Te Kopara 85

Te Kopara 85

(Maori Version at Papers Past.)

[3] Te Kopara, Number 85, Gisborne, 31 March, 1921.

‘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]

THE PARLIAMENTARY GROUP

R[eweti] T K[ohere]

The talking point on the Tai Rawhiti in February was the visit of a group of members of Parliament and people from the newspapers to see what the country is like, beginning from Rotorua, going on to Te Araroa, and finishing up at Napier. Those members were from all parts of New Zealand; Apirana Ngata was the sole Maori member. The people who gave the invitations and organised this project were Apirana Ngata, Kenneth Williams, member for the Bay of Plenty, Lysnar, member for Gisborne, and Hockly, member for Rotorua.

There will be people, Maori and Pakeha, who ask what benefits come from such a visit by members. This is my answer: ‘Apirana Ngata and his Pakeha member friends are wise men and they will be aware of the benefits; our part is just to support them.’ The costs of the group are being met by the districts they visited – an amount of almost £2,500. Ngatiporou is to pay £200; more than £200 has been contributed. This is a visiting group, invited by the Tai Rawhiti, therefore it would not be right to ask them to pay the expenses.

The visit came about as the result of an idea on the part of Apirana Ngata and his fellow East Coast members to make members aware of the difficulties of their constituencies – the lack of roads, the bad state of the roads, the lack of bridges over the rivers, the lack of railways, the lack of wharves. When Parliament reassembles they will be in a position to support the requests for money to address these difficulties on the Tai Rawhiti, an area that has been pinched for money by the Government. Why is that? Because it has not been discovered, it is not known. The Tai Rawhiti is in the situation of which Neho Kapuka spoke saying, ‘Come to the Tai Rawhiti, come to Waimahuru, and people say,

Ara te korero e haere ra i Tawhiti takoto noa Waimahuru.

While tidings go over Tawhiti-a-Pawa, Waimahuru remains solitary.

[Applicable to groups that always miss out. Cf Nga Pepeha 60]

We have not heard of it; no-one has seen it.’

Apirana is the one who set the eel-trap and it is appropriate to ask [ina sic ?uia] him, ‘What are you up to, Huare?’ And he would answer, ‘Wetting the cord that ties the bait lest you only get the fry on the smelt for your work.’ From what the members have said to the newspapers about the trip

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it seems that there will be much fruit from this journey. We will be able to call it ‘Huare’s eel-trap.’ However, the members know how to sweet-talk

This is my thought – I believe it is correct – that Apirana Ngata longs for his fellow members, the Pakeha members, to see the Tai Rawhiti farms because Pakeha who are greedy for land are still grumbling that Maori are wasting the land, that they are lazy when it comes to working it, and that those places that are being worked are being mistreated. But I will cut short my account and just say that the Pakeha members were amazed and full of praise for the works of the Tai Rawhiti tribes that they saw with their own eyes. When they returned from Te Araroa they headed for Te Wairoa and Apirana Ngata said that he was bashful at the praise heaped on the Maori tribes of the Tai Rawhiti by his Pakeha companions.

Let me set things down in the order they happened. The first thing the members saw that gladdened Apirana’s heart was 200 Maori building the track for the railway from Matata to Awakeri. There was not a Pakeha amongst them. Maori have a friend in Whakatane, Walter Reid, the Chairman of the County Council. That Pakeha supports the Maori and maintains that Maori lands should be split up and Maori settled on their own lands. Because Walter Reid speaks so well for Maori the Auckland Weekly News calls him the Member for the Maori on the County Council. This is a paper that is resentful towards the Maori. When the group reached Ruatoki they were welcomed with food and gifts of Maori garments.

