‘Te Ao Hou’ publishes here the text of two memorable speeches made last February by His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir Bernard Fergusson. The first is the speech which he made on 6 February, before a large crowd of Maori and Pakeha gathered at Waitangi on the occasion of the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The Opening of ‘Tumatauenga’

E te marae e takoto nei, tena koe!
E te whare e tu nei, tena koe!
E nga mate o tumatauenga o tenei marae o te motu:

Haere, Haere, Haere.
E nga iwi e pae nei, te Taitokerau: Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou!
Ka nui te koa o te ngakau, kua tatu mai ano maua ko taku hoa rangatira ki tenei marae. Kua tangata whenua ke maua,
No reira kia ora koutou katoa.

In the name of Her Majesty the Queen, I greet you all. I am here first and foremost as her mangai.

But I am here also as a person, and as a soldier; and as such I pay tribute to the Maori soldiers who fell in Gallipoli and in France nearly fifty years ago, and to the fallen of the Maori Battalion in the last war. Less than three years ago, beside Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who should have arrived in New Zealand nine days from now, I stood at the foot of Takrouna: the rocky hill which was captured in 1943 by a small taua from the Maori Battalion with dash, skill and gallantry. Later, and also in attendance on Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, I stood in the cemetery near by at Enfidaville, where the bodies of Maori warriors and of fighting men of my own Regiment, the Black Watch, lie side by side, their warfare over. Queen Elizabeth herself had three brothers in my Regiment, in the war of 1914, of whom one was killed; and two nephews in the war of 1939. Indeed, we are all ‘one people’.

Enfidaville, and the other military cemeteries where Maori soldiers are buried, are a long way from here. But I am sure that you feel, as I most certainly feel, that their spirits are with us this morning; that they too are present here on Porowini; and that in a few minutes, when we enter Tu-Mata-Uenga, they will be crowding in with us.

Now, I have heard, since I arrived yesterday in the country of Ngati-Hine, that there was a thought among you that this new and beautiful House should be called, not Tu-Mata-Uenga, but Maunga-Rongo, meaning Peace and Understanding. This was the thought of Riri Kawiti: and let all of us now on this marae think of him at this moment, who but for grievous illness would have been here.

After long deliberation, you have decided otherwise. Tu-Mata-Uenga is to be its name. But I suggest to you that all the power, and skill, and mana of Tu-Mata-Uenga be harnessed from this moment to the cause of Maunga Rongo.

Those men of Gallipoli and France and North Africa and Italy still remain an inspiration to us. It is they who have inspired the building of Tu-Mata-Uenga; and Tu-Mata-Uenga, whenever we enter it, should inspire us to perform all the things that they would have wished to achieve if they had come back to us.

I can think of several such things. Most of them, especially those who came from Te Taitokerau, were men of the land. Let us make the best use of the land, and farm it well and sensibly and fruitfully. But for them, it might not still be ours. Let us give to our land the work and the imagination it deserves. Let us make a success of this. ‘Ko te puna i keteriki: Te rere i Tiria.’ All of us can climb Tiria if we really try.

A second field which we must work is the field of Education. As I said in my message to the Maori people at the New Year, and indeed as my grandfather said to the people of Waikato-Maniapoto when he went to Ngaruwahia more than ninety years ago, Education is the one sure key to the future of every race. I appeal to the young to take advantage of the new opportunities afforded them by the Maori Education Foundation. I appeal to the kaumatua to use all their great influence to encourage the young to do so: to go to the secondary schools, the universities, the technical and agricultural colleges, the medical schools.

Thirdly and once again, let me preach the gospel of Kotahitanga. There was unity on the field of battle; there is unity among the dead far off in Enfidaville; let there be unity above all among the living. ‘Ka mimiti te puna i Taumarere: Ka toto te puna i Hokianga.’ What is good or bad for the Maori is good or bad for the Pakeha. We are all one: Tatou Tatou. God Save the Queen. Kia ora koutou katoa.

Father from Syria, Mother from Taupo

His father was from Syria, and had come out to live in New Zealand with his parents when he was a young man. Rowley's mother, a full Maori, belonged to the Pitiroi family at Nukuhau, Taupo—‘There's a big swag of us at home. I'd say about every second Maori you meet in Taupo is related to me.’ Rowley was the youngest son in a family of seven.

He says that he was always a lonely child, even when he was surrounded by a dozen or so other children. ‘I knew right from the start that in some way I was different from the rest of the kids—and I didn't like it. I started to brood.’ The latter part of his home life was a disturbed one, and he did not shine at primary school—‘I was no scholar; I'd like you to mention that.’ He was especially hopeless at arithmetic.

Went to Te Aute

Rowley stayed at primary school—‘for lack of anything better to do’—until he was almost 16. Then he went to Te Aute for a couple of years. ‘At Te Aute I was thrown together with young Maoris from all over the country—I could go almost anywhere in New Zealand,

and I'll bet you I'll meet someone I was at school with, or someone who knows someone.’ These contacts, and the friends he made, had a great influence on him. ‘I was always a shy and rather reserved person and I wouldn't otherwise have made, on my own, the friends and acquaintances that I know today. At Te Aute, living so close together, I was forced to mix, I had no option. With all due respect to my old school this is the one thing that I can say that I am really grateful to the place for.’

Wrote About Own Experience

In his last years at Te Aute he wrote essays which, he says, were not far removed from the kind of writing he does today.

‘I always wrote about things and people I knew personally. I found I couldn't write about imaginary things, they had no interest for me. But with the things and people I knew, all I had to do was to be honest, and they would have life and meaning. Mr Sam Dwyer, a teacher at Te Aute, seemed to recognise this as my strength, and he encouraged me to keep

my essays personal.’ Rowley remembers Sam Dwyer with gratitude; not only as a teacher but as a human being.

It was a little later, when he was 20 and in his first year at Ardmore Teachers' College, that Rowley suddenly decided that he wanted to be a writer—‘It hit me like a torando. I couldn't think of anything else.’

Wandered Restlessly, Wrote Furiously

He left Ardmore, worked for a year in a bookshop in Auckland, then spent three years wandering around the North and South Islands—working in freezing works, timber-mills, woolstores, hydro works, on the wharfs, digging ditches and ‘a dozen and one’ other jobs for short spells. All this time he was writing furiously. He sees this period as being a kind of apprenticeship as a writer—‘My only regret now is that I didn't take more notice of what went on around me and the people I met. I didn't start out drifting entirely because I was after experience—although it has worked out that way. In much of my writing now I am drawing on those restless years—at the time it was a hand-to-mouth way of living, as far as I was concerned.’ At this time his writing ‘just poured out. It was pretty shapeless at first—I had practically no control over it. All I knew was I had to get it down on paper.’

Like so many other writers, he is concerned chiefly with the people and places which he knew as a child: with his own experience and with the experience of all the people, especially working people, whom he has known. ‘By “working people”, I mean manual workers. They have more vitality and warmth than white-collar workers, and this seems to rub off on to me and into my writing.’

Five Years Down South

Later, Rowley spent five years down south; for much of this time he was associated with the Maori Club in Dunedin. ‘It was there in Dunedin that I found myself being pulled back strongly to my Maori side. I think it might be because I got such a fright how much Maori-tanga had died out down there. I realised that if we weren't careful the same thing could happen in the North Island. But make no mistake about the quality of the Maori in the South Island, even though there are only a few of them. I count some of my best friends amongst them. And I know that in recent years there has been a drive to get back what they have lost.’ But whatever the reason was, he says, the outcome is that he has become ‘a bit of a fanatic’ on anything Maori. He regrets that he cannot speak the language too well (probably because his father was Pakeha, and the language was not spoken in his home), but he says he is picking it up fast.

For the last four years he has been a public servant, first with the Ministry of Works and now, at Bulls, with the Agriculture Department.

‘Te Ao Hou’ and Elsewhere

Rowley's first published work was a prize-winning story which appeared in the Ardmore Teachers' College annual magazine. Since then most of his work—short stories, poetry and articles—has appeared in ‘Te Ao Hou’, starting in 1956. ‘It was “Te Ao Hou” which gave me my first real break.’ He has also had short stories and verse published in most of the literary magazines in New Zealand, including ‘Landfall’, ‘Arena’ and ‘Mate’, and two of his poems are to be broadcast later this year by the Broadcasting Corporation.

At present he is working on a novel which will have as the setting the district in which he lived as a child. He has also recently finished a collection of verse and prose, ‘While the Rain Tapped on My Roof’. It is from this collection, not yet published, that his poem ‘The Raw Men’ has been taken.

Two-Way Cultural Integration

Rowley feels strongly that Maori culture should become part of the heritage of all New Zealanders: that there must be a two-way cultural integration. It was partly for this reason that he was so interested in the operetta performed recently by Turakina Maori Girls' College, which he reviews on page 43 of this issue of ‘Te Ao Hou’.

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A memorial stone to the late Henare Te Paehu Tuhakaraina was unveiled at Rukumoana Pa last February, on the first anniversary of his death.

The ceremony was performed by a member of the Maori royal family, Tumate Mahuta. The Rev. Canon Wi Huata conducted the service, assisted by the Rev. S. Kemara and the Rev. C. Shortland.

The late Mr Tuhakaraina was a leader of the Ngati Haua tribe, being secretary of the Morrinsville tribal committee and of the Te-Ao-o-Waikato tribal executive. He was also a member of the Tainui Trust Board.

Ko Te Korero Mo Te Huhuti

Na, ko tenei wahine, ko Te Huhuti, i pera tahi ano ia me Hinemoa. Ko Hinemoa, nana i kau te roto o Rotorua. Na, ko Te Huhuti, nana i kautahoe te roto o te Roto-a-Tara. No Ngati Kahungunu tenei wahine, a te Huhuti, te tupuna wahine o Te Hapuku; te tikanga i kautahoetia ai e ia te roto o te Roto-a-Tara, he kawenga na te humariretanga o Te Whatuiapiti, no konei i kautahoetia ai e ia taua moana; no reira kihai ia i tawhitawhi kia whakaaroaro ranei, kia aha ranei; kao, ko tona whakaaro i penei na, ‘Ahakoa nui te moana, me aha? Engari me whakamatau—a, mana ka totohu, he aha koa; a, mana e u, e pai ana.’

(Na, titiro ra, e hoa ma, ki te whakaaro o tenei wahine, kihai hoki i tawhitawhi tona whakaaro, no te mea kua whakaarorangi noa ake tona ngakau ki te ataahuatanga o Te Whatuiapiti, te kuku o tona manawa.)

