahi te rangatira nei ka kite i tana hoa e hinga ana i runga i nga paretai e rua o te repo nei, a he tao i roto i tana pakihiwi.

I tana hoa e takoto ana, ka whiti te tangata nei i runga i a ia ano he piriti, engari tera tetahi o nga toa a te hoariri, i peke ki runga ki te tupapaku. I te peketanga ano, tau anaki te taha o te rangatira o Pipiwai nee, engari i paoa te mahunga o te toa nei ki te mere, puta atu ana a Mataroria.

Kanui te koa o tana iwi i te hokinga atu o to ratou rangatira, a, no tetahi o nga ra katahi te rangatira nei me ana tangata tekau ma rua ka haere ki te tanu i to ratou hoa pumau.

 

 

tied and locked in a tall whare, near and higher than the pa's wall. The warriors and chief held a council. The victim would be cooked in a hangi, for the morning.

The prisoner sat on a log, watching through a slit in the raupo roof, but suddenly he had an idea to escape. Gnawing the flax steadily, it soon snapped under the sharp teeth for good luck was with him. He climbed through the roof and jumped on to a flax dump. Running wildly over stumps, suddenly he met one of his own men, who was looking for him; he was tall and slim. They were being closely followed, because a sentry saw him leap the wall. Dawn was now very near. Soon the two escapers reached a swamp. The chief saw his friend falling over the two swamp banks, with a spear in the shoulder. Using his friend as a bridge, he walked across, but one warrior as fast as the others jumped on the corpse. With a leap he landed near the escaping Pipiwai chief, but then a mere crashed on the warrior's head. Mataroria escaped.

He had a very warm welcome by his own tribe. Next day the chief and twelve warriors went to bury their loyal friend.

 

 

I aua wa, kahore te kuri e whai haere i tana rangatira, engari haere ke ai ko ia ano, no reira he mea miharo tenei, ara, he whai haere tonu te kuri a te kuia nei i a ia, a, kahore rawa e whakarere i tana taha.

I a ia e noho ana i runga i te maunga, ka kite te kuia nei i etahi waka ke e haere mai ana i te wahapu. Mohio tonu a ia he taua, heke tonu iho i nga taha poupou o te maunga ki te whakatupato i tana iwi, a ko te tere o tana haere ko te tere e whakaaetia e nga waewae ngoikore. Ko tana kuri e pahu wairangi ana i muri i a ia ano e whakatupato ana i te kuia nei kei uru ki te mate. I a ia e oma ana, ka pareti te kuia nei, taka ana i te taha o te maunga.

Kahore te kuia nei a i kaha ki te whakaora i a ia ano, a, taka haere ana ki raro me tana kuri pono e peke haere ana i muri.

Te ahua i mate te kuia nei i a ia e taka haere ano, no te mea kahore ia i whakamatau ki te whakaora i a ia ano, a, i te taenga ki te mata o te pari, rere atu ana ki roto i te moana.

Katahi te kuri nei ka peke ki roto ki te wai ki te whakaora i tana rangatira, a mau ana i a ia i ana niho, engari kahore a ia i kaha ki te hari ki uta. Kahore a ia i tuku i te kuia nei toremi ana i tana taha.

Tena te hari o nga atua i te mahi toa a te kuri nei, whakahurihia ana raua ko te kuia hei toka, a ko enei toka nga kaitiaki inaianei a ka kitea i raro o Maunganui.

Nga Maori katoa e hipa ana i nga toka nei, whiu kai ai ki runga i a kuia, no te mea e mohio ana ka hari nga atua a ka marino tonu te moana, kia whai hua ai a ratou hiinga ika.

