MAORI LORE.

Evening Post, Volume LXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1904, Page 5

MAORI LORE.

o MR. IZETT IMPLIES TO HIS ' " CRITICS. TO THE EDtTOB. Sir — Permit me to thank you for -youg notice of tho above-named work. If your critique cannot be considered ' favourable, it is at least not scored wifli •vindictive feeling nor stamped Mtitfi im.» truth ; in these times, this may be som&« thing to bo grateful for. Soino eighteen months ago I was icaro" ed of the hostility wilich be certam to display itself immediately any work from my pen, appeared in pmnt. Indeed* the nature of the attack a&d the souks* from which it would emanate "were i&4&. cated, and my kind .friend has proved mai-vellously accurate. There at© j« this city, an na doubt you are certain gentlemen who have demoted toogj years to the consideration of Maori-ques-tions ; some of thorn have written -papers — even books — on subjects coaiioctod' with the past of the Maori. They haawi come to regard thtmselvea as the sol* repositories of knowledge on Maoci subjects. They pose as authorities; aa<J they are accepted as authorities bytfooso who are unable to bear the menial strain of thinking for themselves. Therefore, when a Maori book appears, the question of most importance is : What does Mr. So-and-so think of it? — what is Mr. What's his name's opinion? And on« of these gentlemen— the head of a Government department, no less — foil of a, sense of his awful responsibilities as aa, ' authority, has eagerly rushed into ptinfc to pronounce an&theina upon Maori Lore. "..... Sir, I deny the authority of these seifr constituted and foolishly accepted ;urtho rities. In regard to the past ol tho Maori one of them has had skeia* of evidence passing through ltis hands^ he hits noted the threads in. h*s diction* nry ; he has never paused to oxamiae ; he lias never asked himself how any of t-Jra wonderful things of which Ire wrote cama to be. This is an authority ! Another of these gentlemen has published a 'book (based upon a few Indian words discoverable in the Maori tongue) designed to prove that th« Maori came from somewhere 1 in India^ In about a couple of lines the presence of the Indian worda can be satisfactorily accounted for ; the suggestion is utterly opposed to the evidence revealed in the, legends which thesa authorities profess to hold in high honour ; and it is too preposterous for word* to express. The head of tho Labour Department announces that ho is justified in speaking for this authority. As a matter of fact neither of these aufcbon- ■ ties know anything of the past of $« Maori in Polynesia. They have not suc~ ceeded in solving .any one of the nays* teries which cover the islands of the Pa. ctfic liko a paJi ; they are not, as aa< thorities, entitled. "to the shadow of shade of respect, but — call them in t«* pronounce judgment upon *Maori Lore. Sir, I propose v shortly to puWisli «, work — not at the expense of tho Government I liasten to assure my fearfnl friends — which, based upon nu examination of tie evidence perfectly abuud<utt» to my thinking — will esta-Wish the. "Whence of tho Maori" ; when, approximately, he entered the Pacific*; ]us subsequent progress through the islands^ and explaining clearly all the curious thiugs which are- now held as nrysteaea and which have baffled the disetianinataon of our great authorities. When I hsro conchideii my appointed task those xrba have been so ready with their "scorn" will probably have discovered wfeero tha "scorn" properly comes in. Before proceeding witi this v work, which has been ever in my mind, I thought it well first to endeavour to dif. fuse a more general knowledge of Maori legend and story. lam well aware- thati there are those who regard the legends of the Maori as about tho most sacred tilings on carth — certainly a great deal more sacred than the Bible; who talk quite largely of a symbolism being associated with the legends, but what tha symbolism signifies they have- not tha slightest cmicei>tion. *I did not write with any hope of pleasing such people. I have stated J did not- writs to please the Maoris, whose numbers are comparatively few, and those among them who can read English are not many. "Cetv . tainly I gave no thought to the pakeha* Maori, of whom I was warned to beware, I still believe that, the "Maori will understand that Maori Lore Mas written for European readers," who — in their common sense, practical way— were little likely to entertain respect for a symbolism of, which they had not the least com- - prehension, aud to which they attache^ no value. , Scarcely anything more pathetic can be imagined than .Sir George Qrey t after having written "Polynesian Mythology," decl.uing that the legends of the Maori were absolutely "puerile." What, , (hen, was the use of reproducing "puerile" legends? It was hopeless to expect the moss of tho iwopie.ljfcfsired to reach tc ■uadc through a volume destitute of tha slightest scintillation of humour, "without the slightest touch of feeling, absolutely colourless «nd dead — dry-as-dust. Th« judgment of the Government, conveyed tc mo in March ta,st, thai I hud aiade a mistake I am bound to respect, I cannot -complain of unfavourable criticism, temperately expressed," as yours has beon ; for all beyond — tho raging pf -the heathen—l care not at ail. Some very ' i avour--,

able criticisms have been forwarded to mo (they may yet be published), and many congratulations ; they prove, that in this, a-s in other matters, opinion* differ. .May Ibo allowed a line heio to thank my friends? The apparently innocent ingenuousness of those who insist upon condemning Maori Loro from the Maori point of view after that point of •view has been expressly disclaimed and repudiated is not a creditable performance. Vituperation aud scorn do not constitute criticism, and, liko curses, they kayo an unhappy knack of coining homo to roost. Maori Lore, I venture to prophesy, will be read with interest, and whilst it gives a great deal of pleasure it will bo the means of conveying a general knowledge of the legends of the Maori such as could not be diffused in ftny other May. Thanking you in anticipation, I am, etc., JAMES IZETT. Wellington, 27th 1 June.