MAORI

Photography by Ans Westra Text
by Dr J. E. Ritchie
A. H. & A. W. Reed, $6.30
reviewed by N. P. K. Puriri

This book, this collection of people captured by the camera and recorded for all time, is indeed a magnificent effort.

I am not an expert on photography but what I see here, I like. These are real people. No one can accuse Ans Westra of favouritism, as her subjects are from the four points of the compass.

Jim Ritchie has written the background information in language that can be understood by the average person. It is clear that his essays were written sitting on an ordinary chair and not in a professorial one.

This book is one of the best of its kind I have had the pleasure of reading. It covers the field more than adequately.

There are a number of errors due to poor editing, inexcusable for a book of such quality. I hope that these will be remedied in the next edition.

Recently I had an overseas guest in my home. I introduced her to Maori and I understand that she was so taken up with the book that she bought a number of copies to give to her New Zealand friends and relatives in her homeland.

In my opinion this publication will help sow the seeds of understanding between Maori and Maori and between Maori and Pakeha.

If you want to give a worthwhile gift, why not Maori?

If you want to know what is ‘Maoritanga’ then go get yourself this book. It shows the stages of man from the cradle to the grave. It portrays people singing, dancing, eating, weeping, and there is even a T.A.B. shot. In other words, Ans Westra has seen and then shown the Maori people as they are.

Her photographic work in Tamariki was excellent but this effort is a ‘beauty’.

THE BROWN FRONTIER

by C. W. Vennell
A. H. & A. W. Reed, $2.95
reviewed by Sheila Natusch

Most of us feel, nowadays, that it is better to read about ‘old unhappy far-off things, and battles long ago’ than to be actively engaged in swiping people with intent to do harm; indeed, the well-meaning efforts of the modern peace-loving human often recall the fight in ‘Old New Zealand’, where the Pakeha wanted to disarm the Maori, but the Maori only wanted to kill the Pakeha. Really sensitive peace-lovers may shrink, even, from reading about past conflicts; boys, fresh from play ground battles (‘Bang ! ! You're dead—go on, lie down!’), will tackle them more as real-life adventure yarns. It is reasonable to expect, in this country and at this stage, that none of us are likely to bear old grudges, or nurse old grievances.

C. W. Vennell's stories, well-written and finely-illustrated, are a record of man's inhumanity to man in this country between the years 1806–1877. Lack of communication across the cultures was perhaps inevitable; people acted according to their lights, such as they were. To the worst of the early traders and whalers, the native inhabitants were there to be handled in the way some human beings (regrettably) still handle their animals; to those so shamefully exploited, utu was plain duty. Savagery and heroism appear side by side. Mr Vennell has the good journalist's gift of conveying actuality: the feel of the time, place and action. The conversations ring true; there is no cheap attempt at modernising. If we are told the morning was fine, or the captain spoke testily, we feel the writer knows enough about the climate and circumstances to be justified in using his historical imagination to put a bit of meat on the bare bones of history.

It must be said that these true tales are of northern New Zealand only; localities are clearly shown on end-paper maps. The illustrations include engravings, early photographs and documents, and line drawings; the book is attractively produced, and pleasant to handle. And it bears the stamp of patient scholarship and careful research as well as considerable literary skill.

THE RATA TREE

by J. P. Poiner-Webster
from the author, $1.20 reviewed by N. P. K. Puriri

This small booklet is the story of Patuone, his doings, and his transformation from a noble savage to an English gentleman.

The writer has treated his subject well. He could even be accused of looking at him with far too friendly eyes.

Patuone was a rangatira in his own right. The early part of his life was dedicated to the advancement of his tribe, and in later life he promoted goodwill between Maori and Pakeha.

Descendants and kinsmen of Patuone live in many parts of the world, and this publication will be a boon to them. I understand that they are trying to arrange an annual ‘get together’ at Waitangi.