Na, ka kau ia, a, ka u ki te kainga o Te Whatuiapiti; e u kau atu ana ano ia, inamata kua kitea ia e te whaea o Te Whatuiapiti. Na, oho whakarere taua ruruhi; katahi ia ka titiro atu ki a Te Huhuti; ano te kiri! me he pari tea ko te turanga mai ki uta o te wai. Ka haere atu ki te kuia ra; te ahunga atu, heoi ra ka titiro atu te ruruhi ra ki te ataahua mai o te wahine raka. Anana! me he haeata e toea ana i te taha a rangi, koia ia ko te rite o tuawahine.

A no ka whakatata mai ki te kuia raka, ka whakatauki atu taua ruruhi ra ki a Te Huhuiti, ‘E! e! E tia tonu tou humarire, me nga pari teko nei! Ae, me he haeata e toea ana i te taha a rangi ko tou pai.’

Kihai hoki i hamumu a tuawahine.

Katahi ka ui atu te kuia raka ki a ia, ‘E hika, ko hea koe?’

Otira ko tuawahine kihai hoki i hamumu.

Me i reira ka ui atu ano te ruruhi ra ki a ia; kihai rawa ia i ki atu ki a ia.

I reira te waha o te kuia raka ki te ki atu ki a ia, ‘Taikiri! taikiri! Kaore rawa nei koe e ki mai ki ahau?’

I reira tata katahi ra ano ka hamumu atu te mangai o tuawahine ki te kuia raka, ka mea atu ia, ‘Kei whea koia te kainga o Te Whatuiapiti?’

Ka mea atu te kuia raka, ‘Tenei ra to maua nei kainga, haere mai taua ki reira.’

Ka mau te kuia raka ki tona ringa, ka haere raua, a ka tae ki te whare o Te Whatuiapiti; ka rongo te rangata ra, inamata kua maranga ki runga, kua titiro atu ki te wahine ra, ka mihi atu ia ki te wahine ra: me pehea hoki koa ua ana? Ka koa ra, ka kite atu hoki i te whakahiangongo a tona ngakau: me tuawahine hoki ka koa, ka tae atu ia ki a Te Whatuiapiti — te kaitokomauri o tona puku. Ehara, moe ana raua nei, a, tupu noa o raua nei uri; a, moroki noa nei, mahara tonu ratou ki nga whanonga a to ratou tupuna wahine, a Te Huhuti, i tana kauanga i te moana o te Roto-a-Tara; no reira te kupu o tenei waiata.

‘Na Te Huhuti nau i kau mai, ko Hineteko i te Roto-a-Tara, a, ea ake ana, ko Hinehore, ko koe.’

Titiro, e kore e wareware i ona uri nga ritenga pai a to ratou nei tupuna. Na, ko te tikanga o Te Huhuti i pai ai ki a Te Whatuiapiti, he pai no Te Whatuiapiti; otira ko nga painga o Te Whatuiapiti e rua; ko tetahi painga ona ko Tahu, ko tetahi ko Tu. Koia tera te tikanga i pai ai ia, kia moe ia i a Te Whatuiapiti, no reira te tikanga i kauhoetia ai e ia te roto o Te Roto-a-Tara, i whakaaro ia kia moe ia i a Te Whatuiapitu hei tane pai mana, kia rua ai nga painga ki a ia, ko Tahu, ko Tu, no te mea ko Tahu mo te rangi marire, ko Tu mo te mata whaura, mo nga ritenga o waho, ko te mea ia i tino hokaka ai ia kia haere ia ki a Te Whatuiapiti hei hoa mona.

a tona Matua Kaha Rawa, tahuna ra e ia tana ahi, koia na tonu te maunga i piki ai ia’. Ka tuhi ano tona ringa ki te puke teitei kei muri o te whare o toku tipuna, kei waenganui o Hiruharama me Whakapourangi.

He tika, he ahi kei reira e murara ana. Ka miharo taua iwi ra. Ko taua ahi hoki ra, ka tonu ai ia ata, ia po; ahakoa rangi ataahua, ahakoa rangi marangai, ka murara tonu te ahi ra.

Ka mea ano a Te Iharaira, ‘Koia na tonu te maunga i piki ai a Te Karaiti, i tahuna ra e ia tana ahi, i a ia e tatari ana mo nga anahera me tona waka. No te taenga mai o nga anahera, ka mauria ia, ka mahue mai tana ahi kia ka tonu ana. Na reira i tapaia ai tena maunga ko Te Ahi a Te Atua. Na reira i waiho mai ai e ia tana ahi kia murara ana, a, kei te murara tonu ki tenei rangi.’

Mehemea e haere mai ana koutou ki te titiro ki taua ahi nei, ka kite koutou, mai i tera rangi i tahuna ai, kei te murara tonu ki tenei rangi. No reira, koia na nga purakau mo nga kainga nei, no te whakaritenga a Te Iharaira i nga kainga nei ki nga mahi a Te Karaiti. No kona ka mohio tonu koutou, kaore tatou e haere rawa ki rawahi titiro ai ki nga kainga nei, ki nga kainga o Te Karaiti. He Hiruharama tonu ta tatou kei Niu Tireni nei, te kainga i mahi ai ana mahi kei roto o Te Paipera; he kainga motuhake tonu ta tatou i whakapou ai ia i ona mahara ki te rangi—ko Whakapourangi; a, he ahi motuhake tana i mahue mai i a ia ma tatou, kei te ka tonu ki tenei rangi—ko Te Ahi a Te Atua. Kaore tatou e mohio, kei te tika tonu pea a Te Iharaira no konei tonu pea a Te Karaiti, he teka noa pea te Kawenata. Koia na tonu pea te take i ki ra a Romera (Rommel), ‘Ko Niu Tireni he whenua na Te Atua’.

Ka mate nga tangata i taua hui Ringatu. No te tunga a Te Iharaira, penei ratou he piki kata ma ratou kei te haere. Engari no ana korero mo Te Karaiti, ka tumeke taua iwi. Kaore hoki tenei i rite ki Te Iharaira e mohio ana ratou.

Footnote

Kia mohio koutou: pou = pau. Ki etahi o nga tangata o taua kainga, ko Whakapourangi = Whakapaurangi.

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About 40 members of the Putiki Maori Club, Wanganui, will fly to Fiji on a short goodwill trip next year, at the invitation of a principal chief, Edward Thakambau.

Large Families with Little Money

I have thought about houses that would be right for large families with little money. In such houses one would have to ‘use every inch of space’ as the saying goes. One would also have to incorporate many features which Maoris would like, but which Pakehas would not necessarily notice, or dislike if they did notice them (a house for a large family would, of course, suit many large Pakeha families as well).

In 1961 I designed the three-bedroom house which is shown in the photograph above and in the plan on the next page. It is a variation

on the normal three-bedroom house design, and cost about £2,800. It had low eaves, and a large living space open to the rafters. In this living space there is a kitchen, a dining space, and a divan that can be used occasionally as an extra bed. It opens out to a veranda on the sunny north gable wall, over which the roof is extended. That might make it look a bit like a whare, but this particular house was built for a European family, and they liked the roof. It might be less popular with a Maori family — it was a sensible design for a large site, though; only the veranda would not be private enough if it faced the street. The interior is light and useful; the internal passage to the bedrooms has direct light, opens into the back entrance, and is wide enough to look spacious. The children can play in this wide passage, and it is almost part of the living space. One room is small, which is useful if somebody is sick. But all bedrooms take at least two beds each. There is room for visitors, and the kitchen is a long one, so that more than one woman could work in it at a time. The sunny veranda, with its wide steps, is good for receiving visitors.

New Methods Possible

Since then some advances in building techniques have occurred, notably the development of new roofing materials which make a flat or near-flat roof a practical possibility. This has the effect of making it easier and cheaper to build houses to plans which are not strictly rectangular. This, in turn, gives us the chance of including many new features in the design.

‘Outdoor Living Room’

A new type of plan, making use of some of the possibilities which this type of roof presents, is submitted here for your criticism. It features an ‘outdoor living room’, an internal court around which the house is built. This acts as a private ‘open air living room’, an addition to the living space, either covered or not, that could be much cheaper than a large room inside the house, while serving very well when there are many visitors.

Eliminates Passages

The plan is no larger than the traditional one, but it eliminates all passages, thereby saving space for other purposes. The living room itself is 33 feet long, and parts of it are narrow, like a long gallery, open on one side with glass doors to the internal court, our ‘open air living room’. Because of this it will not feel cramped. Other parts of the living room are 13 feet wide, and the whole living

space is 336 sq. ft. in area.

The bedrooms are all much larger than in similar houses built on more traditional lines, having 130 sq. ft., 170 sq. ft., and 175 sq. ft. respectively. This compares with 100 sq. ft., 108 sq. ft., and 108 sq. ft. in the Maori Affairs Department's house, plan type 3/21 A. This plan has 1030 sq. ft., while the new plan which we are considering here has only 1000 sq. ft. Even if one made the two large children's bedrooms, one for boys and one for girls, into three bedrooms, these three bedrooms would still have 115 sq. ft. each, and (since there is, of course, a bedroom for the parents also), the house would be a four-bedroom house. But as it is designed with three bedrooms, there is room for more beds if necessary—at least ten beds, without the use of bunks.

Sheltered Sunny Space

Even if the ‘outdoor living room’ is not covered over, either fully or in part, it will be useful as a sheltered, sunny, private space. On a narrow section it could face the boundary of the section, and be shielded by a high hedge or fence or one of the new open-block walls. If this ‘outdoor living room’ faces the road, or the back of the section, once again a screen wall would in some cases be useful; in other cases it would be open on this one side, and the planting of the garden would protect it from view and from the wind.

No Dark Corners

There are no tiny rooms in this house, and no dark places. One could receive visitors, one can have tables for children's study, and there are four places, each with hot and cold water, where children and parents can wash. Children and parents have separate parts of the house and do not disturb each other. The W.C. is accessible from the laundry, which also serves as back-entrance lobby; in this way it is well aired and isolated from the rest of the house.

Not for Everyone, but Well worth Considering

Such a plan might not suit every section and every family, but it may be a type of plan well worth studying.

Council Meets the Rotorua People

In line with its policy of having at least one meeting a year in the districts, the Council gathered at Wahiao, Whakarewarewa, over the weekend of March 7th and 8th. This was an opportunity to show the people what had been done since the Council was formed, to answer questions and to listen to many matters on which the Council's views were sought.

