STORIES OF NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 156, 3 July 1937, Page 2 (Supplement)

STORIES OF NEW ZEALAND.

By JAMES COWAN.

IX our Centennial year the Waikato River and the Waitemata Harbour will see once more some of t':" thrilling war-canoe races of the Maori. That excellent leader of her people. Princess Te Puea of Waikato, is trying to revive the art and craft of canoe-making, and export workmen are busy on the first of a small tb-et built like the beautiful Wakataua of the past. ("Waka" is the Maori word for canoe, "Taua" is a war |<<irty.) The large canoe that wa< the crowning ai»t in native industry was usually of a suitable size to carry a war party of 50 to 70 men. That was a convenient number for a quick raid on an enemy where there was access by water. There were many great canoes, made of kauri, on the Auckland coast in olden days; some were 100 ft long. These huge carved-out tree trunks were, however, not easy to move, and they required crews of 100 men or more. Most of the large canoes in use in peace and war were 70ft or 80ft in length. The splendid canoe called Toki-a-Tapiri ("The Axe of Tapiri") in the Auckland War Memorial Museum, is 84ft in length, and 'midships beam, or width, is 6ft. The celebrated Tahere-tikitiki, which for many years was the pride of the Orakei waterside village, was the same size as "Tapiri's axe." On the Waikato River, where the Tahere fl6ated for long after its presentation to the Maori King, most of the canoes were from 60ft to 70ft long. I have seen two or three that were ' very nearly as large as the two great waka-taua mentioned. Such canoes, manned by crews of athletic tribesmen, plunging and lifting their glistening paddles all together, gave us perfect pictures of old Maoridona. No horse race and no race of modern racing machines can surpass those glorious contests we used to see on the Waikato at Ngaruawahia and at Mercer. War-Canoes for the Centennial. We shall see them again when Te Puca's plan is realised and the new flotilla of six or seven waka-taua comes sweeping down the Waikato. All this work of constructing a great canoe, or even the ordinary river craft, coets money. Times rfave changed since the old days, when the people could give their end labour free, and when suitable trees were easy to obtain. So Te Puea, in her task of giving new life to the old artistic industry, needs and deserves the help of the pakeha

people. who will spp the past brought l ipfore their eyes again in the l'.)4U celebrations. Canoe Contests on the Waitemata. The Waitemata Harbour has seen many a desperately contested struggle between canoe crews in peace time. We have all read and heard of the raids of Hongi and his Nga puhi warriors along the coast in huge canoes of kauri. I he story of the invasion of Auckland in 18.il by war-canoe men from the shores of the Hauraki has been told on this page. Something of ihe salt and lire" of those heroic days was revived when canoe races were held on Auckland waters in modern time*;. Ihey were peaceful contests, but the canoes surging along. the spray flying from "the paddles, the rows of bare, brown back». arms moving in unison, and the wild, high-time oliant of~tlie cap-

tains were old New Zealand to the life. Often the Maori canoe crews pitted their muscle and their skill against British naval boats' crews. We saw the Tahere-tikitiki several times race man-of-war cutters on the Waitemata. The last of these I shall describe as an example of the desperate efforts of strength which showed us the white sailor and the Maori riverman at their athletic best. War-Canoe Versus Navy Cutters. It was at the acquatic carnival at the Xorth Shore in the Christmas of 1898. The great canoe of kauri was adorned with a carved figurehead and high sternpost, and with feathered "puhi," like butterfly' feelers, waving at her bow. Her crew consisted of 53 Waikato all told. Of these nO were the body of paddlers, kneeling two abreast. There were two steersmen, and there was the time fiver, the Chief Te Paki. a veteran of the Waikato War. He was a famous canoe captain. His place was amidships, where he stood and directed the paddler* with voice and vigorous gesture. He carried a whalebone, sharp-edged club; it flashed in the

