Te Kopara 89
[3] Te Kopara, Number 89, Gisborne, 30 July, 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]
A GREETING – A FAREWELL.
Because this is the last edition of Te Kopara from Te Rau before it moves to Napier, I want to thank the many Editors who have helped me during the years I have been the printer. I thank Reweti Kohere, Riwai Hiwinui, Pine Tamahori, Wi Paraire Rangihuna, Te Wiremu Tureia, Matene Keepa, Tamati Te Kanapu and Wiremu Panapa. And now I thank all of you, my friends, who have supported Te Kopara.
We have come to the parting of the ways when you will go your way and I will go mine. Best wishes to all of you who have helped me. Now our Bird is going to Napier and Rev Peneti will be the Editor. Our heartfelt hope is that the work of our Bird will go from strength to strength under him. Assist the new Editor – although Peneti was the original Editor of Te Pipiwharauroa.
THE MAORI LANGUAGE.
R T K
In a letter printed in Te Kopara, Paratene Ngata wrote some appropriate things about the state of our Maori language. He complained that the children were abusing the Maori language. I want to support the contention of Paratene Ngata and express my own thoughts, although I am not an expert to take in hand this matter. The Maori language has a sweet and gentle sound.
I am not against the young people speaking English – this is the outcome of education and of the situation in these days.
[4]
The person who would prohibit children from speaking English would forbid the sun from rising in the East. English is a very strong language and it is widely used in the four corners of the earth. It is the means whereby Maori can access the sacred places of the Pakeha introducing them to their extensive learning, to their achievements, and to all parts of the world. Fluency in the English language is a sign of a chief, a mark not gained by the giving or receiving of money. You are judged by the way you speak. You cannot combat the English language in these days, indeed it would not be right, but speak it correctly, use the language of the educated and not that of the gutter.
The days will come when the Maori language disappears. It will die, but let it die a noble death and not that of a bastard. Herbert Williams, Archdeacon of Waiapu, has prepared the burial place for the Maori language, his book – but let this not be the resting-place for the bones of the language. The main reason for the bad state of the Maori language is that it is not well taught in the schools, or parents have not taught it well to their children. The Te Aute Association passed a motion pleading that the Maori language be well taught in Maori schools but that motion was not implemented. English is the main language taught in Pakeha schools and in Maori schools as well, and our own language is banned from being taught in Maori schools. Language is an important factor in binding the people together and in teaching the children to hold on to Maori ways.
I am ashamed when a Maori child does not know his own language; better to speak English badly than to speak Maori badly. I have heard, though I have not seen it, that some Maori forbid their children to speak their own language. It is strange that a Maori child should not be taught to speak his own language. Many Maori children have arrived at school without knowing the language of their forebears. And perhaps they think that is a good thing and that their ignorance of the Maori language is a sign of their Pakeha-ness. Such children are promoting their own tongues and are making the Maori language unintelligible. Encl;ish is spoken of by the Maori as being ‘unintelligible.’ The Maori language is not unintelligible. The letter t and the letter wh in Maori are pronounced by some like the t and the f of the Pakeha, that is, unintelligibly. The whare is not the fare nor the whawhai, the fafai. The Maori e is not like the e in English. Aotearoa is not Aotiaroa, Te Araroa not Ti Araroa, Tokomaru not Tokomeru,
[5]
Kawa Kawa not Koko, Maori not Meori. This manner of speech is offensive to me, despicable language. I have heard some Maori children singing songs and hymns and their language sounds Anglicized. It is dreadful. Another of our children’s faults is their making the suffixes to words all the same, such as: patutia (patua - struck), kaitia (kainga - eaten), horomitia (horomia - swallowed), taotia (taona – cooked). They have used –tia as a suffix for the words. This is an abuse of the Maori language. The problem is that they are not being properly taught and the children are being left to make up their own language.