Much appreciation was expressed by visitors

for the way in which they were looked after by their hosts. It seemed as if all who attended the meeting agreed that they knew a lot more about the Council and realised that it deserved the support of Maoris everywhere.

A Report on the Council's Activities

Describing the formation of the Council, the President, Sir Turi Carroll, said that it was appropriate that the last meeting of this first Council should be held in Rotorua. It was largely due to the determination and persistence of certain prominent Rotorua leaders, particularly Major Vercoe and Mr Anaru, that the Council came into existence.

After the first District Councils, called together in 1953, were allowed to go into recess, members of the Wai-Ariki Council realised the need for the completion of the organisation that included only Tribal Committees and Executives. The Wai-Ariki Council met again in 1958 and called a conference of other District Councils in October, 1959, when it was resolved to press for the formation of a New Zealand Maori Council. The Chairman of that meeting was the late Major Vercoe.

Sir Turi also said that a general survey of the Council's work showed that it had fulfilled an important function in representing Maori views and in opening the way for fuller consultation between the government and the people. At first the Council seemed to have too much thrust upon it and not enough time to take matters on to the maraes where the opinions of all the people could be gathered. ‘We prefer’, said Sir Turi, ‘that all our Maori Associations, right down to individual Maori Committees, should be able to express their views on all matters coming before the Council so that our decision will truly reflect Maori opinion’.

Important Work of Maori Committees

The Council's report emphasised the importance of the work done by Maori Committees. There is a need to do everything possible to make their work as successful and effective as possible. To this end, data papers have been sent to Committees in an effort to get their views on particular topics. Committee members themselves have the opportunity to pass remits on the Council through their Executives and District Councils. A Newsletter is now going out every month and any Committee that is not receiving a copy should write to the Council's Secretary at Box 5195, Wellington.

For some time the Council has been anxious about the position of Welfare Officers who have done so much in the past to make the work of Tribal Committees more effective. At the Rotorua meeting the Secretary for Maori Affairs, who was one of our guests, said that Welfare Officers were being advised to work closely with our Committees.

Seminar Recommendations

In the last issue of ‘Te Ao Hou’ there was an account of the seminar on Maori social progress organised by the Council. A large part of the Rotorua meeting was taken up with discussions on the 49 recommendations that the seminar had sent on to the Council. These ranged over topics of education, vocational guidance, housing, research, migration to the cities and social problems of one sort and another. On many of these points the Council is now taking action to see if conditions for our people can be improved.

The great need now is for support from the people, particularly financial support, without which all the work of the Council will come to a halt. As Sir Turi said, ‘We believe that the existence of the Council opens up new opportunities to our people to take control of their own destiny and we look to Maoris everywhere to support the Council in its efforts. If we have this support, there is no end to the good we can do for you and for our country.’

A Symbolic Statue

The memorial takes the form of a symbolic statue (see photo at left) which stands in a challenging position facing the entrance to the marae. At its foot are two memorial plaques, one in Maori and one in English (see photo below).

Maharaia Winiata, an eminent scholar and an outstanding leader, died on 6 April 1960, aged 48.

Born at Ngahina Pa, Ruatoki, in the Bay of Plenty, he was educated in Tauranga and later, as a part-time student, at Auckland University. While gaining his B.A., and later his M.A. degree, he taught at a number of secondary schools. He afterwards taught at Rotokawa Maori School, Rotorua, and at Wesley College.

First Doctor of Philosophy

In 1949 he was appointed the first Maori Adult Education Officer in Auckland, and three years later became the first Maori to win a Nuffield Scholarship. This enabled him to study at Edinburgh University, where he gained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He was the first Maori ever to earn this degree.

He was an adviser in the film ‘The Seekers’, and played the part of the old tohunga in the film.

Dr Winiata was ordained as a Methodist minister, and before taking up teaching he had completed the Trinity College course for the Methodist ministry.

He was a magnificent fighter and a great advocate for the Maori people. His aim was the education of the Maori race as a whole, and he devoted most of his short life to that end.

Challenge to Seek Knowledge

The memorial statue, which is eight feet high, is designed to act as a challenge to Maori youth to seek after education and knowledge. In his right hand—the hand with which a man usually fights—the figure holds a kit; it is the kit of the knowledge of the arts of peace, one of the three kits that Tane, having ascended to the uppermost of the heavens, brought back to earth for the benefit of man. In his left hand the figure holds a mere, symbolizing his Maoritanga. As the concrete statue (which is painted a dark brown) stands beside the elaborate carvings of the meetinghouse, it was decided that as a contrast the statue's form would be a simple one. The face is featureless, partly for this reason and partly because in this way, the universality of the figure becomes apparent.

Made by Arnold Wilson

The statue is the work of the well-known sculptor, Arnold Wilson, who like Dr Winiata, was born at Ngahina Pa in Ruatoki. Mr Wilson, the first Maori student to graduate in sculpture, was taught by Dr Winiata for two years while attending Wesley College. Since

1958 he has been arts and crafts tutor at the Bay of Islands College, but recently moved to Auckland, where he teaches at Mt Albert Grammar School.

Commissioned by People of Tauranga

The memorial was commissioned by the Maori people of Tauranga, many of whom were related to Dr Winiata. The erection of the memorial is the climax of four years' hard work by the Dr Winiata Memorial Committee, whose chairman is Mr J. Kohu. Many Maori and Pakeha organisations, in Tauranga and elsewhere, contributed to the fund.

Many Speakers Pay Tribute

The unveiling ceremony was preceded by a religious service in which ministers of the Methodist, Ringatu and Ratana churches took part. After the statue had been unveiled by Princess Piki and two plaques had been unveiled by two sons of Dr Winiata, Ranginui (David) and Te Kapanga (Frank), many speakers paid tribute to the great qualities and lasting achievement of Maharaia Winiata as a leader, teacher and scholar. One speaker expressed this as follows: ‘All his life, Maharaia Winiata put the welfare of his people in the forefront of his life. He strove for equality between Maori and European in the best things of life, and worked to reduce evils among his own and the Pakeha people. He was a son of his tribe, of his people, and of New Zealand’.

Years of Planning for Memorial

Since the war the battalion has maintained strong ties with the city, and even before the war was over the idea of building a war memorial at Palmerston North was being considered. After the war the planning of the memorial and the organisation of fund-raising activities were taken over by the Raukawa tribal executive (now the Raukawa Maori Executive Committee), in whose district Palmerston North belongs. Assisted by contributions from the 28th Maori Battalion National Association, and with the aid of the local branch of the Maori Women's Welfare League and local Pakeha organisations, the executive set about raising money for a substantial building which would be a memorial to the battalion, a centre at which visitors from all over the country could be welcomed, and a valuable social and cultural asset for both Maori and Pakeha in the district.

In 1954 the Raukawa tribal executive commissioned the Maori architect John Scott of Hastings to prepare plans for a three-storey community centre which would cost about £24,000. One of the requirements was that the building should be a harmonious combination of Maori and Pakeha architectural traditions.

An Outstanding Success

Mr Scott's design is an outstanding success. The building is one of the most handsome ever to be erected in New Zealand and would be well able to stand comparison with the best contemporary work being done by architects overseas. Yet at the same time the Maori

Battalion Memorial Centre unmistakably belongs to our own country, for it owes much of its power and beauty to the fact that it draws its strength from both of the cultural traditions of New Zealand. For this reason, it may well prove to be something of a landmark in the history of the development of New Zealand architecture.

The 14 carved panels on the facade, each of them eight feet high by 1 ft 6 in wide, were made by the well-known carver Mr Kelly Kereama of Feilding. Inside the building, tukutuku panels have been employed at the same time for their decorative effect and as acoustic tiles, and there is intricate scroll work (kowhaiwhai) on the exposed wooden beams.

The ground floor has a large main hall with a stage, and toilet and office facilities. On the first floor is a dining room, a kitchen and storage rooms. The second floor has a small hall, sleeping rooms to accommodate visitors, and a caretaker's quarters. Each floor has an area of 3750 sq. ft.

Other Buildings by John Scott

As well as having built a great many private homes—many of them for clients with limited finance, but some for people who could afford larger and more expensive homes—Mr Scott has designed three other public buildings. All of them, like the Palmerston North Memorial Centre, are widely admired for their beauty and originality of design. They are St John's Chapel at Havelock North, St Patrick's School for Girls at Napier, and the ‘Futuna’ Chapel at the Marist Retreat House in Karori, Wellington.

A Number of Problems

The most obvious reason for the failure of the younger generation of Maori people to learn the old songs can be found in the decline of the language itself. More and more, the language of the younger city-dwelling generation tends to be English, and with inability to speak Maori, an inability to learn the songs naturally follows.

The remedy here is not difficult to find. Many young people are now gaining their first appreciation of the language through textbooks and Adult Education classes. In these classes the introduction to classical Maori is apt to be made through the texts of the traditional waiata and patere.

A song is of course much more than a text, and for some people there are difficulties intrinsic to the singing style. The conventions are unfamiliar and at first the melodies sound strange. Here, reference may be made to the article, ‘The Music of Maori Chant’ which appears elsewhere in this issue.

To some, lack of opportunity presents a barrier. At one time most singers picked up their songs simply by attending meetings and listening to the songs as they were performed. Nowadays, not only are the songs performed less often, but younger people, through pressure of work and other interests, have fewer opportunities to attend the meetings. As a result, the songs can seldom be learned in the old manner. If they are learned at all it is not because they are just ‘picked up’, but because a conscious effort is made to learn them and because someone has taken the trouble to teach them.

The remaining difficulties in the way of the person who wishes to learn the traditional songs are nearly all concerned with custom.

Tradition Can be a Barrier

It is well known that when a song is performed, it must be appropriate to the occasion. At a tangi for instance, the waiata sung will be appropriate to the dead person or will show a connection between the home tribe and the visiting tribe. Some upholders of tradition go further than this and say that a song should only be sung when there is occasion for its use. In some areas this has caused songs to die out altogether because the songs were performed so seldom that those who wished to learn them were unable to do so. If the songs still known are to survive, this is clearly one custom that will have to be modified. When the object is to learn a song there should be no barriers to performance and the occasion of teaching a song will have to be thought of as important enough to justify its performance. There are encouraging signs that such an attitude is now becoming usual. Most performers questioned by the writer said they learned their songs from individuals, and except amongst very old singers it is found that very few songs had been learnt by being simply ‘picked up’. This means that the convention restricting performance to the occasion must already have broken down to a large extent.

