SOUTH ISLAND MAORIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 280, 27 October 1931, Page 5

SOUTH ISLAND MAORIS.

HISTORIC CENTENARY. Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Oct. 26. The centenary of the capture of the Kaiapohia (Kaiapoi) pa is being celebrated »t Tuahiwi by a notable gathering of Maoris. The event was the capture of the pa by Te Rauparaha from the Ngai Taliu people, who had founded it and occupied it for over a hundred years. Yesterday’s celebration included a commemoration service and other events, which attracted a very large attendance of white spectators. Vast arrays of Maori foods are Being placed before those, taking part in the celebrations. The delicacy of many of the dishes is -fortified by the general solidity of the staple items of the menu.' There are seven or eight sacks of dried eels and great heaps of potatoes to be consumed during the weekend. The celebration is not intended to mark Te Rauparalia’s sanguinary victory, but to commemorate the heroism ! and daring of the old-time Maori, who knew how to fight and die with unexampled courage. Kaiapohia was also the centre of the native cultural development of the South Island, and the celebration is intended to revive interest in the ancient arts and crafts of the Maori.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MAORI. An interesting account of the origin, charcteristics, and wanderings of the Maoris before they settled in New Zealand, and some particulars regarding their history after they took possession of the country, was given hy Mr Te Ari Tawa Pitama, formerly of Palmerston North, who is taking a leading part in the organisation of the Kaiapohia centenary celebrations, in an address at Christ’s College, Christchurch. Referring to the influence of the spiritual on the Maori, Mr Pitama said

that every day of the week was a Sabbath day to the Maori—a day of rest. He did not want them to run away with the idea that the Maori was not a hard-working man. He was an iiifrnnitely greater man, physically and mentally, one hundred years ago, for every man was a warrior, every man had to assert himself as an individual, and had to protect himself. In narrating the principal incidents connected with the successful siege of Kaiapohia by “that treacherous old devil, To Rauparaha,” lie described Kaiapohia of a hundred years ago as the home of the aristocracy of the South Island, and explained the meaning of the name, but besought the Press not to publish it because the Maoris, like the children of Israel, treasured their genealogies and knew who were the descendants of chiefs, and who were the descendants of serfs and commoners. and if they gave the meaning of Kaiapohia there would be civil war among the Natives. As to the outcome of Te Rauparaha’s operations ho quoted a Maori saying which ho interpreted:—“l kill you and you kill me ; there is no victory, there is no defeat.” So the centenary would bo celebrated not in a spirit of victory or of defeat, but rather in the spirit of uniting the Maori race.