sun as he waved and flourished it on tins side and that, in rhythmic and graceful accompaniment to his chants and sharp barking cries. The Maoris' rivals were two naval cutters, each manned by 12 sailors and a coxswain from H.M.S. Tauranga. The distance was a sea mile and a half, or about 3000 yards, with two turns, starting and finishing off the Calliope Dock wharf. The Starting Shot. At the signal of a rifle shot the great race began. The powerful oarsmen of the Navy were under way first. It took some moments longer for the big canoe to gather motion, but she was soon sweeping strongly down the harbour, her ;>0 paddles dipping as one. ' The first turn was round buoys moored near the Devonport wharf. - The two cutters rounded their marks smartly; the Tahere-tikitiki took longer to turn,

because of her much greater length. On the up-stream length to the buovs off Stanley Point the Maori blades llauhed in and out of the water with the precision of a great machine, but a living, desperately toiling machine. The Tahere-tiki-tiki lost ground here by making a mistake ii> the course and taking a sweep out of the direct course to pass outside a certain mark boat. This cost her several hundred yards, and the Tauranga's first crew shot past her. By the time the Stanley Point buoys were rounded the Maoris, urged on by the frantic calls of Te Paki, had caught up somewhat on their rivals. The first cutter was now half the canoe's length ahead. Cleverly guided by the two steersmen, the war-canoe made a splendid turn, in a beautiful sweep round the mark, and came round as if on a pivot, for the final race down to the dock. THe second cutter was several lengths behind. Up, the Maoris! Now Te Paki called on his men for the great effort of their lives. They must l>eat that pakeha. boat ahead, and show the Queen's Navy that

THE MAORI CANOE—WAIKATO'S NEW FLOTILLA—GREAT RACES OF THE PAST.

Maoris were still more than tho white man's equate. The old warrior's voice was raised in fierce, yelping cries. His whalebone mere flashed and quivered faster than ever. "Dig in, dig in!" he jelled, and "Dip, dip, now, now! Agrfin, again! Quicker, quicker! Dig away," dig away." Snatches of war-cries, calls from ■tribal haka chants. "Kill Them, Kill Them! Eat Them Up!" Faster and faster dipped the paddles. The spectators. many hundreds of them on the shore and the ships, watched with excitement growing this great spurt of Waikato as the war-canoe swirled along between lines of spray. The dipping paddles shone in the air a moment, <lown again. Half-way home the Maoris caught the Navy cutter, held

level with it, passed it! T<|ilinw madly, vet never losing in the least; their perfect time, they fairly ran •:iway from the cutter. Waikato's Great Win. Cheered only by the roars of applause from the shore, they bent almost double as they dug in their manuka blades and swept their grand canoe through the water to the goal. A length ahead of the Tauranga's sailors they passed the winning mark and the gun-shot their victorv. A glorious victory for Waikato, all the more glorious because ia that test of strength and canoemanship they had steered a longer course than their rivals. As for the other Naval boat she was well out of the race, several ' lengths behind No. 1 cutter. Loud and joyful was the chant of victory that came from the crowds of Maori lookers-on, and madly the kinsfolk of Waikato leaped in hake of welcome to the breathless and well salted canoemen as they paddled happily in to the landing "place.

A Race With Ngapnhi. That was Tahere-tikitiki's day of dave. There was another victory a few days later, when the Waikato men raced and defeated two large canoes from the Bay of Islands, the Omapere (pronounced with the accent on the second syllable) and the Tawatawa, each about 70ft long and manned by crews of nearly 50 each. The well-skilled paddlerg of Waikato beat the stalwarts of Xgapuhi in a three-miles contest that was all the k«ener because of the olden war feuds. Xgapuhi three-quarters of a century before had invaded the Waikato Country and slaughtered hundreds of people with their newlyobtained muskets. Now for revenge, if a bloodless one! Waikato showed Xgapuhi how to steer and paddle a war canoe that day. Tahere finished well ahead of the Omapere, with the Tawatawa splashing in half-a-dozen lengths behind her sister from the Bav.

i Those scenes of old New Zealand we hope to see again, when the New Year of 1940 comes to round out our first century of British colonisation. The Canoe in the Picture. The picture illustrating this article shows a war-canoe of the type once so numerous on our rivers and along our coast. It is a drawing by Lieutenant (afterwards Major-General) Gordon Robley, 68th Regiment, of the winning canoe in a great race in Tauranga Harbour in 1864. That was just after peace had been made with the Ngai-terangi tribe. The warriors who manned the canoes had all fought against the British at the Gate Pa.