Another common mistake is the counting of people as kotahi, (one), e rua (two), e toru ( three), e wha (four). It should instead be tokotahi, tokorua, tokotoru, tokowha. For dogs and pigs and other things one says te kotahi, te rua. This is wrong: E hia nga tangata? It should be, Tokohia nga tangata? (How many people?) If one is counting people the first word is toko. He tokomaha nga tangata, he maha nga kuri. (There are many people, there are many dogs.) Many elders are ignorant of this piece of Maori grammar.
Another thing children frequently say is, A Hoani me Hori, a Rangi me Papa. The ‘me’ is wrong, echoing as it does the English word ‘and’. The right way of saying this is, ‘A Hoani raua ko Hori, a Rangi raua ko Papa.’ (John and George, Rangi and Papa.) For dogs and cows and other things one may use ‘me’, but for people, ‘raua’ or ‘ratou.’
The thing that is truly an abuse of the Maori language, that bastardizes it, is the use of a Pakeha word for which there is already a Maori one. Many Maori mistakenly think that Pakeha words are Maori words. The waiata says:
E pa ra e te wini i raro
He homai aroha. [Nga Moteatea I p.236 See Notes for composers.]
He homai aroha. [Nga Moteatea I p.236 See Notes for composers.]
Gently blows the wind from the north
Bringing loving memories.
The word ‘wini’ is an English word; to the Maori it is a ‘hau.’ The song was composed for the Pakeha by Paratene Ngata and Te Kooti Rikirangi, not by children, and yet it is said that it is only the children who abuse the Maori language. This is another of their waiata:
Ko te rite i ahau ko Mahutonga e rauna i te ao.
He maero au, he kahu kake i te waru,
Kei te matuku e hu and i te repo – Hu.
He maero au, he kahu kake i te waru,
Kei te matuku e hu and i te repo – Hu.
I am like Mahutonga circling the earth,
A monster, a hawk ascending to the eighth heaven,
While the bittern booms in the swamp – Hoo!
Now ‘rauna’ (round) is an English word; the correct Maori word is ‘huri.’ I shall carefully list some of their Pakeha words giving the English word and the right Maori word:
[6]
miki whakananu mix
whakahanui
rukauta tupato look out
putiputi puawai pretty-pretty
poti ngeru pussy
toma urupa tomb
raiti rama light
tariana toa stallion
tame toa ‘Tommy’
kiki whana kick
kamapu pupuhi, piki come up
tawa tihi, pourewa tower
miraka wai-u milk
tāpu tu, mutu stop
pēti moenga bed
kawara taupoki cover
puru aumoana blue
iaro kowhai yellow
rori juarahi, ara road
kēti kuwaha gate
naihi maripi, oka knife
ko kaheru hoe
koma karau comb
karaihe whakaata glass
toa tatau, whatitoka door
wini matapihi window
pēke pukoro
hāta moka halter
That’s enough of the half-caste words used by the elders of the Maori People.
My last words concern the names given to Maori children. The name should be something that adorns a person. Give a Maori Maori names – names that will please the child when he reaches the age of knowing right from wrong, not names that will lead him to be ridiculed by his friends, names he will be embarrassed by. Here are some beautiful names for children – Rangi, Rongo, Tu, Mihi, Te Ao, Rito, Pua, Tai, Rau, Moana, Puoro, and their longer versions. Listen to this list of names: Rangihaeata, Te Rauparaha, Karetai, Tainui, Taiaroa, Potatau, Takamoana, Pomare, Tomoana, Kahakura, Kakatārau, Turoa, Taitoko, Taipari, Tupaea, Parata, Morenga, Waharoa, Amohau, Nga Rangikatitia,
[7]
Rangimatemoana, Patuone, Tuhaere, Rangiuia, and many other beautiful names. They are soothing on the ear, befitting and noble. Such names are far better than today’s names such as Hohepa, Paraone, Hapakuku, Hemi Poaka, Pera te Kuri, Te O-Hikarete, Heni Poti, Eru Mutu, T Hanarete, Rana Kooti, Piri Karokaro, Tame Huti, Piri Pakaru, and the many other scary ones.
FOOD FOR TE KOPARA.
