Plans Maori Canoe Voyage To Hawaii

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29916, 1 September 1962, Page 12

Plans Maori Canoe Voyage To Hawaii

(Neiu Zealand Press Association) HAMILTON, August 31. The plans of a Hamilton teacher, Mr M. Metekingi, who wants to sail a Maori canoe over the reverse of the route the first canoes took to New Zealand, have been approved in Wellington.

Mr Metekingi went there this week to seek the approval of the Marine Department and to see if he could be given a kauri tree for the canoe Both requests succeeded. The Marine Department will grant a permit, provided the canoe is equipped with radio and other safety devices the department requires and a search will be made of the kaliri forests for a suitable tree. Mr Metekingi intends to seek the help of Ngaruawahia Maoris, who are still building canoes, in the Waikato He said the canoe would probably be doubled-hulled with reed mat sails. Race of Crew Already Mr Metekingi has been asked for places in the canoe by Europeans and Maoris. Some of the Maoris hold master mariners' tickets. “It will be a big question to answer—can we have pakehas in our crew?” he said. “We want to make the trip as near the authentic as possible but. on the other hand, if we had pakehas in the crew it would be a demonstration to the world of our way of life in New Zealand ” Mr Metekingi has no illusions about how difficult the voyage could prove or how much organisation will be needed He knows the selected crew will have to train hard and be perfectly fit.

“We would not be able to take large supplies of food and the crew would have to live on concentrated foods and what could be caught from the sea." he said. Asked if any women would be taken on the voyage. Mr Metekingi said: “No. When the first canoes set out they did not take women. It was only when it was known that the voyagers were not coming back that women were taken." Mr Metekingi will retrace the route of the great Maori fleet of 1350 in reverse, sailing from one of the fleet’s first landing places in New Zealand, touching at several island groups and ending the voyage in Hawaii in time for the opening of a Mormon Polynesian village.