TABLOID HISTORY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21400, 10 May 1944, Page 2

TABLOID HISTORY

GISBORNE MAORIS TIDES OF SETTLEMENT ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS A swift review of historical events arising out of the incursion of the Europeans into the Gisborne dHtrict formed the basis of a highly interesting address given to the Gisborne Rotary Club yesterday, on the occasion of the weekly luncheon gathering. The speaker was Takapuna Rangiuia, descendant of one of the signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi, and her talk compressed into a narrow compass an enormous amount of information concerning the living conditions and social structure of her race during the past 200 years. At the time of Captain Cook’s landing at the mouth of the Turanganui River in 1769 the Maori people inhabited the district in their thousands, she stated, and a very large portion of the district was covered with heavy bush. From this forest came many of the foods of the Maori, and the basic ingredients of much of their primitive medicine. Pigeons, tuis, bush - rats, and vegetable growths were carefully husbanded, and destruction of the forest was quite foreign to the nature of the Maori.

From the bush came the timbers for their dwellings, their weapons, and their canoes; and the Maoris fully recognised, too, the value of the bush in conserving rainfall which xept the creeks and rivers deep, and encouraged the growth of Shell-fish and water-weed as dietary items on the Maori menu. 70 Years Without Change At the. time of Cook’s discovery, the site of Gisborne was not occupied by the natives, who had their settlements on the fringes of the poverty Bay flats, usually in the shadow of somfe strong defensive position. On the site now occupied by the Post Office, there formerly was a funeral ground, where the dead of the tribes were laid before burial. There was not much change in the life of the Maoris until 70 years later, when whalers set up their try-pots on the coast, and traders came in contact with the natives and establishing themselves in security by the goodwill of the chiefs. Up to that time, .primitive society among the Maoris was based on the tribe as a unit, and the good of the tribe was the first consideration.

Chiefs were venerated first for their birth,'and then for their character; the tabus which surrounded them were many and various, and their authority over their tribes was almost absolute. Members of the tribe hunted and fished, according to the lunar season, or in the case of women, carried on the cultivations, Drepared food for storage, and wove from flax and finer fibres the garb of their families. Trijhal Jjjqnds on Coast Fighting took frequent toll of the population in the pre-European days, but the extent of the killing was always limited until guns came into the hands of the Maoris. * Thus the tribes survived at considerable strength well into the nineteenth century. From that time onward their numbers decreased rapidly, 'from wars and disease, and it was not until early in this century that the population took an upward turn again. The speaker dealt interestingly with the tribal affiliations on the East .Coast, and with the personalities of the • principal chiefs, including the Rawiri who was paramount chief in the Gisborne area betweeh 1830 and 1854. It was after this chief that Ppho-a-Rawiri was named, and the name had b’eloriged to three successive meeting-houses; His lands ■ included the whole of the Kaiti, from Tyndall road to the Turanganui River, and from the Hole-in-the-Wall to the Kaiti Beach. “To-day, Gisborne is a prosperous and modern town, with thousands pf European inhabitants. The. Maori is no longer counted in thousahds, but those of us who survive are proud to be working side, by side with "the pakeha, in. a united effort for victory —and for peace and justice to all,” added the speaker, amidst applause, after a brief reference to the outstanding record of the Maori troops who have fought in the last three wars. r " A hearty vote of thanks was extended to Takapuna Rangiuia on the motion of Captain • Pauling. Mr J. Chrisp was chairman for the day.