To some, superstition is a barrier. In a few areas, memory lapses are still regarded as a sign of death or disaster, and some young people say they would sooner not try to learn

songs than run the risk of not performing them correctly. These beliefs however are unlikely to discourage anyone with real aptitude for singing. The remedy is surely to sing the song in public only when it has been properly learnt.

A very real problem has been the decline of memorising ability which has corresponded with the rise of literacy. There will be few people today capable of memorising a song at one or two hearings, and the writer knows of no-one of the calibre of one of Elsdon Best's informants, who was said to have given him more than 380 songs. Most people however will be satisfied with a modest half dozen or so, and the best way of getting around lack of memorising ability is to begin with a text. Some learners are already taking song texts with them to meetings, and this—since it allows one to concentrate on the air—seems a practice worth following.

Restrictions Due to Ownership

The most important of the remaining barriers to the passing on of the traditional songs is that of song ownership. Here again, if there is to be a revival of interest in Maori chants there will have to be further relaxation of the traditional restrictions on performance.

Often it will be found that a singer is quite willing to give out a song that belongs to his own family, but draws the line at passing on a song that belongs to someone else even if he knows perfectly well that there is no-one else who can sing the song. This rather exaggerated respect for other persons' property is admirable in its way but often results in songs becoming needlessly extinct.

Most songs belong not to the individual but to the tribe, and fears are often entertained by the members of one tribe that their songs will get out to another. Most of these fears are however groundless, and so need not be a barrier to the transmission of the songs. Generally the singers of one tribe are not much interested in the songs of another tribe unless there is some connection with them. In the past, rather than risk their songs getting out of the tribe, many singers preferred to let songs die with them. Now, fortunately, a more liberal attitude is becoming the rule, and singers are beginning to make the survival of songs their first concern.

Only one further barrier to transmission need be discussed, and this is the bogey of commercialisation. Honest attempts to preserve traditional chants are being hindered because the cry is raised that money will be made on them. The origins of these fears are quite easy to see.

Firstly, collections of traditional texts such as those of Grey, McGregor, and more recently, Apirana Ngata and Pei Te Hurinui, have appeared with a price set upon them. The surprising thing is that there are still people who consider this to be evidence of commercialisation. Even if the compiler receives nothing for his work it should be quite clear to anyone that it still costs something for paper, for printing, for binding and for distribution. Since the books cannot be distributed free it is not very reasonable to complain that they commercialise their contents.

Secondly, recordings made by the N.Z.B.C. and by the Maori Purposes Fund Board have been broadcast. Again people have jumped to the conclusion that the songs concerned have been sold. The truth is that beautiful as these songs are, their commercial value is small. Even if their worth becomes more generally recognised they are unlikely ever to have much popular appeal.

Having discussed the conditions which stand in the way of song survival, we must now turn to the means for song preservation.

Methods of Preservation

Fortunately, the preservation of the words of the songs presented few problems; they can be written down, and have been so written for generations. Thousands of texts are available, either from printed collections or from the manuscript waiata books still held by many families. In Pei Te Hurinui's revision of Sir Apirana Ngata's ‘Nga Moteatea’ there are already 200 fully annotated songs complete with song histories and translations into English. Here alone there is a wealth of material, and it can be had at any book shop. Some time this year, Part Three of ‘Nga Moteatea’ is due for publication; this will add a further 100 songs to those already published.

At least as important as the words of the waiata are the airs. There are two methods of preserving the airs. The first method is by musical notation, and the second is by means of sound recording.

Notation forms a permanent record, and like its counterpart in the written word, it makes possible the study of the song at leisure. It does, however, require training to interpret, and even so the musician needs to be familiar with the style. It can be used unaided for learning a song, but is more useful as a

supplement to other methods.

Tape recordings offer by far the most useful means of first preserving and then learning the songs. In a tape recording, the song is captured complete in all its detail and the recording can be played again and again without noticeable loss of quality.

Collections of Recorded Waiata

There are now two main collections of recorded waiata in New Zealand. One is that of the N.Z.B.C. which now includes all of the material recorded from 1953 onwards by Mr W. T. Ngata for the Maori Purposes Fund Board. From time to time these recordings are broadcast. Anyone with access to a home recorder may then re-record them for this won use. Some of the Maori Purposes Fund Board recordings have also now been issued on gramophone records.

The second collection is that made by the present writer, with financial assistance from the University Grants Committee. At the time of writing it includes 619 items from several tribal areas. To allay fears of commercialisation it is not intended to allow these recordings to be broadcast. Instead, arrangements are being made to deposit copies with tribal authorities in each area. Each area will receive only its own songs; the recordings are being given over entirely without charge; and the condition is made that the recordings must be made available to groups within the area wishing to make use of them. Later it is hoped to publish in these pages a complete list of the recordings available, together with the names of the institutions which have accepted custody of them.

In the meantime there can be found elsewhere in this issue a discussion of the musical style of Maori chant and beginning with the next issue there will be a series of transcriptions of chants in musical notation. Most of the transcriptions will be of songs which have already spread beyond their tribal boundaries and none will be published unless it has been fully released by the performers.

It is hoped that the recordings and the transcriptions will together play some part in the active preservation of a unique form of music which New Zealand can ill afford to lose.

The article printed below is to be published as a preface to the Third Part of ‘Nga Moteatea’, edited by Mr Pei te Hurunui Jones, which will be published by the Maori Purposes Fund Board later this year. ‘Te Ao Hou’ is grateful to the Maori Purposes Fund Board for permission to publish the article here.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Most readers of ‘Te Ao Hou’ will know that there are two kinds of Maori music. The kind with which most people are familiar, known as action song, dates only from about the first decades of the present century. In its present form it is little more than a Maorified form of Western popular music.

The other kind of Maori music has a long tradition dating back to the beginnings of the Maori people. Even today it remains associated with the old values and institutions of Maoridom. It exhibits, in consequence, great tenacity of style.

It is with the older form of music that this article is concerned.

Since, so far as the writer is aware, there is no generally accepted name which incorporates the whole of the older song tradition, it will be called here ‘Maori chant’. This term is used as inclusive of waiata, patere, pao, and all the other forms discussed. It is used in preference to the term ‘Maori song’ which could also include action song.

Until now, scholarly attention to Maori chant has mostly been directed towards the words. Sir Apirana Ngata for example, in the Prefaces to both parts 1 and 2 of ‘Nga Moteatea’, deals with the chants exclusively from a literary point of view.

This did not mean that the importance of the

music had been overlooked. In the Preface to part 1, Ngata expressly pointed out that ‘there can be no proper rendering of Maori songs without capturing the air’. Only since the advent of the tape recorder, however, has it been possible either to record a sufficient number of melodies for study or to undertake the much more difficult task of devising a notation that could handle the material.

AESTHETIC VALUE

Before going on to discuss the style of Maori chant it may be worthwhile to say a word or two about the aesthetic value of the songs.

That the songs have great merit from a literary point of view is well attested by Sir Apirana Ngata and others. That they have equal value musically is not so widely recognised.

From the start it ought to be made clear that judgements of musically untrained persons about the so-called ‘monotony’ of Maori chant should be disregarded. Such judgements are made in terms of Western culture whose values are quite different from those of Maori chant. They form no more valid a means of comparison than would (say) Chinese music or Japanese music, both highly developed forms in their own right but virtually incomprehensible to most untrained Western listeners.

As the conclusions which follow will demonstrate, Maori music was, and in its traditional form is, an advanced form of music with its own rules and its own values.

SONG TYPES

The classification traditionally adopted for the chants is one of function, with most of the finer points literary rather than musical in nature. The tangi (or lament) for example, can be sub-classified as a song of grief, sorrow, longing, self-pity, regret, etc., depending on context. This is quite fully treated by Sir Apirana Ngata in the Prefaces to parts 1 and 2 of ‘Nga Moteatea’.

Musically, it is possible to put each type of chant into one of two broad groups according to whether it is sung or recited. Amongst the sung types of chant are the waiata of all kinds including the Tangi, Waiata aroha (love long), and Waiata whaiaipo (sweetheart song); the Oriori (lullaby) and the Pao (entertainment song). The recited songs include the Patere (historical or genealogical tour), Whakaaraara pa (watch song), Kaioraora (abusive song), Tauparapara (recitation before speaking) and Karakia (incantation).

In addition to these there exist a few others perhaps best described as semi-sung. Notable amongst these is the Karanga which is the generic name for the calls of all kinds performed by women on the marae. It includes Powhiri (greeting calls) and Poroporoaki (farewell calls).

The sung type of chant differs from the recited in the following ways—

(1)	It is melodically organised. That is to say, it has a recognisable air made up of notes definite enough in pitch to be capable of arrangement in the form of a scale. Rises and falls of pitch may become established in some recited songs but they cannot be arranged in scale form.
(2)	The melody of sung items can be melismatic, i.e. more than one note can be sung per syllable. Recited songs by contrast are always syllabic and melisma cannot occur.
(3)	Sung items nearly always have a much slower tempo than recited ones. This results both from melisma and the greater tendency to dwell upon certain notes. The latter is particularly in evidence in the ‘drags’ which are discussed later under the heading to performance. Recited songs on the other hand, particularly karakia, sometimes rattle along at tempos in excess of 300 syllables per minute.
(4)	The characteristics of sung items which make for slower tempo, have their effect also on metre and rhythm. For example the durational values of the notes employed in recited song tend to be fewer than those of the sung items. Often, indeed, there are only two—long and short.

PERFORMANCE

Breathing. With most songs it is customary for the performer to sing without any breaks for breathing such as occur at the cadence points in European songs. When two or more people are singing this is easy to achieve since the singers concerned can take breath at different moments during the song. In the case of the solo singer however, to sing without break is impossible. It is for this reason that solo singing—except for a few song types such as the tauparapara—is not greatly favoured. A solo singer makes the best of things by singing for as long a time as possible on one breath. When he does take a breath, it may or may not be at the end of a line. It is more likely to be in the middle of a line and may even be in the middle of a word.

Meaningless syllabifying and leader solos. Part of the technique for getting on to the right note at the beginning of a musical phrase involves the extension of the previous line by the addition of meaningless syllables. This excursion takes the singer above the note to which he is going. These often highly melismatic sections of meaningless syllabifying usually occur at the end of each repetition of the basic melody (see later under Form) bridging the end of one repetition and the beginning of the next. The device is commonly known as the ‘drag’. In group performance, the ‘drag’ is usually performed solo by the leader while the rest of the group take opportunity to catch a breath. Frequently these leader solos are highly ornamented and are often responsible for much of the beauty of the song.

