MRS FRANCIS PAKI

The death has occurred in the Waikato hospital of Mrs Francis Paki of Rakaumanga Pa, Huntly. She was the wife of Weteri Paki of the Whawhakia sub-tribe from that area.

Mrs Paki was herself of the Aupouri tribe of Te Kao, Tai Tokerau. She was a Miss Brown Formerly she had been a school teacher.

She was a Justice of Peace, President of the Waikato District Council of the Maori Women's Welfare League, a member of the Board of Governors of Huntly College, and a member of the Rakamanga Tribal Committee.

MR NORMAN FARRELL STEAD

Mr Norman Farrell Stead, a member of the Maori All Black Team which toured Australia in 1922, and brother of the noted 1905 All Black—“Billie” Stead—died in his sleep at his home at Whangarei in March.

Mr Stead was born at Invercargill where he played for the Star Rugby club. He joined the Bank of New Zealand at Invercargill and retired from the Whangarei branch in 1953.

MR MAIHI HAKARAIA

A member of one of Otaki's best-known families, Mr Maihi Hakaraia, collapsed and died while returning from his job, driving a Ministry of Works truck. The accident occurred at the foot of the Pukehou hill about two miles north of Otaki Railway.

Mr Hakaraia was best known for his welfare church and musical accomplishments. As senior warden to the local tribal committee his part in the outstandingly successful festivities for the restoration of Rangiatea church seven years ago, is remembered by Maoris from the many tribes that attended the hui. Mr Hakaraia continued to carry out the duties attached to that important office in a manner which won great admiration.

MR MAIHI RANGIPO METEKINGI

Maihi Rangipo Metekingi, tribal elder of Wanganui district, died at his Putiki residence recently at the age of 77 years.

Educated at the Wanganui Collegiate School and at Te Aute College, Mr Metekingi set up in business in Wanganui as a native interpreter. He also controlled farming interests in the Morikau block on the Wanganui river.

Mr Metekingi was the secretary of the first Wanganui Motor-Cycling Club and of the Putiki Tennis Club. The family can boast a connection with the Anglican faith in Wanganui going back 116 years.

MR PAIHANA TAUA

Mr Paihana (Sam) Taua, well known throughout the whole of North Auckland died recently at the age of 58.

He was a son-in-law of the late Tau Henare, M.P., and a member of the Ngati Kahu tribe. His tribal home was at Karaponia.

He was a well known officer of the Maori Affairs Department, which he joined in 1928 as Consolidation Officer under Judge Acheson. He retired in 1952.

He was highly respected by both the Maori and pakeha peoples with whom he came in contact.

MR PITA KAMIRA

A tangi was held in the Hokianga for the late Pita Kamira who died in Wellington recently.

Last year Mr Kamira was appointed the first warden in Wellington for the Maori people under the Maori Social and Economic Advancement Act.

Mr Kamira, who was a son Nga Puhi, was a son of the late chief, Himiona Kamira. Mr Kamira spent his youth in the Mitimiti district of the Hokianga, but in recent years had resided with his wife in Wellington.

MRS KINGI WINIATA

The death occurred recently of Mrs Kingi Winiata at the age of 65. She was a descendant of the paramount chief Ngai-te-Apatu and a member of the Ngati Kahungunu tribe. Mrs Winiata was the foster-mother of ten children, the best-known of these being Mr John Winiata. The funeral took place at Takitimu, the service being taken by the Bishop of Aotearoa, the Rt. Rev. Panapa.

MR POUARU PARATENE BROUGHTON

Pouaru Paratene Broughton, popularly known as Tony Broughton of Waimarama, died on May 25, at the age of 41. He was the only son of Mrs Toko Paratene and the late Mr Paratene Broughton, and was descended from leading chiefs in Hawke's Bay.

He was born in Hastings and educated at the Waimarama Maori School, and was a member of the Ngati Whakaiti and the Ngati Whakaue tribes.

Mr Broughton was interested in all kinds of sports and was an ardent church worker, irrespective of denomination.

He was buried at the Waimarama Maori Cemetery.

MR RIKI PIMIHI

Riki Pimihi (Richard Beamish) died at Auckland recently in his 92nd year. He was the eldest and last surviving grandson of the Rev. John Hobbs who established the first Wesleyan Maori mission in the Hokianga and who was well-known for bringing about friendly relations with the Maori people in connection with gaining support for the Treaty of Waitangi.

Riki married Emere Rangitakotokino Makiwhara, niece of Wiremu Te Whero of Waikato. He was well known in the Waikato as a Maori interpreter in the Maori Land Court and other courts, mostly at Mercer and the surrounding district.

MRS NGAKOHU PERA

The death occurred recently of Mrs Ngakohu Pera of Waioeka Pa, Opotiki. Mrs Pera was formerly Mrs Thomas Shelford of Tikitiki. She was descended from a prominent Ngati Porou family. Among the family who survive her is her son Charlie Shelford, D.C.M., a well known soldier who served with distinction in the Maori Battalion.

Education

There is much evidence available to show that the Maoris are taking far more pride in the education of their children. This is reflected in the way many of them make enormous sacrifices to ensure that suitable education is given. The need for their attitude is more clearly shown when statistics revealed that in 1951, 46 per cent of European male workers in New Zealand earned more than £500 per year, but under 15 per cent of Maori male workers reached this amount. Because of this disparity in income it has always been clear to them that education in the widest sense of the word is the most powerful agent in bringing about the most successful adjustment of the people to the social and economic life of the community.

The Maori children enjoy equal opportunities with European children to acquire education, and wherever possible they are educated in the same schools. Last year 40,000 Maori children or nearly ⅓rd of the population were going to school and they constituted 9.2% of the total population of the country: whereas the Maori population is 6.2% of the total New Zealand population. About 5,000 of them were going to secondary school which is a very high figure compared to that of a few years ago. While statistics show that the Maori High School pupil does not yet reach the same educational standard as his European counterpart, occasionally we read in the newspapers that in some districts real progress is being made in bridging this gap. For instance, at the Rotorua High School's prize-giving ceremony last December, the Headmaster, Mr Harwood, said that the number of Maori boys and girls collecting scholastic trophies confounded the oft-repeated statements that the Maoris could not make use of European facilities in education.

Mr Harwood went on to say that he had for 34 years been in schools where there was a high percentage of Maori pupils. His answer to the criticism of the educational methods now employed to enable the Maori to use all that the European system could give him, was on the platform, where Maoris were collecting prizes for English, Latin, Mathematics and almost every other subject on the curriculum.

He issued a warning that any people today who failed to take advantage of the educational opportunities to acquire an understanding of modern life, science and technology, could not keep its place in the world.

He described the Maoris as a race which was emerging fast out of the world of isolation which was theirs thirty years ago into the modern world of today. From success on the playing field they were coming in to compete strongly in the classrooms.

There were many Maori pupils among those who went up to collect prizes in all subjects. The two highest prizes for general excellence, in scholastic work and in short, leadership and character, both went to Maori pupils, a boy and a girl.

Equality of Occupation

Nearly 40% or some 350 of the pupils of the High School in Rotorua are Maoris, and in the town all but a few positions are open to them when they leave school. They are doing well in shops, offices, trades and Government Departments. It is interesting to know that Maoris are in the majority in the telephone exchange. The new houses being built for them in Rotorua under the direction of the Department of Maori Affairs are up to the standard of State houses, and are being well kept. While problems enough remain for the Maori people, the developments that have taken place in Rotorua show the shape of things to come.

In more isolated areas, difficulties of adaptation are in general greater than in Rotorua. In such districts there still tends to be a wide gulf between the attitudes of the old generation and the new. Many young Maori pupils go back to their villages after leaving school. And because of the desire of their parents to have their children about them before moving to the larger centres in search of work, a year or two of their adolescence is often spent in a district where regular work is not readily available and comparative idleness results. At about 18 or 19 they realise they must start on some permanent form of employment; but at this age the opportunities for entering trades as apprentices are limited, and much of the benefit of their schooling is lost. The welfare section of the Department of Maori Affairs spends a lot of its time persuading such parents to see where their duty lies.

Another interesting development in the Rotorua-Taupo area is in connection with the timber industry. Maoris owned large reserves of native timber in the Taupo area. Previously they used to grant the culling rights to European companies; but for the last 10 years they have been successfully working the timber themselves in incorporated groups. One group was selling as well as logging. This was a significant development as

Maoris had made very few excursions into commerce.

True equality between Maori and European can only come if their occupation spread is proportionately similar. An examination of the data relating to occupation as shown in the 1951 census indicates that relatively few are employed in the skilled trades or in the professions. The Maori of old was a craftsman, and this ability to use tools successfully persists today but proper training and experience are necessary. Special facilities are now provided by the Labour Department to assist those desirous of qualifying as carpenters, motor mechanics, electricians, plumbers, plasterers and painters.

The main concern of Government Departments is to increase the proportion entering skilled trades and professions. Figures supplied by the Education Department showed that a very large percentage of Maoris tend to enter farming, domestic and factory work and not enough were entering the skilled jobs.

The experience of the Department of Maori Affairs since 1951 when hostels for apprentices were established in collaboration with Vocational Guidance Officers and the Labour Department has been favourable and encouraging in every way. Religious and other organisations have since been subsidised to provide further hostels for Maori youths and girls in any kind of employment.

The Department of Maori Affairs last year expressed great concern that large numbers of Maori youths qualified and able to become apprentices could not do so. The Department rightly regards the apprenticeship movements as a positive scheme to raise the economic rehabilitation of the Maori people.

It would therefore be regrettable if a promising start were allowed to fall behind for lack of public help in its early stages. Probably in a year or two Maori economic and social progress will enable the race in time to look after its young people; but at present active European help is needed. Maori apprentices in general do very good work and are warmily praised by their employers. For many reasons, the community should recruit

The latest hostel for Maori apprentices to be opened is Rehua Hostel, 79 Springfield Avenue, Christchurch. The opening ceremony took place last April the day after the completion of the Maori Women's Welfare League Conference. Hostels have an important part to play at the present time, when further education for the young Maori is often impossible without them. (Christchurch Star-Sun Photograph.)

and train more of them.

This new desire of the people for higher education springs from the realisation that if they are to succeed in life they must equip themselves to compete in the European economy on equal terms. They have had sufficient experience to know that under-educated people cannot compete with people of greater education for the jobs in which greater education is looked on as necessary.

There is, therefore, a steady demand for more and more vocational training and up to last year 411 apprentices had been taken on throughout New Zealand under the Apprenticeship Act. Increasing numbers of Maori students are taking up the teaching service as a career. There are a number of private residential colleges for Maori students run by the different churches with the assistance of various welfare organisations.

Medicine, dentistry, teaching, agriculture, science and theology are greatly favoured while there is a trend in recent years towards a wider field, including the Arts, Science, Law and Fine Arts.

The numerous cases of Maoris who have succeeded as individual sheep or dairy farmers, who have graduated at the University, and who have qualified as skilled tradesmen indicate that there is much ground for optimism. There is however no room for complacency in the rapidly changing world of today. Progress must be the watch word of those desirous of ensuring to both European and Maori a stable future.

