WASTED HERITAGE

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 48, 25 August 1923, Page 13

WASTED HERITAGE

VOICES OF REPROACH

PAKEHA WAR ON FORESTS

By "Ngawini" (E.P.C.).

listen,.oh, pakeha, to the yokes, in the winds, voices from the past, voices I of long dead and gone chiefs, warriors, • and tohungas, of the Maori, speaking to-day,- accusing to-day, as they;* will "go on, and on, through the ages to come. Listen, oh; pakeha, the hurricane raging round our bared and naked mountain tops and ranges, roars aloud, "Pakeha, pakeha, .. we accuse," the gales wildly tearing across our. .treeless plains and stript hillsides, howl and. cry. aloud, • "Pakeha,- pakeha, .we ". accuse"; the. stinging whirling, winds that ;h?6B and .rave.through our . empty ; valleys .and .desolate ■ gullies, scream /in your ears, "Pakeha, pakeha, we accuse, we accuse";. the summer breeze softly sighing midst "the branches of dead and dying trees ,of. the past, whispers again and again to the ears of the living, "Pakeha, pakeha., we accuse, we accuse." > Ever, oh,, pakeha, adbwri the ages will our 1 voices be heard- by you,. and yours, and "those who follow after" ;:when'you in time enter too' the land- of Bpirit voices, you whom we honoured and trusted will flee'from- us with fear, and trembling in ' that : land "■■ of shadows where eternal justice will weigh your motives' and- actions in 1 its. ; balances' against our "Pakeha, we accuse:" You, oh, pakeha, will be weighed and found .wanting, and ever your penance, will be ■in bitter' shame and' sorrow to hear •above .you our voices crying aloud, "Pa-' keha,. pakeha, we accuse, we-accuse"; while from beneath will ■ rise' thrc-ugh earthly "clouds and Jmists the voices of your children ' and. "thq>e that follow after" crying, "Pakeha, fathers, we accuse, we accuse;"..;. •"-...'' '-. "-. 1..'-'. Listen, oh, pakeha, to the..words of., our-accusation, then: answer if you Can;' our : fathers] and' ."tfieir" -fathers.-" before" them dwelt long ages.'in Jthis land.-'.theyj gaye to us forest-clad .mountains ;.and_ plains; - groves : of • giant,kauri, 'rimu.W tara, and a host of other woodland riches unknown- to your; pakeha world across, the seas. . Springs and.: stream's , rippled: through 'all: our f valleys.-and -down our hillsides'; ferns and.flqwers, of iUn.equsiied beauty, in .richest*abundance clothed: pur crags.and filled.pur gullies'; our spil'gave" us'4mple return,, for. little labour.;' Itjwas. fertile beyond imagination,; arid uneursed with mildews : or; pests.' .:Our'lowlands gave; us abundance ,of hemp.-to-supply fibre'for clo'tliiiig,'-netsVand other .necessaries ; our'rivers and lakes ,werelfilled.. with.fish and. our forests with rare-and lovely- birds—innocently happy j -and ■ trustful. You, '• ' oh;' S-'t'. took from us our lands, our homes'; diir "c'ounr' i try;' by; guile 'or- by force. ;- Yon imposed-your rule^ upon us.and forced. j your (so-called) civilisation upon our uni willing people. We, the despised, 1- primi-. . tive, illiterate Native'race, handed- 'on to you an earthy paradise, probably unequalled .then on Jhe-whole earth for its. > beauty arid mild climate..its fertile soil. ■ .flowers, -and ..birds'.":: "Oh. iuake- . r ha,- we; question, :we accuse.-"; "What have you done to our heritage? What have you done with our trust?" "From your halls of law and wisdom we hear, the voices of/your, councillors saying that soon this'will be a land' full of'noxious growths., pests, and droughts ;:frqm. your •; market places .we hear the merchants lamenting 'for timber to' build 1 ■■" your ', whares, - your wahines crying for -firewood, you.r.3 aimers calling- for '■ help to, fight, floods or droughts,, pests, -and diseases; whereis your vaunted wisdom ? Oh, pakebas.'what have you done'with our heritage?" Our fathers preserved— ' for you -to destroy.\ Our .wisest .tohungas made "tapu";from'time, to time oh trees, mountains,! birds! and flowers, springs- and lakes, 'in-order.'to prevent their destruction 'by the ignorant' and greedy. Oh, wise'pakehas! Isitpoßsible that you yet will learn wisdom ; frbm the despised Maori tohungas? Too late to;restore ■ our ravaged land, but;maybe intime to-preserve airemriant (our-IJre-. wera) 'at, its glorious beauties for those that 'follow-after to'love and admire ■■ ' Listen,- again, oh-, pakehas.-We accuse you of handing our heritage over : to thousands of greedy, - unlearned peasants arid farmers from /across, the,, seas,, who. filled with • reckless, energy- and greed :of gain,, tore -this, fair ,land ■ -of- ours, to pieces; they .burned, hacked,."destroyed.; killed' : everything. strange '"and-, unfamiliar—in order to grasp a quick, return :- their greedy, ignorance should have been restrained, and their! energies wisely directed, to conserve,and;develop.the.^vast store of natural riches,, entrusted . to them. Were : your tohungas sleeping .in their .whares, oh,'pakeha, .or'did their wisdom, fall short of Maori. standards?.' To. cultivate .fertile lands, •to "clear. Suitable hills a.nd. ranges if or, pasture ,and grazing land was good.;to our thinking; to t rear, thousands of cattle, sheep, and-horses, was.also very:good. But tq bnrn and. banish our forests irom mountain ; tops , and gorges, from useless paparock ranges , and ; precipitous hillsides, substituting noxious weeds or.bare rocks for useful timber" and •protective bush;; to dry up our- sparkling springs and rippling streams,, to kill off our ,rare.and peculiarly■' birds, 'giving ,in , exchange verminous'hordes of rats, rab- - bits', .and weasels—all these things are bad, very "bad, great folly, pakehas. They .do not fill us with -admiration for y»ur wisdom arid ■ civilisation.', - • . Oh, pakehas, we accuse;-you. You have sacrificed' at the" shrine ;of. your' god (the god of the golden ifleece): our land of beauty, our heritage, stolen and forced from us. Surely; the curse of our tohungas' ''tapu." will "fall 'upon you, and our heritage'becbme^-thr'ough your own. follyi ignorance, and greed—a heritage of stony wildernesses, dust, and ashes,', to' ."those that! follow after." ' It shall be' to you,: arid theniv a land -of . furiouswitids. and' bitter storms, a,land offloods' and; droughts, pestilences, strife, aid'trouble; greed and want; in place of the' earthly paradise you' took from us/ The tohringas' curse will rest upon you pakehas. ;.-....'... . . ' ,

And ever the voice*. of.the: part will cry in the. night winds, "Pakeha, pakeha, we accuse, we accuse," and the voices of those to come" will cry to your spirits' hearing, "Pakeha fathers, we accuse, we accuse." . ""/■ .'■