NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1934. WAITANGI

Northern Advocate, 5 February 1934, Page 8

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1934. WAITANGI

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

Today is one of the days which will he written: in-rod letters in the calendar. It should be, because the great celebration's which Ore culminating at Waitangi possess a significance the depth of which, obvious as it is at the moment, will become more apparent as the years pass. To many people, the celebrations may bo regarded as merely one »f the fcAV remaining occasions when such a gathering of the Maori people will take place and an opportunity be presented to 1 witness hakas and other dances by so large a number of performers. That, however, is a small aud inadequate conception of the Waitangi celebrations. The opportunity provided to witness Maori dancing and traditional ceremonies is unquestionably unique, and, therefore, to bo prized, but ho who can sec nothing beyond the spectacular in the celebrations is as he who cannot sec the wood for the trees. Just as there is a deep symbolic meaning behind all the rites .and ceremonies of the Maoris, he it in gesture or word, so there is behind the Waitangi celebrations a purpose and a meaning which lie deep beneath* the surface, and car be understood and appreciated by those alone who regard them with the mental rather than the physical eye. Waitangi opens the Idoolc of history, revealing the foundations upon which has been reared the Dominion as it is today, and pointing with prophetic finger to great days yet to come if Pakeha and Maori prove worthy of their heritage. Tomorrow there will be re-enacted with remarkable fidelity to detail a scene in .which 'history was written 94 years ago. On that faraway day,' a Governor of New Zealand made an official landing at Waitangi in the presence of a great gathering of Maori people, and, in front of the British Residency. took part in the signing of what is perhaps the most remarkable treaty in the world’s history —the ’ Treaty of _ Waitangi—by which not only did New Zealand become pari of the British Umpire, but Hie Maori people were placed on a footing of equality with the people of the Throne in'whom sovereignty of the islands was vested. History may be searched in vain for a parallel ease, for it must lie.'remembered that though the Maoris were a noble race, highly intelligent and honourable, they were, in the broad sense of the word, savages who had come hut lately in contact with civilisation. Yet, in a treaty containing only three clauses, the British Empire received into its family circle as equals an uneonqnered people who voluntarily relinquished sovereignty the land over which they had hitherto reigned supremo. It is need-

less- to- discuss what, might, and, indeed, wlnat would, have hap-1 ponod if any nation hut the British had been the negotiators with the Maori people. Bather is it a matter for mutual congratulation ( on the part of Maori and Pakcha that events followed the course , which led to the historic cere- | mony 94 years ago, and which is to be re-enacted on the same spot tomorrow afternoon, when another representative of the Crown. —this time a GovernorGeneral —will land at Waitangi in the presence of a great, gathering of Maoris drawn! from every part of the Dominion, and, on the identical I spot where the signing took place, ; | break the Union Jack ou a llagi staff erected to mark for all iiime the greatest event in the history of this country. "What a moment! Who can set out in cold type all that it recalls and all that it signifies! His Excellency I the Governor-General must be * strongly moved as he recalls j that but for the vision which ‘inspired Mm to purchase lor | the nation the Waitangi Es- | t.atc and restore the Residency, ■there would iu all probability (soon have disappeared the last (visible link with the signing of j the Treaty of Waitangi. The ! people of Now Zealand will be I for ever under a debt ot gratijtude to His Excellency, not for this great act of Empire-build-'ing alone, but for the example he | lias consistently set in regard to ithc revival and prese.rva.tion of | interest in the and nattural wonders of this greatly j blessed land. Interesting as the j flagpole and the Residency are j today, they will become increasjingly so with the passage of ■time, and the Bay of Islands and i Northland will once again be the ! Dominion’s historic centre. And I what of the Maori people! Just las the signing of the Treaty of j Waitangi 94 years changed the course of their existence, so the great gathering at Waitangi jin 1934 is pregnant with possii•■ Mlilies' the proper contemplation ! and capture of av hi oh cannot but exert a potent influence upon the future of the race. The celebrations, have served not only to revive interest in folk lore and traditional dancing, but they have brought together as nothing else has done tribes which, if not actually at enmity with one another, have been as strangers. Today they have become reunited in the bonds of affection and racial pride, and they, and their Pakeha brethren, who are proud of their .Maori countrymen, may meet the future with confidence.