 

 

kuia was that wherever she went she was accompanied by her dog. In those days it was very unusual for a dog to follow its owner everywhere as dogs were more independent and not so loyal as they are today. But the old kuia's dog never left her side. As she sat on the mountain top, she suddenly noticed strange canoes making for the narrow channel that leads into the harbour. She realized that this was a war party and she set off down the steep sides as fast as her feeble legs could carry her, to give the alarm. The dog yelped excitedly after her as if to warn her that she was in danger. Then she lost her footing and went hurtling down the mountainside. Unable to save herself the kuia rolled down, down, down, down, and the faithful dog jumped and bounced behind her.

She must have died during her fall, for she made no effort to save herself. She came to the edge of the precipice and catapulted into the sea.

Then, most remarkable of all, the faithful dog plunged over the cliff too to save his mistress. He held her with his strong teeth, but he could not bring her to shore. Rather than let go he drowned beside the old woman.

The gods were so pleased with this heroic deed, that they turned both the old woman and the dog into everlasting rocks and they can still be seen today guarding the channel at the foot of Maunganui.

Every Maori who passes there will throw food to the Kuia Rock because he knows that this will please the gods and the sea will be kept calm and his fishing expedition will be successful.

 

 

tawaritanga, ka tau a ia ki runga i tetahi toka. Tenei toka he toka makutu, a no te taunga ka huri a ia hei whakapakoko, a ka kitea te whakapakoko kauri nei i roto o Whangaroa i tenei ra.

 

and had to land on a rock, and by magic she turned into a statue which can be seen today as a Kauri statue in the middle of the Whangaroa harbour.

NGA WHAKATAUAKI ME NGA PEPEHA A TE MAORI

He maha nga whakatauki e rangona ana i tena marae, i tena marae, mo nga tini aitua, mo nga mate hoki. Kei nga tangihanga ka rangona te hohonutanga o nga korero. Na, e whai ake nei etahi o aua whakatauki: “He matua pou whare, e rokohia ana; he matua tangata, e kore e rokohia.” Kei te marama te takoto o nga korero nei. Ko te pou whare ka tu tonu, ahakoa pehea te tawhito. Ko te tangata, kua oti ke te korero mai e Rawiri: “Nga ra o o matou tau, e whitu tekau tau; a, ki te whai kaha, a ka waru tekau nga tau: Heoi he mahi mauiui, he pouri to ratou kaha.” Ko te pou rakau ka tu tonu, engari ano te tangata he rite tonu te hinga i tena ra, i tena ra.

“Ehara i te ti, e wana ake”: Ko te rakau nei ko te ti, ki etahi he kouka, he kauka ranei, ki te tapahia ana, e kore e roa i muri mai, ka kitea nga pihi e tupu mai ana i te taha o te tumutumu. Otira he maha nga rakau e penei ana te ahua. Ahakoa pehea te tapatapahi a te tangata, ka tupu ake ano. He rereke te tangata. Ki te hinga te tangata i tetahi mate, e kore ano ia e ara mai. Na reira te tika o te whakatauki nei: “Ehara i te ti, e wana ke.”

“He matua waka e taea te raupine mai; he matua whare, e taea te ropiropi e te ringaringa; he matua tangata, ki te mate ana, e kore rawa a taea te raupine mai e te ringaringa.” Ko tenei whakatauki ataahua, na Kingi Matutaera, ko tona ingoa e mohiotia nuitia ana ko Kingi Tawhiao. He whakahoki nana ki a Kawana Paraone mo te tono a te kawanatanga ki a ia, kia rangi-

 

Throughout the ‘maraes’ of the Country, are heard several proverbs and sayings in connection with deaths. Indeed it is at ‘tangis’ that orations of exceptional quality are given. Here are a few of the sayings commonly heard in connection with deaths:

“The main ridge pole of a house may be found (i.e., it will always stand); not so an adult.”

(Note: It is well to point out that a Maori proverb loses its quality and full force when it is translated into another language. In some instances, the translations are very ‘free’, but in all cases, the principle of the proverb is retained. Then too, there are a number of well-known Maori words which are best left untranslated to preserve euphony, e.g., “Tangi” is more appropriate than “utter a plaintive cry”, and so on. The reader who is a non-Maori linguist, is therefore requested to learn the proverbs in Maori, but refer to the English version and explanations for the meaning.)

