(Maori Version at Papers Past.)
[3] Te Kopara, Number 41, Gisborne, 15 March, 1917.
‘Iti te Kopara, kai takirikiri ana i runga i te Kahikatea.’
Although the Bellbird is small, he plucks at the Kahikatea. [cf Nga Pepeha 908]
A NOTICE.
Diocese of Waiapu Hui Topu.
The Hui Topu will be held at Omaahu, Heretaunga, on Monday, 23rd April. The Service will be on Sunday 22nd.
THE LIFE HEREAFTER.
By W Tureia Puha, Uawa.
Chapter IV. ‘What happens to the souls in Te Reinga.’
We have seen in Chapter III that all souls, whether food or bad, go to Te Reinga, to the place prepared for them from the beginning of the world. Because a desire has sprung up in the heart to be very clear about the correctness and the truth of the words of explanation in Chapter III about the single place to which souls go, that is, about Te Reinga, I want to set before the readers of these few words just one thought to support those words. Most of the thoughts in Chapter III are based on the Scriptures but this one has its roots in Maori ideas.
Here it is.
If a Maori person dies people gather for the tangi and begin their farewell speeches, ‘Go, go, go! Go to your ancestors, to your forebears,’ and so on. This is evidence to us that the Maori agree that there is one home for all souls, that which we have spoken of above, Te Reinga. These words of farewell come from the distant past so let us hold on to this truth of our ancestors. I wonder in my heart at the truth of this idea held by those who departed to that world because they lived in the time of darkness, while we do well to be ashamed because some of us think that good people go to heaven and wicked people to Te Reinga, although we live in the time of enlightenment.
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(1) The heading was a question: ‘What happens to the souls in Te Reinga?’ It is a difficult question but it needs to be answered because of the many false teachings amongst us and the Pakeha too. Some people say that when a person dies his life is at an end, there is no life hereafter. Others say (although it is better than the mistaken and perverse teaching of the past) that when a person dies his spirit goes to live in Te Reinga and is idle there until the day of judgement. There are very many foolish teachings in this world, but I am going to answer only these. If we look at things carefully the first thing that will strike us is the futility of the death of Christ for the world if man’s life ends in this world. It also contradicts the teaching of Christ and his Apostles in saying that the faith is merely a shadow and we should not aspire to its benefits and its beauty. Death is only a door by which we enter into a great and wonderful world.
(2) Souls in Te Reinga do not just sit about but they continue to work. This world is like the schools and colleges that teach the children. We are all school children. During our schooling in this world all the words of instruction are intended to rouse us to look forward and to warn us to remember that this world is not our permanent home.
If we die our souls go to Te Reinga. Te Reinga is like the leading universities of this world like Oxford; there souls are educated. This world is the beginning of our schooling, that world is the middle stage of our schooling, and the great examination lies ahead of us, the Day of Judgement. If our work in this world is good then it will be easy in that world. The place for which we are being educated here and for which the souls in Te Reinga are being schooled so that they can get there is the Kingdom of God. The purpose of these schools is to prepare us for that place we hope to get to. Te Reinga is not a permanent place for us.
(3) Te Reinga is a better dwelling-place than this. It is not because I or other people have seen Te Reinga that I can say this, no, but I can say this as boldly as those speak who put up arguments rejecting the idea. For example the critic says, ‘Have you seen this Te Reinga that you have spoken of in this fashion?’ My answer is, ‘Have you seen this Te Reinga that you are so critical of and that you describe as a bad place?’
I said that Te Reinga is a better place than this world. Let us look at us people and other things we see. There are three stages in a man’s life, the stage when he is in the womb, the time he is a child, and the time he matures and eventually dies. We observe that
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there is a progression. A bird is an egg to begin with, but the bird is better than the egg. A peach is better than the seed from which it grew. Similarly the world to come is better than this world. This world is a beginning, the next world is a place to prepare us for our ultimate home.
(To be continued.)
A WONDERFUL HUI.
Everyone had equal praise for the hui put on by the Hon A T Ngata and all Ngatiporou; everyone said, ‘Friends, how marvellous this wonderful hui has been.’ If the weather was terrible before the hui it only increased the greatness, the awesomeness, the glory of this hui. It took in the lowly and the great from each valley, each plain, each hill, each bay – all parts of this island. This was the scheme in the hearts of the local people, those who set up the hui, from the time preparations began. Whatever these heartfelt desires, the people who came to the hui declared, ‘How marvellous this great hui has been.’