Name / Address / Payment / Subscription Ends
July
Mrs H T Anderson / Waititi Road, Te Kuiti / 5/- / July 1922
Mr Ernest Hooper / Clifford Road, Whataupoko / 5/- / March 1921
TAI RAWHITI MAORI SOLDIERS’ FUND.
William Pitt,
Secretary & Treasurer, MSFC.
Gisborne, 31 March, 1921.
The full version will soon be available.
A Statement of the Donations as presented in April 1920 at the time of the Hui Aroha.
Takitimu 7,500 0 0
Horouta 8,049 0 0
Kahungunu 1,628 0 0
Tamatea 3,000 0 0
Rongokako 1,000 0 0
Arawa 381 13 0
Matatua 163 1 0
3000 acres
of land 3,000 0 0
Sympathetic
Friends 10 2 8
Total £24,731 16 8
Total amount of money in hand at the time of this publication.
Takitimu 4.393 6 10
Horouta 2,288 13 5
Kahungunu 1,394 13 2
Tamatea 2,743 0 0
Rongokako 1,000 0 0
Arawa 381 13 0
Matatua 163 1 0
Sympathetic
Friends 10 2 8
Total 12,374 10 1
Horouta Stock 1,019 0 0
Matatua Land 3,000 0 0
Total 4,019 0 0
[8]
Remaining money after expenditure.
Takitimu 3,106 13 3
Horouta 4,740 19 6
Kahungunu 233 6 10
Tamatea 257 0 0
Total 8,337 19 7
Bank
Exchange 0 7 0
Total 24,731 16 8
Allocations
Takitimu
East Coast Commissioner 1,976 13 2
Waihirere Co-op Body 100 0 0
Arai-Matawai ex Board 180 0 0
Whangara, Pakarae &
Puatae ex Sherratt 850 0 0
Total 3,106 13 2
Horouta
Parish of Te Kaha-Ngaitai 366 0 0
„ W’Apanui 219 11 4
„ W’Te Ehutu 367 0 0
„ W’Amaru 300 0 0
Parish of Kawakawa –
Rents and Assessments 400 0 0
Parish of Waiapu –Assessed
On Stations 320 0 0
Parish of Hikurangi – Rents 735 0 0
„ Stations 589 0 0
„ Cheques referred
drawer 1,444 8 3
Total 4,740 19 7
Kahungunu
East Coast Commissioner 233 6 10
Tamatea
PO Savings Bank,
Dannevirke 257 0 0
Total £8,337 19 7
For Epidemics drink Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure.
[9]
WORK TO CONSOLIDATE LAND HOLDINGS.
This work is being carried out by the Hon A T Ngata and the experts under him. It is known that this kind of project is a massive undertaking; working out all the details is a job for experts. Simply passing land interests from one person to another is a different matter. This is an extensive project affecting all the people with interests in the many blocks of land within the district where those blocks are. The work began with the Waipiro Block and the lands to the north as far as the Tuparoa district, and the bringing together of the people and the consolidation the land interests has been completed. The project involves all the land in that district – Maori land, Pakeha land, Government land, leasehold or mortgaged land – and involves the maps and surveys of the affected lands. A single piece of uncultivated land a tae rawa atu ki nga taitara whenua, me whakapoto penei pea, if there were no boundary fences before the project started. This project has the authority to stop all cases dealing with the lands involved in it. If the Land Court has not concluded its enquiries then all transactions by the Crown relating to some of the lands covered by the project are forbidden. In these days A T Ngata and his committee are dealing with the lands in the whole Waiapu Valley, stretching to the lands on the sides, a total of perhaps 136 [?lots]. This major work will be completed in five weeks.. They have not been working every day for meetings with the people take up two or three days, and may go on longer. The work will continue in this fashion until it is finished. The main work falls on Apirana and his clerks and the Office of the Land Court in Gisborne; these groups of people work day and night.