The intention of this first saying is to convey the fact that whereas ridge poles of a house may and will last some considerable time, provided that they are properly ‘cured’ and cared for, man has a limited life here on earth and the Psalmist has declared, “the days of our age are threescore years and ten, and though men be so strong that they come to fourscore years, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone.” A ridge pole can stand erect for years, but man is called to his eternal rest daily.

“Unlike the ti (cordyline), it will never bud.” The various species of the cordyline are noted for their ability to survive in spite of the serious prunings they receive. Even one cut to ground level normally produces young shoots. Moreover, they can easily be transplanted from cuttings. Man is quite the opposite. Once he falls (dies), he will never rise again.

“A canoe may be repaired; a house may be fashioned by hand; a man whom death claims, can never be restored to life by human hands.” The three treasured possessions of the early Maori were his canoe, meeting-house and life. Without his canoe, he was almost helpless. Without his meeting house, he was regarded as a ‘commoner.’ Without his ‘life’ he would not exist! It was therefore natural that a number of his early sayings were closely allied to these three. In this

 

 

marie a ia mo te tono a te kawanatanga kia tukuna etahi o nga whenua o Waikato ki raro i te mana o te kawanatanga o taua wa. I korerotia e Paora Te Muera tenei whakatauki i te matenga o Te Puea Herangi, a na te ataahua o tenei whakatauki, a he tika tonu hoki ki nga ahuatanga e pa ana ki nga mate, na reira ka tangia kei ngaro. He mea mama noa iho te tiki atu i te waka tere. He mea mama noa iho te whakatikatika i te whare, mehemea ka hinga tetahi paatu, tetahi atu waki ranei; engari ki te hinga te tangata e kore rawa e taea te rarau atu e te ringaringa. Me mutu nga whakatauki tupapaku i konei.

“E ki ana ahau, i whangaia koe ki te nene o te tamure o Whangapanui, kia tiu koe, kia oha.” Ka maranga a Maruiwi me tona ope taua, ka whakaekengia tetahi pa, ko Oue. Ka tata haere te ope nei ki te pa, ka whakaaro a Maruiwi pai ke to ratou whakarite i a ratou ki te manu, kia kore ai e whakapaengia he ope taua kei te haere atu. Kati, tatari rawa ratou kia po ka whakaeke ai ratou, na, po rawa ake, ka rangona te kiwi, te weka, te kakapo me nga momo manu katoa e tangitangi ana, ano nei kei waho tonu i te pa.

Tera te rangatira o te pa ra, a Tamaruarangi, kua rongo ke mai i nga tangi manu ra, na kua mohio ke mai a ia, ehara nga tangi ra i te tangi manu. Ano ra ko ia: “He oi noa nga kai o te kainga o Tamaruarangi.” Ka whakapae a ia kei te whakaekengia tona pa e te hoariri. I te atatu, e moemoe tonu ana nga tangata o te pa, ka puta te taua. Ka hinga i reira te pa o Oue, engari i mauria hereherengia a Tamaruarangi, tana tama me etahi atu, tokoiti nei. Ka tae ratou ki te pa o Maruiwi, ka ata hereherengia nga ika o te pakanga, a ko Tama he mea here ki ona ake kakahu. I a ia e takoto ana, ka ki ake a ia ki tana tama: “E ki ana ahau, i whangaia koe ki te nene o te tamure o Whanga panui (he toka kei waho o Ohope) kia tiu koe, kia oha”. Mohio tonu atu te tamaiti ra, he tohu tera mona hei omanga. Te tunga ake o te tamaiti, ka makere nga here i runga i a ia, ka kapo ki tana taiaha, turakina ake tana hoariri, a oma ana. Ko te ‘nene’ ko te ngako o te tamure, na ko nga kupu nei ‘kia tiu, kia oha’ he korero whakahau kia horo te haere ki te kimi i tetahi atu ope taua hei utu mo to ratou patunga.

