SOME INTERESTING MAORI HISTORY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LX, Issue LX, 31 October 1910, Page 6

SOME INTERESTING MAORI HISTORY.

PATEA IN THE EARLY DAYS. HABITS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NATIVES. Te Kahupukoro, Ngarangi Katitia, Te Pouwhareumu, Teto te Hanatana, le Ropiha, Rima Whakaru, Fox Omahuru, and ,about fifty of the principal chiefs from Taranaki Ngatihine, and Ngarauru, together with the Rev. R. Haddon, arrived in Wellington on Monday to confer with the Premier as to a possible understanding concerning certain reserves near Patea under the West Coast Settlements Reserves Act. The Maoris ask for the return of these reserves or for compensation. In reference to this matter a contributor supplies the New Zealand Times with the following : — "The deputation of Maoris to the Premier was in connection with a matter deeply interesting to students of Maori tradition. The deputation asked for the return of certain reserves near Patea to the Maori people, or, failing that, proper compensation for their loss. It was generally conceded in connection with the Act of Confiscation that the lands of loyal Maoris and all burial places, sacred places, and fishing stations should be handed back to the people. This has been done in every other case but that of the Ngatitupito, whose home was the north/ bank of the Patea river. Certain reserves were made, but for some reason were subsequently handed over to the Harbor Board and education authorities. There are four important reserves which have been treated in this way, and as the Government of those days dealt as it woijld with such reserves and leased them without any reference to the Maoris concerned, they were of v opinion that they still had a claim to these lands, but found after many years that they were gone out of their hands. Finding this they about fifteen years ago brought the matter before Mr Carroll, who sympathised with them, but. took no action in the matter. "How this affects the Maori people may be gathered by a knowledge of the history of these lands. It is well know,n that Patea was' the first permanent home of the migration in the oanoe ' Aotea under Turi. The first fortification was on the south head of the Patea river. ■ Just across the river Turi planted the seeds of thekar.aka, brought from Hawaiki, a fact embodied in song to this day. This reserve No. lis now ocoupied without title by the Harbor Board. No. 2 is the present Patea cemetery reserve which was an old tribal burying ground. No. 3is Omahu, a fishing station for kahawai and patiki. No. 4 is Kaikaapoo, ran important reserve that was publicly given back to the Maoris, but afterwards given in forgetfulness of that promise, to the education fund. •'Kaikaapoo was the second house or wharekura built by the people. Here the first serious quarrel took place among the people after their arrival from Hawaiki. A dog they had brought with them had been killed and eaten, and to discovei where it had gone the people were assembled in Kaikaapoo. The house was made very hot, and when they were sleeping one went round and discovered by the sense of smell the persons who had been eating dog's flesh. The discovery led to the departure of sections of tho people north and south, and as they departed the daughter of Turi said to those remaining with her : 'Nowj remember, those persons leaving us are your brethren, but henceforth you may regard them as. food.' 'There is at Kaiakaapoo a celebrated spring of water which was also the cause of a fierce quarrel among the tohunpas of those days. It had also been the burying place of the dead all along the generations till the coming of. the European. "By the action of the Government in those days- in not carrying out promises made by Sir Donald McLean the Ngatitupito found themselves with only one fishing station, with no access to the river, and without possession of their ancestral burial grounds — the historical homes so dear to them, and places for fishing that are so much a necessity to the Maori people. They have had to submit to the indignity of having the burial place of their fathers violated, the skulls of their ancestors taken by larrikins, a candle put in them and \ stuck on the fences around their homes. The Maoris are indeed a long suffering people. They know where are deposited the bones of Tarieroroa, the daughter of Turi, but for fear of desecration on the part of Europeans they dare not* make it Tcnown. "A committee of the House dealt with a petition respecting this matter two years ago, and Parliament instructed the Cabinet to deal at once with the petition, but owing to stress of work nothing has yet been done. The natives are now anxiously awaiting the action of the Premier."