OTAKI MAORI RACES A TALE FROM THE PAST

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 104, 4 May 1935, Page 31

OTAKI MAORI RACES

A TALE FROM THE PAST

Very shortly nominations will be taken for the Otaki Maori Racing Club's Winter Meeting, which this year will be held at Levin instead of Otaki, as the club's own course, to which extensive improvements have recently been made, will not yet be ready for racing next month, but the meeting, for all that, should lack nothing of its usual attractiveness. The Levin course ib an excellent one on which to witness good racing, and the few extra miles, whether by train or road, should not curiously incommode patrons from Weilinstcn, who form the bulk of the pakeha attendance at this popular fixture. The Otaki Meetings, two two-day fixtures each year, are unique in that they are the only ones in the Dominion solely conducted by members of New Zealand's indig&nous population. For the Maoris they are real picnic affairs, with crayfish, trotters, pies, and oddments hawked at various vantage points, tout, lor all that, though they are certainly less restrained and formal than the ordinary race gathering, .they are ably managed and controlled, in a manner reflecting'great credit on the administrative capacity pf the Maori, and they have long set an example for the clock-like precision with which the schedule is maintained. ." % . . . •

A warm welcome always.awaits all who attend Otaki Meetings. The spirit of congeniality is infectious. Everyone is smiling and happy, including the pakeha, whatever the-weather, and near midwinter the sun cannot always be relied on to add his portion to the greeting. To one who has enjoyed these meetings it must sometimes seem remarkable indeed that the Maori has been able for so long thus to rival the highest standard in the land; for 't >s.'ess than a "century even now since the: Maori was just entering on the fringe of European civilisation, and yet today one Ends him not,ouly modern to the latest degree but well educated.and able'to emulate his pakgha colleague in almost every sphere of collective activity. Nevertheless,1, it is only natural that a meeting conducted by the Maoris should on occasions have its humorous incidents, and here is one as related by "Old Timer," a correspondent whose stories have previously entertained'readers of "The Post" Two Maoris, whom I will call Rerepai and Rereatu, ''Old Timer" writes, bached together in a whare, and about three days before the'Otaki races were to be held some years ago, Rerepai became possessed of the information that a certain Cup horse was to have a trial over a mile, and he determined "to be present to witness proceedings. .'■.., .--■" ";•■ '■■ • V On the morning appointed he woke Rereatu and asked him-to get the kai ready, while he. took the alarm block and the axe and set off for the course;

' Now Rerepai, "or anybody else except the horse's connections, was not supposed to be present, because that trial was to be run in secret. ' '

Rerepai, displaying the 'great cunning of his race, wprked his way. up the river with the axe-over his'shoulder tp allay suspicion. Anyone seeing'him with an axe would naturally,, think he was after firewood. I ■■■:

When near the starting post he hid the axe_ and crawled on all fours through the lupins until close enough to see all that happened. He then carefully adjusted the alarm clock and waited until all was ready, with his finger holding the big hand of the clock stationary. At the word go' he let the big hand start moving, and when the horse reached the finishing line he again stopped the big hand. Rerepai then studied the timepiece, and was astonished to find that the horse had run the mile in lmin 40sec. That was as near as it was possible to get on that chronometer as regards time. v By korry!" said Rerepai to himself, that te fastest mile ever dote on this track."

He crawled back to his axe, and, cutting a piece of. wood, made his way back to Rereatu. .-■•■•■■

"Maori," saitf Rerepai, "how much money you got?"- . f "What's te matter with you, Rerepai? You got te excitement, I tink." By korry, Rereatu, that horse te fastest horse since Eclipse. He run te mile in lmin 40sec. ■ . . .

"You sure, Rerepai? I tink te clock stop. ,

Rerepai remarked that he had made no mistake and knew how to take the time. ixereatu: You take te time- from te whare, Rerepai, but I don't fink you take te time of te horse. On the day of the races, the two mates put £5 on the horse, and had the mortification of seeing it finish in the ruck Now Rerepai began to think that that clock was not accurate, so he took it to a jeweller, who, informed him that it lost exactly.three seconds in every minute Rerepai then, saw daylight about that trial, and so he learned a costly lesson. That lesson was that delicate timing must always be done by delicate and accurate timepieces. This-is a story that is often told* about one Otaki Meeting, and doubtless there are many others as amusing that could be related. For the older generation of racegoers the gatherings at Otaki have a magnetic lure, and it would be a sad day indeed were this delightful fixture everallowed to pass off the annual calendar