The purposes of this hui were as follows:
(1) The dedication of the entrance hall to the Hon A T Ngata’s house. This hall was constructed like a Maori house and is covered in carving.
(2) It was a tangihanga – a gathering of the whole Maori People in one place to weep and to express all the heartfelt pain around their young men who have fallen in the war.
(3) Matters dealing with the Maori soldiers were the main subject of the hui. Most of the statements in this report tell of how this was dealt with and the decisions of the hui.
Lady Carroll (Heni Materoa) opened the Hon A T Ngata’s house and was the first to enter it. This was the first event of the hui after the expressions of grief and the welcomes. When all these things had been done then the matter of the Maori soldiers was addressed. Let me say a few words about the arrangements on the marae before relating the discussions on this subject. A subject frequently spoken of by people was the spotlessness of the Porourangi marae and the cleanliness of all the activities. Although the hui took place at the end of a storm the marae and all its provisions could not be criticised. One sees alcohol being consumed at all
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large Maori hui but at this hui it was not seen. The provision [?karawhiu] of food was unstinted. Although the hui went on for more than a week there was no diminution of the provision of food. The number of people went up to over a thousand. If one adds to this the number of local people there the number would go up to more than two thousand.
The main business of this hui was the proposal which was included in the matter of the Maori soldiers, namely, the collection for the wounded soldiers. The collection raised £9000. The proceedings and the decisions on the subject of the Maori soldiers went as follows:
The Minutes of the Discussions at the Waiomatatini Hui.
1. The response to Te Arawa’s telegram. This is to be left to the Government. (The puruma [broom] Act]).
2. There is to be no stopping sending Maori soldiers to replenish the Maori Contingent in France.
3. Appointing officers for the Maori soldiers. The men appointed should have experienced the heat of battle. For young men fit to be officers entering now the way is open to them to achieve the rank of officer. This is the process: Attend the officers school. If they pass they then take their certificates with them to the battlefront where they have the experience of being under fire. When an officer’s post becomes vacant their certificates will show that they are fit for that post.
4. The name for the contingent of Maori soldiers is now the ‘Pioneer Battalion.’ This name is a collective one for both Maori and Pakeha. However the Maori section continues to be part of a New Zealand Division. The name ‘Maori Contingent’ has been discarded. There is no separate Maori army. We ask the House to build up that section to a thousand men, the size of a ‘Battalion.’ If that can be achieved we ask the powers that be to restore the title ‘Maori Soldiers Contingent’ as the name for that section. And the Maori Contingent should again carry weapons as they did at Gallipoli so that they may avenge the deaths of those who have fallen.
5. Concerning the Officers. Your committee asks you to put this idea before the Government. Officer’s posts that become vacant as a result of deaths in action should be filled by Maori officers who have come up through the ranks. This is the simple way to keep filling the positions of officers for the Maori. If this is done then Pakeha officers can move to work outside the Maori Contingent.
6. Staff. The committee asks you to approach the Government asking them to pass on your idea to the appropriate authorities, that a place be made for an officer on the General’s staff (and a Maori officer to speak for the contingent) for
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that General, representing the army engaged in the fighting. And we ask that that position be open to the General’s Department of New Zealand.
7. Your committee declares that this is the right time for the voice of the people to implore the Government to hasten the enquiry into the difficulties of Captain Pitt so that that gentleman may soon learn was is to happen. At the moment he is being wasted. The voice of the people and the voices of the remnant of his soldiers who have returned home are united in praising that man and are lamenting the waste of him.
8. Your committee thinks that this is the right time to stir up the spokesmen of the people on the matter of farming. The committee observes that farming amongst the people, sheep and cattle farming, is facing serious difficulties because many Maori have gone to the war with the result that the long arm of the [Ture Puruma – Broom Act ?Native Land Amendment Act and Native Land Claims Adjustment Acts] is reaching out.
We propose that committees be set up in each place and each district to discuss this matter. This matter affects elders, children and women.
9. The committee is surprised that no minister has been appointed yet to replace Archdeacon Hawkins at the Takapuna camp. Archdeacon Hawkins went with the Second Contingent and as yet there is no replacement. This is a long time for your children to be left without church services. The committee thinks that this hui should quickly send the name of a minister for this position to the Government.
10. A request from the committee: That all the motions passed by the gathering today be taken to the Government in Wellington by the committee that is conveying the purpose of this hui.
Waiomatatini,
21st February, 1917.
WAR NEWS.
The Western Front.