 

instance, the late Kingi Tawhiao whose original name was Kingi Matutaera and who was the second Maori King, was approached by the then governor of New Zealand (Governor Browne) to reconsider the government's request for a major portion of the lands, originally owned by his (Tawhiao's) revered elders and tribesmen of the Waikato territory, to be passed over under government control. Kingi Tawhiao realising that to accede to this request would mean the dishonouring of an oath to preserve their lands, uttered this famous saying. The loss of a canoe or a meeting house can be remedied, but the loss of human life is irreparable, and in view of his oath, Tawhiao could not grant the Governor's wishes. The saying was quoted by Canon Paora Te Muera at the death of Princess Te Puea Herangi, and the free translation given, clearly sets out the meaning.

“It is my belief that you were reared on the fat of the schnapper to enable you to organize an avenging party promptly.”

It was one, Maruiwi, who organised a war party to invade Oue pa. On nearing the pa, the leader decided that it would be best that they should imitate birds to deceive their enemies. It was agreed that the final approach be made at night, and when darkness fell, the cries of supposed kiwis, wekas and other birds were heard not far from the pa. In the meantime, Tamaruarangi, chief of Oue pa, had heard these peculiar sounds and was quite convinced that they did not come from birds, for he knew that only mutton birds were to be found in the district. He realised after a while that an approaching war party was responsible for the sounds. At early dawn, whilst the people still slept, the invaders fell upon their victims and great was the fall of that pa. Tamaruarangi, his son and a few others, were however taken captives. Tama, whilst lying helpless bound with his own clothes, looked up to his son, and quoted the saying which has now become proverbial. On hearing his father, the son broke loose, seized a ‘taiaha’ and struck his guard a heavy blow, after which he escaped. Whangapanui is a rock off Ohope beach, and the ‘nene’ or ‘fat’ of the schnapper was a special relish reserved for the elite and notable warriors.

Maori Chants on Old Phonograph Records

An attempt is to be made to preserve on modern recordings many hundreds of old Maori chants and speeches which were first recorded about the turn of the century and the years following.

The chants were collected by the late Sir Apirana Ngata, Te Rangihiroa (Sir Peter Buck) and others on the old type of cylindrical wax phonograph records, but at present there is no phonograph suitable for playing this type of record in such a way that copies can be made.

The Wellington Branch of the New Zealand Electronics Institute has now decided to see if it can devise some means of re-recording these cylinders.

If the experiment is successful it will mean that a wonderful store of history which might otherwise have been lost will be opened. The cylinders have been in such condition for many years that it has been impossible to play them.

At present they are stored in such places as the Turnbull library, museums and Maori Purposes Fund Board rooms. The re-recording is financed by the Maori Purposes Fund Board.

What weapons did the pre-European Maori have? How did he use them?

Many people give cosmetics as Christmas presents. Here are some facts about how they should be utilized.

MAORIS TO GIVE ADVICE ON EDUCATION

An experiment to determine the needs of Maori school children is being made at four schools by the Auckland Education Board. The selected schools have a high proportion of Maori pupils. The board has established extra facilities at them —special reading materials, an arrangement whereby Maori children may take library books home, extra first-aid and medical supplies, and hot showers. The secretary-manager, Mr G. H. Short-land, said the board is communicating with the Maori Affairs Department on the question of co-opting two representatives of the Maori people to assist its committee on Maori education. One would represent the Maoris north of Auckland, and the other those in the south.

Maori T.B. Investigated

In 1935 Dr H. B. Turbott, new Assistant Director-General of Health, made a study of tuberculosis amongst the Maoris of the East Coast, Nurse Wehipeihana assisting him in his research. This study revealed that we were up against a very big problem. As a help to over-come infection in the homes he recommended the use of T.B. huts in order to keep sick cases out of the homes and so prevent the spread of infection amongst the rest of the family. It is certain that, where properly used, these T.B. huts do save a lot of infection, and they are still available and used for this purpose. The principle of using the huts is sound when treatment is refused or is not likely to lead to a real cure of the disease.

