MAORI PA AT TITAHI BAY

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 114, 10 November 1934, Page 8

MAORI PA AT TITAHI BAY

(To tut Editor.)

Sir,—ln tonight's "Evening Post" there is * short reference to a meeting of the Makara County Council at •which a question was asked about the old stronghold of Ngati Ira, Te Pa-o-Kapo at Titahi Bay. The chairman is reported to have said: "There was no evidences that the spot referred to was the site of a Maori pa." '

Sir, what evidence the legal mind requires I know not, but if the\ chairman were-at all acquainted with the common indications that mark pa sites he would find them at Te Pa-o-Kapo. There are several almost filled-in post holes, the hut sites, and the familiar "midden" or rubbish tip. To the layman these details arc not1 usually known unless specially pointed out, but to persons who ■ have studied pa sites they are tho first things observed. To help the chairman of the Makara County Council' further inquiries permit me to quote from the writings of the late Elsdon Best, who knew /all; of t. the'; ; elderi> of <;thevMaorif people ninetie«::of,lart century, an* front; them /obtained the history , ;of /.their:■/: tribes (Ngati Toa)->occupationI :*since;*lßis2Q; Prior/ to';;tha,tvdateYinfarmatipri':.ocame f?pm!;^iiti;:KahTOgiingtt:;pe6ploV/yho» .ancestors',' occupied^ ;J the --"ceni turies«b'efore'.??:'itf-^Porirua: and"They Whp;iMdet It'^^ (E; ;i8e5t,J;;1914), :■ the; sandy b^ch-of Titahi;Bay,'.now*over^un-;:by cityrdweUers, but a,quiet; almost ;uhknown; J;place; ■'■jaa.wA it: r.7fifty summersiagOjVwe-' turn.; aside::; to -"the bluJfsyi -prhVre "a? small: : rheadland:i; has ■served as a place of reiihige*'tp"ihei.(>Tigir nal people of the land, and irat known

as the Pa-o-Kapo. It ii probable that it was so called after an ancestor named Kapo. This is apparently the largest oi the known fortified positions of pre-Euiope'an Porirua, and that is not "saying much, for its limited area, albeit almost fairly level, would suffice for only about a dozen huts. Doubtless some, or possibly most, of the people belonging to it lived on the slopes outside the pa, or it may only have been occupied when danger threatened, a not uncommon custom in Maoriland." Tho writer describes at length the pa bite, too long to quote here. Then he goes on: "This scarp (at the entrance) was ' originally surmounted with a stockade, and the butt, of a heavy totara post, apparently pertaining to the gateway, wrfs still in position twenty years ago (1894)." . . . "The signs of several hut sites and food stores are still visible (1913), the refuse of the pa was thrown over the,cliffs as seen by the shells still in evidence." (Hero he inserts one of his characteristic jokes) and then goes on: "This was an old-time Ngati Ira pa of past centuries, and was never occupied by the late coming Ngati Toa." I have examined the old site 'in company with the, late Elsdon Best and counted the post holes which had contained the palisading supports, and noted other details.—l am, etc., HEXRY M. CHBISTIE. , November 9.