MAORI AND SAMOAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18887, 9 December 1924, Page 12

MAORI AND SAMOAN.

P AN HISTORIC MEETING.

GATHERING AT ROTORUA.

TWO BRANCHES OF SAME RACE.

[BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] EOTOKUA. Monday

An event of the greatest significance and interest in the history of the Pacific occurred at the village of Ohinemutu on Saturday morning when official representatives of the two great branches of the Polynesian race—Maori and Samoan —met after a separation of over a thousand years. The visiting Polynesians were the party of Samoan Chiefs and Faipules who have been brought to the Dominion as the guests of tho New Zealand Government.

Tho Samoan chiefs were received at Tamatekapua according to ancient Maori custom. They were greeted with the Powhiri welcome with green branches, and after they were seated in tho porch of tho carved meeting house, addresses of welcome were made on behalf of the Arawa tribe and tho Maori people.

The interesting point that was stressed by all the speakers was recognition of the fact that the Samoans and the Maoris came of the same racial stockthat they originated from ono common ancestry. They suggested that it would have been proper to have a tangi, which was tho right thinf when members of the same blood kinship mot together after a long lapse of years. Tho significance of tho tangi on these occasions was that bereavements have occurred in the interval of separation and tho tangi was the token of mourning for those who have departed. The meeting of tho descendants revived in all present memories of their ancestors who have passed away. But on this occasion tho welcomo and the speeches took tho placo of the actual shedding of tears.

Fruits of War Sacrifice. To Rangihiroa (Dr. P. 11. Buck), replying on behalf of the official parly, said that tho meeting was one of the great epoch-making events in Pacific history. The two branches of the race had been separated for somewhere about a thousand years; they had been separated not only by time and space, degrees of latitude and longitude, but they had also been divided by the fact that they were under different flagjs. They all knew that in the Great War just concluded tho Maori people had left | their dead on tho battlefields of Galli- | poli, Franco and Belgium. Tho Maoris I had often wondered what were to bo the fruits of their sacrifice in tho great war. To-day they saw tho first fruits of that sacrifice. By their sacrifice and by their participation in the war they i had helped to defeat tho common enemy and to remove the flag of Germany from tho Samoan Islands. By this victory ! they had planted the British flag over I Samoa, and now, through the mandate of the League of Nations, these islands had been actually placed under the New Zealand flag. This had made it possible, therefore, to bring their kinsmen to New Zealand to the house of Tamatekapua, the ancestral captain of one of the canoes of the great migration, and the speaker, pointing toward the visiting chiefs, exclaimed " Kua ea, Kua ea, Kua ea." "Now has the blood sacrifice been justified and those of our people whom death took away have been returned to us in our kinsmen that wo seo before us." The Samoan chiefs adopted the Samoan customs appropriate to such an historic occasion of advancing in front of tho meeting-house and contending • among themselves for the honour of speaking on behalf of the' party. After discussion amoung themselves this privilege was accorded to Toelupe, who is one of tho leading orators of Samoa. Lessons Learned in New Zealand.

Speaking as the mouthpiece of the Chiefs, Toelupe said that on behalf of the people whom ho represented he wished to give thanks to God who had by His Grace permitted them to make this journey across the ocean, and to His Majesty the King and to the New Zealand Government. They realised that it was the sacrifice made by tho Maoris and NewZealand that had given them tlio flag which now floated over them as it did over New Zealand. Had it not been for that, flag, their journey would have been impossible. He emphasised their appreciation of what the Maoris did in tho war, the oenefits of which they were now reaping- They were unablo to give service in the war because at that time they wero under the German flag. Even when tho British flag was raised by tho New Zealand occupying force they were not permitted to go, although a "few of them did manage t<p get away to the front. They re'membered in Samoa the sacrifices made by the men of New Zealand, and kept April 25—Anzac Day—as a Day of Remembrance, in honou-- of those who gave their, lives at An/ac. They valued the opportunity which their Administrator had given them of taking part in that ceremony of Anzac Day. Toelupe said they had seen many things in New Zealand far in advance of what they nad in Samoa, but they had to remember that the people in New Zealand had had 84 years of stable government, while the Samoans had wars and continuous change of governments. But, although tho people of New Zealand were so far ahead just .mow, the chiefs would return, having learnt many lessons and many things that would be of advantage to them, and they hoped that ere long they might, in (lie words of the Bible, find that "The first shall be last and the last shall bo first." They knew that tho Maoris, their brethren and kinsmen, would appreciate that ambition, because they wero now all one under tho British flag.

Changes in Language. Another unique feature of the occasion was tho fact that two interpreters were necessary to bring tho speeches to a common _ meeting ground. Though the Maoris and the Samoans used the same Polynesian form of speech of the Austrori'jsian division of the Austric languages, nevertheless, owing to the' long separation, letter changes have occurred iri great numbers of the words so that tho flowing periods of tho respective orators could only be understood by those of their own race. A sudden lighting up of the features of the Samoans when a word common to both languages was used by a Maori chiefs or vice versa was clear proof of the original unity of the language. In furtherance of the desiro of the Samoan Administration that the visiting chiefs should bo given an insight into methods of Maori local government, a special meeting of the Arawa Maori Council was arranged and to this the visitors then adjourned. The council was conducting business with regard 'to the passing of new by-laws, but, the chairman postponed the immediate business for the purpose of enabling tho Director of Maori Hygiene to explain the method of procedure and administration.

At the conclusion of the business, the chairman, Wikiriwhi to Tuahu, on behalf of tile Council and the Arawa tribe, presented the Samoan chiefs with a beautifully carved replica of the canoe Arawa in which, their people had made the migration under the captaincy of Tamatekapua. The actual incantation which had been used five and a-half centuries ago during the great migration to bring the, voyagers safely through a great storm which was encountered on the ocean of Kiwa was then recited by a descendant of the Tohunga of those far off days. The chairman explained that just as that incantation had brought their ancestors safely to New Zealand, so they trusted that the canoe and the love and affection which it symbolised would ensure to their visitors a safe journey to their island home. A memorable rernoi-v nmcbided with a _ Maori lunche :n :■ V-,. • : ilo;v= at j >\ hak.it at id diiuiig ...all a t sjhmcmutu.