COLOURFUL CEREMONY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 18 December 1939, Page 9

COLOURFUL CEREMONY

MAORI COURT OPENED BEFORE THOUSANDS EXHIBITION ATTRACTION The most colourful and stirring ceremony yet witnessed in the Centennial Exhibition took place on Thursday when hundreds of Maoris from all parts of New Zealand and thousands of pakeha spectators witnessed the openin. i ceremony for the Maori Court. In the absence of the Prime Minister, Mr Savage, the acting Native Minister, Mr Langstone, formally declared the building open. Some hundreds of natives attired in traditional dress took part in Maori songs and dances and ancient ceremonies rarely witnessed in Wellington. Chiefs and leaders of the Maori people had gathered from all parts of the North Island, and there was also a distinguished pakeha attendance. The Court of Pioneers, in which is the north band shell, presented a lively appearance as young Maori warriors, clad in reed skirts and little else, took their place on the band shell platform. Attractive wahines in cloaks and piupius, with green-stone tikis round their necks, lent colour to the crowds moving in the lee of the buildings. Many of the Maori women, particularly the elders, wore priceless ornaments of nephrite and carried greenstone meres, heirlooms of the great days of Maoriland. The Maori Battalion formed a guard of honour commanded by Major Dittmer, and formed up at the back of the seated guests. A party of the Battalion left the body-guard, stripped, and, armed with tuahas. clambered on to the band shell where they were greated by the visiting Arawas and the Wellington Maoris, the* Ngati-Poneke. Here they gave a series of ceremonial dances with great vigour and enthusiasm, posturing and grimacing, hands slapping bare thighs and chests in rhythm, and bare feet drumming on the platform. Sir Apirana Ngata, acting as master of ceremonies, outlined the programme and explained its significance with a humour and cynicism which kept both Maori and pakeha listeners greatly entertained. The acting Native Minister. Mr Langstone, inspected the guard of honour. Speeches of welcome to the distinguished visitors were made by the chiefs of the tribes.

Mr Hapi Love, direct descendant of the famous Port Nicholson chief, Wi Tako, spoke on the behalf of the NgatiPoneke, first in Maori with an interpreter, and then in English. In Maori, he said, “Awake! Awake! Here before you are the Maori forces of New Zealand called to arms as in the old days. They have been given the traditional orders that they were given of old. So, know you all, that soldiering is no new thing to the Maori people! ” His speech was followed by a dance and song by the Ngati-Poneke women. Chief Kipa Roere of the NgatiRaukawa then spoke in Maori on behalf of the Cook Strait people, wearing a flax coat and holding a whale-bone tewhatewha. He paid tribute to Sir Apirana, whom, he said, had devoted his whole life to the cause of the Maori people. “Now, at the time of the Centennial celebrations,” said the chief, he looked back on the past 100 years and saw a long procession of pakehas arriving in New Zealand. He asked himself what the next 100 years would show. However, at the close of the centenary the Treaty of Waitangi would still be celebrated. By virtue of that treaty, the two races found themselves like brothers and sisters and their moral obligations to one another were such as must be maintained for all time. The chief’s speech was followed by a song and posture dance of great spirit by Ngati-Raukawa children. Sir Apirana explained that the dance and song treated the theme of the selection of the Maori King and the children were descendants of Te Rauparaha and Te Rangi Haeata, the great chiefs who came down from Taranaki a century ago and conquered and settled the Cook Strait shores. THE MAORI HOUSE The significance of the Maori Court built in the Exhibition was explained by Sir Apirana. It had been criticised, he said, on the grounds that it was neither a Maori house nor a pakeha house, but a mixture of the two. “Houses that Captain Cook saw were very different,” he said. “They were dug partly into the ground, and access was through a small doorway about two feet high, so that fresh air was largely excluded, but there was within something of the warm atmosphere to which the Polynesians were accustomed before they came to New Zealand. “Such houses are not likely to recur. The Health Department want the Maori to breathe fresh air. The Insurance Companies object to the use of dried grasses for roofing hatch. The Mayor, or the municipal authorities, he represents, insist on certain by-laws being complied with. Indeed, in 100 years, the Maori has not lingered far behind the rules the pakeha insists on for the citizens of New Zealand, among whom are the Maori. “There is another thing. The present generation of Maori have forgotten how to sit on the ground. Originally they had no chairs and tables, but the Maori Court is built for this generation that is no longer able to sit crosslegged on the floor. Chief Hemana Pokiha of the Arawas, holding a green-stone mere with which he gesticulated expressively, spoke to the gathering: “You who have joined the forces of New Zealand, I greet you,” he said, in Maori. “My heart weeps for you, but I rejoice for what is happening to-day, if it is the will of God that we should rejoice, because He is our rock in time of trobule. You, my young men who are wearing the King’s uniform and are soon to be in the blaze of battle, 1 salute and greet you. You are representing the Maori people. Although you come from all parts of New Zealand, be one when 3 r ou leave these shores. Go my boys, depart, but be strong to uphold the dignity of your King.” Then followed a dance of derision by the Arawas and men of the Maori Battalion, and then a modernised version of a very ancient dance founded on an old time Ngati-Porou haka—part of the original of which Sir Apirana danced by way of demonstration. The pakeha leaders—the Mayor, Mr T. C. A. Hislop, Chairman of the Exhibition Directors, Mr D. G. Sullivan, President of the Exhibition, and the acting Native Minister, Mr Langstone —then replied briefly. They expressed their appreciation and pleasure at the part that the Maori was taking in the Centennial celebrations. It was emphasised by Mr Langstone that the Maori house, during the period of the Exhibition, would be a great attraction to visitors from all parts of tre country, as they could see and hear the Maori cultural entertainments and witness native craftsmen carrying out the work and industry vital to Maori life. At the conclusion of this outdoor ceremony the Hiru Harama choir sang the National Anthem. The ceremony was concluded inside the buildings in the courtyard to the Maori house when the old time rite of lifting the tapu was carried out by two tohungas of the Arawa tribe, Te Kapo o te Rangi and Tuoro Pango. Princess Te Puia Herangi and Mrs Sullivan crossed the threshold, so driving out all evil spirits and making the building available for common use. Finally, the acting Native Minister, Mr Langstone, formally opened the court. A presentation was made by Sir Apirana Ngata to the various distinguished guests, and the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, presented three radio sets to the Maori I attalion on behalf of the Ngati-Poneke, the carvers and builders of the house and the Ngati-Porou tribe. A number of taniko napkin rings and officers’ carved sticks were presented to the Battalion on behalf of the Arawas.