Though chest clinics had been operating in the South Island for quite a number of years prior to 1935, it was not until that year that chest clinics for the country districts of the North Island were begun. There had, of course, been chest clinics in the main centres, but there was nothing for the smaller places. However, in 1935, Dr Hugh Short and myself began these country chest clinics. We tried to do what is now done by at least 8 doctors and the clinics were admittedly inadequate, but at least it was a start. The size of the problem of T.B. amongst the Maoris was soon apparent, as Dr Turbott had discovered. To cope with Maori tuberculosis was to be a very big task. In 1944 the chest clinic service began to be more adequate. Dr Short went to Hamilton to do chest clinics for the Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua and Thames districts and I took over the East Coast, Wairoa, Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa districts. Soon after this Dr Priest went to Wanganui to do the West Coast (North Island) and Main Trunk areas. Later Dr Webb went to North Auckland, Dr Tyler took over the Rotorua and Bay of Plenty districts and I handed over the northern half of my district to Dr Simpson. The value of the Chest Clinics has, as a result, been greatly increased. Much greater individual cure of cases has been made possible. In addition, B.C.G. Vaccination, a most valuable form of protection, especially for infants and children exposed to infection, has become much more readily available and has already shown its very great value. It would be a good thing if all Maori children had B.C.G. Ask the District Nurse about it.

Effect of Chest Clinics

It is an interesting fact that, soon after the augmented Chest Clinic service became available, the Maori death rate from tuberculosis began to fall rapidly. In fact, when shown on a chart, it is most spectacular, an almost vertical drop. From 1920 till 1945 the figure had remained well over the 300 per 100,000. After 1945 the rate fell rapidly. By 1954 it was down to 78 which is less than the European rate for 1900. It looks as if the figure will continue to fall, though one cannot say if it will fall as rapidly as it has done in the last few years. However, this big drop in the death rate is a most hopeful augury.

But the Maori death rate is still too high. It is still about seven times as great as the European death rate and the Maoris have still a long way to go before they catch up. There can be no slackening of the efforts to conquer tuberculosis. It is no use being satisfied with present results and resting on our oars. That can only lead to disaster. It is only by team work on the part of the doctors, the nurses and the Maori people that T.B. amongst the Maoris can really be brought under control. The doctors can supply the specialised advice and treatment, the nurses can help by home visits and guidance, but the Maori people themselves have a great part to play by seeking to attain better standards of living, and by co-operating with Chest Clinics and with the advice given by the doctors and nurses.

Importance of Early Treatment

Though a very great deal can now be done for those who have tuberculosis, it is most essential to co-operate fully with the advice given by the doctors and nurses if the best results are to be obtained and if the spread of infection is to be checked as rapidly as possible. Sometimes the advice is not taken at all. Sometimes it is only half-heartedly carried out. In either case the results can be disastrous. Even within recent months, I have seen three tragedies occur because my advice about treatment was not carried out. Disease which could have been cured has become quite incurable. Furthermore infection for others is very likely to persist. Both of these circumstances need not have arisen if only advice about treatment had been accepted at the beginning.

I want to say, and say it most emphatically, that the modern treatments for tuberculosis, faithfully carried out, can and do achieve absolute miracles of healing in the right kind of case. But it takes time; it requires whole-hearted co-operation; it means doing what the doctor thinks best. It is no use going into hiding or trying to put things off, or making some half-hearted compromise about treatment. The best time for treatment and the opportunity to use the best kind of treatment may be lost for ever. The only wise thing to do is to accept the doctor's decision about the treatment needed and the place where it is best carried out. When this is done we are very unlikely to see the sad tragedies I have mentioned. On the other hand, we are likely to see most marvellous healing of disease. This is especially true of early cases. When the disease is chronic and has been present for a long time before the patient is first seen, the results cannot be so good. But even then we can patch up somewhat. In early disease, however, the results are often amazingly good. In some cases the disease seems to disappear entirely.