Material Conditions of Harmony

It is said that the Maori has as wide a range of ability as the European. Advantage should be taken of this natural aptitude by making sure that the Maori is granted opportunities in a variety of occupations more or less foreign to him at the moment. By doing this, gradually responsibility and a new attitude to work will be built up.

It might well be asked why the Maori should be expected or encouraged to attain European standards of work? The first answer is that it is in the national interest, and is “good business” for the community in general to see that the Maori people who make up one-fifteenth of the population become healthy and self-reliant members of the community. The second answer is that unless the material standards and even the ways of the Maori people approximate more closely to those of the Europeans, it may become increasingly difficult for two races whose material standards differ markedly to live together in harmony. This situation would be a denial of the Christian doctrine of the equality of man proclaimed two thousand years ago.

Since the beginning of the century the Maori has been rapidly assimilating the European ideas about work, and the period of prosperity of the last ten years has helped considerably in quickening the pace of progress. Much could be said about the Maoris innate ability for many roles in a modern community.

There is a feeling amongst many enlightened Europeans that because economic security is attainable in normal cases by the Maoris' own effort there should be no reason for any concern about the place of the Maori in a modern community. But is economic security the only answer to the burning question of the future of the Maori To me the answer is clearly “No”.

Two more important needs are spiritual security and social security. He must be made to feel that he is accepted as a full and valued member of society. The Churches must provide the Maori with spiritual security and they can help greatly in providing greater social security in the sense first described.

If the Maori is denied the normal opportunity of achieving a social position acceptable to him in the new society which the European is encouraging him to enter, he will seek this prestige in un usual ways. These are the usual ways which people of all races adopt to make up for their low status. The development of these undesirable traits is often a step towards delinquency or crime. All these help to bring about a certain amount of tension and strained relations between our two races.

My experience is that if the average European is made aware of the difficulties at present facing the Maori, he is always willing to help them to become a full and recognised partner in our social structure. What the European partner wants to know is how he can help. At the present time the best thing he can do is to encourage his Maori partner to find and feel his feet. He will need to help the young Maoris who are trying to enter the more advanced type of jobs by providing the openings which will enable this to be done.

The Urban Maori

While much has been accomplished by the country during the present century in improving the living conditions of the Maori people, western civilisation has also brought them the problem of having to face an unknown social and economic future. The Maori youth is uncertain of his ability to adjust himself to the new social habits of modern times. He is uncertain of the reception he will receive in the new environment of the modern community in which he is being sought to enter.

The Maoris realise that they have to conform to a way of life in the cities contrary to their upbringings. Because of economic reasons, many of them are now living in an environment so strange that most of them fail to understand its meaning. Knowing so little of the social habits of modern life, they have found it difficult to enter into the closely knit society of the European. This has

left a vacuum in their lives which can best be filled by the European helping to find the answer to this difficulty.

While young people are still in the process of breaking away from long-standing habits of life in their rural home communities, it is important that they should have some focus of social activity in the place in which they work. That focus can well be given through a Maori community centre or club, one feature of which can be the cultivation of Maori arts and crafts. By the use of activities with which young men and women are already familiar, or in which they can find some pride, it is possible to bring together those who would otherwise be lonely and homesick. These activities can give them an active interest and a regular leisure occupation. The leaders of such a centre will also look on it as an opportunity to maintain some form of discipline over the outside activities of the members. I know of no better way of explaining in definite terms those ideals of conduct required to strengthen their resistance to the temptations which often surround them. It helps to bridge the social gap which is the main difficulty facing these people. Such clubs, of which Ngati Poneke in Wellington is a shining example will have a part to play for many years to come in placing the Maori in a modern community.

A community centre in a large city provides a link with the past to these young people who often feel that they have lost their past in coming to a new environment to throw down fresh roots. A centre gives a new sense of community to those who now live in a place where there are no traditions, no strong kinship ties, and no established way of life. It brings to lonely young men and women new friendships and traditions which reach back to the past, and stretch forward to the new life they are beginning to develop for themselves. It organises activities for young people who have only pathetically dark and lonely streets to roam in before retiring to a dingy room to seek the sleep and rest needed for the next day's work.

It will be a place where they can entertain their European friends; where they can meet with each other and play games with each other until all the social adjustments are successfully made by the majority of Maoris, when the need for separate Maori community centres will no longer exist.

When this stage is reached. I am quietly confident that the powers of endurance and the high courage displayed by the Maori soldiers on Galiipoli and in Crete and North Africa will be equally as valuable to New Zealand and the British Commonwealth in the years of closer partnership that lie ahead. The future can be faced by them with hope if they as citizens of this fair country, along with their European friends resolve that people, goodwill and service will be their guiding principles. Such is the product of one hundred years of beneficent contact with the British rule.

Leadership in Shearing

The greatest shearer of Mr Tutaki's youth was Raihania who with the narrow cut machine used in that period could shear as many as 343 sheep a day. He died, unbeaten, about 1924 at the age of fifty-six. Machine shearing was introduced in 1898, the first machine having only ten teeth. At about 1910 the modern wide-cut machine of 13 teeth first appeared—the Wolesley sheep shearing machine.

After a few years, Bob Tutaki himself became the ringer of his gang. The ringer (the man who rings the bell at starting and stopping time) was also the boss of the gang.

I asked Mr Tutaki whether it was difficult to maintain one's authority in such a gang. The important thing, said Mr Tutaki, is the struggle against the sheep. There should be a proper balance between the wishes of the man and the sheep. If the sheep is given too much freedom, it never gets shorn. On the other hand, if it gets irritated that can be just as bad. A champion shearer ‘sees the day out rather than fighting his opponent. He sits and smiles while other men are cursing and swearing.’

Respect for the leader is therefore mainly based on his shearing tallies. Bob Tutaki admits that ringers will go to great lengths to avoid being beaten. A familiar one is to ring the bell just after picking up a sheep. Nobody else can pick up a sheep after that, which helps to build up the tally. At one time, Bob himself fell into the bad habit of shearing carelessly to improve his speed. In one shed, the owner noticed it. At lunch time, Bob found that while the other sheep were all let out, his were kept in their pen. The next day the same

thing happened. Bob knew what this meant: the third time he would have got the sack. He improved his style at once, and to his surprise, he found this did not lower his tallies. He never tried rough shearing again.

Cowards Modern Conditions

At the beginning of the century, when Bob Tutaki began shearing, shed and working conditions were very much worse than today. Both the sleeping quarters and the food left much to be desired, one of the main bones of contention being that whereas station owners all provided bread and meat, they were not compelled to provide anything else. Particularly butter was a food the lack of which was often severely felt; a hard-working shearer needs a lot of it.

Bob Tutaki tells a story of one shed where conditions were particularly poor: nothing to sleep on except bad straw, no room for eating, and no privies at all. Evidently the owner of this shed had some difficulties in finding shearers and Bob and his gang were only diverted to it at the last moment to help the farmer out.

Mr Tutaki tells how, after seeing the conditions, he worked out his own plan of campaign. On the first day, the farmer checking on the work of the gang, found that Bob himself had left the heads of some of the sheep unshorn. Very irate, the farmer led them back, what was the meaning of this? ‘Never mind about those sheep. You can shear their heads yourself if you like’, said Bob.

Mr Robert Tutaki. (Russell Orr Photo.)

The effect of this, said Bob, was electric. For the rest of that stay, the shearers all had their meals in the kitchen and a few hours after their conversation a truck arrived outside the shearers' quarters carrying new mattresses and other supplies.

The struggle for better conditions became Bob's preoccupation. Joining the Agricultural and Pastoral Union in 1906, he became one of the pioneers of unionism of pastoral workers in his district.

The first shearers' award in New Zealand dates from 1902 and is based on an agreement between the sheep-owners and shearers of Canterbury. Otago followed suit soon after.

First Wellington Award

It was not until 1908 that the first Wellington Shearers' Award was negotiated. On the side of the shearers, the advocates were C. Graindler, R. Eddy, Jack Townsend, Arthur Cook and Bob Tutaki. The list of persons, firms and companies with which these representatives entered into agreement occupies twenty-eight pages of print. A breach of award by any party was made punishable with up to a £100 fine. This provision is still in force in respect of unions, associations and employers; the maximum fine for workers is now £10.

In essentials, this first agreement already contained most of the conditions of today. The shearing rate was then £1 per hundred sheep, double for rams, and stud sheep by mutual agreement. It was laid down that the dining room should be lighted until 9 p.m., that the owner was to supply implements, free grazing for one horse, and a sufficiency of good food, including jam and 1 ¼ lbs. weekly (today it is 1 ½) of the contested butter.

This last point was a bit of a victory, for in the 1902 Canterbury award there was no mention of butter and in the 1906 Canterbury award only 1 lb. was specified.

One difference was that in those days there was no limitation to the number of learners to be admitted (this gradually came in until now only one learner is allowed to five shearers). Also, there was only one shearers' representative in a shed

instead of the present number of three.

In all this Mr Tutaki took an active part. He was already then the Union's representative among the shearers of Hawkes Bay. He was in the deputation that saw the Farmers Federation and later the Minister of Labour.

Until 1920, he continued to combine this work with his ordinary shearing. He helped to collect dues, and to go through the almost annual business of negotiating shearing rates by conciliation or arbitration.

The passing of the Shearers Accommodation Act 1919 was a further victory for shearers, increasing the control on the standard of shearers' quarters. Inspectors in those years were active in enforcing the regulation, often helped by union reports.

In 1920, the N.Z.W.U. (which in 1910 had taken over from the A.P.U.) met with a rival in the form of the Mataura Maori Shearers' Association which was, according to Mr Tutaki's story, sponsored by the sheepowners, and attempted to split the Maori shearers of Hawkes Bay from the general union. This Association employed four organisers who toured the district in cars and promised free doctors and medicine to their adherents.

‘In the second year’, says Bob Tutaki, ‘I pushed them off the road. I followed them around wherever they went and talked to the workers in the sheds. I reminded the workers of the bad old days and the achievements of the unions.’ Evidently something went wrong with the organisation of the medical benefits and some doctors and chemists did not honour the Association's membership cards. Anyhow, it seems to have gone out of existence after 1921.

To Mr Tutaki this meant a vital change in his career. To cope with the Association, he had been appointed full-time union organiser, and after 1921

Sharing the Profit

In 1928, during the prosperous period after the first World War, with shearing prices at 30/- per 100, the whole subject of shearers' wages was discussed at the N.Z.W.U. conference. When the usual conciliation talks developed that year, a new idea was born. Sheepowners and shearers got together and asked themselves: why should we come to Arbitration year after year and argue against each other? Is there not some objective way of determining the fair price for shering making all the tedious argument unnecessary?

According to Mr Tutaki's story, the shearers originally suggested and Federated Farmers accepted the type of arrangement now in force

This means that the pay for shearers and shedhands is adjusted in accordance with the movement of wool prices as determined by the Government Statistician's index number for the export price of wool, taking as today's base a price index number of 1000 to equal a wool price of 9.41d per Ib to equal 29/- per hundred sheep. For every 50 point rise in the index number, the shearing rate rises by 6d.

In 1956, with wool at 46d, the index number was 4900 and the price £3/8/- per hundred.

Introduced in 1928, the system survived the depression with minor changes. In the years 1931 and 1932 it temporarily broke down, to be reintroduced in 1933, with the award at the record low of 18/- per hundred sheep. In 1936, it was laid down that the index number should be determined each year by a committee consisting of the Government Statistician and one representative each of the employers' and the shearers' unions. After this, procedure never changed.

These awards have pioneered an idea which in most industries is still in its infancy. In most industries the only link between wages and profits is through the payment of bonuses when a firm has done particularly well. Lately, more industries have started regular schemes to make the workers share in their profits, so they get a greater stake in the success of the enterprise. For instance, workers are given some shares and each year they get the dididend on those shares. The better the year the greater is the dividend.

The shearing industry has gone even further than that. It has made earnings entirely dependent on the annual wool cheque, so that shearers have the same stake in the sale prices as have the growers. No arrangement could make for happier working conditions.

The workers are protected by a minimum wage, which in 1936 was £1 per 100 sheep, and at present is still at 22/-, while the actual rate is over

Future of the Industry

Economically shearing is still very important in Hawkes Bay. Yet, there is no longer the same abundance of skilled men offering; on the contrary, shearers are in short supply. The younger people do not take it up as avidly as did their fathers and mothers.

For the more educated young Maori, a stable position is often more attractive than the high wages at shearing time, followed by a period of uncertain and not very attractive earnings. One complaint is that when the shearing season is over, the freezing season is of course well on the way and even if a man can get a job at the freezing works, he is put off before the men who have worked the whole season.

There is some talk about how more young men can be attracted to shearing. One idea that was put to me was for freezing works and shearing contractors to come to some sort of compact enabling the men to stay at the freezing works longer. There are some obvious difficulties in this.

One modern development is the large-scale shearing contractor. This is far more common, so it seems, in the North Island than the South. Right from the begining of the shearing industry, there was a close relationship between the owner and the ringer, who became a kind of intermediary. Gradually, the job of choosing a gang was passed on to this head shearer, as well as the procuring of supplies. He became a business contractor, being paid a fixed sum for the full job of shearing. This includes the gathering of the gang, the catering arrangements and also the risk of wet weather and other hold-ups. Many of the contractors are small men whose family may grow the vegetables to save some money. Others again are in business in a big way, running several gangs and no longer doing any shearing of their own as they are too busy organising.

Does this mean that shearing contracting has now become an ordinary business to be taken up by anyone with a little capital? Far from it. Such a person could never collect, let alone discipline shearing gangs. To be a shearing contractor, a man must have been a shearer for some years, and, what is more, a successful shearer with a first-rate reputation at the board.

The annual shearing cheque is to a shearer or shedhand an important financial security. Some shearers pay their housing mortgage annually out of their cheque. Shopkeepers also allow long term credit through the unprofitable winter months to be settled after shearing. At some stores, like the one at Fernhill, the name of the contractor appears on the account to safeguard the debt. But the system is general.

Bob Tutaki is still active on his union round. He moves with a little difficulty now, but his car, faithful companion for many years, is still on the road with plenty of fight. During the last war, he was temporarily away from this work, as Maori recruiting officer (2nd Lt.) for Hawkes Bay, persuading fathers and grandfathers to part with their children for the war. In 1948, he was awarded the M.B.E.

Shearing has become part of the history of the Maori people. This story is only a small part of it, mainly the memories of one man who told me something about his life. In shearing, the Maori people have been able to carry over some of their old way of life, a group life where everyone is valuable and has his own part to play and where yet competition is fierce, with a man's status depending above all else on his daily tallies.

KO TE POPO A TE RANGITAKORU MO
TANA TAMAHINE, MO WHARAURANGI

E hinc aku, ki to kunenga mai i tawhiti,
Ki te whakaringaringa, ki te whahawaewae,
Te wakakanohi-tanga, ka manu, e hine, te waka i a Ruatea,
Ko Kurahaupo, ka iri mai taua, i runga i Aotea ko te waka i a Turi,
Kau mai taua te ngutu Whenuakura,
Hanga iho te whare Rangitawhi;
Tiria mai te kumara,
Ka ruia mai te karaka ki te taiao net,
Karia iho te pou Tamawahine i,
Ka waiho i Nga tuahine, i a Nonoko-uri,
I a Nonoko-tea, ko te Hererunga, ko te Korohunga.
Kapua mai e Hau ko te one ki te ringa,
Ko te tokotoko. Ka whiti i te awa,
Ka nui ia, ko Wanga-nui;
Tiehutia te wai, ko Wangae-hu;
Ka hinga te rakau, ko Turakina;
Tikeitia te waewae, ko Tikei;
Ka tatu, e hine, ko Manawatu;
Ka rorohio nga taringa, ko Hokio;
Waiho te awa iti hei ingoa mona ki Ohau;
Takina te tokotoko, ko Otaki;
Ka mehameha, e hine, ko Waimea.
Ka ngahae nga pi, ko Wai-kanae.
Ka tangi ko te mapu, e hine,
Ka kite koe i a Wairaka.
Matapoutia.
Poua ki runga, poua ki raro,
Ka rarau, e hine. Ka rarapa nga kanohl,
Ko Wai-rarapa
Te rarapatanga o to tupuna,
E hine—ka moiki te ao,
Ko te pai a Waitiri;
Kumea kia warea Kaitangata
Ki waho ki te moana;
Hanga te paepae, poua iho, te pou
Whakamaro te rangi, ko Meremere:
Waiho te Whanau, ko te punga
O tona waka ko te Awhema.
Kati, ka whakamutu. e hine.

TE RANGITAKORU'S NURSERY SONG
FOR HIS DAUGHTER, FOR
WHARAURANGI

O, my daughter, when you came from afar,
And your hands were formed, and your feet,
And your face, you floated, O daughter,
In the Kurahaupo, Ruatea's canoe,
When you embarked in the Aotea, the canoe of Turi,
You forded the Whenua kura at its mouth,
There was made the house of Rangitawi;
Let us plant the kumara,
And sow the karaka, in the land bordering the sea;
Sink deep the post Tamawahinei,
Leave it for Nga tua hine, from Nonoko-uri,
From Nonoko-tea, the Hererunga and Korohunga.
Hau took up some sand in the palm of his hand, and his staff.
When he crossed over the river,
Finding it was wide he called it Wanga-nui.
Splash the water, that will reach Wangac-hu;
The length of a fallen tree, is Turakina.
Having many times lifted up his feet, Tikei;
When his heart sank within him, Manawatu;
When the wind whistled past his ears, Hokio;
The small river called, Ohau;
When he carried his staff in a horizontal position, Otaki;
When he prayed, O daughter, it was Wai-mea;
When he looked out of the corner of his eye, Wai-kanae;
When he became weary, my daughter, he reached Wai-raka.
He repeated an incantation,
She became fixed above, and fixed below,
My daughter. When his eyes glistened with delight,
He called the place Wai-rarapa,
It was the rejoicing of your ancestor, my daughter.
The sky became cloudless,
On account of Waitiri's good will.
She then enticed Kaitangata out to sea:
She placed the plank across,
And drove it in a post to hold on by, called Meremere.
She left to her offspring, Punga, the anchor of his canoe,
As his name, Awhema.
Enough, it is finished, O my daughter.

An early picture of a sperm whale. (Turnbull Library Photograph.)

E paku tonu ana au ka eke au ki runga, koira taku tuunga, ka nui nga weera e mau ana i nga tangata o runga o toku poti.

Ko te poti nei, toku poti i eke ai au ki runga ki tenei mahi, ko Akenehi tona ingoa. Ko tera ingoa no te wahine, he tuahine no Hami Waahi, e mohio ana koutou he roia tera tangata. Ko tera whanau i puta mai o ratou na momo toa ki te patu tohora i o ratou tipuna pakeha.

Ko te tangata toa i taua wa ki te patu tohora engari kaore au i eke ki raunga i tona poti, ko Paraire, ko Paraire Hi. Ko tenei tangata koia tetahi o nga tino toa o tenei hapu mo tenei mahi.

Me korero au inaianei i toku haerenga, toku ekenga ki runga i te poti patu tohora, i mau ai tetahi tohora nui i tenei takiwa, takiwa o te Whanau Apanui. Ko tenei iwi a te Whanau Apanui he iwi toa tenei iwi ki tenei mahi. Mai taua toa o Apanui ki Tikirau koianei katoa te mahi takaaro, he takaaro ke ki a ratou. Ko tenei mahi he patu tohora. Kati ka korero ake ano mo tetahi weera i konei, engari kua pakeke au i tenei wa. Taku mohio no te tau 1902 e taua weera, ko Akuhata te marama. Taua weera he raiti weera e kiiana te pakeha, kaore au e mohio ki te ingoa Maori o enei weera i te mea kotahi tonu te ingoa o tenei mea o te weera. ahakoa he aha te weera, he tohora katoa ki te Maori. No reira na te pakeha te ingoa te raiti weera, koianei te weera utu nui i mua. I hoki mai matou i te hi ika i tetahi rangi i waho o te waapu, i reira e maunu ana te ika nei.

Kaore hoki he aonga hei patu i te tohora, kaore a matou pu hei karanga mai i te moana ki nga mea o uta. Ka mauria iho e te pirini kei te noho tika tera mea, nga taonga patu o tera mea, te haena, me nga ratu.

Ki a tatau hoki ki te Maori te ingoa o te weera he tohora ke, ki etahi iwi he pakake, ki etahi iwi he paraoa. Na reira au ka ki, kei te tika tonu te paraoa, kei te tika ano te pakake. Engari me whakamarama au i te paraoa.

Te haeremaitanga o nga waka o tatou tipuna i Hawaiki ka u ki Whangaparaoa, e kiia ana ko Whangaparaoa. A ka kitea e ratou e pae ana te tohora i reira. Ka tohetohe ratou i reira, ka tautohetohe ka riro ra etahi o ratou, ka heke etahi. I toku whakaaro koira te timatanga o te ingoa o Whangaparaoa.

Na hei tautoko i taku korero e ki nei au koira te ingoa i kiia mo Whangaparaoa, ka whakaaro katoa enei tangata i ua ki te rapa i tetahi taonga hei patu tangata. Ka kitea etahi a me mahi i te iwi. Katahi ka tirohia kei hea te iwi e tika ana hei mahi i tera mea, kaore hoki he kararehe o uta. Kitea ana i te kaunga i raro, ko te tohora. Na ra me ki i te paraoa.

Hei tautoko i taku korero i ki ra au he tika tera ingoa te paraoa. Katahi ka mahia i reira tae mai ki tenei ra e ki ana taua patu, he patu paraoa. No reira ka ki au kei te tika, ano tenei korero he paraoa te weera. Kati ake tera.

Ka hoki aku korero mo te maunga mai o te piringa o nga rakau o te tohora ki runga o to matau poti. Ka makere nga kaumatua haere ki te hi aka i runga o to matou poti, ka eke ko maua, tokirua maua he tamariki, engari ko te nuinga ko nga tangata patu weera katoa.

Ka noho ko Paora te Ruapoharu, ki te ihu o te

poti, i muri mai i a te Pirini ko au. Ka heke ake ki raro ake ko Aperahama i raro atu ko Popatamia, te awheroa ko Hohepa Waaka, he tamaiti tenei na Heni Waaka. Ka noho ko Rapata Reihana ki te kei o te poti, te mete ra o te poti. Ka hoe matau.

Ka haere matau, kotahi tonu te poti. Tae matou ki te waapu, ka huri ki te tangata apiti. Ka tae ki runga o Wharekura ka kitea. Ka kitea i waho o Maungaroa te tohora nei. Katahi te whakau to matau waka. A ka kaha ta matau hoe, engari he pai taua rangi, he marino. Ka roa matau e hoe ana, karanga mai to matau mete, kati te hoe, engari ki te tiro atu koe ki te ahua o te mete, kei waho katoa nga whatu. Kaore i roa e manu ana to matau poti kua karanga atu hoki te tangata o te ihu kia tu. Tona karangatanga atu ki te tangata o te ihu to matau taina, koia nei nga karangaranga o runga o tenei mea. Ko te tikanga ki te pakeha “sail em” Ka tu ake ki runga karangaai “utua” Kati kei te mohio koutou ki te ingoa o tera tei whai te reo Maori te reo o te pakeha “utua” ko te tikanga tera werohia.

Katahi ka werohia, te werehanga atu kua karanga mai te tangata “pahi” Na te pakeha ano tera ingoa te pahi, kua mohio katoa nga tangata o runga o te poti kua mau te weera. Kua karanga te mete “haul them up” ko te karanga a te mete pera “all the weights up” kia metia nga hoe ki runga, na kati ka meatia nga hoe putu katoa. Ka putu nga hoe o tetahi ki tetahi, ka putu nga hoe o tetahi taha ki tetahi taha. Ka timata te huri o nga tangata ka huri katoa nga hoe, ki runga o te poti. Ko te tikanga o te poti ki te mau te tangata nana i wero te weera kua karanga ia ki te mete kia haere atu ki te ihu ki te patui te tohora nei. Ka karanga mai a Paora te Ruapoharu ki a Rapata kia haere atu ki te patu i te wera. Ka karanga atu a Rapata hoatu ki a te Pirini, he tangata patu weera ano tenei. Haere atu a te Pirini ki mua, ka haere atu ko au hei hoa mona. Ko taku mahi, ka wero ia i te raiti, kei au te taura maku e kukume mai kia maunu mai ki waho te weera, ka titiro au te ahua o te raitti, penei kei te piko he whakatikatika taku mahi, kua hoatu i tetahi o nga raiti ki a ia. Ka whakatikatika au i te raiti ka mutu ka hoatu ano ki a ia kua unu mai au i tetahi. A ka heke te weera nei kaore iroa e kahika ana ka ngahute, nohonga takoto mai ana. Kua karanga te mete kia tukuna nga hoe, kia rua, hei pupuri i te poti.

Na i te tuatahi ke heke te ika nei. Ka ngaro atu ki raro, puta atu kua rere mai a te Pirimi e rua nga rati kua puta te toto i tona ihu, na ra e kiia ana te tohoro pouta. Kua karanga mai ia kua toto. Koira tetahi o matau ko au kei te tiro atu a e hika ma ka mutu i te tohora nei Ka hanake nga poti, o tetahi o matau hapu, te poti o Paerau te Kani me Whakarau. E rua nga poti nei hanake katoa, ko enei tangata he toa katoa, mo tenei mahi.

Ka tae ake nga poti o Paerau raua ko Whakarua, nga poti nei te Haungutu Weera tetahi, ko te Greyhound tetahi. I kiia ai ko te Greyhound, he tere no tenei poti ki te rere. Koianei te poti o Paerau. Ka tae ake te poti o Paerau ki to matau poti ka nuku to matau ki te whanga, ka tukuna koia ki runga o te weera. I tera wa kua whakaeke tonu ia ki runga i te raiti ki te ihu o te tohora nei. Kua karanga to matau mete, a Rapata, kia tupato kei rere i te poti te hiko o te weera, o te pakake na. Kia tupato kei raruraru te poti.

I runga i tera korero, katahi ka hanake te hiko o te tohora nei, katahi ka wahia te poti o te Paerau, mai i te ihu ki te kei, poare katoa. I te pai he tata mai no te poti awhina i to matau poti, he wahine nga kai hoe, to ratou kapene he koroua. Ka haere noa mai te poti ra ki te awhina haere i to matau poti, he kotahi hoki, mo te tupono pera pakaru, a e whai poti ana.

Ka riro te poti o nga wahine nei hei whakahoki i tera poti ki utu me nga tangata katoa. Ka noho e rua nga poti.

No te toru karaka i te ahiahi ka mau i a matau, ka mau, no te iwa karaka i te po ka mate. Te matenga o te tohora nei, e whiwhi ana nga tamariki a Heni Waaka, a Wiiri Waaka i tana ronohi. Katahi ka haere mai te ronohi ra hei hoa awhina mo matau hei to i te ika nei ki tahaki. Katahi ka whakamaungia ki runga o te kau kara, te kau ma tahi karaka ka reri nga poti. E rua nga poti ki mua o te ronohi, te ronohi ki muri mai, te tohora nei ki muri.

Ka wehe matau tena po, me nga poti o nga wahine, poti pakupaku kei te rere ake i te po ki te mau ake he kaka, he kai ma nga tangata. O ratau ratana raiti, kei runga i nga maihi o ratou poti, ka tae ki tena poti, ka hoatu nga kai ma tena, nga kaka, ko nga kaka hoki o matau kei te maku katoa. Katahi matau ka mau i te ika nei ki Te Kaha, te tohora nei. I te kau karaka ki te kau ma tahi karaka ka timata ta matau mahi, i te ono karaka i te ata ka tae.

Ka tae te ika nei ki Te Kaha katahi ka kitea te nui o tenei ika. I taku mohio kei te tekau putu nuku atu tona tiketike ki te takoto, te roa kei te rima te kau, ki te ono te kau putu.

Mehemea koutou e pirangi ana kia kite i nga ahua o tenei tohora me haere koutou ki te Museum kei Turanga, kei reira nga whakaahua katoa e noho ana o tenei mea, me nga tangata mahi i te ika nei, me matau nga tangata, tae noa ki te wa i tahuna ai.

Katahi ka mahia e matau te ika nei, ka tahuna kia puta mai nga hinu, katahi ka tangohia te kauwae, kei roto i te kauwae o te ika nei e noho ana nga naaha. Ko enei mea he utu nui i taua wa ki te pakeha, ara e noho ana i te rua rau ki te toru rau i te tana, engari te hinu, kaore i nui te utu, rua te kau pauna ki te rau pauna. Tera e puta atu te ika nei i te ono ki te whitu rau. Ko nga moni katoa o tenei mahi e mahi ana ehara ke ma ia tangata kaore, engari nga moni e whakapaua ana hei utu i a ratou mahi nunui, nga wharekarakia, nga whare hooro, na reira katoa o matau whare e tu nei i te Kaha no te moni weera.

FIFTH OF A SERIES
OF SHORT STORIES

BY MAORI AUTHORS

“Ah lovely evening, lovely evening”, he sighed, and looked about him, taking in the night. Then he drew up his shoulders and as they fell he let out his breath noisily. “Ahh-! Ahh! well”, he said after a short pause and began rubbing his hands together again.

“I think I'll come for a walk with you myself,” and he cupped the back of Currani's head in his hand.

The three walked on past the remaining huts

Illustration by the author.

and came out onto the raw banks at the head of the pond. Here a freshly dumped heap of embers were glowering weakly in the semi-darkness. All about them lay the dead piles of yesterdays' ashes. They had been dumped there over many years and now spread right down to the edge of the pond. They had come from the giant furnace in which the steam was made to run the mill. Old Mitchell himself was the stoker of this furnace and it was he who had dumped the embers there only that afternoon.

The boiler-man was what the villagers called him and it was what Currani had known him by long before he had known his name.

The man stopped beside the glowing embers and put one of his boots gently into it. A film of fine white dust lifted into the air and settled on his boot.

He shrugged his shoulders and grunted. It was meant to be a laugh.

“Don't you get to walking on these”, he said to the boy, “They're pretty hot inisde you know”. He paused, then went on. “I remember once when young Bill Walters walked through them. It's a funny thing, that night that young fella had been in my hut and pinched a couple-a-quid. He tried sneaking away around this side of the pond, and walked right over the top of one of these”. He pushed his boot into the embers again, and again a fine spray of white dust rose around his boot. “It wouldn't have been so bad if the young fella hadn't of been wearing boots. But them ashes go inside and he couldn't get them off. You know how you young fellas tie your boots.”

Something cracked in the depths of the mill. The old man looked up sharply and peered off into the inky darkness of the building.

There was only the quiet hissing of steam as it leaked out from one of the pipes. He looked down at the ground and turned his head sideways to Currani, watching the boy along his shoulder. It was a way the boy would always remember him by.

“You know,” he began, “I saved that young fella from getting crippled. We could hear him screaming all over the mill that night. I just happened to be standing over there”, he pointed to the deep shadows where the children knew the boiler room was. “I could see him lying on the ground, kicking and rolling and trying to get his boots off. I picked straight away what had happened and I pushed his feet into the pond”.

He drew on his pipe and inclined his head sideways again. This time he looked at Tootie. “Well you know, I didn't know that young fella had pinched my money. I'd have found out anyway. But the next day he came to my hut and gave me back the fiver and told me he had pinched it. I think he was scared after those ashes got in his boots. He never came around my hut for a long time after that. Well—”, he drew in his breath and put his hand on young Currani's shoulder, “There must be some good in that young fella or he wouldn't of brought back that money. Though you wouldn't think it. I believe he pinched one old Kapoor's hens the other day. You wouldn't know anything about that now eh?” The last was said with a twisting of his mouth and a twinkle in his eye. He clapped Currani lightly on the head, and the boy heard him chuckling in the darkness.

It was full night now. The three stood in the dark, an old man and two children. The embers crackled on the ground at their feet. A warmth came from them that soothed the skin on the boy's legs. He imagined Bill Walters lying in the dip at the pond's edge, thrashing and crying in the dirt. For a moment he could hear his screamings echoing through the great silent mill. Then old Mitchell gave a short grunt, that was a laugh, and said, “Look over here!” The children looked off quickly to where his bent arm was pointing. Two shadowy figures were running in a stoop from the shelter of the mill.

“I'll bet that's young Dudley”.

Old Mitch said, “I see him hanging around here ever since that Cribb shiela moved in. She's got a bad old man, too. Young Dudley had better watch out”. He looked down at Currani and gave him a push. “I suppose you're going to be like him too one day. Eh! He gets all the girls young Dudley”.

Currani peered off after the fleeting figures of the man and the girl. Then they disappeared into the night. The boy turned away towards the road nad said.

“Come on Tootie we'd better go home”. The two said goodnight to the old boiler-man and left him standing by the warm glowering embers.

All the way home Currani kept seeing the fleeting figures of the man and girl as they ran for the shelter of slabs and the broom beyond the mill. Something warm and pleasing was pounding at his chest. He tried to picture his brother Dudley standing behind a stack of timber, holding the girl close to him and kissing her on the mouth, whispering to her all the passionate words that flooded up into him.

He hoped that when he grew up he too would be like his brother.

The light from their father's shop flickered dimly down the road. Before it the boy could still see the running, crouching figures of the girl and his brother as they crossed the clearing of the mill yard. And he knew that this fleeting picture would live with him forever.

* * *

Rangiteauria, Karioi's new meeting house and dining hall, was opened officially last April at a large hui. The ceremony was led by Mr Whata Karauti. The whole project is a tribute to the Karioi people and to Mr Rangi Wilson, the tribal committee chairman. Photographs have already appeared in Te Ao Hou. (Issue 14).

EAST COAST LAND TITLES
GREATLY IMPROVED

The Northern Waiapu consolidation scheme can soon be realised. Full agreement was reached during a sitting held at Te Araroa last March, when the whole scheme, comprising over 100,000 acres, was placed before the people by Judge Norman Smith of the Tairawhiti Maori Land Court.

Consolidation of Maori land interests was a major portion of Sir Apirana's plan for the Maori people. He took a great personal interest in the Northern Waiapu scheme which was started before the war but interrupted then because of lack of staff.

Consolidation is not aimed at settling the individual owners but at identifying for each family group an area of land proportionate to its aggregated interests, over which it could exercise control.

Completion of the Northern Waiapu consolidation scheme may produce drastic changes in the outlook of Maori owners. It may ultimately help to increase farm production.

The Tikitiki school children, sitting on the Ministerial benches are given a lecture by the Prime Minister on parliamentary procedure. (N.P.S. Photo.)

Eels Were a Livelihood

Before the Wairarapa was settled by Europeans, the Maori people, whose main affiliation was with Ngati Kahungunus, lived on several kinds of roots, birds, rats and fish. Fish, however, was the most important food and consequently while the most valuable lands in European opinion, were frequently neglected, the areas such as the Wairarapa Lake were of great importance. The lakes, Lake Wairarapa and Lake Onoke, covered an area of 24,590 acres when low, but extended over 52,590 acres when at their highest normal level.

The natural outlet from Lake Onoke to Palliser Bay lay through a spit of sand. Great drifts of sand were piled against the spit by the sea, while the waters of the lake, fed by numerous streams constantly strove to sweep the sand away. During the months of the year when the rainfall was heaviest, the fresh water kept the lake open, but during summer and autumn, the current and volume of water in the lake was not sufficient to keep the drifts of ocean-sand from closing the outlet, which was rapidly strengthened by further sand deposits.

While the lake was closed the water gradually covered large tracks of low lying land. This was a considerable threat to the pakeha farmers.

Eels which were the staple diet of the Maoris abounded in the lake, as did flounders and other fresh-water fish. These fish were obtainable all the year round in the lake, and along the margins of the lagoons and streams. But the main fishing season was in April and May, when the Maoris caught eels by the hundred, along the sandspit, where the fish were waiting to escape into the sea, via the natural opening of the lake.

With the advent of the pakeha to the Wairarapa, many settlers, including Duncan McMaster, Donald Sinclair and Peter Hume, whose farmlands were being flooded, agitated for artificial opening of the lake. The Maori people, led by such chiefs as Piripi Te Maari, Hiko, Hemi te Miha, Raniera Te Iho, Wi Tamihana and Te Whatahoro (J. A. Jury) disagreed, for it meant that hundreds of eels would be allowed to escape into the sea before the fishing season closed.

Attempts were even made by the pakehas to

open the lake with spades. On one occasion, a day was arranged for cutting an opening. Many people including police representatives, lawyers, members of the Featherston River Board and large numbers of Maoris gathered at the edge of the lake. The Maoris had erected a wire fence to prove their rights to the spit.

The pakeha men were directed to start opening the lake and almost immediately Maoris (obviously well coached by their lawyers) walked up to each shoveller and caught hold of the handle. Trying to prevent the Maoris from obstructing the workers, the pakehas joined hands in a circle around the men in the trench. Immediately a number of Maori women dived under the men's hands and plunged into the drain, kicking and scratching furiously, and bringing down large quantities of sand. The project was abandoned.

An Unpromising Deal

Negotiations on the part of the settlers continued for some time until finally the Crown, by virtue of an Agreement of Sale, dated the 13th of February 1896, acquired the lakelands known as Wairarapa Moana. The Maori owners received £2,000 and a promise of some land. It took until 1916 before an area of 30,486 acres of the Pouakani Block along the Waikato river, was actually handed over.

At the time this block of land seemed valueless. There were no roads and much of it was covered with virgin bush, its nominal value was 4/- an acre. Many owners felt that living so far away

Lake Onoke is opened by tractors making a channel through the sand from the lake to the sea, (Courtesy: Wairarapa Catchment Board.)

Piripi Te Maari was one of the chief opponents of the opening of Lake Onoke. This photograph is from an old Pirinoa School magazine. Te Maari belonged to its foundation school committee.

Consequently, when New Zealand Perpetual Forests made overtures for the purchase of the block at £25,000 the majority of the owners, at a meeting held in Greytown on 4th July 1930, agreed

Farmers of the future: Rangi Murphy and Andrew Namara on Tui Te Maari's farm, (Forestry Service Photograph.)

There was however, a formality which needed the approval of the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. A. T. Ngata. Here the Wairarapa owners struck an unexpected difficulty. Ngata, with the land settlement scheme in full swing delayed the sale until the block had been inspected for its land development prospects.

The inspection report was strongly negative, “The farming possibilities are poor … the climate cold and bleak … much too costly to fence and manure … not much chance of the timber being milled for many years.”

Nevertheless Apirana Ngata was not satisfied and decided to visit the land himself before giving a decision. The sale never took place.

Perhaps Ngata was influenced by reports becoming current in 1930 that scientists were on the track of a cure for the soil deficiencies on the volcanic plateau. It was only after the cure was found (that is the addition of cobalt to fertiliser) that stock rearing on Pouakani became a possibility.

Development Begins

After the war, plans for new power stations were well under way. In 1945 the Ministry of Works wished to acquire part of the Pouakani Block to enable the Maraetai hydro-electric dam to be built as quickly as possible. So part of the block was leased to the Ministry of Works, for the establishment of the town of Mangakino, the terms of the lease stating that it would either end in 21 years or within three years of the completion of the project. The power scheme had the effect of rapidly bringing modern roading and the amenities of a sizeable township to Pouakani. By 1945 the special problem of farming on pumice lands had also been overcome; the use of cobalt in fertiliser had become general and effective in overcoming “bush-sickness”. The development of Pouakani had now become a practical possibility.

Towards the end of 1946 the Board of Maori Affairs approved the setting up of the Pouakani Development Scheme, and by 1948 operations had commenced. At about the same time negotiations with a milling company for the sale of timber on the land, were completed. Instalments of royalty moneys were paid to the owners.

An Advisory Committee, with Mr George Te Whaiti as chairman, was elected by the owners in the Wairarapa. The purpose of this committee was to safeguard the rights of the owners and to advise the Board of Maori Affairs when it came to the selection of young men as settlers for the farms which would be available.

The older people, who were the direct owners were not anxious to make a new start in life. They

Farmers in the Making

When they left home their feelings were mixed: Behind them they were leaving their families, their homes and their friends for the unknown. Would there be many pitfalls ahead; would the work be too exacting; would they be able to cope, and so fulfill not only their own ambitions and hopes, but also the confidence their people placed in them? These were the thoughts of some.

Those selected for training saw their opportunity. At home they had no chance of owning farms. With the exception of a few, who probably helped their fathers milk a few cows, the majority were dependent upon working for the European for a livelihood, with much of the work being seasonal. Only a few had permanent jobs as sharemilkers, shepherds, farm labourers or truck drivers. Employment consisted mainly of shearing and crutching, helping with dipping, fencing, drain-digging, or scrub-cutting.

(Continued on page 50)

With a high producing herd (over 17,000 Ibs butterfat) Mr George Ahipene, who came to Pouakani from the Wairarapa in 1954, is still constantly seeking ways of improving the yield of his herd, (Forestry Service Photograph.)

This article describes thirty years of effort to preserve, by instruction, the three aspects of Maori Arts and Crafts found in a carved meetinghouse, namely, woodcarving (whakairo), tukutuku panelling, and kowhaiwhai scroll painting.

TARANAKI MEETING HOUSE
PRESERVES FAMOUS NAME

The opening of the Taiporohenui meeting house near Hawera last May was attended by the Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. E. B. Corbett, who made this the occasion for his farewell speech to the Maori people of Taranaki.

The meeting house, named Whareroa, was dedicated by the Superintendent of the Methodist Maori mission, the Very Rev. G. Laurenson.

It stands on the site of a formerly very important Taranaki meeting house on the Taiporohenui marae.

The name Taiporohenui was originally given to a very large conference house—180 feet long—which was built in 1853 when the Maori King movement was first mooted. This building be came the first pillar of the movement; others being the beautifully carved storehouse (Pataka) at Wi Tako, Lower Hutt; another at Papawai, near Greytown, under the chief Potangaroa; and still another at Waihiki (Taradale) at the pa of Tareha There was another at Pukawa, Lake Taupo, the pa of Te Heuheu Iwikau.

Three other meeting houses of the same name (Taiporohenui) have been built since the original one was destroyed by fire.

NGA WHAKATAUKI ME NGA PEPEHA
MAORI

Na KINGI IHAKA

“Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero.”

Ko tenei korero na Kingi Potatau. I te tau 1858, ka tu tetahi hui nui ki Ngaruawahia, ara he whakawahi i a Potatau hei Kingi Maori. Na Wiremu Tamehana Tarapipi a ia i whakawahi. I reira ka tu a Te Heuheu, te rangatira nui o Ngati-Tuwharetoa, ka ki a ia: “Potatau, i tenei ra, ka whakawahingia koe e ahau kei Kingi mo te iwi Maori. Ka kotahi korua ko Kuini Wikitoria. Ko te haahi o Te Karaiti hei uhi hei tiaki i a koe; ko te ture whenua hei whariki mo o waewae mo ake tonu atu.” Ka whakahokingia e Potatau: “Kotahi te kohao o te ngira e kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango, te miro whero. I muri nei kia mau ki te aroha, ki te ture, me te Whakapono.”

Ka pai te korero nei. No enei tau tata ka pahure ake nei, ka kitea ai, e 35 nga momo haahi kei waenganui i te iwi Maori, na ahakoa te maha o enei karangarangatanga, kotahi unga atu, ara ko te Atua. Ko te ngira, ko te Atua. Ko nga miro, ko nga tangata katoa o te ao, ahakoa pehea te ahua. Na reira kahore e tika kia whakahaweatia e tetahi te Whakapono o tetahi. Tukuna nga waka o te Whakapono kia tere. E hoe tena i tona waka, i tona waka. Kia kotahi he taunga ara ko te Atua.

“Nga uri o Kiki, whakamaroke rakau.”

Ko Kiki he tohunga no Waikato i mohio whanuitia i nga rohe katoa o Tainui. Mona te whakatauaki nei, a mo ona uri hoki. E ai ki nga korero, ka maroke i a ia te rakau, a ki te whakatata te ope taua ki tona kainga, ka mutu noa tana he titiro atu i roto i tana whare ki taua ope, ka mate te katoa. He maha nga korero mo tenei tohunga

“There is but one eye of a needle, through which white, black and red cotton are threaded.”

This is comparatively modern and was quoted by Kingi Potatau the first Maori King. In the year 1858, a large gathering assembled at Ngaruawahia for the religious ceremony of proclaiming Potatau as King. The rite was performed by Wiremu Tamehana Tarapipi. Present at the ceremony was the high chief of the Tuwharetoa Tribe, Te Heuheu, who during the course of his oration said: “Potatau, today I anoint you kingi for the Maori people. You and Queen Victoria are today united. Let the religion of Jesus be your mantle to protect you; and may the laws of the land be the mat on which to place your feet for ever.” To this, Potatau replied: “There is but one eye of a needle, through which white, black and red cotton are threaded. Hereafter, hold fast to charity, uphold the laws and be firm in the Faith.”

In recent years a survey revealed that 35 various Church denominations exist amongst the Maori people, but in spite of these many divisions, there is but one Person to which all pay their allegiance, namely God.

We who live in a so-called Christian land, should allow our various beliefs to continue, on the understanding however, that our main aim is to lead one another to God. The primary object of a needle is to sew, and in the words of the present Bishop of Aotearoa (The Rt. Rev. W. N. Panapa), let us all sew all Churches, all tribes and indeed everyone together, and eventually to God.

“The descendants of Kiki, cause trees to wither.”

Kiki was a famous Waikato chief noted especially for his mastery of ‘tohungaism’ or the practice of casting a spell on others. It is said that during his day, he could with his supernatural powers, approached his village, all he had to do was cause a tree to die, and that when a war party appear at the doorway, recite an incantation and all in the party would die. Hence this well known saying throughout the Waikato territory which clearly indicates his special powers in this respect.

rongonui, a kati, me waiho ki te whakatauaki mona, ara, “Nga uri o Kiki, whakamaroke rakau.”

“Te Ati-awa o runga o te rangi.”

Ko Tamarau-te-heketanga-a-rangi te tupuna o te Ati-Awa. I heke mai tenei tupuna i te rangi, a i tona taenga mai ki te whenua nei, tera tetahi wahine ko Rongo-ue-roa, kei te awa e horoi ana i tana tamaiti, a kua makere katoa nga kakahu o te wahine nei. Ka whakatata atu a Tamarau ki te wahine nei, otira, kahore a ia i kitea mai. No te tuohutanga ano o te wahine ra, ka kite a ia i te ata o Tamarau i roto i te wai.

Ka pa mai te mataku ki te wahine ra, a, no tona huringa ki muri, na e tu ana he tangata tauhou. Ka rere atu a Tamarau ki te awhi i a ia. I mua tata atu i te haerenga o Tamarau, ka ki atu ia ki te wahine ra: “Ki te whanau mai koe, he tamatane, me tapa tona ingoa ki a Te Awa-nui-a-rangi, mo te awa i heke mai ai ahau i te rangi.” Koia nei te putake mai o te whakatauaki nei mo te Ati-Awa, “Te Atiawa o runga i te rangi.”

“Rauru ki tahi.”

Ko Rauru he tama na Toi. Ko ta Ngapuhi korero, ko te tupuna tenei o te iwi mohio ki te whakairo. Koia nei pea te tupuna o te iwi nei, Nga-Rauru o Patea me era takiwa o roto o Taranaki. Na ko te tikanga o te whakatauaki nei, e ai ki nga korero, ki te puta mai ana he korero i taua rangatira i a Rauru, kahore rawa e taea e tetahi te whakahe. Ko tana e korero ai, me rite ka tika. He rangatira mana te reo, nga tikanga, nga korero, na reira te whakatauaki nei mona; “Rauru ki tahi”, ara “Rauru, korero (kupu ranei) tahi.”

It could well be used for anyone expert in any particular field, for the term “tohunga” generally means “an expert.”

“Te Ati-Awa descended from the sky.”

The writer understands that the present Minister of Maori Affairs, the Hon. E. B. Corbett, is a member of the Ati-Awa Tribe in the Waitara district. In view of his pending retirement, perhaps it is fitting that this saying be quoted at this time.

Tamarau-te-heketanga-a-rangi was, according to some authorities the ancestor of the Ati-Awa Tribe. He descended from heaven, and on landing, was pleased to see an attractive lady, Rongoue-roa, bathing her child at a stream. Rongo herself was uncovered. Tamarau approached the lady, but the latter could not see him. It was not until she peered into the water, that she noticed a reflection of a man. This terrified her, and when she looked around to enquire, Tamarau went forward and embraced her. Before his departure, Tamarau suggested that should she ever give birth to a son, she was to name him “Te Awa-nui-a-Rangi”, after the stream at which he had landed after his descent from heaven. Hence the origin of the saying “Te Ati-Awa descended from the sky or heaven.” If there is any truth in this story, then the Ati-Awa people can claim to be the sons and daughters of Heaven.

“Rauru of one word.”

Rauru was the son of Toi. The Ngapuhi people claim that Rauru was the ancestor of the experts at carving. It is most probable and possible that Rauru was the ancestor of the tribe now residing at Patea in the Taranaki district which bears the name: Nga-Rauru. Very little is known of him, except that he was a man of few words, and what he said, had to be obeyed. When Rauru decided on a course of action, nothing could turn him from it, and his word was implicitly to be relied on.

Patangata

I nga wa o mua, a Patangata, ko te kainga o tetahi taniwha ko Karitake te ingoa. Tenei taniwha he wahine, a i roto i tetahi puna i te taha o te moana e noho ana. Ko tana mahi he kaitiaki mo nga pa tuna a ona uri. Te wahine nei he urukehu a kua roa e noho ana i reira.

No tetahi rangi ka mea a ia ki te haere ki Waikarepu, he awa i muri o Opoho, a ko tenei tana kainga tuarua mo nga wa hoha ai a ia ki Patangata.

I ona baerenga whakarere ai a ia i tetahi ara ano he awakeri, a nga hokinga mai ka pera ano hei whakanui i nga awakeri nei. E kitea ana enei mea i enei ra.

I tana haerenga tuatahi, i whakatuwheratia te

Patangata (Patuna)

Years ago Patangata was the home of a taniwha, Karitake by name, and of female sex. She lived in a spring off the lake around which was a thick covering of rusty quicksand, like mud. Her occupation there was caretaker of the tuna pas which were owned by a larger number of her “uris” or relations. Her hair was long and reddish, this being known in Maori as “Urukehu”. Here Karitake lived for some time, until one day she decided to visit the river Waikarepu. This river was at the back of Opoho, and the taniwha made it her second place of dwelling whenever she became tired of Patangata.

On her way up she was fond of leaving a track, this being wedged apart in the soil in the shape of a drain or trench all the way, and on her return trip this process was repeated, thus making the drains wider. We see them there today.

At the same time of her first visit, the sand bar was opened at Patangata in order to let the lake out to sea. As soon as the lake mouth was nearly empty, it made first a low droning sound, followed immediately by a heavy downpour of rain or the show of the rainbow. This as the elder folk said and believed, was the old lake mourning the loss of her waters and of the food most of which was sent out to waste in the sea.

Another of Karitake's jobs was to appear by signs to any of her relations who quarrelled about their pas—the sign was the showing of her red eyes in the water—consequences that follow are that she misdirects the tunas' paths from going into the hinakis of her relatives to that of an alien pa-owner.

Whenever any one of her descendants was due for death, Karitake's hair was seen strewn all over the water, and it is said today that instead of hair being seen, there are only feathers.

At the beach there is a windmill beside which is the spring or pool of water wherein the taniwha lived. The older Maoris believe she is still there today because the water turns a rusty colour, and flows continuously. When this place dries up they say that Karitake has gone back to her other home in Opoho.

During that time everyone knew her as being a destructive person—she burrowed through fields and ruined many lands, but today it is said that

tahuna i Patangata kia puta ai te wai o te roto ki te moana. I te paunga o te wai katahi ka timata mai tetahi haruru, a maringi mai ana te ua. Ko te korero a nga koroheke, ko te roto tenei e tangi ana mo te wai me nga kai i pau atu nei ki te moana.

Ko tetahi ano o ana mahi he puta mai ki ana whanaunga a nga wa kakari ai ratou mo a ratou pa tuna. Tenei putanga mai he whakaatia i na kanohi whero i roto i te wai, a i nga wa penei arahi ai a ia i nga tuna, kahore ki nga hinaki a ona whanaunga, engari ki nga hinaki e etahi ke.

A nga wa e tata ana tetahi o ana uri ki te mate, ka kitea ona makawe i roto i te wai. Inaianei kaore he makawe engari he huruhuru manu ke.

E whakapono ana nga koroheke kei roto tonu te taniwha nei i te puna, no te mea kei te riri tonu te wai a i etahi wa he waikura tonu te ahua o te wai. A nga wa e maroke ai tenei puna kua haere a Karitake ki tera o ana kainga ki Apoho.

Ahakoa kino katoa nga whenua i a Karitake i aua wa, no enei wa kahore a ia i pera engari e tumanako ana kia kaua e pera ana uri. Ara kia kaua e whakakino i nga whenua.

Kahore nga uri i aro ki tenei ahua otira tokorima nga tamariki e kori ana i runga i nga paritai o nga awakeri i Apoho. Te ratou mahi he kari haere i te oneone nga wahi i whakatapua nei e Karitake. Nga tane ko Chum Munro, ko Darky Nohinohi, ko Wiremu Raureti, ko nga wahine ko Molly me tana whaea ko Harata. I a ratou e keri haere ana ka mahi ratou i tetahi ana hei toa hoko mea ma ratou. He mahi takaro noa iho ra a ka inoi atu nga tahae nei ki nga wahine kia kuhu ki roto ki te ana ki te hoko mea ma raua. I mua i tenei katahi ka haere a Darky ki runga ki te ana, taka takahi ai, waiata ai, kanikani ai. No te mutunga ka hoki a ia ki te ana a no te nohoanga ka moe a Harata, katahi ka haruru te whenua ka

Karitake has not been so wild as she used to be and that she has been behaving excellently, and has even reformed with the hope that none of her relations would ill-treat the soil as she had done in the past.

Finally, concluding this story here is the punishment she inflicted on her relations, five of whom one day in their childhood played foolishly on the banks of the Opoho drains. They took big spades and began digging carelessly into the soil uprooting everything which had been treated as tapu by Karitake. The boys namely Chum Munro, Darky Nohinohi, William Raureti, decided to shape their diggings into a cave, which they pretended was a big house or shop and playfully begged their companion Molly and the old mother Charlotte to go in and buy their goods. Before doing so, for some unknown reason, Darky the younger one of the boys climbed to the top of their cave and here began stamping, singing and dancing to tunes he was whistling. When he had finished he returned inside their “house” and the moment he sat down, Charlotte was put to sleep by a strange spell and after followed a rumbling noise of the earth which caved down and hid the three boys from the sight of Molly and her other companions. There was wailing and being small children they grew more afraid. With much effort they managed to waken Charlotte who, suddenly realising danger began attempting to dig the boys out, and it was not until after a long struggle that Chum was found, and taken down to the water to be bathed and restored to health. Darky was next and treated likewise. By the time William was reached, he had died through suffocation, and though they bathed and bathed his head, he never ever came back to life.