‘Riding in.’ When a singer, who for some reason has temporarily dropped out, wishes to sing again with the rest, he often ‘rides in’ to the note which the rest are singing by beginning a 3rd or 4th higher and filling in to the unison. This ‘riding in’ to a note seems always to take place from above a melody note rather than from below. The added notes—since they are incidental to the performance—are not generally thought of as forming part of the melody.

Ambiguity of song beginnings. Very often, singers require a phrase or two to establish the melody. In both solo and group performances the beginning of a song may seem rhythmically vague and uncertain in comparison with the remainder. The tendency is, in fact, common enough to be considered a part of the style. Not infrequently the beginning differs from the basic melody, as later established, melodically as well as rhythmically. In such a case the tendency is usually for the beginning to be of narrower range.

Singing faults. There is a highly developed terminology of singing faults associated with the traditional chant. Faults may be melodic, rhythmic, or textual in their nature.

(a)	Melodic. ‘Rangi-rua’ (literally two melodies) or parallelism. Here, one singer gets on to a note a 4th or 5th apart from the rest and sings throughout in parallel intervals.
(b)	Rhythmic. ‘Taupatupatu’ (literally, up and down) out of beat.
(c)	Textual. ‘Haua whakahua’, faulty pronunciation, ‘Haua kama’, faulty enunciation or articulation and ‘kunanunanu’, uncertainty as to words.

OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF STYLE

Scale. The melodic organisation of Maori waiata centres as a rule around a fixed intoning note or ‘oro’ as it has been called. If the notes used in a chant are written out consecutively in the form of a scale, the ‘oro’ will be found somewhere close to the middle. Since each departure from the ‘oro’ is ordinarily followed by a return to it, the ‘oro’ is invariably the most frequently occurring note of a melody. In most cases it is also the final and often it starts the song as well. In musical terms, the ‘oro’ can thus be thought of as the tonic, and the melody as a whole can be described as centric.

Usually there are fewer notes in the scale than is generally the case with European song. It is not uncommon for songs to have only 3 or 4 notes.

Range. In keeping with the small number of notes commonly employed in the scale of the traditional chant, the melodic range is correspondingly small. From the lowest note to the highest, the range of the Maori chant seldom exceeds the musical interval of a 4th.

Melodic intervals. Maori melody for the most part employs melodic intervals no larger than a Minor 3rd and the bulk of the melodic movement is by Major and Minor 2nds.

It might be expected that with so few notes, such limited range and such small melodic steps there might after all be something to the criticisms of ‘monotony’ which is often levelled at Maori chant. Such a view however would be altogether too facile and quite unjustified since it fails to take account of the frequently non-diatonic nature of the melodic intervals employed in waiata. Another way of saying this, is that the melodies of Maori chant need not conform to the major and minor modalities of the European scale system.

Since at each step in a Maori melody the next note may be a Minor 2nd, Major 2nd, or Minor 3rd, either upward or downward, there are clearly more possibilities than would exist if the melody were limited by the demands of the major or minor modes.

Melodic diversity is thus obtainable without need of increasing either melodic range or the size of the melodic interval.

At this stage something might be said about the vexed question of quarter tones. Several early writers expressed the opinion that Maori music employed quarter tones and others today have uncritically followed suit.

A good deal of the apparent strangeness of some Maori melodies can be explained by the non-diatonicism described above. For the rest, whatever may have been the case in the past, intervals of less than a half tone are not prevalent today. Most waiata as at present sung, conform fairly closely to Western tempered intervals. In some 400 items analysed to date the writer has found only a few instances of genuine microtones and most of these were used incidentally rather than structurally.

Form. Most waiata use as a formal principle, the varied repetition of a basic melody. The end of each repetition is marked by the ornamented leader solos and meaningless syllabifying referred to earlier. The end of a structural division—such as the end of a verse where there are several—the end of the song itself, and drop-outs by individuals in group performance are all marked by a device which the writer has called the ‘terminal glissando’. This takes the form of a characteristic expulsion of breath accompanied by a glissando drop of the voice over an interval of a 3rd or 4th.

Recited items are through-composed and cannot be said to exhibit form in the usual sense.

Polyphony. Maori chant is monophonic. This means that in a group performance everybody sings the same part. There is rhythmic unison in the case of the recited songs and both rhythmic and melodic unison in the sung items. Any appearance of added parts is either fortuitous (e.g. ‘riding in’) or is bad singing (rangi rua).

Accompanying instruments are not used and with the exception of the koauau (open tube flute) appear not to have been used in the past. Informants are agreed that the koauau always played in unison with the voice part. Thus even with instrumental accompaniment, performance was still monophonic.

Tempo, Metre and Rhythm. With few exceptions, tempo is invariable in Maori chant. Once a tempo is established it is kept up right to the end of a song. That this should be so is fairly clearly a consequence of the need in group performance for all the singers to be together.

Much of the musical interest of Maori chant, in both its sung and recited forms, derives from the rhythms. Typically highly complex, the rhythms give to the Western ear the impression of constant syncopation over an unchanging beat.

This impression arises from the fact that although the metre of Maori chant can be divisive, it is often modified in such a way as to become additive. Once this is realised, it becomes possible to notate the seeming syncopations as a series of time changes rather than by tying across from one rhythmic group to another.

This also greatly simplifies the problem of reading the notation. It must be clearly understood however that the time changes, as notated, must be thought of in terms of the smallest metrical unit.

To give an example, the rhythmic group is five units long and no attempt should be made to force it into the confines of the divisive system by lengthening the first two quavers as or–

In other words, when the metre changes, the duration of the beat changes also. If the metre changes from 2/4 to 6/8, the beat changes from two units of length to three. Istesso tempo, whereby the dotted crochet of 6/8 becomes equal in duration to the crotchet of 2/4 does not apply.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The study of Maori chant from its musical point of view, is as yet still in its infancy. At the time of writing little more than a start has been made.

It is hoped that when further material has been collected and analysed, it will be possible not only to find out something about the ways in which the music of one tribe may differ from that of another, but also to go some way further towards discovering principles which may be true of all Maori chant.

Ed.—Mr McLean will be publishing in ‘Te Ao Hou’ a series of transcriptions of chants in musical notation. Most of the songs published will be ones which have already spread beyond their tribal boundaries, and all of them will have been fully released for publication by the performers.

It is hoped to begin the series of transcriptions in the next issue, which appears in September.

How Do You Begin?

How do we go about starting a play centre though? How do we run one? What facilities and equipment do we need? Where will all the equipment and finance come from? Who could help with the running of the centre? These were but a few of the multitude of posers which immediately presented themselves. The first thing, though, was to introduce the idea to our community and to see whether they felt that a play centre could be of benefit to them and their children.

Use of Spare Schoolroom

Thanks to Miss Pewhairangi a very brief but extremely valuable meeting with Mr A. Grey, pre-school officer with the Maori Education Foundation, was arranged at Te Karaka one morning in August. After this, the play centre movement was discussed at other gatherings, some well attended, others not so well attend-

ed. At one Home and School gathering, members of the Hawkes Bay Board Inspectorate, Messrs H. Campbell and H. McMillan both spoke favourably of the idea. Later in October Mr A. Grey visited Whatatutu and spoke to a large gathering of Maori folk in the Mangatu Hall. He went away greatly impressed with the attendance and with the enthusiasm of those present. In November the Hawkes Bay Education Board agreed to allow us to make use of the spare room at the school as our head-quarters; this was a gesture which we greatly appreciated.

Time to Think About It

August to November: four months, and the centre not functioning yet. But although we would have liked to have seen it functioning, certain reactions had made us decide to adopt a ‘go slow’ programme, one designed to give the people plenty of time to think about it, time to realise that it was not something being forced upon them.

After the Christmas vacation tempo quickened. Early in the new year 25 parents attended a meeting at which Mr Grey, Mr H. Campbell, Mrs H. Sunderland, and myself spoke. This meeting had success written all over it before it began—success, success. A committee was formed with Mrs I. Renata as president and Mrs P. Smith as secretary-treasurer; Mesdames L. Brown, S. Haymes and T. Irwin volunteered to train as supervisors; and most heartening of all, the first session of the centre was set down for the following Thursday, 26 February.

Red Letter Day

What a red letter day for Whatatutu that turned out to be. I borrowed from the infant rooms at the school the equipment for the centre, used physical education mats, a bench, some balls, art paper and jars of paint. What a thrill it was, with 14 parents and 19 children all having a wonderful time together.

Since then considerable finance has been raised through a dance, football matches and card evenings; people have made donations of equipment to the centre; weekend courses have been organised and proved successful; and monthly meetings are held at the homes of parents to assist with obtaining the Mother Helper Certificate and the Supervisor's Certificate. What about Dad? Dad has played his part too—assisted with fund-raising ventures, attended the centre's sessions, helped with the provision of equipment.

What about the children themselves, how have they reacted? Far removed from the shy, restrained little toddlers of nine months ago, they now enter into their activities and experiences with gusto. It gives great satisfaction to see them enjoying themselves as they move freely and naturally, speaking over real telephones, being truck drivers, washing the dolls and their clothes, making cakes for afternoon tea. They can tell for themselves when it is play centre day—they have worked it all out. On one day the big children come to school, and then after lunch on the next day—it's Play Centre. That's right, on Tuesday afternoon.

And what of the future? Our path to success has not been a clear one; we have had our problems and disappointments and we will continue to have some. But with a continuation of the fine spirit and enthusiasm now apparent in our community, the future is bright for the play centre movement at Whatatutu.

Making a Start

On June 12th the mothers came to school to discuss this suggestion. We all agreed to organise a Saturday morning session, starting on the next Saturday. I agreed to supervise these sessions, which would be held in the infant room at the school, and with the outdoor equipment, from 9.30 until 12 noon, on each Saturday during the school term. The five-year-olds also attended the sessions. At first we just used the infant room equipment.

On July 23rd Mr Alex Grey, the pre-school officer of the Maori Education Foundation, visited the school with Mrs Grey to speak to the parents about forming a play centre. The group was in favour of this, and a few days later a play centre committee was elected.

Official Opening

Mrs Bonita Renata was elected president, and Mr Hector Connor became the secretary. Several money-raising efforts soon gave us the basic equipment necessary to apply for affiliation to the Auckland Nursery Play Centres Association, and in September Mr and Mrs Alex Grey came to officially open the Centre. There were now 14 pre-school children, and also 10 children in their first school year, attending the sessions.

