THE OLD-TIME MAORI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20472, 25 January 1930, Page 8 (Supplement)

THE OLD-TIME MAORI.

MEMORIES OF A PIONEER.

" But few more years shall pass when stories taken from early days in New Zealand must be told second-hand, for the band of pioneers who knew life here when tho Maori people were predominant is dwindling ono by one, and each takes with him wistfully memories that have helped to soften life's closing." The words quoted are from Mr. G. W. Hutchinson's introduction to " