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No. 20 (November 1957)
– 23 –
 

Taranaki-Wanganui party performed before the Queen at Rotorua. Here is a free translation of the Maori.

Aotea the canoe, Turi-ariki the Captain on her,
Ruapehu the mountain, Whanganui the river,
Ati-Hau the tribe, Putiki-wharanui the group of young people,
The descendants of Haunui-a-paparangi … who conquered the length and breadth of Hawaiki.
I will not, will not disappear,
The seed broadcast from Rangiatea;
It will grow and bear fruit;
Now we have arrived at Raukawa,
The ‘marae’ bequeathed to us by our ancestors.

My poi doth fly,
My poi flies direct and takes with it love,
To those who have gone to ‘Paerau’ (Place of departed spirits)
For whom we still mourn,
Alas! it is distressing.

We have come to this ‘Hui Aroha’
That we may mingle our tears and greetings with yours,
Let the dead be united with the dead,
Let the living be united with the living,
Alas! Let it be.

'Tis death! A Chief will die,
Another replaces him (Repeat),
A saying of our ancestors,

It glows, it glistens, it flashes, again it glows,
Let us relax and haul the canoe,
Let us relax and haul the canoe;
Let its freight be the Faith,
The Captain, Jesus Christ, uplift it (the Faith).

One of the difficulties is to safeguard the continuity of such clubs. This is important as the disappearance of the club would leave the same void that existed before. Younger people are being trained to take up leadership when the older ones leave, as they invariably do either through marriage or migration.

There is nothing to stop similar clubs being set up throughout New Zealand. It seems to me that the most important purpose of such clubs should be the social and spiritual one summed up in the motto ‘Putikitia te Aroha’…that is: develop close and healthy personal relations between the members of the Maori group. Club activities have a further fundamental value: by concentrating on “items” like the immemorial Aotea poi we go back to the root of Maori tradition.

* * *

Construction has started on a £55,000 hostel at New Plymouth which is to accommodate 60 Maori girls and young women. The hostel, which will be in the charge of Sister Evelyn Marriott, head-mistress of the Rangiatea Maori Methodist Girls' School. New Plymouth, is expected to be ready before the end of 1958.