WAIPIRO.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 120, 24 May 1938, Page 6

WAIPIRO.

MAORIS AND LIQUOR,

(By J.C.)

Much lias been said and written about the j drinking habits of the Maori, but for fairness' sake it should be said also that the Maori is simply following, or rather doing hie best, to keep pace with, the pakelia. The wahinc Maori, for her part, is perhaps less given than her pakelia sister to imbibing liquor, for the good reason that the publiehouse is closed to her. Also I have not noticed that the ladies of the kainga parade their home cockta.l parties in the newspapers; a certain reticence is practised in those matters. Of course, a large social gathering is often jollied up by' the social gla<=s or bottle; but I feel it is only ijust to the Maori to say that, from my own knowledge, the people are far less given to drink than they were a few decades ago. Can we say as much for the pakelia? To | that question conflicting replies may be given. Probably the truth lies in the opinion that there is less heavy drinking but more tippling, and chat the advent of women claiming equai liquoring rights with men has produced a kind of selective taste in stimulants. However, that is a delicate topic which I hesitate to discuss. Conditions in the 'Eighties. Those of us who remember the scenes at Maori gatherings forty and fifty years ago, such as the Native Land Court sittings in the Waikato, Rotorua and Bay of Plenty, are in a position to give an opinion as to whether the waipiro habit is worse to-day. The rowdy drunken scenes familiar to us in the 'eighties are nowhere seen now. Tbwnships on the frontier of the King Country—in particular Cambridge, Alexandria (now Pirongia) and Kiliikihi —were the scenes of continual drinking to excess, and the booze habit reached a frantic climax on judgment days when the Court's awards were delivered. Particularly in the era when free trade in native land was allowed, large sums of money were paid out, often in anticipation of an award, and huge land purchases were made from from more or less intoxicated owners. The contending tribes went crazy with excitement and liquor, and amazing halcas were danced in the main streets by the victors. There was not the slightest attempt at control by the Armed Constabulary or the civil police; they were the most interested of spectators. No one made an attempt to save the Maoris from the waipiro temptation; a Land Court sitting Vas excellent business for liotelkeepers and storekeepers alike. The Maori was a splendid fellow so long as he had a cheque to knock down.

What touching protests were raised, as I well remember, when it was proposed to ho id the great Rohepotae land investigation case in the Rohepotae itself, instead of in a township just outside the bordera. That Court, at Otorohanga, was a complete contrast to those which preceded and followed it in the pak«ha townships. There was no drunkenness, no disorder; the hundreds of King Country people gathered there for many weeks were far removed from the white man's influence; the only pakelias in the place were the judge and his assistants. That change of venue was made at the wish of Wahanui and the other Xgati-Mauiapoto chiefs, who realised only too ■well the ruinous effects of long Court sittings in pakcha land. Rum Drinking Once Common. The Maori tangilianga and the Irish wake arc not the wakes they were, in liquor supply. Certainly the Maori funeral gathering has changed. I have seen barrels of beer rolled into the niarae in a Taranaki camp and welcomed with an exceedingly free and lively liaka. There was a. time when rum- was the favourite item consumed. That habit was quickly learned from the pakcha troops. In looking through an old file of the "Waka Maori," the Government Maori newspajJergazettc published in Wellington, I came across an illuminating letter written by the Rev. Mohi Turei, of Waiapu, in 1870. He sent the "Waka" an account of the tangi held over his late wife, and mentioned as an unusual and pleasing fact that it was the first funeral in the tribe in recent times conducted without the assistance of rum. It had l>c?n the usual practice for each man to provide two or three gallons of rum, "to increase the flow of tears." At a tangi there might be from 200 to 300 gallons consumed. Mohi said: '"Let us have nn more rum at our wailings." Certainly Xgati-Porou's taste lies changed for the hotter sinec (lie two-gallon ilays.

The wastefulness of tanii gatherings ha.s often l>een a theme of pakeiiu lectures to the Maori. This generous expenditure out 'of respect to tlie corpse and in upholding y the honour of the clan was, of course, just a# nrodi ral among the Irish and the Scots. The three races are brothers under the their skins; and the tangi gatherings are expressions of the hospitality and generosity characteristic of them all. The iinkelia cannot afford to scoff ;it the Maori. There is a recorded .Scottish tangi assemblage which surely outdoes anything in Maoridom. Oil the death of a ehiet of the clan Macintosh in the olden days, the "funeral entertainments" at the mansion in Inverness-shire lasted for a month; and in one way and another the honours bestowed upon the -dead impoverished the family for life. Similarly it took the Maori family a long time to recover from the chieftain's departure; but the expenses were shared a-inong many. The Maori habit is for all. the guests as well as hosts, to contribute towards the cost of such social gatherings.