Success with Training Course

Mr Grey started some of the mothers on their Supervisor's training course, and in November Mrs Bonita Renata, Mrs Tui Collier and Mrs Hector Connor were all successful in obtaining their Mother Helpers' Certificates. This is the first stage of a Supervisor's Certificate.

At the end of last year we received word that we had been affiliated, and we subsequently received the £50 government grant.

The three mothers who obtained Helpers' Certificates are now working towards their Assistant Supervisors' Certificates. When they have qualified they will take over the running of the play centre. We have hopes of later on obtaining a separate building for the play centre. This will be put in the school grounds if possible, and will enable us to operate during the school week on more than one afternoon if we have the funds. The roll at present at the Centre is 13 per-school children and 4 five-year-olds.

?

The Maori Education Foundation has decided to assist Maori Play Centre groups which are having trouble in finding accommodation.

Some groups have had the chance to buy old school or other buildings, and to transfer them to a suitable site. In such cases the foundation will help to pay removal costs of suitable buildings with a pound for pound subsidy, up to a maximum of £100.

College's Third Production

This is the college's third production, and is the brain-child of Miss Alison Gray, a member of the staff. The first production, ‘Hinemoa and Tutanekai’, was staged in 1959. Then there was a gap, due to Miss Gray's absence. On her return ‘Uenuku and the Mist Girl’ followed in 1962, then ‘Our Heritage’ the following year. Considering the grand scale of the thing and the number of songs that had to be learnt, the operetta was a very considerable undertaking. It performed to capacity crowds on the three nights it was held, with people standing at the back and along the sides of the hall.

The production was held in the college assembly hall. This, I thought, was rather unfortunate, as the seating was not sufficient, and

from many positions did not allow a good view of the stage. I think that in future the college should think seriously of hiring one of the better halls in Marton, for this production has truly become one of the best-known and most appreciated annual events in that area.

Old Story Made New

The story of the operetta is an old one, but this interpretation made it seem brand new.

A canoe under the leadership of a tohunga leaves Hawaiiki to seek the new land of Kupe's in the south. They are beset by the gods of the deep, who cause bad seas and furious storms because they are angry at the presence of an intruder in the canoe, and because the tapu has been broken. The sea-fairies come to the aid of the canoe and after transactions with the sea-gods the canoe is left to go its way in peace. In the new land the explorers have many adventures, and come in contact with the earliest inhabitants of the land, the forest fairies (patu paiarehe). There are some quite humorous encounters here as the new arrivals are mystified by the supernatural qualities of the forest people.

They survive, though, and the population increases. The tribe is divided into two and war nearly breaks out between them; this is caused by the old tohunga, who finds that his powers are waning in this new land. But affairs are righted in the finish and the production ends on a high note with joyous chanting and dancing.

I thought that the idea of the contacts between the fairy peoples (the sea-gods and the forest fairies) with the mortals, a theme running right through the production, was an excellent one. It also seemed to me that the interpretation of the storms, high winds, lightning and thunder, rough seas and moving forest was most effective. I would like to mention particularly one performer, Christine Anderson, whose entertainment abilities are obvious. I personally hope that she continues in this field and that in due course we will be hearing and seeing a lot more of her.

Utilization of our Vast Resources

For me the most encouraging aspect of the performance was the utilisation of some of the vast resources of ancient Maori myths and legends. For a long time it grieved me to see New Zealiand producers poring over books on European culture when all this wealth of material already lay here beneath their noses, just begging to be used.

It has been encouraging, though, to see that over the last few years more and more people are beginning to realize the potential of these old Maori legends and myths, and are starting to exploit them in modern adaptations. For example, some time back a Wellington ballet group used an old Maori myth for its theme and in recent years a number of other productions—some attracting public notice, others not—have made good use of Maori materials.

Something That Belongs Here

This blending of the two cultures, Maori and Pakeha, is, in my opinion, how it ought to be. Only in this manner, I feel, will we be able eventually to develop a culture that we can immediately identify as our own — a culture unique to New Zealand, something that really belongs within these shores.

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With the appointment of Mr Taiki Parata as its manager, the Te Kaha Butter Factory, 44 miles east of Opotiki, is now staffed almost entirely by Maoris. The only Pakeha associated with the company is Mr Norman Perry, the secretary and advisory director. All the other directors of the company, and also all the suppliers, are Maori. Mr John H. Waititi is the chairman of directors; the trading department is managed by Mr Hakaria Pahewa.

As well as the dairy factory, the company owns two camping grounds in Te Kaha. These provide holiday housing, camp and caravan sites, and the company plans to develop the grounds further in the near future.

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Members of the Arawa Trust Board for the next three years have now been appointed.

They are: Messers A. Te A. Bennett, R. Te T. Kingi, H. Rogers (Whakaue sub-tribe); A. Keepa, P. Wihapi (Tuhourangi); M. Makiha (Wahiao); P. H. Leonard (Rangiwewehi); H. Te R. Te Kiri (Rangiteaorere-Uenukukopako); H. Awhio (Parua); R. Hunuhunu (Te Takinga); W. Emery (Te Rangiunuora); Te M. Morehu (Hinekura); T. Wharehuia (Rongomai); M. Tukuru (Tamateatutahi and Kawiti); H. Horne (Makino); H. A. Mohimoke (Tumatawera); K. Te Ua (Tarawhai); H. Semmens (Rangitihi); and K. Waaka, who represents the Returned Soldiers.

A Memorable Occasion

Ngati Porou, Rongowhakaata, and the other tribes which comprised ‘C’ Company of the Maori Battalion, rose to the occasion and met the challenge by providing, not only ample accommodation and food, but also a first class programme which made every minute a memorable one. Behind Apa Te Kani, scion of one of the rangatira families of the Poverty Bay and East Coast districts, toiled men and women from all the hapus of the Company area, united as never before, in the cause of those who forsook the comparative comfort of their homes for the heat of the battle overseas.

It was significant that the last time members of the Maori Battalion of the Maori Battalion invaded this marae was in January 1946, when a tremendous welcome home was led by the late Sir Apirana Ngata, Father of the Maori Battalion. Some of the speakers on that occasion were present again to add weight to the marae greetings as the visitors marched in for the reunion.

Separate Maori Battalion Again?

Reunions of the Maori Battalion National Associations are not restricted in nature to the consumption of copious quantities of ale, or to the swapping of yarns; there is aways a heavy agenda of formal business to be conducted. The Secretary for Defence, Mr J. K. Hunn, set the ball rolling when as guest speaker Hunn, set the ball rolling when as guest speaker he made what many thought a very provocative address, speaking firstly on the part that Maori ex-servicemen should play in peacetime, and secondly on the thorny question of the formation of a separate Maori Training Unit within the framework of the New Zealand defence system. In regard to the first question, he implored members of the Association to play a larger and more active part in the battle for peace, by taking a leading part in affairs of vital importance to the Maori people.

It was when he made his points on the second main topic that an apparent restlessness pervaded his ex-servicemen listeners, many of whom lost sympathy with Mr Hunn. For many reasons, he said, it was not possible to accede to the request by the Association for a separate Maori Unit. He mentioned several reasons–a blow to the integration of the two races, difficulty in filling the quota for the Unit, practical difficulties regarding its training, the danger of creating a rival feeling between Maori and Pakeha soldiers, lack of Maori officers, and so on.

As soon as Mr Hunn sat down, the fight was on. I sympathised with him, for I knew the great potential the Association guns had for such an occasion as this. Every speaker attacked the points made by the guest speaker, and the meeting ended as it did three years before in Rotorua, with the firm resolve to continue to fight for a separate Maori Unit.

Memorials Unveiled

Later, when the flagstaff in front of Poho-o-Rawiri was unveiled as one of the war memorials to those of the of the Maori race who fell overseas, Mr C. M. Bennett gave a commemorative oration on Te Moana Nui a Kiwa Ngarimu, V. C. Brigadier Dittmer, the first Commander of the Maori Battalion, unveiled a memorial to the late Reta Keiha, a former Commander who died in May 1960.

The new president of the Association is Mr Henare Ngata, a son of the late Sir Apirana Ngata, and with him as his secretary is Mr Peter Kaua; both of these men are living in Gisborne. In future, reunions will be held on a biennial basis; the next one will be in Hastings in 1966.

A general invitation was issued to all members of the Association to attend the opening of the Memorial building in Palmerston North

on the 27th June.

Was the Reunion worthwhile? I say yes. In the first place there were men and their wives present from the very far North to the very far South of New Zealand. For many of them it was their first experience of seeing some of the richest farm lands in the country, and the farming members of the Association were able to see at first hand the productive nature of Poverty Bay and of some of the other districts they passed through.

Oneness of Purpose

In the second place, I felt the oneness of resolve and purpose amongst these men as they spoke both in formal and informal situations. There is no doubt that within them there beats a heart truly Maori, and they are prepared to fight for all those things which they consider vital for the preservation of the Maori race as a whole. National Maori feeling still lies deeply rooted within the breasts of these leaders of the Maori people, and woe betide any who dare to say that the Maori race will soon die.

In the main matters affecting the race, there was evident at the Reunion a feeling that it is better to sink one's personal opinion in the face of the demands of the welfare of our people. This, I thought, was a good sign, indicating that national needs are such that it were better to close the ranks and present a united front than to allow personal differences to disrupt unity.

Finally a word for the tangata whenua. Nothing but praise for their efforts came from the manuhiri, and deservedly so. I think that if ever, in the years to come, the Maori race were to be merged in the tremendously powerful, enveloping, surging mass of humanity, the last characteristic to disappear would be the Maori love of his fellow man, and the extent to which all who belong to that race go in order to express that love.

At Poho-o-Rawiri it was proved that time has not dimmed the strength of this fact.

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A Maori Salvation Army Officer, Cadet-Lieutenant Ashely Te Tau, has been appointed to the Te Araroa area. He is the first Maori Salvationist to be appointed as a Cadet Lieutenant for several years.

N.Z. Maori Tennis Championships

On the initiative of Sir Turi Carroll, the New Zealand Maori Tennis Championships, which had been last held at Whangarei in December 1958, were revived this year in a tournament held at Wairoa from 12–15 March.

A very strong committee of Wairoa citizens, Maori and Pakeha, was set up to make the necessary arrangements. This committee worked under the joint chairmanship of the Mayor of Wairoa, Mr R. E. Short, and Sir Turi Carroll.