This leads me to my next point, the need for early discovery which is a very important factor in the control of tuberculosis. Now early discovery is really important because treatment of early disease is so very successful and because the risk of infecting others with tuberculosis is greatly reduced. A great part of this early discovery lies in two things. Firstly there is the use of X-rays. Secondly there is a need to pay heed to what I call the Warning Signals.

X-Rays

It is very important to go for X-rays when asked to do so. The X-ray may be for a follow-up X-ray, for example, after a pneumonia, for an X-ray as a contact of some other case, because your doctor wants an X-ray done or because the District Nurse thinks you should have one. People with a chronic cough ought to ask for one to be sure there is nothing serious present. Your private doctor or the District Nurse can arrange this. An X-ray is actually a valuable form of health insurance. If nothing is found, you have an easy mind. If there is something wrong, the sooner it is seen to the better. I have an X-ray myself every year. I hope that in time this may be possible for everybody. It is certainly well worth while as a means of wiping out tuberculosis.

There is one special form of X-ray I must mention, what is known as Mass Miniature Radiography, M.M.R. for short. Very small films are taken which sort out the doubtful chests. A bg film is then taken to get better detail and the person with the suspicious chest is referred to the Chest Clinic so that it can be decided if treatment is needed. The Taranaki Mobile X-ray unit has been working for quite a long time now and it has proved most successful in finding cases of tuberculosis and other chest diseases. This unit owed its inception to a gift of £1000 by the Taranaki Maori Trust Board. The Health Department is getting more of such X-ray units to go round the countryside. Now for a Mobile X-ray Unit to do its job properly EVERYONE in the settlement ought to roll up, including Grandma and Grandpa! I have seen quite a lot of T.B. in Maori children where the grandmother or the grandfather was the source of the trouble. If

only half the settlement turns up, the work of the Mobile Unit is largely spoilt. Please try to see that everyone rolls up.

Now X-rays will reveal nearly all the cases with lung tuberculosis. In some it will be chronic. It may not be possible to help these people very much but they can be shown how to limit the spread of infection, in itself a great help in reducing the number of new cases. In other cases the disease will be recent and early. Treatment is almost certain to prove highly successful. With each visit of the Mobile X-ray Unit there should be fewer and fewer cases of new tuberculosis to be found and these new cases will almost all be helped tremendously by our new treatments for this complaint.

Warning Signals

So you can see that a wide use of X-rays will in itself help the Maori people very greatly in solving their T.B. problem.

The second point I wish to make is the need to pay heed to the Warning Signals. These are:

Any cough lasting for more than a month.

Any blood in the spit.

Persistent tiredness and lack of energy.

Steady loss of weight—getting thinner and thinner.

A wet pleurisy, especially in a young person.

Shortness of breath when the heart is not at fault.

Profuse sweating during the night.

An afternoon temperature which is not otherwise explained.

Sometimes anaemia (lack of blood) and chronic indigestion are symptoms which show up.

Now it may not be T.B. which is causing the trouble, but it is a wise step to make sure. There ought to be an X-ray as an ordinary medical examination may not reveal the presence of disease. The important thing is not to waste time before going to the doctor. The earlier T.B. is seen to, the better. It means a speedier and more successful result. With our new treatments the disease may indeed disappear entirely if treated soon enough. It also means that the risk of infecting others, usually the folk in the home, is very greatly reduced. Now both aims—quick recovery and diminished infection—are very desirable and in themselves will help greatly to solve the T.B. problem amongst the Maori people.

There are lots of other things I could write about on this subject of tuberculosis. Some were dealt with in a 1953 number of Te Ao Hou. In my own booklet on T.B. which has recently been revised there is a section on Tuberculosis and the Maori people. If you are interested your