Ngatiporou farming had been widely spoken of so the visitors were keen to see with their own eyes whether the reports were right or wrong. There was one Pakeha, a tricky character, who rubbished the good accounts of Ngatiporou farming, but what his eyes saw was even better than what his ears heard. The members were surprised at the good state of the land from Gisborne to Waiapu – there was no place like it for raising sheep. One of the members mistakenly thought that the Tai Rawhiti area, specifically the Ngatiporou region, was covered with bush with the sheep clustered in clearings; what he actually saw was pasture everywhere with the bush confined to beyond the ridges of the hills. Only in the Te Araroa area was the bush close. From Hikuwai south of Tokomaru as far as Wharekahika (Hick’s Bay) the main road connected the Ngatiporou sheep stations. Hockly, a farmer, praised the Ngatiporou farming – the felling of the bush, the burning, the sowing of grasses, the excellent fences, and the fine state of the sheep and cows. Atmore, the member for Nelson, said, ‘You Maori only saw the light fifty years ago while the Pakeha have been being educated for over one thousand years,

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but today the fifty years and the thousand years are competing with one another. Some great people have emerged from amongst you, greater than any Pakeha, and I urge you to continue to give birth to great people amongst you.’ Important words were said to the Maori by the members at Wai-o-matatini but I cannot recount them all. The members were especially grateful for the hospitality of Ngatiporou.

When the members arrived at Gisborne, the town of Lysnar, of the man who was raised by Maori, and who took a large part in grumbling about Maori, the members began to boast about Ngatiporou. Witty said that the only people they saw working on the Tai Rawhiti were Maori; there was not a Pakeha to be seen. Some of the members said that in no way would they consent to Maori being ill-spoken of. Apirana Ngata said that he was embarrassed at the superlative words of praise for the Maori spoken by the members.

The party of members left Gisborne and were welcomed enthusiastically by Rongowhakaata at Manutuke. When they reached Waikokopu the members saw the effort the Maori were putting into building the railway. As they went they kept coming across Maori camps. The man who guided the members was the Government official, Armstrong. That man extolled the energy and the understanding of the Maori where building railways is concerned – there was no people in the world like them. When they reached Waikaremoana it was Maori who were working on the roads and it was by the Maori, by Tuhoe, that the group was entertained. Apirana Ngata said that he was not going to speak or go on about the works of the Maori, he was content to let the works of the Maori speak for themselves. The Pakeha who complained about the laziness of the Maori and about the waste of Maori land remained silent.

But although the Pakeha members praised the efforts and the farming on the Tai Rawhiti, let us not just sit contentedly with our paddles raised, saying that we have brought our canoe to land. No, plunge in the paddles, make the canoe go faster. There are rough seas, waves clashing, stormy seas, for us to battle with. Our actual enemies are the Pakeha we live with – greedy Pakeha, envious Pakeha. And the thing that is going to keep our canoe seaworthy is our effort to improve the land, to pay our taxes and our rates. Atmore, the member for Nelson said, ‘Maori People, hold on to your remaining land – hold on to it, hold on to it. The tribe that works will overcome, the tribe that is lazy will disappear. This is a fixed law of God. Don’t seek to go to the town, to get work in town. Working the land is far better than those other jobs.’ Hawken, member for Taranaki, said, ‘Don’t go

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after money, because money is a spinning disk. It always goes around and around; but land isn’t a spinning disk, hold on to that.’

If Maori have no land they will be strangers, wanderers on the earth – servants of the Pakeha.

CELEBRATIONS FOR SIR TIMI KARA [JAMES CARROLL].

On the night of Friday, 18th February, the people of the town of Gisborne gathered to celebrate Timi and to thank him, their first member over many years past. The importance of the event was increased by the presence at the gathering of the members of Parliament chosen to travel around the Tai Rawhiti area whom he had invited to attend. The Mayor of Gisborne was the first to greet Timi and after he had spoken he read out the Testimonial to Sir Timi from the people of Gisborne, a document that had been carefully bound in illuminated covering both inside and outside. The honour of writing this address fell to a wise man, Mr De Lautour, a Gisborne lawyer.

After the Mayor had presented the Testimonial, Timi was given a gift of three hundred pounds from the people of Gisborne. It is not possible to reproduce all that was said in the Testimonial but I shall select some of the best bits of that Testimonial. The first part thanked Timi for the good things he had achieved for New Zealand, for the Maori, and for his electorate during his many years as member. Secondly there was recognition of Timi’s intellectual ability which placed him in the ranks of the foremost people of these days. He was not like some great people who were able to attend places of learning and so were able to achieve things; Timi was born with wisdom. Thirdly, Timi was saluted as the Go-between, the Peace-maker between the two peoples, Maori and Pakeha, so that they came together at the time of the war with the same idea of deflecting the enemy lest he place his footmarks on any part of the Empire.