The tournament was held on the Wairoa Tennis Club courts and the early rounds of the junior events were played on the Wairoa College courts. A great deal of work had been put into the preparation of the Wairoa Tennis Club's eight grass courts, and they were in first class order for the tournament.

Speakers on Health and Education

Dr Ian Prior, director of the Medical Unit, Wellington, was the guest speaker at the official opening on 20 March 1964. With Dr North of Te Whaiti and Mr Rangihau of Rotorua they formed the panel which discussed health problems at one of the sessions. Dr Wilson of Murupara also made a valuable contribution.

The educational field was well represented by local teachers, the Education Foundation, the Education Department, Vocational Guidance, Maori Welfare, the University Extension Department and some of the Churches.

The conference sessions were held in Rangitahi College; Rangitahi marae provided accommodation, and the local Women's Welfare League and others did a splendid job with the catering.

Although conference numbers were not large, some of the highlights were the enthusiastic and vigorous performance of the Murupara Youth Club at the official opening; the hospitality; the positive contribution of all who attended the sessions; the interest in the display of works of art by Selwyn Muru, Arnold Wilson, Freda Rankin, Mere Harrison, Elizabeth Mountain and a local High School boy; the interest too in the display of Maori literature, and above all in Hone Tuwhare's poetry reading on the Saturday night.

As is always the case with these conferences, questions and speakers were provocative, and frankness and incisive thinking were much in evidence. On two or three occasions some observers were told that they inhibited discussion by talking too much!

How Does One Meet the Others?

It will always be a recurring disappointment, however, that at any conference of this nature or with any adult education activity, one does not make contact with those who need the service most. Murupara itself was not well represented by its ‘migrant’ Maori population who are resident there. How do we get these people involved?

The following recommendations illustrate the quality of the discussions:

HEALTH

(1)	That all agencies be used to impress on the Maori people the danger of over-eating and obesity, e.g. elders, churches, medical profession and the nursing service.
(2)	That action committees be set up to explore the needs for health education, and to provide liaison between bodies representing parents (Welfare Leagues, Health leagues, P.T.A.'s and pre-school centres, etc.) on the one hand and the Health, Education and Maori Affairs Departments and their officers on the other.
(3)	That in the radio Maori News, time be given to matters affecting Maori health.
(4)	That the use of visual aids in health education be explored—films and film strips, TV, books with a high percentage of visual content, e.g. cartoons.
(5)	That the Health Department and manufacturers be asked to put baby foods with added iron content on the market in addition to the lines already available.
(6)	That data papers relating to family planning be used by organisations including the Maori Women's Welfare Leagues and Health Leagues; that the Department of University Extension supply a revised data

(7)

That the Maori Health Committee (Wellington) be asked to consider ways and means whereby the problem of anaemia in Maori children could be tackled on a wider basis throughout the country. It is considered that provision of equipment enabling doctors and nurses to measure haemoglobin level in the field would be an important part of this programme.

MAORI EDUCATION FOUNDATION

(1)	That some awards should be made on merit alone. (Explanatory note: One way of implementing this would be to give all Maori children in Form II the opportunity of sitting the Education Department's Maori scholarship examination, and to make awards to the top twenty.)
(2)	That the Maori Education Foundation funds should not be used to help large numbers of children from any one school area over a number of years, as the same money could be used for erecting a hostel. The responsibility is a departmental one; the economics of the situation should be accepted by the State. (This refers to the situation in Ruatahuna, where a small number of school children live in a very isolated area.)
(3)	That the capital of the Maori Education Foundation should not be used.
(4)	That the names of those awarded grants from the Maori Education Foundation should be published.

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

(1)	That it be recommended to the Education Department that vocational guidance officers should visit Form II classes in country schools, as well as the secondary school classes which they visit at present.

CRIME

(1)	That there should be no separate jails for Maoris.
(2)	That this Conference approves of pre-release hostels.
(3)	That support be given to the principle of establishing separate penal institutions for first offenders, Maori and European.
(4)	That the existing legal aid panel be extended to cover the smaller towns and be available to Maoris charged with any crime.

SOCIAL

(1)	That the Government endeavour to encourage those companies throughout New Zealand which operate single men's camps, to appoint industrial welfare officers.
(2)	That the Maori Affairs Department promote a vigorous savings campaign aimed particularly at our young people.
(3)	That provision be made for the appointment of resident Maori welfare officers in areas, such as Murupara, which are not already served in this way.

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At Normanby last February a new building, the Hoani Papita Hall, was opened to serve the needs of the South Taranaki Roman Catholic Maori mission. It is a memorial to a pioneer missionary in the district, Father J. B. Soulas, known to the Maori people as Pa Hoani Papita.

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Mr Rangi Logan, said to be the only Maori to be proprietor of a hotel, has been appointed Manager of the Tokaanu Tourist Hotel.

Mr Logan, who speaks six languages, was a Major in the Maori Battalion during World War II. He gained his hotel management experience in England. Before accepting this new position, he was the proprietor of a hotel at Patea.

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The Central Hawkes Bay District Council of the Maori Women's Welfare League last March celebrated the third anniversary of its formation. Members of its four branches, Porangahau, Mangamaire, Rakautatahi and Takapau, assembled for the occasion in the Takapau Hall, and after a light lunch the annual general meeting was held. The following officers were elected for the coming year: patroness, Mrs E. Tutaki, Napier (formerly of Porangahau); president, Mrs W. MacDonald, Porangahau; secretary, Mrs M. Wakefield, Mangamaire; vice-presidents, Mesdames L. Tutaki, Sciascia, Rupuha, N. Heperi.

The four branches were once affiliated to the Heretaunga District Council, but in 1960 they decided to form a District Council in their own area.

sent in by Mrs I. Heperi president, Takapau Branch, M.W.W.L.

Whanganui Educational
Advancement
Committee

The Whanganui Educational Advancement Committee, a very active organisation concerned with the encouragement of education amongst the children of the Whanganui district, was first established more than three years ago.

At that time a number of people in the district, feeling that the basic cause of the difficulties facing our young people was a lack of education, determined to take positive steps to improve the situation in their area. In March 1961 Mr W. Herewini, Controller of Maori Welfare, speaking at a meeting at Putiki, discussed the newly-printed Hunn Report and some of the implications of the information the Report made available. Mr A. Williams, Adult Education Tutor, asked, ‘Would it not be a wise move to set up an advisory committee or group for the encouragement of education amongst our Maori children?’ The Controller applauded this idea, and so the seed was planted.

The Making of a Maori
A Case Study of A Changing Community

by Dr James E. Ritchie
A. H. & A. W. Reed, 21/6
reviewed by Eric Schwimmer

Many years ago, psychologists were interested mainly in people who were mentally sick; today, many of them have turned to the study of stresses and conflicts in communities. Their great contribution has been to show us how people really feel in these communities. If administrators, teachers and social workers had a better understanding of this, they would be better at coping with the stresses and conflicts they meet with.

Dr Ritchie is a psychologist who has, over quite a number of years, studied the Maori from a viewpoint such as this. Before he started doing research, he taught in a Maori school; for a long period, he was a very regular member of the Ngati Poneke Club, proficient enough at Maori action songs to be acceptable as a member of the club's team, if I remember rightly. In 1953 he began to be interested in a community called Rakau, which he visited over four university summer vacations, making up about a full year altogether. He formed part of a team of psychologists who together compiled very full data, based on psychological tests as well as observation, on childhood at Rakau. The question they tried to answer was this: if you are brought up in Rakau, what kind of personality are you likely to develop? Four books were written on this; together, they give us more reliable data on the Maori personality than were ever available before.

The Book of the Huia

by W. J. Phillipps
Whitcombe & Tombs Ltd., 30/-

The huia, whose tapu feathers were once one of the greatest of treasures, probably died out early this century. A beautiful and interesting bird (apparently, the only bird in the world in which male and female have differently shaped beaks), it was a victim of the changes brought about by European settlement. Trigger-happy colonists found it sufficiently interesting to stuff, but showed little concern for its survival. The clearing of most of the forest and the introduction of stoats and weasels further contributed to its fate. Also, though huia feathers had previously been worn only by men and women of the highest rank, by the end of the century the feathers were in great demand by all those who felt that they had any claim at all to chiefly rank. The price soon rose to £1 or more for a single feather—and this was not good for the bird's survival.

Mr Phillipps' book is a thorough consideration of all the information concerning the huia which has survived. He has talked to many old timers who knew the huia in their youth, and though it is usually accepted that the last certain sighting of the bird was in 1907, he lists many more recent occasions on which people have been sure that they have seen it. One such instance of a ‘probable sighting’ is as recent as Christmas 1961. The author is convinced that huias will be rediscovered in one or more of the rugged, densely-forested parts of the North Island in which they used to live, and he gives much evidence which suggests that this is possible.

There is also some interesting information concerning the place of the huia in ancient Maori society. Did you know, for instance, that if a Maori man dreamt that he saw the skull of an ancestor decorated with feathers, this meant that his wife was going to have a child? If they were huia feathers, the child would be a girl; if they were those of the kotuku (white heron), it would be a boy.

Tangi

by Dennis Turner
A. H. & A. W. Reed, 35/-

This really magnificent collection of drawings portrays a tangi in a small country community. There is an excellent introduction by Roger Oppenheim, but other than this no words are used, and none are needed. The pictures are strong and sensitive; they speak with realism and true feeling. M.O.

A Treasury of Maori Folklore

by A. W. Reed
A. H. & A. W. Reed, 42/-

The purpose of this book is, in the author's words, ‘to put into simple, connected narrative form, and in a logical sequence of categories, the major legends and beliefs, with their more important variants, and thus to provide a volume of straightforward reading and easy reference’. This is a task which badly needed doing, and it is one which ‘A Treasury of Maori Folklore’ performs most successfully. It does not attempt to provide a complete collection; this would, of course, have been quite impossible to do. But it gives a remarkably comprehensive selection, told with clarity, a wealth of detail, and a minimum of theorising. As the author so rightly notes, ‘more can be learned about a super-normal creature such as the taniwha by reading stories of taniwhabaiting than by theorising on the origin of this strange belief’.

The book is intended for the general reader. It is the result of much research, and is a considerably more ambitious volume than Mr Reed's earlier best-seller, ‘Myths and Legends of Maoriland’. This previous book was perhaps of especial value to children, but ‘A Treasury of Maori Folklore’ will probably be of most interest to adults (though bright children will also read it avidly). In recent years many of the books dealing with Maori mythology and legends have been intended for children, while others have been so superficial, and so badly written, that no-one with any real interest in the subject could be satisfied with them. It is an excellent thing to have at last a comprehensive collection designed for the serious reader who is not a specialist.