The English and the French continue to go forward. In his telegram, Philip Gibbs, the authorised reporter in the English camp, tells of the English taking a fort on the 10th of this month. That fort had been placed on a high spot. The English large guns first fired a barrage and shortly after there was an attack and it is said that it was not long before the fighting ended. When the Germans saw the English
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attacking they stopped fighting and gave themselves up. The French effort is comparable with that of the English.
The Eastern Front.
From the Eastern Front we receive very good news now. The best news is of the fall of the city of Baghdad. When that city was taken by the Allies, that is, the English, it meant that the English and the Russians were linked up because they were no longer separated by Turkey. Baghdad fell on Monday 12th of this month and when news reached London all England rejoiced for now all the powers were on the side of the Allies. Accounts of this city of Baghdad have appeared in a previous issue of Te Kopara but it will be worthwhile to repeat that account now so that you can appreciate the size of this battle. Baghdad is the great city of Mesopotamia, the Mesopotamia spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles. This is a very old city; the ancient city of the Arabs. However it fell into the hands of Turkey and today it has been taken out of those hands. In order to shorten this account let me go quickly to the reasons why this battle was so important to the English. Germany had the idea of building a railway line from Germany to reach the borders of India making it easy to transport an army to overthrow India and before long the great Empire of the King of England would be overthrown. The outcome of this German idea was that it turned to Turkey to help fulfil its desires and gave Turkey money to build part of that railway line. The line Turkey as to build was to stretch from Constantinople to the territories bordering on India; they dreamed of this line reaching the city that has been captured, Baghdad. The English realised all that was being planned and hastened to send an army there to prevent the enemy from getting to the Indian borders in this way lest the German dreams be fulfilled. It will be clear to you how important this battle was to the Allies, that is, the English. Secondly, this battle was important in that it would link up Russia with the English thus completing an Allied front from the North to the South without a break, so making possible a westward advance from top to bottom. Its purpose was to surround Germany and its associates on all sides. Thirdly, this battle was important because the fighting has ended in a restricted area where the Turks were concentrated. Now the fighting has moved north of Baghdad. There is extensive land there
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not under the hand of Turkey, and there the Turks will be disheartened and engage in headlong flight. With the fall of Baghdad one’s thoughts go back to the cutting off of General Townshend’s army from the main army last year. That army was surrounded by a large Turkish army for one hundred and forty-three days. General Aylmer and General Lake tried to get a relief force to him but were prevented by floods. General Townshend had to surrender his army into the hands of the Turks, but many of the enemy had fallen to his small force. General Townshend was taken prisoner by Turkey in early February last year. He was 26 miles from Baghdad, the city that has now fallen.
RUSSIA’S PROBLEMS.
Information has arrived that Russia has problems. The Russians are fighting against each other; the people are fighting the Government. This is a summary of those difficulties. It appears that the troubles stem from a lack of food for the people and the soldiers, and this has been exacerbated by the rising prices of flour and other food. Russia is not without food. It has much wheat and other foods of all kinds but it is being kept back and not being distributed. So the people turned against the Government, and the emergence of this trouble brought to light the conviction held by some of the ministers that this mighty Russian people were being directed by crafty German activities. If the people had not risen up in this way they would have been defeated and Russia‘s war would be at an end and the German sympathisers amongst them would not have been discovered.
The ministers of the old Government were bound and were killed and some died of fear when they were seized, and the Prime Minister, Prince Galatzin killed some. One of the very wicked ministers was Protopopoff. He was determined to damage Russia by withholding the wheat and other foods which were to be given to the people, and by doing other malicious things, even going to far as secretly seeking to make a separate peace between Russia and Germany. Some articles we have received say that had the people not risen up in this fashion Protopopoff would have succeeded in his projects, but when the people’s anger erupted Protopopoff was the first [?taiheru] to be killed.
The Tsar, as a result of this trouble and of calls for his resignation, has now relinquished the Russian throne and has said that his younger brother, Grand Duke Michael),
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will take the throne. Michael is 38, and the Tsar has conceded seniority to the younger brother.
This trouble was not brought about by the Tsar but by the men he had chosen thinking that they would be united in the single project of defeating the enemy. Hence the final words of the Tsar: ‘I have wickedly been brought to this end by the people in whom I had put great trust.’ A new Government has been set up in Russia for this time. Although there has been this trouble, good has resulted for Russia, evil things done before by the German sympathisers are being swept away, and all Russia is united in furthering the war. Nearly 1000 people died or were wounded in this trouble.