Today there are only three people left to tell this story.

horo te ana, ngaro atu ana nga tamatane nei i a Molly ma.

Katahi ratou ka huri ki te whakaoho i a Harata, a no te ohonga ka timata tana keri kia puta, mai ai nga tama tane nei.

Ko te mea tuatahi ko Chum, no muri mai ko Darky a i haria ki te wai kia horoia.

Hinekorako
He Taniwha o Te Reinga

He taniwha? E hia nga rau o enei tu mea, a kei nga wahi katoa o tenei motu e taki noho ana. Etahi he ngarara, etahi he toka, etahi he rakau me era atu mea, a etahi hoki ko etahi o nga rangatira e maharatia nei o ratou ingoa i to ratou taniwhatanga.

Nga whakatupuranga e ono mai i a Iwhara ki a Hinekorako kahore i te tane i te wahine tuturu engari kotahi taha he atua, tetahi he tangata, a ko o ratou kainga noho ke i. Whakapunaki ko Te Reinga. He wahine penei hoki a Hinekorako o Ngati Hinehika o Te Reinga, engari na te kaha o te taha tangata ona, katahi a ia ka moe i a Tane Kino tetahi o nga tupuna o Ngati Hinehika. I te whanaunga o ta raua tama ka tapahia te ingoa ko Taurenga.

Hinekorako
Mermaid of Te Reinga

by Te Reinga Maori School

Taniwhas? There are hundreds of them, inhabiting all areas of this country, some, fierce living monsters, others, merely rocks, trees or other objects, and sometimes great chiefs whose names were kept alive by this form of preservation.

Such is the story of Hinekorako, taniwha and goddess of the Ngati Hine Hika of Te Reinga.

Tane Kino, great ancestor of Ngati Hine Hika, is said to have inter-married with a race of taniwha who originally inhabited Whakapunaki, a hill in the vicinity, and also Te Reinga itself.

The story as told, states that the first six generations from Iwhara to Hinekorako, were not quite men and women as we understand the therm, but a species of man-god, or water spirit. However the human side got the upper hand when Hinekorako fell in love and lived with Tane Kino, bearing a son whom they called Taurenga.

Prior to the birth of their child, Hinekorako told Tane Kino that to break the spell of taniwha and god, cast over her through her ancestry, he would have to care for the child, and nurse it, until it was old enough to care for itself.

Now Tane Kino, on the spur of the moment,

I mua o te whanautanga o ta raua tamaiti, ka mea atu a Hinekoraka ki a Tane Kino e pakaru ai te makutu heke iho i ona tipuna i runga i a ia, me matua tiaki a whangai, e Tane Kino ta raua tamaiti, Ka whakaae hoki a Tane Kino kia pakaru ai te makutu i runga i a Hinekorako.

I tetahi rangi katahi a Tane Kino raua ko Hinekorako ka haere ki tetahi hui i runga i te marae. Na raua hoki i hari a Taurenga a e ngoi ana i tenei wa. I a ratou e hui ana katahi a Taurenga ka paru whakama tonu atu a Tane Kino karanga ana i a Hinekorako ki te horoi i te tamaiti nei. Ka maranga a Hinekorako katahi ka hari i a Taurenga ki te awa katahi ka horoia ka whangaia hoki.

Mohio tonu atu a Tane Kino kua he a ia haere ana ki te rapu i a Hinekorako me ta raua tamaiti. Ahakoa pehea tana inoi kia murua taua he kahore i taea te pehea.

Ka tangi a Hinekorako ki ta raua tamaiti katahi ka hoatu i te tamaiti ki a Tane Kino ka mea, ara, i te mea kahore i rite tana i mea ai, ka hoki ano ia ki tona kainga i roto i te wai i Te Reinga. Kei reira tonu inaianei hei awhina i ana uri e te karanga ki a ia.

I tetahi wa, katahi ka waipuke te Hangaroa (tutaki ai i Ruakituri i te Reinga) a mau ana a Ngati Hinehika i roto i te waipuke i te waenganui po. I runga ratou i o ratou waka a haria ana ratou ki te nga rere i te kino o te wai. Mahara tonu atu tetahi tohunga ki a Hinekorako karanga ana i a Hinekorako hei awhina i a ratou. Mutu tonu te haere a nga waka ki nga rere nei ora ana nga tangata o runga.

promised Hinekorako that he would do as she wished, and so break the spell. The real test came sooner than he expected.

Taurenga by this time was old enough to crawl. Following the custom of the Maori people, Tane Kino and Hinekorako, with their child, went to attend a meeting of the tribe on the Marae. As often is the case with babies, when least expected Taurenga, in the midst of a large gathering, disgraced himself. His father left so ashamed of him that he forgot his promise to his wife, and called her to come quickly and clean the child. From the midst of the gathering Hinekorako came, picked up her baby, and took him with her to the stream which now flows past the Te Reinfa Marae. There she washed and fed him.

Tane Kino by now had realised that he had broken his promise and went to look for his wife and child. On finding Hinekorako, he begged forgiveness for his thoughtless action, but there was no remedy.

In reply Hinekorako wept over her son, then she stood up and handed the babe to Tane Kino. She told him that since he had been faithless to a promise, she was doomed to go back to her watery home under Te Reinga Falls. To this day she remains there, watching over the interests of her descendents whenever called upon.

On one occasion, during a heavy flood in the Hangaroa River (which joins the Ruakituri River just near Te Reinga), Ngati Hine Hika were flooded out in the middle of the night. Down swept the canoes to the dreadful falls, now a raging cascade. Just at the right time, one old Tohunga who had maintained his presence of mind, called aloud on Hinekorako for help, and immediately the rush of the canoes towards the Falls was stopped, and all the occupants were saved.

Roku

Ko Waiomio te kainga o Ngatihine, engari ko te mea nui o tenei wahi o Waiomio ko nga pari raima. E mohiotia ana hoki, ka nui nga ana i nga wahi pari raima a he pera hoki a Waiomio. Te nuinga o enei ana he tapu ina hoki he urupa katoa, engari kotahi ano tetahi e taea te matakitaki e te tangata ko te Ana-a-Roku. Ma te pakiwaitara e whai ake nei hei whakaatu i pehea i tae ai a Ngatihine ki Waiomio me to ratou aroha ki te tangata ke.

I whakahuihui a Torongare raua ko Hauhaua i a raua tamariki, whakarere ana ratou i Waimamaku ki te rapu kainga hou mo ratou. I to ratou haeretanga i haere ratou ma te taha rawhiti. Ka haere mo tetahi wa poto, ka noho, ka tirotiro i te whenua mehemea e momona ana, a mehemea kaore e momona ana, ka haere ano. E maha nga tau e penei ana ka tae ratou ki Waiomio. Tenei kainga i nohoa e Ngatiawa engari i te taenga ki reira kaore kau he tangata i reira. I a ratou e haere mai ana ka mate a Hauhaua a i te taenga ki Waiomio kua tino koroheke a Torongare. Toko-

waru a raua tamariki, a ko te matamua ko Hineamaru, to ratou rangatira. Timata tonu atu ratou ki te para i te whenua hei mahinga kai ma ratou. E toru a ratou ahua whakato kumara ko te Rapiki, ara ko te kakau e huri ana ki te rawhiti, ko te Retu, e huri ana ki te raki, ko te Ratou e huri ana ki te uru. I te pai o nga hua noho ana ratou i Waiomio hei kainga tuturu mo ratou.

I tetahi ata, i etahi o nga toa e whaiwhai kai ana e whakahaere ana i te ngahere, ka kite tetahi o nga toa nei i tetahi takahanga waewae tangata i roto i nga kakano tawa. Katahi ratou ka whai haere i nga takahi nei tae atu ana ratou ki tetahi o nga ana e puta mai ana he auahi me te kakara kai. I te taenga atu ki te wahi i mutu ai te awatea i timata ai te pouri, ka mau i a ratou tetahi wahine, ko Roku. I taua wa patua ai nga tangata ke, engari i aroha ratou ki a Roku a whakahokia ana ki tana whanau.

I noho tonu a Ngatihine i reira a kapi katoa i a ratou era rohe katoa. A ratou mahi i rongonuihia, a ratou pakiwaitara he maha.

Mehemea ka tae koe ki Waiomio a ka haere koe i roto i te Ana-a-Roku, ka kite koe i te hangi me nga riwai i whakakohatuhia nei e te raima i nga rau tau kua mahue nei, i te wahi i mutu ai te awatea, i timata ai te pouri.

a district that had first been peopled by the Ngatiawa, but which was now deserted. By this time, Torongare had grown old and feeble while his beloved Hauhaua had died on the journey. Eldest daughter in a family of eight Hineamaru was now leader of the party. Without delay, she had the rata burned and the land cleared for the planting of their crops. The kumara was planted in three ways “rapiki” (with the stem facing east), “retu” (facing north) and “ratou” (facing west) and the resultant crops were so satisfactory that they decided to settle in Waiomio permanently.

One morning, as a band of warriors was out hunting and exploring in the bush, one of them discovered human footprints in the squashy ripe tawa berries on the ground. Carefully, they followed the tracks until they lead into the cave from which came smoke and the smell of food been prepared. With great caution, they crept down the cave to the place where daylight ends and darkness begins, and there they captured the maiden known as Roku. Normally, in those days, no mercy was shown towards strangers and intruders, but, in this case, not only was Roku's life spared, but she was returned to her family. The Ngatihine stayed on and spread through the surrounding districts. Their deeds have been great, and their stories are many. If any of you go to Waiomio and wander through Roku's cave, there “in the place where daylight ends and darkness begins” you will see Roku's cabin with its hangi and potatoes petrified by the limestone deposits of centuries.

* * *

The Sir Apirana Ngata Memorial Scholarship Award for 1957 went to Dr M. N. Paewai of Kaikohe, to undertake post-graduate medical studies in the United States. The award will help pay the expenses involved. Dr Paewai is doing post-graduate studies at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City. He is already in the United States

Dr Paewai is well known throughout New Zealand particularly because of his fame as a rugby footballer.

Final Settlement

Some of those chosen as farm trainees, once more had their doubts about justifying the confidence placed in them. Before being placed on a farm each boy had to spend two years on a training farm which was established at Pouakani where he learnt all he could from his training, benefiting from the experience of the supervisors. Even when his training was completed he was not his own boss, but remained under probation. Once he proved that he was capable of running a farm, while under probation, he was then given a 42 year lease, during which time he must pay off the mortgage. Many did not realize (although they had been told by the department) to what extent the farms would be mortgaged, when they began. Considerable sums of money had been spent by the Government in developing each farm. The value of improvement on each farm were around £10,000 with livestock and plants worth another £2,500.