It may be of interest to list the main chapter headings of this massive collection, as they give one an idea of the way in which the material has been organised. The headings are: Creation, The Maori Pantheon, Overworlds and Underworlds, the Maui Cycle, The Tawhaki Cycle, Tribal Atua, Patupaiarehe and Ponaturi, Supernatural Beings, Giants and Giant Birds, Taniwha, Legends of Earth, Legends of Ocean, Legends of the Sky, The Tohunga and Makutu, Legends of Love and Endurance.

Some of the folk tales in the collection are composite in character, the narrative having been built up from different versions. This method has its dangers, of which the author is well aware, but in a collection intended for the general reader it is probably the best way of coping with the problem. When strongly contradictory versions of legends exist, this is explained in footnotes.

A good bibliography is provided, but except in the case of contradictory variants, the sources of individual tales are not usually given. It is a pity that it was not possible to provide this information, as one is left with no way of finding the original sources of the story.

An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Maori Life

by A. W. Reed
A. H. & A. W. Reed, 25/-

This attractive book, written by the same author as the one reviewed above, is a simple, comprehensive reference work dealing with Pre-Pakeha Maori culture. Its 675 major

entries are arranged alphabetically, with many cross-references to related subjects and alternative headings. The ease of reference provided in this way, together with the book's very extensive illustrations and simple style, will make it invaluable for children and teachers. The strong binding and easily readable type are further advantages.

The author, A. W. Reed, is generously donating all royalties earned by the book to the Maori Education Foundation.

Just Cooking, Thanks

by Noel Holmes
A. H. & A. W. Reed, 13/6

Anyone who appreciates sea-food—pretty well everyone, that is—will be interested in this comprehensive guide to cooking sea-foods of all kinds. Noel Holmes' recipes include the old and the new; he quotes the traditional Maori methods with a proper respect, but also gives some recipes calling for such non-traditional ingredients as garlic, wine and spices. His enthusiasm is catching; a few moments with this book, and I defy you not to feel hungry.

M.R.W.

Mr Riri Maihi Kawiti

Mr Riri Maihi Kawiti, O.B.E., J.P., died on February 20th at Kawakawa, Northland, aged 87.

He was a leader of the whole Ngapuhi tribe, and paramount chief of the Ngati Hine sub-tribe.

He had been ill for over a year.

Mr Kawiti lay in state on the Otiria marae, where the Tumatauenga meetinghouse, for which he had worked for many years, had been opened a few days earlier.

He was the last surviving grandson of Kawiti, the great warrior whose signature is the first on the Treaty of Waitangi, and who fought against the British troops over a century ago.

Riri Maihi Kawiti was awarded the O.B.E. for patriotic services in both World Wars, and was greatly respected for his knowledge of Maoritanga.

He kept a diary of the Kawiti family for more than 60 years and has written a family history.

He was a foundation member of the Waitangi National Trust Board, and served on it until his retirement two years ago.

Mr Kawiti was very active in church affairs, both Methodist and Anglican.

He is survived by his wife Rewa and three children, Ngaone, Tawai and Ringi.

Mr Alan (‘Ace’) Wood

The first Regimental Sergeant Major of the 28th Maori Battalion, Second N.Z.E.F., Mr Alan (‘Ace’) Wood, D.C.M., has died in Nelson.

With Brigadier G. Dittmer, a former commanding officer of the Battalion, he was responsible for the discipline of the Battalion, which was of an outstandingly high standard.

Aged 47, he was one of eight Europeans with the original battalion.

Mr Wood was seriously wounded in the El Alamein campaign at the time Lieut-Col T. Love was killed. Mr Wood was invalided home as a captain at the end of 1942.

He was in Rotorua for the reunion of the Maori Battalion in 1961.

The president of 28 Maori Battalion, New Zealand Association, Mr K. Waaka of Rotorua, accompanied by Messrs E. Kingi and C. Welsh, Rotorua, each a member of the original battalion, flew to Nelson for the funeral.

Mr Te Uaua Turuwhenua

Mr Te Uaua Turuwhenua died last January at Whakatane, aged 72. He was one of the senior elders of the people of the Waimana district.

For a long time he was chairman of the eastern Tuhoe tribal committee, and he was a member of the committee when he died. He also played an important part as an honorary welfare officer.

Mr Turuwhenua was an elder of the Presbyterian Church, and served a term as moderator of the Presbyterian Maori Synod. He leaves four children and numerous grandchildren.

The tangi was held at the Tanatana marae at Waimana.

Dr R. F. T. Grace

‘The Times’ of London recently paid tribute to a distinguished doctor of Maori descent, Richard Fairfax Tukino Grace, who died in London.

Dr Grace, who was descended from the chiefly lines of Tuwharetoa, retired from his psychiatric

appointments in London three years ago.

One of his grandfathers established a mission station on the south shore of Lake Taupo in 1855 and did much to help the Maori people, the newspapers recalled.

‘The Times’ said that Dr Grace was sent as a medical student to Edinburgh in 1914. During the Second World War he served in the R.A.F. as senior neuropsychiatric specialist. Later he was appointed consultant psychotherapist at the National Hospital, London.

‘His northern forebears and northern training made Dr Grace a good physician,’ ‘The Times’ said. ‘But in appearance he was a chieftain of long descent and his Maori ancestry gave him also the underlying gaiety that endeared him to so many companions.’

Miss Keita Ngaro Ngapo

The death has occurred at Kennedy Bay, Coromandel, of Miss Keita Ngaro Ngapo, aged 76.

Miss Ngapo was for many years a district nurse, working at different times in Northland, Waikato, and Bay of Plenty. She trained at Waikato Hospital as a missionary nurse, passing her examinations with honours in 1914.

Mrs Pikitawhaki Thompson

Mrs Pikitawhaki Thompson, also known as Piki Tawhaki, died last February at Otahuhu, aged 85.

She was a descendant of Titokawaru, a famous fighting leader in the Taranaki war of the 1860s.

Piki was well-known in Auckland and Otahuhu as one of the last women with a moko in that district. She was one of the last flower sellers in Auckland.

She is survived by her husband, Mau Ngatupara Kawau, and a family.

The Very Rev. Dean M. Alink

The Very Rev. Dean Martin Alink, or Pa Matene, who was connected with Catholic Maori Missions in the Auckland Diocese for 44 years, died last March in Auckland.

He was local supervisor of the St. Joseph's Foreign Mission Society in New Zealand for 26 years, and was in charge of St. Peter's Maori Boys' College, at Northcote, for 25 years.

Dean Alink was born in Amsterdam, Holland, and was ordained in 1919, arriving in New Zealand in the next year.

He was first stationed at Waihi, near Tokaanu, then worked at Rotorua, Te Puna and Putaruru.

He was a competent carpenter, and built several churches.

Dean Alink was the founder of the St. Joseph's Maori Mission Guild, and in 1947 was decorated for his work by the Netherlands Government.

Before his burial he lay in state at St. Peter's College and then at the residence of the Maori missioners in Auckland, where his tangi was held.

Mr Hone Heke Rankin

Mr Hone Heke Rankin, OBE, J.P., of Kaikohe, died at Whangarei on 15 April, at the age of 68.

Mr Rankin, a Ngapuhi rangatira of high descent, was related to the famous warrior Hone Heke, who defied the British in the 1840s, and was a nephew of the Hone Heke who was the first Member of Parliament for the Northern Maori seat.

Born in Kaikohe, he received his early education with relatives in Gisborne. He served in the armed forces in the First World War and in 1945 was appointed to the Rehabilitation Board and council, as a representative of the Maori race.

He was a member of the Taitokerau Trust Board and the Waitangi Te Ti Trust Board and was keenly interested in the development of the Punakitere land block, now run by the Government. He played a large part in the building at Otiria of the Tumatauenga meetinghouse, which was opened last February by the Governor-General.

Mr Rankin was a man of remarkable talents and deep human sympathies. A controversial and courageous speaker, he was noted throughout Maoridom for his strong and eloquent advocacy of Maori rights. He will be greatly missed, and will be long remembered for his strength of spirit, his qualities of leadership and his devotion to the welfare of his people.

In a tribute to Mr Rankin, the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Hanan, said that the whole country mourned the passing of one of the paramount chiefs and leaders of Maoridom. Mr Rankin, he said, was a true rangatira, and had brought further distinction to the illustrious an-

cestor whose name he bore. On behalf of the Government and the people, Mr Hanan sent a message of sympathy to Mrs Rankin, members of the family and the Maori people of North Auckland.

Mr Rankin lay in state for one night at the Otiria marae. On the next day he lay in state at Ngawha for half an hour before being taken to Te Kotahitanga marae, his own marae. The tangi was attended by a great many people from both Northland and other districts. The funeral was held at the Aperihama Anglican Church and was conducted by the Rev. Frank Harris. Mr Rankin was buried in the Aperihama churchyard.

He is survived by a wife and ten children.

Mr Hohepa Heperi

One of the oldest kaumatua of the Ngapuhi tribe, Mr Hohepa Heperi, has died at Hamilton, aged 94.

Mr Heperi lived most of his life at Kaikohe, but came to Temple View, Hamilton, about two years ago to live with a son. He was a high priest in the Mormon Church.

Before he retired he was a dairy farmer.

Mr Heperi was twice married. His second wife died 42 years ago. His descendants number 127. Six of his 11 children are still alive.

Mr Taituha Takao

Mr Taituha Takao, an elder of the Tuhoe tribe, has died at his home in Waimana, aged 64.

He was a grandson of Te Maikoha, who was decorated for his work as a Government scout at the time of the Hau Hau.

Mr Takao took a leading role in tribal and executive committee work and was widely known in the Bay of Plenty as a Rugby and tennis player.

He designed and built the Tamakaimoana meetinghouse opened in Waimana about two years ago.

Mrs Te Here Taniwha

Mrs Te Here Taniwha, who is believed to have been between 105 and 110 years old, has died at Taiporohenui, near Hawera.

Mrs Taniwha was married to Muroa Panapa, a member of the armed constabulary at Parihaka, in the 1880s. After his death she married Mr T. Adlam. She had one daughter by her first marriage, Hitapairu (Mrs Edwards), who died many years ago.

Mrs Taniwha is survived by six grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

We are always grateful to those readers who sent to the Editor, ‘Te Ao Hou’, Box 2390, send us obituary notices. They should be Wellington.