HOME AGAIN.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 7, 9 January 1912, Page 7

HOME AGAIN.

A MAORI ODYSSEY. ENGLISH INDIFFERENCE. "Home again, and glad to get home," would seem to express the feelingß of the Maori contingent which returned i from London last evening in the Somerset. From what can be learned of them, the distant blue coastline of New Zealand was no less refreshing to their eye 3 than it was to those of their forebears corning hither in the ancestral canoes. The party set out many months ago full of hope, with Maggie Papakura at their head. Thß world, the unknown, was before them. At Sydney they halted, and there for many days were an attraction to Australians with shillings to spend. Then a syndicate took them up, smelling money in the project. The Maoris should exploit the other world, where leas considerationis given to tbo toll of the box office than to the quality of the goods. Mr. O. B. Westmacott, one of the best known entrepreneurs, was entrusted with the management of "the tour, and was also, with Maggie, a member of the syndicate. As there are likely to be a' few intricacies which a court of law will be asked to unravel, it is incumbent on one to write warily; but this much mny he said, upon Mr. Westmacott's authority: that the tour would have been much more successful had an advance agent been sent to the Old Country, and, if necessary, to < the Continent, to there clear the streets and spread gravel, so to speak, on th» way to make Ihe entry of the Maoris | triumphant, to collect welcoming crowds 1 along the footpaths, and hang the Maori ! banners on high for the dazzling of the natives. So, unheralded, they arrived in England. This, in Mr. Westinacott's view, and against his experience as a pilot of entertainments, was a mistake. To it, he holds, much of the want of success of the tour is- attributable. EFFECTS OF A HOT SUMMER. But there was another factor, and one which was beyond Mr, Westinacott's view and that of the syndicate' also. Itcan be very hot in London in the summer, and this particular summer it was extremely hot— over lOOdeg.' Fahr. in the shade in the Strand for example — the very centre of things theatrical. The Maoris . opened at the Crystal Palace with a nicely constructed pa. Its construction interested and satisfied the local' authorities ; but not so the Home Office, which had 'the final say. No other site than that on which the pa was pitched was suitable at the Palace so the whole hapu migrated to ihe White City. There., so far as .popularity went, they were no more sueceseful. The hot weather* had emptied London, i.e., all London having a fey* shillings that could get away. There was a, regular exodus. So well do the excursion steamship companies and railway companies manage their traffic, so cheaply and quickly do they carry the people, tHat it was actually cheaper for patert familias to take his tribe to the seaside by rail or boat, to the pleasant reaches of the Upper Thames, to the Jeafy glades of Epping Forest, or to the broad, «c«nt» ' ed commons of Surrey, that (for financial reasons alone) it was cheaper to 'excuree* than to visit the Crystal Palace or th» I White City Stuffy local trains and the weary perambulations of boarded courts were not to be compared with the fleet paddle stamer to Clacton ot Margate where the cool breeze* of the North bea freshened pale faces. So London to a very large extent deserted its own anuunement places, and there was but little doing at tuinstil«s. MAORIS NOT A DRAW, "But," Mr. Westrnacott wats asked, "did the Maoris as Maoris take, or was it because London fled to the sea and the woods that tht> tour woe not a iinan. cial success? "Well, you .see," Tie answered, "they had the dull season — dull so far as placeß like the Crystal Palace and the White City were concemed-y-to contend with, and then the show did not take. When, however, we- cut out all but Iwa, the Maori contralto, and the poi girls then at the palace, which is a high-priced house by the way, then we made a success of it. London, and I should say England, too, is not a bit interested in the Maori. • There are other things to them of greater moment. If they want to know anything about New Zealand the Londoners, or the English, they find it out when they want it. But they were not interested in the Maoris. They liked the poi girls, they liked Iwa, not for what they were, but for what they could do. I was much struck with tne apathy, the indifference of the people. Iwa was popular, and will be more so, if — I'll explain the 'if presently — because she has a lovely' voice. Blanche Marchegi, Madame Nevada, and Randegger were charmed with it. Iwa sang before them. Old Randegger almost caressed her with joy, and Marches* safil she did not believe there was a- more beautjful voice in the world than Iwa's. She embraced • the Maori singer, and was manifestly ( much moved by her singing. Here is where the 'if comes in. If Iwa sings, as she desires very much to do, the usual pakeha drawingroom song, then I think she will make a mistake fatal to her success; but if she sings in Maori, as she did before Randegger, Marehesi, and some others, why, then, it is easy to predict a great future for her." "The selection of Iwa and the poi girls only for the palace turn was where the showmanship came inT* "I think it was. I'm sure it was. The public likes to be pleased rather than interested or educated." "Fun, not anthropology ?" "That is what brings in the money, certainly/ Mr. Westmacott assented. CHICKEN AND CHAMPAGNE. "And what of the people left behind?" "Ah! that is a very unfortunate part of the tour. The High Commissioner did ( his utmost to induce them to return. . There were other influences at work, too, to the earno end. But Maoris are difficult people to handle, and here I would, like to say how much I ajn indebted to Bella Papakura for her sensible advice and her help to me generally in handling the people during a rather trying tiine^ Weti^ Rangiuia, the Maori singer in London, who has been taken up by society people, was instrumental in dividing our paa'ty, in splitting_ it up. The Maoris were entertained right loyally by him. They had chicken, and champagne and that sort of thing with Rangiuia, while vjo had a hard job to feed yiem on tea, meat, and potatoes; they saw Rangiuia's well furnished flat, his two servants, the style in which ho lived, and they argued : If Rangiuia, why not us? This k kapai. We will stay behind. But I 'regret more than anything else that the girl Te Tai was left in London. The police could do (nothing, becaiuse, although willing to help us, an affidavit was produced by a young Maori to the effect that he wae the girl's father and wished her to stay with him. "Maggies coming " marriage? Well, now all I can say is that shß said to me 'do not deny it, please. Certainly it will come off.' But why the nuptials are to bo celebrated in Fiji I do not know. This I do know, however, that the prospective bridegroom, Mr. StapletonBrown, is a much travelled Englishman of means, a well-read and exceedingly well-xniornied man."-