MAORI TOHUNGA
The newspapers tell of a female tohunga in Otaki called Wini Raika. She finds all sorts of lost things and heals all kinds of sickness. The current sensation in Otaki if the finding by that woman of some valuables belonging to Puke te Ao of Otaki. Those valuables were a watch, a gold container, and some other things. Those valuables belonged to Puke te Ao’s girlfriend when she was a married woman. There was fear that they would not be found having been buried; when she died she had disappeared and it was not known where she was. Some Maori tohunga looked for those valuables later but did not find them, but Wini Raika found them. Many people who came did not believe because they had seen the deceits of former tohunga. However they believed when they saw the treasures being given to Hema te Ao. That woman says that by and by she is going to dive for some greenstone from canoes that have capsized in a lake there in the past.
□□□□□□□□
The price of butter in New Zealand from February unti May has been set and Gazetted at 1/7 a pound; from June to august a pound of butter will cost 1/8.
In Sir Timi Kara’s speech he said: ‘When I flew from New Zealand on Friday we landed on an island at Suva and I was amazed that when the next day dawned it was also Friday. There were two Fridays!’
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OTHER NEWS.
On 18th of this month news arrived that three American ships had been sunk off the coast of France and 32 Americans had been lost. This is a sign that Germany is disregarding America now. So, President Wilson, when are you returning to defeat Germany for us?
Sir Timi Kara said that when he was in France he spoke to the leading English General about the Maori who had fought against the Turks at Gallipoli and said that some of them who had showed great courage had not been given medals. He believes that that General will take note of what he said.
Recently, Tau Paruihi of Rangitiki was given an honour, the DCM, by the Minister of Defence, by Sir [James] Allen. On 6th August, 1915, this brave soldier was separated from his unit and found himself surrounded by five Turks; four of them he killed and one he took prisoner. It is over a year ago but at last this brave young man has received his honour. It is right that Timi Kara raised this matter with the leading General.
Te Rau College has started again and most of the students have arrived. Some are new birds on this tree and some are returning again.
In the farewell sermon given by a minister to his people who had not paid much attention to him, he said: ‘My friends, it is obvious that God doesn’t care for you because I’ve not buried a single one of you. And it is also very true that you do not care for one another because I’ve not taken any weddings for you. And it is very clear that you don’t care for me because you’ve not paid the last quarter of my stipend. However in the future I shan’t have to put up with you because I am going to be a prison chaplain at Dartmoor.’ Then the minister announced his text: ‘I am going to prepare a place for you.’
In the will of Lord Llangattock, who was wounded in France and died, he has left to the Board that Administers the Church of England, £100,000. That money will be invested to support the Church in Wales. The Board has also received in the will more than £10,000 for such purposes.
One of the foremost ships of the Union Company, the Maitai, has been damaged in Rarotonga where it sailed onto a reef. This is one of the fast ships that used to sail from the Auckland area to Te Waipounamu.
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RULES OF THE PAPER.
1. Te Kopara is published monthly.
2. The subscription for the paper is five shillings (5/-) a year paid by postal note or stamps.
3. Anyone wishing to take Te Kopara should send the money with the covering letter.
4. Articles are welcome from all parts of the country, but the Editor reserves the right to decide on what to print. Write clearly.
5. Address all letters to:
Te Kopara,
Te Rau,
Gisborne.
A NOTICE
To those wanting a Prayer Book or Hymn Book. I now have plenty of books. The prices are:
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Large, red cover 3/-
Large, hard cover 4/-
Large, superior cover 5/6
Small, soft cover 1/-
Small, red cover 1/6
Small, hard cover 2/6
Small, superior cover 3/6
Prayer Book with Hymns, soft cover 1/6
Prayer Book with Hymns, red cover 1/-
Prayer Book with Hymns, hard cover 3/-
Prayer Book with Hymns, superior cover 4/-Prayer Book, New Testament and Hymns, red cover, 3/6
Prayer Book, New Testament and Hymns, superior cover, 5/6
Hymns 6d
Words for the Prayerful Heart 3d
I will pay the postage to send the books to you
H W Williams,
Naurea, Gisborne
People wanting a Bible or a New Testament should apply to the Bible Depository Sunday School Union, Auckland.
Bible, 2/6, 3/6, 4/6. Enclose a postage stamp for 1/-.
New Testament with explanatory headings. 2/6, 3/-, 4/6. Enclose a postage stamp for 3d.
Small New Testament with the Psalms. 2/-, 2/6, 3/-, 3/6, 4/-. Enclose a postage stamp for 3d.
Printed and published by H W Williams at Te Rau Printing Works, Berry Street, Gisborne, New Zealand.
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