Maori and Pakeha

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7284, 11 October 1933, Page 11

Maori and Pakeha

SOME ANECDOTES RECALLED Mr J. H. Stevens, addressing the Palmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club yesterday, took as his subject 1 ‘Passing Maori Memories. ’ ’

The nearest centre of historical interest to us was Awahuri, said Mr Stevens. When the missionaries first came to New Zealand, they concluded, because the Maoris had no word for thanks or gratitudo in their language, that it was a virtue foreign to the race, but this had been abundantly belied by many contacts made with tho Maoris. One such incident, that concerning the Ngati Ivauwhatas and their gratitude ■ towards a stock agent who defended them against the Government, was almost without parallel in British history, said Mr Stevens, who proceeded to give graphic details of the incident. Tho pakeha had impoverished himself in an unavailing defence of the natives, and on his imprisonment the grateful tribe bestowed on his distressed wife, out of their own curtailed domain, 800 acres and 1000 golden sovereigns. It was almost impossible to find such faithfulness in the annals of the whites.

In tho days when a number of religious sects were conducting missions among the Maoris, thcro was considerable doubt in the minds of the natives as to what branch of the faith they should adopt, said Mr Stevens. One prominent chief, incensed that one of the churches would not recognise a most distinguished name with which he was gifted, forsook Awahuri and entered the ranks of another church in Levin. There he stayed until a guard drove him back to Awahuri and yet another order.

Mt. Stewart, said the speaker, offered one of the finest scenic views in New Zealand, and it. was a pity that more was not made of it as a scenic spot. From the eminence one could see on a fine day all the original provinces of the Colony. At the spring nearby the white heron, sacred to the Maoris, came to drink, as did also the wood pigeons. Around it the natives built a rail from which the latter birds could drink. One of these was secure and without guile, but a second rail was infested with artfully secreted nooses, which trapped the pigeons by the dozen as they drank. Mr Stevens also described in entertaining fashion a number of incidents recalling ‘‘the good old days,” recounting the romantic story of Goethe, a nephew of -the German poet, who ‘'went back to the mat” among the Maoris at Bulls, and was so much in demand on account of his oratorical gift.

Mr Stevens rounded off an informative half-hour with some first-hand impressions of Batana. Mr A. G. Roe moved a, vote of thanks to the speaker. Visitors welcomed weTe Messrs Bayliss (Cambridge) and Cronquest (Shannon).