A MAORI'S VIEW OF THE COMING CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LXIII, Issue 6522, 31 March 1939, Page 3

A MAORI'S VIEW OF THE COMING CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS

To the Editor. SIR—As the date of the coming Centennial draws near, most of our Older Maori Folk view the coming Centennial Celebrations with mixed feelings. One has only to read the words of our M. P., Tirikatene, to help to realize what the passing of time has meant to our Older people. I know full well as a student of past politics that the Maori claim of the South Islands have little to do with our Celebrations. It is really a matter for the Government. It is to be regretted that the Maori Cencert party did not meet with better financial success as in only two halls: at Akaroa, and Litle River, did they show a profit, and in plain words the party had to use part of their assets, as ' transport costs run into quite a large sum of money. To our side must be added the education of our younger folks in Hakas, poi dancing and old Maori songs, the preserving of which means untold wealth from a Maori point of view. Let there be no mistaking that any harm has been done, as after all, it may be the means of making our pakeha friends realize that after all they do owe the JVlaoris something even if it did mean the giving of a few pence to see our boys and girls doing the Haka or the Poi dance. Lastly I want the Centennial committee to remember, that in Little Riving, living today are two old Maoris, one born almost a century ago, who I am sure will be still going strong when the date of the Celebrations arive. I cannot give all their impressions on the coming of the White Man to New Zealand, space would not be found for it all, but this I can say when speaking of some of the oldest and best known families, they still remember with pride the many good turns done for them at different times. Then there is too, another side to their story, when they look at he hills and talk of the trees and birds that have been ruthlessly destroyed by the white Man. You then see the real Maori in them, and they speak of the gorse and broom and blackberry with contempt and tell you of the time when other pests will come here to destroy the present pests now over-running he country they have known for so long. To the remnants of a once strong I tribe which a treacherous white man helped to destroy we ask your support in upholding the Maori traditions of our past ancestors, in doing all we can to fulfill our part in the celebrations. Like the settler families ■ and their descendants we too are scattered all over he country, but I wherever they are and whoever they are let them all come to Akaroa where they will all be welcomed at that time, or at any time. Of the old French Settlers our two Maori Elders speak with pride, and have always maintained they built j without destroying the things a Maori held most sacred. Now in conclusion, with the passing of this year, let every one, Maori and Pakeha alike, do their utmost in helping those in the charge of the coming celebrations to make them a success—l am, Yours etc., LITTLE RIVER MAORI.