MAORI RACE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 September 1923, Page 2

MAORI RACE.

NUMBERS INCREASING.

ARTS, TRADITIONS, AND

CUSTOMS

Ah, the outward lift and the dashing! The quick thrust in and the backwaid

sweep! The swisauig, the swirling eddies! The bailing white wave and the spray Fly from my. paddle.

This fragment of a chant used by the Maoris as they paddled eastward from their homeland, Hawaiki,. to find and settle in New Zealand a thousand years ago, was given by a- Maori in his native tongue in the Assembly Hall at j Melbourne. The. occasion was a leoture by Dr. P. H. Buck (or Te Rangi Hiora), etymologist and anthropologist, and the engagement formed portion of the programme, of the Pan-Pacific Science Congress. There was a crowded audience. Dr. Buck represents the New Zealand Government and the New Zealand Polynesian Society at the Congress, and his lecture, "Tile Maori Race," fascinated his hearers. To-day, said Dr. Buck, the Maori raoe had passed successfully the dangerous transition stage between savagery and civilisation. When a railway line was first put through the Auckland peninsula the train sped at fully ten miles p.n hour. An old"Maori living on the route had frequently heard of trains, but had never seen one, and when the first journey was made he determined to sample for himself the strange and wonderful thing which the- white man had brought to his country. He had learned that the sun stood still while the ea.rth revolved on its axis, and now he was full of wonder at the celerity with which trees and shrube flashed past the windows. After a time the train dashed into avtvmnel. In the darkness the old Maori fell back in his seat, pulled his hat over his eyes, and exclaimed, "My goAly! To-night!" He composed himself vfo.f, sleep, hfit in a few moments the train emerged . from the tunnel. When 'the. light dawned on the Maori he'saf -up.,.rubbed his eyes, and after a moment .washeard to mutter, "Well, well! The white man is wonderful. Tomorrow !'' (Laughter). The story had a general application to. the Maori race, which had emerged from the tunnel of its ignorance into the full sunshine of enlightenment while other native races of the Pacific still slumbered. WHERE DID THE MAORIS OOME FROM?

In. Hawaiki some time in the twelfth century (so the Maori history had It) a great regatta was held, and Poi, the ancient chieftain, watched from a hilltop. In the canoe race, Whatonga, Poi's grandson, was carried away by excitement, and paddled out to sea, where a strong wind sprang un and defeated his efforts to return, and he disappeared. Poi sought him in. vain among the neighbouring islands, and finally announ^.d his. intention to make for the land far in the south-east which had been discovered some centuries before. After long journeying he reached the North Island, and settled in what is now called the Bay of Plenty. Meanwhile young Whatonga ! had returned to Hawaiki, and, finding his grandfather gone in search of him, I set out again to look for his relative. Eventually success rewarded him, and ' he, too, settled in the new land. Every Maori to-day could traoe his genealogy back to Pof. Two centuries later, driven (according to tradition) by ! shortage of food and over population i in Hawaiki, a fleet of canoes found its ! way t» New Zealand with new settlers, ! who brought with them the paper mulberry plant for clothing, edible roots for food, and dogs and rats. Each '< Alaori tribe traced its origin to a par- ■' ticuJar canoe. Thus, when greeting fw-*?"' the chi*f of a tribe would say, welcome to the so-and-so canoe " ' ENCOURAGING RACE PRIDE Following a display of lantern slides of Maori carving;, matting, and weaving, Dr. Buck said that a few years ' ago the population was steadily decreasing until it had reached a "point at which extinction appeared to be pjobable. That danger has passed, and the census report in 1921 showed an increase to 51.,731. Previously the *<>tal had been as low as 37,000. Since 1921 the population Had further increased. The savage ritual had passed and the communist system is being broken. More and more the Maori is adopting European culture and the white man's method of life. Maoris have survived becau*. they are intensely emulative, and even anxious to take a share in what is going on. At Gallipoli they were represented by 500 men, and before the war ended they were maintaining a batalion on the Western front. Both full-blooded Maoris and those of us with white blood are preaching and encouraging race pride (Applause). The aim of the Maori people is to emulate, in the opportunities which civilisation presents, the great achievements of their ancestors. Dr. Buck concluded with an earnest appeal for intellisent study of the native races of the Pacific, which are in danger of extinction.