New-Style Maori Leaders

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31380, 27 May 1967, Page 4

New-Style Maori Leaders

The Changing Role of the Leader in Maori Society. By Maharaia Winiata. Blackwood and Janet Paul. 183 pp. Bibliography and Index. This book, a shortened version of Dr. Winiata’s doctoral thesis written at Edinburgh University before the author's death in 1960, has been edited for general readers by another New Zealand-born sociologist, Merran Fraenkel. The result is one of the most important contributions to better understanding between Maori and pakeha which has appeared for several years. Dr. Winiata’s theme is that there is In Maori society an increased specialisation of institutions and this is reflected in the corresponding appearance of different classes of leaders. The effective Maori leader of today emerges as a person who, while gaining success according to European standards of achievement, has not lost the esteem of his own people. The adaptations to social change are shown, for example, in the new and specific position of the Huia, the female leader; once regarded as inferior to the male, and in the adaptive mechanisms provided by the faith-healing Churches such as Ratana and Ringatu which combine traditional ritual with dogma drawn from Christianity.

Far from being a dull sociological treatise, this book eschews the turgid jargon associated with that discipline, and is written with the verve and resonance of the best Maori oratory. The author states in a preface that he has written “in the style of the old-time Maori orator on the tribal Marae and tempered only by the techniques gained from European training.” Dr. Winiata continues the great line of Maori scholars which Includes among others Sir James Carroll, Sir Maui Pomare and Sir Peter Buck/ The author’s own career should serve to open up to young Maoris a new sense of what is possible in and through education. He was a labourer, teacher, theology

student and first Maori Adult Education officer in Auckland before going on to complete his doctorate. His experience in outlying areas convinced him that education is the answer to the practical , problems of his people, and his untimely death at the age of 47 was a tragic loss to New Zealanders of both races. This book, with its wealth of historical analysis and detail, and its easily-worn scholarship, should stand a ■ a reminder of what Dr. Winiata set out to achieve for his people, and as a spur to nonMaori New Zealanders to learn more of the great contribution to our society in general which eould be, and gradually is being, made by Maori culture, scholars and leaders.