PRINCESS TE PUEA HERANGI AND HER PEOPLE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23269, 11 February 1939, Page 1 (Supplement)

PRINCESS TE PUEA HERANGI AND HER PEOPLE

Fine Record of Achievement at N^aruawahia

By NIKORA

QBEDIENCE to King Tawhiao who, though deprived of his Waikato lands under the confiscation, declared "This shall be my footstool" —that is the driving force behind the activities of his grand-daughter, Princess Te Puea lierangi, at Ngaruawahia. Fired with the purpose of re-establishing her people within the area of their ancestral home, Te Puea is writing Maori history. An unbending resolution is hers. The will to achieve in spite of mountains of difficulty carries her forward. By birth and by personality she is the unquestioned ruler of her little kingdom. The creation of a new status and a new heritage for her people is the dominating aim of her life. Personal prestige means little to her beyond the fact that it may aid her toward the attainment of her ends. Life of Activity Sitting on a seat of punga stems on the well-kept lawn that is the courtyard of the ' wonderful meeting house of her pa, she related her story. Below the terrace by the riverside the canoe-builders chipped at the roughly fashioned hulls of the craft that are intended for the Centennial celebrations on the Waitemata next year. Around her, women and children weeded the flowerbeds that border the long walks. Half a mile away a large

team of men, many of whom had worked on roads during the week, pushed on with the erection of a milking shed—but not for wages. Banished was the disposition of the Maori to take his ease in the sun—banished by the will of this remarkable woman. Destiny of Leadership "Little did I dream when I was a girl," she said, "that this leadership was to be my destiny. I played about carefree. But early my people insisted upon my taking my place as their rangitira, to which my birth gave title, though probably none could read the future to which that step was to lead. Slowly the idea of trying to fulfil Tawliiao's prophecy took shape in my mind. At first it seemed an impossible dream. We had practically no resources, but the spirit of our fathers drove me forward.

"You know the story of this pa with its site of 10 acres. Funds raised by concert parties and our own hard work produced the buildings which were a necessary centre of our community life. Then came the land development scheme at Waiuku under the Maori Land Board. Next was the erection of the King's house. Now we have started on a farming scheme of our own practically next door to the pa. 1 decided that we must tackle this farming venture entirely independent of the Native Department and the Maori Land Board." Here she expressed some impatience with the control of the

Waiuku settlement, questioning as is done in many Maori quarters, the size of the deductions made from cream cheques for interest and sinking fund.

Whatever may be opinion on that question, there is much to admire and inspire in the spirit and enterprise which has given Te Puea possession of this farm of 370 acres. It will be some years before it will be possible for her to secure a legal title but she has no doubt of _ her ability to discharge her obligations at due date and to add the area to the community assets.

Part of the farm is in old pasture, but a considerable area is peat swamp still in the rough. Rushes and blackberry have long contended with, the pasture, but in a few months great improvement has been effected.

"We have been cutting and burning rushes and blackberry for months ana how well the women have worked on this job," she said. _ "See that drain. The women cleaned it out. In burning we have had to take care that the dry peat did not get alight. To be sure we have carried water in buckets to throw on the ashes of scores of heaps of rubbish." Posts from Buried Kauri A long strangling hedge has been rooted out and replaced by a firstclass fence. The posts were all split from charred kauri logs dug out of the peat on the property. So far 1000 posts have been cut besides thousands of battens.

A new milking shed is necessary and at week-ends dozens of men, some taking a "busman's holiday," assemble for the job, as they did for the haymaking. On the opposite side of the road on a leased paddock embracing the spot where the landless Tawhiao came back at times because of his love for his lost heritage, Te Puea has had a simple but roomy home erected. To save expense raupo was used for the walls. Water is laid on to bathroom and outdoor shower-bath and up-to-date cooking appliances have been installed. But big though the stove is, it is not adequate to provide for the large body of workers often to be fed. Then the women fall back cm an outside Maori oven.

"If she goes down to the pa with you we'll have the chance of a spell," a young fellow smilingly whispered. If Te Puea had heard the remark she would promptly have told him that the women were the best workers. The %-oung man was just having his joke, but it tells much about the dynamic energy of Te Puea and the manner she inspires to effort. Proudly she conducted her visitor through the meeting house with its many treasures and through the splendid home of the King. It was a privilege, for sight-seers aro rarely admitted. Te Puea and her people are too busy. Her kind courageous eyes smiled their good-bye. One felt a sense of uplift and a warming of the heart through contact with her great and compelling enthusiasm. Long Distance Policy Critics may say that the whole effort means a retreat to the old tribal system. They may contend that at this time of day the Maori should be supported in the direction of individualism though, if one ponders on present Government policy, the question may suggest itself whether the whole country's trend is not backward to communal tribalism.

As to the encouragement of individualism an old man with 6ome Maori blood in his veins declared that the more it advanced the greater would become the number or "learners." Custom, ho said, forbade the man of effort to deny extended hospitality to his kin no matter how lazy they might bo.

With Te Puea's venture, however, there are the special circumstances of the landless. May it not be necesarv, says one in sympathy with her, for her people to receive) this kind of encouragement now. The future will show whether her wisdom is narrow or wide.