The author can, because of his youthfulness, be excused for some inaccuracies in the whakapapa. I believe he was still at secondary school when he started his project. Much of the material for the book has been gleaned from other sources, but this in no way detracts from its originality.

AT HOME IN NEW ZEALAND:
an illustrated history of everyday things before 1865.

by Alison Drummond and L. R. Drummond Blackwood and Janet Paul Ltd. $2.80
reviewed by Margaret Orbell

This attractive and very readable book consists of ‘an illustrated history of everyday things before 1865.’ There are interesting descriptions of the possessions that the first colonists brought to New Zealand, the food that they ate, their homes, and the clothes that they wore.

The first Europeans to settle in New Zealand were the missionaries who came to the Bay of Islands in 1814. Though they took with them only the most essential possessions, they did their best to maintain the standards of civilized life; a few months after their arrival,

Thomas Kendall wrote home asking to be sent three wigs, among other necessities.

In the next fifty years there were many changes in the domestic life of the colonists, as conditions in New Zealand altered and as English fashions changed. This book documents the changes that took place; it is illustrated with line drawings, and there are entertaining quotations from early letters and diaries. It is especially interesting to read of the ways in which English fashions in dress were modified in the new environment. On the whole, the men adapted their clothing to the new climate and conditions more quickly than the women; the eight layers of skirts and petticoats that women of fashion wore in the 1850s must have been uncomfortable enough in England, but how much worse in the New Zealand summer!

It would be most interesting to have a similarly detailed account of the much more rapid changes that were taking place at this time in the domestic life of the Maori people. In this book there are only a few passing references to Maori life. We are told that in the 1850s and 1860s, when scent and pomades for the hair were popular with barbers' clients, a large part of the most expensive scents and preparations were sold to Maoris. Maoris had always been connoisseurs of perfumes of various kinds; they greatly enjoyed the European perfumes, and took much care in selecting the ones that pleased them most.

WOMEN OF POLYNESIA

text by T. Barrow, Ph.D. photography by H. Sieben
Seven Seas Publishing Ptv. Ltd., $10.50
reviewed by N. P. K. Puriri

Women of Polynesia—its very name conjures up in the mind sun-drenched beaches, waving palm trees, topless mini-grass-skirted maidens, or should I say, women. The inviting eyes on the dust cover of this book are obviously designed to titillate an unwholesome appetite. However, the promise is unfulfilled, the appetite unsatisfied, the thirst unslaked.

This type of book, obviously aimed at the beast in man, does not help the mana of T. Barrow, Ph.D. I would have thought he, an

expert, would have kept the illustrator in hand. I refer to the Maori nudes, or should I say ‘pin-ups’. I do not object to ‘topless’ versions, but when my women are exposed in such a way as in this book, their shame is my shame. Such exposure, deliberate or accidental, has given rise to vendettas, feuds, suicides and deaths. It can be one of the strongest forms of insult. The photographic studies and the text oppose each other—the text on page 62 stating that the Maori was the most modest of Polynesians, and the Maori nudes indicating the opposite.

I must admit, however, that many of the studies are beautiful, underlining the inherent dignity of Polynesian women in general, and it is unfortunate that by undressing only the Maori and Marquesan women, Sieben has given a wrong impression.

As I have already mentioned, it is aimed at the beast in man, and purports to deal with sexual behaviour in traditional Polynesia. It falls flat. I learnt nothing. Consumer Institute could well use it as an example of deceptive packaging.

The author has covered a wide field but in some areas it is apparent that he has had to meet a dead-line, and has departed from his usual scholarly approach.

The publication is notable for its lack of an index.

Thoughts on a N.Z. Christmas

Why not a Maori Crib?
And Madonna of dusky hue?
And couldn't the Kings be Maori chiefs
And the shepherds Maori too?

And the gifts they bring, a patu
A Tiki and Maori poi
A rich feather cloak and a Maori mat
To give to the little God-boy.
So why not a Maori Crib?

Fay Clayton.