Someone may ask how this kind of work is carried out. It was not possible to get instructions from the man who sought the source from which this project has grown, the Hon A T Ngata. He was the one who sat on that egg and he is the bird who will see it hatch. It is spoken of as bringing together people and bringing together land interests. Let me give a brief explanation here. First, all those with a title to land within the area, who are shareholders or have monetary interests, are grouped together. The group may be the one family of a single father, perhaps together with their relatives living
[10]
together in the one place, or each man with his wife and children, or each person individually. These are the groups that are brought together. Secondly, all the monetary interests of each person in all the blocks should be combined. Their present shares in the land would be monetary. Thirdly, the monetary value of each block will be [whakatopia - ?determined] in line with the value placed on the land at this time by the Government valuers. Fourthly, each person or group that withdraws their names from some of the blocks in which they have an interest and takes up one or two of the blocks which they can buy with their money, and the portion of land which they acquire will be decided by the amount they pay while the remaining land may be acquired by some related groups, and if a group has surplus money it can be invested in the block to which they are attached. In the case of lands leased to a Maori, he must [mau arai – ?hold onto] the money value of his shares in lands outside of his leased land within his lands and add it to that of his relatives so that he retains his land. Some people within lands purchased by the Crown can resile from their monetary value and take over Government lands that are free for that work while their remaining interests may be taken over by the Government. Marae, including the main meeting houses, the churches and the burial grounds, the treasures of the people, are set apart particularly for them. So the great Ngatiporou marae of Waiomatatini, where their carved house, Porourangi, stands, the whole marae with the church and the Puputa burial ground, an area of twelve acres, now has a new title in the names of all the chiefs and the many people of the whole Ngati Porou area. That is enough by way of explanation of this new project.
Friends, this is a good thing. Some of its benefits are that a person’s shares in land have been consolidated and he has land to work when it is free of leases and other restrictions. As for land leased before this time, even if the people have changed, the lease continues under its former conditions. May this project flourish.
The Hon A T Ngata, perhaps with his clerks,
[11]
will go to the Urewera on 1st August in an effort to involve the King Country. Both Maori and Government sides will participate. Those who are critical of this kind of project are to go there and observe.
GRATITUDE
It would be a waste if I did not take this opportunity to express what lies hidden in my heart – my gratitude to some others of our Maori people.
(1) To Te Arawa and the many groups subsumed under this name. I have been observing for many years and therefore I want to praise Te Arawa for its strength in holding on to Maori customs – carving, making Maori garments, and the fine way in which their men and also their women, elders, young people, boys and girls, present their entertainments and observe the protocols of the marae, as well as standing to speak on the marae, their bodies and feet energized. I was filled with awe at what the mouth uttered, at the bowing of the head, the raising of the hands, and the leaping in the air. Te Arawa displays the ways Maori did things before this time. They have taken their entertainments to all the towns of the two islands. I and twenty-four of my friends from Ngati Porou joined Te Arawa when Peneti and his people went to Wellington and we returned from Dunedin. Although this tribe lives in their beautiful town of Rotorua they have no thought of giving up their Maori culture. One custom that has been held onto by Tutanekai, Te Wheoro and Taupopoki is [ta moko] tattooing. Best wishes, Te Arawa.
(2) And I must speak of Matatua and its many sub-groups of the Urewera known as Tuhoe. This is a great tribe, established on its ancient homelands from far-off times up to the present day, despite today’s problems when the long teeth of the Government are gnawing at the lands and land is disappearing. It is not the fault of the people – bait catches the fish. This is one of our Maori tribes that like Te Arawa is preserving Maori customs such as marae protocol and other Maori ways including carving and making Maori clothing. There are many still living with tattooed faces, although they are the elders who will soon disappear.
[12]
It is good that the practice of tattooing goes on amongst the breed of Tuhoe chiefs. [Ka aha i ana] Te Whanau-a-Tamaikoha are taking up the curves of the tattoo and Paiaka and Te Pouwhare are joining in. This is a very great treasure. It is right that we should contribute money to support those who are treasuring the ancient Maori customs. Best wishes, Tuhoe.
Paratene Ngata.
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.
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