Going on from those things the Testimonial tells of the work of Timi and his colleague, Mr Seddon, who started the railways in this electorate. Turning to land matters, Timi secured the titles to many thousands of acres in the electorate. After this the Testimonial mentioned first Timi’s kindness to people; he did not reject anyone, the important and the lowly were the same to him, whether they were small or great, his concern for them was the same when they sought his explanations; and secondly, there was no anger within him whatever

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a person might say. The final words are congratulations on Timi’s being made Minister of Maori Affairs and then acting Prime Minister, signs of approval of all the things he accomplished during his time as a member, and during that time the King conferred on him the honour that he carries to this day, the title of ‘Sir.’

Timi’s Reply.

When Timi stood to reply the Pakeha sang their song:

Tenei te tangata pai rawa ‘tu … e ki ana matau katoa.

For he’s a jolly good fellow,

For he’s a jolly good fellow,

For he’s a jolly good fellow,

And so say all of us.

And so say all of us, etc.

It was sung heartily. Timi said he did not know how to respond to the praises heaped on him and the kind words of thanks – his brain had given up on him. Perhaps his hearers hoped for some response from him but if he didn’t fulfil their hopes then the fault was his and he begged their forgiveness. Timi spoke at length beginning from the first time he entered Parliament Buildings which was when he was elected as a Maori representative to the House. After his words of thanks he said, ‘It was you people who set me on the road and you who thrust me forward to the high offices I attained and when you congratulate me you are congratulating yourselves.’ The Pakeha gave ‘three cheers’ for Timi’s speech. Many of the members of Parliament stood to praise Timi.

A CRITICAL LETTER.

To the Editor of Te Kopara.

Greetings to you in this New Year time into which we have entered through the mercies of the Creator. Blessed be God. I hope you will approve of this article. I thank your pet, Te Kopara, for carrying the heavy burdens of R T K. The treasures he dealt with were ghosts [kehua], native tapu, and witchcraft [whaiwhaiā]. As a result, Te Kopara, you may well be feeling weary from having constantly to carry around ghosts. Te Pipiwharauroa had to carry around those ghosts in his time, and now that sweetly singing bird is resting with its ancestors. What good are these stories to everyone? They do fill up everyone’s paper. Sir, R T K, you are disturbing the good sleep of your ancestors who lie in their sacred graves. You say that the new world should deride them and their old Maori lore. What have they done to you

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to stir up your contempt for them? Is it right for you to attack from behind the old world which has passed beyond the mountain ridges? You set about criticizing their former Maori practices which everyone knows were governed in everything by tapu. These included major things such as battles between one tribe and another, constructing their great decorated pa, the posts in the palisades, their houses of learning, their war canoes, and the myriad things they did, even the horizontal beams of their latrines. They maintained the marae protocols of every pa and the spells from ancient times. And also their chiefly status, and their priestly caste. God, in former times heard and answered their prayers – as did heaven and earth, the ocean and its fish; the wind and the rain heard, the birds and the reptiles heard. In the past the Maori People increased greatly - even though there were many battles to reduce their numbers they continued to grow strongly. And, note this, it was their Maori ways that led them to become a great people. They had the ability to put into practice their ways of making peace with another tribe even though they were at war, they could save people or a pa full of people by their laws. But if you are a chief, what kind of chief are you - a chief from the Maori world or from the Pakeha world? If you are from the Maori world do you retain your chiefly status, or has it been suppressed by Pakeha ways?

Concerning ghosts [kehua]. Why are you critical? Perhaps because you did not know the ABC. Although you have not seen a ghost, this is no reason for you to contradict someone who has. Is not ‘a spirit’ another name for ‘a ghost?’ If you look at the Bible you will find the story of how the spirit [kehua] of Samuel appeared to Saul. See also how Christ sent a legion of spirits into the herd of pigs. And there are many other such examples.