At home the parents and other young men eagerly awaited reports. Were the boys succeeding: Would more farms be available for younger brothers? More boys decided to go to Pouakani. After all, once they were settled on a farm they would no longer be working for somebody else. While many were successful there were also a few who did not measure up to the required standard, and after much official consideration gave up their farms, making way for others to try. The replacements, carefully selected have proved very successful.

To date, 26 dairy farms and 2 sheep farms have been settled. There are a further 7,700 acres under development and 1,500 acres more would be worth developing in the future. But it will be a few years before any more individual farms will be made available, and even then only 36 mixed farms and 11 sheep farms will be available. This will not absorb more than a fraction of the younger boys still living in the Wairarapa. The actual development work being carried out by the government, still provides employment for many, who hope to be given preference when more farms are ready.

The Future

Meanwhile in the Wairarapa, the pakeha farmer, who previously was dependent upon the local Maori people for casual labour, is now finding it more difficult to get work done, which does not warrant a full time employee. However, as more of the younger boys are growing up, and with a stalemate in the settlement of farmers on Pouakani, this position will soon be alleviated. From the Maori point of view, it means that these boys now growing up are not going to be able to find steady employment within the district. Their hope lies in training for the trades and professions.

It is a problem similar to many other farming districts. Most farmers prefer older, married men as permanent employees. Therefore unless these boys leave the district, they are going to be dependent, chiefly upon seasonal work, such as shearing, as were the young men in the days before the development of Pouakani.

The town of Mangakino, which is owned by the Maori people of the Wairarapa may provide employment for some. It is situated on 636 acres part of an area of 675 acres of which the Crown has a leasehold which is to expire 6 months after the completion of Maraetai, Whakamaru, and Waipapa hydro-electric schemes.

The owners have formed themselves into an Incorporation with the view of managing the owners' assets in the town. Negotiations are now taking place with the Ministry of Works to settle the arrangements. The owners wish, not only to preserve the town but also to develop and extend it, providing employment, other than farming, for many of those boys in the Wairarapa.

At present Mangakino provides a livelihood for 5,000 people. When the Ministry of Works with-draws, it is estimated that the town will provide an assured livelihood for 2,500 people.

In addition to the Maori Affairs Department's activities, at Pouakani, the Lands and Survey Department also has extensive land development schemes in the area, and these are regarded as sufficient support for the town. The owners desire that the whole block leased for water power be managed so that all the owners benefit.

Most important of all, the owners wish to see a Maori Community Centre established in Mangakino, to benefit not only those living in the town, but all those living on the Pouakani block.

A nine-man management committee of the new Incorporation consisting of Messrs M. Parker, G. Te Whaiti, G. Enoka, W. P. Karaitiana, R. Tamihana, R. P. Te Maari, P. Otene and A. H. Palmer was elected recently. An annual report, giving an account of operations during the year must be submitted by the committee to the owners.

The last ten years have confirmed Sir Apirana Ngata’ belief that Pouakani would be of immense value to the Wairarapa Maoris. He has provided this part of Ngati Kahungunu with their major landed heritage where many young men have been given the opportunity of permanent employment and the chance to prove that they are capable of running their own farms. Also, the owners, some at Pouakani, but many still living in the Wairarapa, now have a steady income, no matter how small, derived from something which two or three decades ago was valueless. And the Wairarapa pakeha farmer knows that his land will not be flooded, because the lake is now kept open.

The Iron Millionaires
of Taharoa

New Zealand may soon have a large iron and steel industry based on Taharoa, a small Maori village south of Kawhia harbour. Taharoa is one of the most isolated places in New Zealand. Strong opposition against the onrush of modern life by the people of Taharoa has so far prevented even a road to be built to the settlement. The people carry their supplies, including building materials for their homes, on sledges drawn by horses. Access is either through the Kawhia Harbour or by canoe over a lake east of the settlement.

On May 15 the people of Taharoa, at a meeting of the Maori Land Court at Kawhia, were definitely told that a powerful syndicate was interested in mining the 6346 acres of ironsand they own. They were offered royalties at the rate of one twentieth of the value of minerals which are being processed at the pit-mouth.

As a first move, it was proposed to send several hundred tons of partly refined sand overseas to America, Scandinavia or Southern Europe for trials to see just what the sands are capable of producing. The whole project, if proceeded with, would be a good deal larger than the Kawerau pulp and paper enterprise.

The Maori owners, represented by Mr B. D. O'Shea, of Ngaruawahia, the solicitor of King Koroki, have asked for an adjournment to give the proposal the study it deserves.

Te Ao Hou is preparing a full-length feature story in a subsequent issue on the rugged conservatism, and the remarkable future of Taharoa.

Queen's Birthday Honours

Two Maoris have been honoured by the Queen in Her Majesty's birthday honours which were announced recently.

Mr Karauria Tiweka Anaru, of Rotorua, has been made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).

Mrs Olma Taka Moss, of Christchurch, has been made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.).

Mr Anaru is a Justice of the Peace and secretary of the Te Arawa Maori Trust Board. Before the last Municipal elections he was deputy mayor of Rotorua for three terms. At the last elections he declined nomination.

Mr Anaru is a chief of Whanau Apanui and has been prominent in the affairs of his people. In addition he has given outstanding public service to the people of Rotorua.

At present he is president of the Bay of Plenty Justices of the Peace Association.

Mrs Moss is president of the Christchurch branch of the Maori Women's Welfare League and is South Island representative on the Dominion Council of the league.

She has been prominent in welfare matters pertaining to South Island Maoris. In addition she has done general welfare and social work in the city of Christchurch. In making the award recognition is given to the part that she has played, with drive and initiative, in greatly helping the promotion of the Maori Women's Welfare League in the South Island.

* * *

The Maori population of Canterbury was 1500 in 1945, but in 1956 it was over 2000. Most of the increase comes from young North Islanders who came to Canterbury to find jobs.

Four members of the interim committee of owners of the Taharoa ironsands had their photographs taken during the Maori Land Court sitting at Kawhia last May. (From left) Messrs A. Rubay, W. Falwasser, P. Tuaupihi (secreatary) and M. Ratahi (chairman). (Photocraft, Hamilton.)

At an ever-increasing rate, coloured people of all parts of the world (Asia, Africa, America) are now writing and publishing novels fully equal to the rest of modern literature. Here J. C. Sturm describes some of their most recent successes.

‘A Brighter Sun’—Samuel Selvon.
Allan Wingate. 1952.

‘In Chaguanas, a sugar-cane district halfway down the western coast of the island, the biggest thing to happen, bigger even than the war, was Tiger's wedding’. The island is Trinidad, and Tiger is an Indian boy of sixteen about to marry Urmilla, a girl no older than himself, whom he has never seen. They set up house in a market-gardening district four miles from the capital Port of Spain, and Tiger began his struggle to become a man. He rented land, planted crops, sold vegetables and saved money. He learned to smoke and drink rum and to entertain visitors. Then because of his growing discontent and vague ambitions he learned to read and write and to find his way about the big city. When the Americans came and planned a new highway through his property he gave his garden up without a word and signed on gladly as a labourer, for wasn't this something big, something important to the whole island, something that would last?

Tiger and Urmilla kept to themselves and made a few friends in the village. There were Rita and Joe, the negro couple who lived next door, and Tall Boy, the Chinese shopkeeper, and Sookdeo, the old Indian who died when the Americans took his garden, and Boysie, the young Indian who was saving up to go away.

Indian, Negro, Chinese—three groups of people, with different backgrounds, outlooks, customs, even different food. And Samuel Selvon, himself an Indian born in Trinidad thirty-two years ago, knows and understands them all. His book is not only a moving story of a young couple's struggle to make the best of a poor lot, but also a sharp and detailed picture, beautifully written, of the mixed population that is Trinidad.

‘Nectar in a Sieve’—Kamala Markandaya. Putnam. 1954.

Miss Markandaya, a young Indian journalist and writer, was born in Southern India, and travelled extensively in Europe as well as her own country before going to England. This is her first book.

Rukmani leaves her parents to marry a farmer in a distant village. The young couple make their home and rear a family in a two-roomed mud hut, and grow rice and vegetables on rented land. When the harvest is good there is enough food for themselves and the children and the rent collector, and perhaps a little money for something special like the Festival of the Lights. But when the rains come too soon or do not come at all, and the paddy will not grow, only the strongest or the most unscrupulous survive. A tannery is opened in the village. It is noisy and smelly and bad for those who work in it. It takes the market place, then the young people, even the land of the small farmers. Rukmani and her husband go to the city, but life is no easier there among the beggars in the temple or the workers in the stone quarry, and they are too old to adapt themselves to new hardships.

This story and the way it is told is strikingly similar to the West Indian novel, but where Samuel Selvon writes of poverty and hard work and lack of education and opportunity, Miss Markandaya shows us starvation, and work without hope (like nectar in a sieve), and people living without things we consider the barest necessities of life. She is not concerned with the interactions between different racial groups, but with the sole inheritance of the small Indian farmer—the problem of how to keep alive.

‘Go Tell It On the Mountain’—James Baldwin. Michael Joseph. 1954.

James Baldwin, the son of a Harlem clergyman, was born in New York city in 1924. He became a

preacher when he was fourteen, but gave it up three years later, and is now living in France, at work on his second novel. I doubt if anyone reading this book could pick it to be the author's first novel. Mr Baldwin knows exactly what he wants to say, and says it powerfully, sometimes shockingly, using a tricky method of flashbacks into the pasts of his main characters with complete success.

It is the story of John Grimes, a young Harlem negro approaching manhood, his family, and the small but fanatical religious sect to which they belong. John's father, a man bent on erasing a violent youth with an equally violent religious faith, is head deacon in the church. John's mother, a young widow who married again more for security than for love, is nearly always late for the morning service. John's aunt Florence takes her sickness to the altar, and remembers only the fear and oppression and cruelty of the Deep South where she was brought up. And Roy, John's younger brother and the last light in his father's despairing heart, is more interested in the roaring city streets than in saying his prayers. John himself fights a losing battle against his father's domination and the public religious conversion that is expected of him.

Although Mr Baldwin has much to say about a certain kind of religious experience, it is not really the main theme of his book. Nor is the colour-bar, though this plays a large part in some of the characters' lives. He is primarily concerned with the emotional life of his own people: the range and depth and strength of the feelings that always lie behind the face of their everyday living.

‘Blanket Boy's Moon’—Peter Lanham, based on an original story by A. S. Mopeli-Paulus, Chieftain of Basutaland. Collins. 1953.

Truth is sometimes worse than fiction, and from one point of view the South African writer is fortunate: his raw material is so obvious and ready to hand (twenty-four hours in Sophiatown would fill a book), but any worth-while novel about social conditions must contain much more than shock tactics or purely descriptive writing, no matter how good it is. The author should try to give the bewildered or incredulous reader some insight into the problems that lie behind his story, and some understanding of why his characters, black, white or coloured, act and feel as they do. This is the task that Mr Lanham, with the help of A. S. Mopeli-Paulus, has set himself in writing the life-story of a young man of the Basotho people.

Monare leaves his wife and family in Basutoland to seek his fortune in Johannesburg, the ‘City of Gold’, and having found a small measure of it, returns home only to become involved in a ritual murder. Fear and remorse force him to flee to