MAORI LORE.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 150, 25 June 1904, Page 9

MAORI LORE.

EXTRAORDTNAIIY OFFICIAL PUBLICATION. For some yoaii, pact occasional u-for-cnci.;i have bosu unite in J'arliiimciiL to ruin in important hi.stone work on which Air. li-ctt had been engaged by the State, and eiujimica mado as to ita progK'.v). 'I lie \roik, it wo* uud?ri.<lood, embraced the iiiipurtanl and rc&pcmsiblo duty of going through the curly archives ol the colony, arranging them and m<ii:ing abolrjcls and extincts, and deciding wluit fihould I>e packed an ay, dually rejected, or destroyed. . Such h task called lor exceptional qualities —tho literary gift, tho power of iii.sight vdiich i,\\ iftly ami accurately perceives what is of permanent value and selects essential foctP, rejecting only aurplu-Mige —and m ith it all an actual psrional knowledge of the countiy, its natives, and natural products and conditions; and a sympathetic acquaintance with the leaders of colonisation and their work. An time passed, with no visible- results, speculation became fiequent as In what was really being done, and there was :,omo not unnalural uneasiness as to whether, after all, the work was in tho bet,t h.ind.«. Tho answer may be found in "JJaori Lore," if —as wo fear is the case—it is the lirfct fruits of Iho work on which Air. lzett has so long been engaged at tho taxpayeis' expense. We can only regard this extraordinary official /publication — and wo believe our feeling is shared by most o( tho&a who have looked through it-*with .sorrow and humiliation. , We s-iiy looked thiough it —for that any one f-.ive the proofreader should ever wado through it, seems very unlikely. In the prelaw, the author sots forth clearly and candidly the lines on which ho hn.si proceeded, and, we hold, stands s&lf-con-denincd. Jlow tho head of any Department allowed him to proceed on such perverse and erratic lines eeouis inconceivable. Tho early collections of native mythology by Sir George Grey, Dr. Shortland, and others, are long out of print, nnd tho late Row W. Colenso'a work Ms buried iv tho, Transactions. These books are costly and practically inaccessible' to tho ordinary reader, and with the awakened interest in Maori lore and the wide study of comparative- mythology, they ore- in increasing demand! To be cither ,of interest or v.-ilup, the ipsissinm verba of the narrator must be preserved, and tho recorder mu&t. avoid any embroidery of his own. Tht-natives themselves, picscrved their traditions and poems wjtii a literal cxactitudo for which we have to go back to tho Jewish scribes who transcribed the sacred writings lo find a parallel. Sir George Grey and other investigators collected these relics— «o far ao they wero imparted—with scrupulous fidelity. And they wero worth it, for there Ls profound symbolism in these ancient cosmogonies and rnytlis, Thoy tako us back to tho disintegration of some an. cunt and mighty religion whose traces are world-wide, and to thu ncientUic philologist and lnythologiAt every word, «vory proper name, is precious, even though he may not grasp it« fcignificance. lo co.lect theso fragments, to present them in accurnto mid accessible form, is a work \»ell worthy of the. State, and lo tuo nblefct and best qualified men 111 New Zealand the- ti-.sk should have been committed. So far as can bo judged from the book, Mr. laett lacks every essential qualilicatjon for Iho woik. Ho seems tv regret that feu- George Grey did not employ his imaginative and literary gifts in wot king up a kind of "Lalla ltooklT fabric on tho basis .of Maori history and tradition lhi* is hU cstiniato of the, material on winch lie has been woiking. "In tho legends of tho Maori. . . . there « not a trace of humour, not anywhere is tbere a touch of pathos, nnd any literary composition lacking in those- elements must prove insufferably dull." Therefore, Air. Izett ha« taken jusfc such liberties with the old stories a» suited him; ho has treated tho Alaoii myths, to tho heauties of which ho was so blind, much as George Colman treated classic mythology in his "Broad Grins," and ho'actually thinlurtho Maoris will be pleased I" "Naturally," ho remarks, "their dosira ia to sco the traditions of their race anayod in the best garb possible." What Mr. Izett considors fitting garb may bo judged from a typical passage, it is nail of tho stony of Tinirau'a pot whalo Tutunui : — "But alas! there comes 0 period when an end is put to all enjoyment, and a timo of severe trial is initiated. That timo had now arrived for poor Tutunui. Just at the moment when ho had thought to briskly amuso himself by making vigorous love to an old cow, ho received a call from his master, and was constrained to attend him on the shore. No sooner, however, was ho arrived at the usual placo of meeting than Timirau,. pulling out a sharp knife, deftly cut away a slice of his fat body. This might make tho judicious grievo as being rather a rough way to treat a pet, but Tutiinui did not appear to mind it a bit; on the coiitrarv, he wagged his bngo tail, and, when bidden, went off to resume his wooing, apparently in qnito a flutter of delight. Tho steak which Tinir.au had cut off Tutunui was duly cooked, and, with all necessary condiments and embellishments, served up to Kae, who pronounced it to bo simply delicious." The book is interspersed —not illustrated—with a number of proccss~plate3 — • copies of Maori photographs, etc., such as stationers keep in stock for sale- to tourists. "A Alnori Fairy," "She is a lady, and it don't matter to any -one who she is," 'ore two of the descriptivetitles. The author's lacl" of knowledge of Alaori is betrayod by tho inaccurate inconsistent spelling. Wo expect that something will be heard of this book during the coming session, from members of both races, and that ramo searching ques4 tions will bo asked as to cost. From every * point of view tho publication by olftcidl nuthorilv of such a production ia to bo deplored —ns a private venture it would simply havo passed into .oblivion as unworthy of serious criticism.

Under the agreement entered into in pursuance of tho lnduotrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act between the principal Western Australian mining companies nnd the Amalgamated Miners' Union of Workers, Kalgoorlie and Boulder, it is provided that the minimum rate of wngo to be- paid during the next sixteen months shall be: —Rock drill men in shafts, Mh 4d per shift; rock drill men in rises, 13s lOd per shift,; rock drill men in all other parts of tho mine, 13s 4d per shift; (the men employed in classes to bo held jointly and severally responsible for tho bienknge of tools or injury to machinery); miners, 11s 8(1 per shift; bracemon and platmen, 11s 8d per shift; mulioi-kern and shovellers, 10s 6d per phif t j truckers, filling and trucking, 10s 6 rl per shift; truckers from shoots, 10s per shift; men working in ryanido vats, lls Od per shift -, men working lllter prci-scs, Us 8d per shift; (surface labourers, 10s per *»hift; oilers and graders having direct responsibility for carrying out the work under their control, 10s 6d par .shift; timbrr men working together and directly in charge of aiid responsible lo the underground manager for the work under their control, 13s 4d per shift. The hours of labour for men working underground arc to consist of eight houis per day, inclusive of the time ordinarily allowed for crib on all the ueek days.