As for witchcraft [whaiwhaiā], consider the group of children killed by Elisha the prophet and the bands of fifty killed by Rlijah the prophet. And also the deaths of Ananais and his wife at the hands of Peter. Were these not instances of witchcraft? They died as a result of appeals to God. They were the same as Maori incantations. But were those tohunga living at this time, I would have given instructions for the people who disbelieved them to be punished. Do not be angry at me, my friend, a precious gift has been sent to the marae of Tu. However great your struggle, be strong. I turn to the advice given [about tuberculosis] by the Doctor from the Health Department. What a valuable thing to load upon Te Kopara for it to carry to every marae. Greetings, my friend Te Hau Mataira. I am the one who criticizes your letter for being very long. And perhaps you will be angry

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at the length of this letter, so I will finish here. If you do have criticisms I shan’t answer them as I have two afflictions – I am blind and deaf. From your small pet.

‘Matakimanu.’

Te Waituhi, Gisborne.

A RESPONSE TO PARATENE NGATA.

To the Editor of Te Kopara.

Greetings. After my previous letter I received Te Kopara, Number 81. I saw the thoughtful letter from the elder who lives at Waiomatatini. Sir, Paratene Ngata, greetings to you. So, I have seen what your critical letter is getting at and your reasons why our language, that of the Maori, is disappearing. Paratene it is not because of the many reasons you give in your letter that the Maori language is being lost, rather it is because of you, the elders born in the last century, the children spoken of by Tamahau Mahupuku. It was you who set up schools that taught in English to extinguish your Maori language. You did not give thought to establishing some means of retaining your language to prevent its loss. We did not complain that the new world was destroying our Maoritanga. Indeed it was during your time that you elders taught the children to busy themselves with a new world and to lay waste the old world. You elders did not see that a disaster had come upon us, that there was change and [?pareke] and that a sickness had struck our language in the days of the elders, your days. Well then, I know very well that you are someone who stands up in learned circles and in court sittings using the languages of both Maori and Pakeha. And also that you observe all the things that are destroying our language. You are an elder of the old world. You elders have seen how our language has faded like the setting sun. There is an end to Joshua’s pronouncement. ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon, in the valley of Aijalon.’ [Joshua 10.12] You elders let the morepork hoot so that you can find it, but who is going to find that which is hidden in deep darkness? A ghost may discover it. Therefore, Ngata my friend, I find in your article mixed messages. I know that what was said in the article in Te Kopara Number 74 was right. If we go to the universities we will not succeed if there is no-one to interpret the two languages; that is, those of us who do not attend the schools will be drawn backwards, while those of us who have a Pakeha education will be drawn outwards. There is no-one amongst us Maori who will be drawn forward,

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notwithstanding you elders, for it has been observed that as a group you are in two minds, your thinking goes one way and then another. Do we come down in a heap here or there, are we for our Maori language or for that of the Pakeha? For you say that you are not afraid to say that it is the ways of the new world that are destroying our language and our Maori customs. So I am the same in that I am not afraid to say that it is you elders who have put the children in possession of the practices of the new world you have spoken of. It is not the children who will destroy things but the practices of the new world you have introduced them to that will destroy the inheritance of our ancestors. There is one thing that is depressing us, the attitudes we Maori are taking: (1) That our language is sinking to oblivion, and only we children who never went to school are opening our mouths to call out, ‘It is dying. It is dying’ (2) And our children who have received a Pakeha education are calling out, ‘Let it die. Let it die.’ (3) You elders who have jumped between the two languages are there at a loss in your minds as to what to do. (4) We need some Maori person to take up the cause of the language so that it is used equally in all matters affecting the colony, so that, whatever Maori or Pakeha do, both languages have equal status in everything. Let those works be an anchor for our Maori language. Perhaps let some of our people be appointed to this official duty and thereby the vacillations of our elders will be stopped. Now, my friends, wise people, whether Maori or Pakeha, jump at this opportunity, for as yet no-one is doing anything about this. Then perhaps our move forward will be accomplished along with growth in the faith. Indeed our ministers are doing their best to advance the use of our language, using it along with the English language to build our faith. Indeed the two languages serve to increase our knowledge of God’s salvation. We have this Bible, a word from God, which has been completely written in the Maori language. This is a covenant, made by the Son of God, which has been completely rendered in our Maori language; both languages have the same authority in the work of God. When it comes to the well-being of our bodies we use only one of our languages, we are content to stay with just one of our languages. It is as Paratene and others have pointedly said happened in the days when they were children. The children look for food but one sees that there is no food for him. Then he speaks sharply and despises the child who is eating, his eyes staring wildly [pukana], his tongue protruding, and uttering these words,

Kai ana ruru, noho ana weka.

The morepork is eating while the weka sits quietly. [cf Nga Pepeha 954]

There is no food for [mohomoho – notornis, banded rail, blockhead] at T—. Paratene, you and the remaining elders should set about finding an anchor for our language while the way is clear.

Te Hau Mataira.

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A FAMINE IN INDIA.

A famine has struck people in part of India. The cause is a lack of rain. Many people have died. Food, and clothing too, are very expensive. For three years some of the people have not had new clothes. The Government has set up work camps for the people so that they can earn money with which to buy food. A woman can earn two to three pennies a day. All that money is used to purchase food; there is nothing left with which to buy clothes. The water springs are drying up – largely caused by the intense heat in that country – and there is unlikely to be any rain before June. In India they do not have rain as we do here – we have rain at all times while there they have a rainy season and a dry season. If the rain does not come at the usual time there is no rain for the whole year. The people are purchasing food from other countries which explains why it is so expensive.

One of the Missionary women in that area has set up a lace-making school so that the Christian women can sell it to the Europeans in India and so have something on which to live. They are not able to engage in their usual occupation of growing food. Thirty women and their children are living off their lace-making.

It is not known why we live comfortably here while other lands are afflicted by all kinds of terrible events. It is right that we think carefully about this and appreciate God’s love for us. ‘Know that the Lord, he is God; it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves; we are his people and the sheep of his hand.’ [Psalm 100.3] It is right that we consider carefully our situation and our work. Let us forsake wrongdoing and every evil thing. And let us be strong every day in our battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. Let us treasure the Christian faith in our hearts, and let us say in our hearts the words of the General Thanksgiving spoken by the congregation during worship. ‘And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful, and that we shew forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days.’ [Book of Common Prayer]

F E Herana.

Do not let colds and coughs survive. Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, 1/9, 2/9 a bottle.

HUI TOPU OF THE MAORI CHURCH TO BE HELD AT MANUTUKE.

APRIL 8, 9, 10. 1921.

The dates and the business: Friday, 8th April, 7 p.m. Opening Service of the Hui. Saturday, 9th, Silent Retreat for all the ministers. The Bishop wants all the ministers to attend this Retreat. Sunday, 10th, The Lord’s Supper, 7.30 a.m.; Morning Prayer and Sermon, 11 a.m.; Children’s Service, 3 p.m.

FOOD FOR TE KOPARA

Name / Address / Payment / Subscription Ends

March

Hunia Rae / Cape Runaway / 10/- / December 1922

Te Hurunui Apanui / Whakatane / 5/- / March 1922

Wharewhiti Matenga / Wharepaina, Rototua / 10/- / May 1923

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 to

Te Kopara,

Te Rau Press,

6 Berry Street,

Gisborne.

A NOTICE

Those wishing to purchase Prayer Books, Hymn Books or Testaments should send their request to

Miss K Williams,

P O Box 41,

Hukarere, Napier.

These are the prices.

Large, soft cover 3/-

Large, red cover 3/6

Large, hard cover 4/6

Large, superior cover 6/6

Hymns, 9d

Prayer Book with Hymns, soft cover 1/6

Prayer Book with Hymns, red cover 3/-

Prayer Book with Hymns, hard cover 5/6

Prayer Book, New Testament and Hymns, red cover, 4/6

Prayer Book, New Testament and Hymns, superior cover, 7/6

I will pay the postage to send the books to you. Because the book-binders have had problems the quality of the covers has deteriorated even though the price has not gone down.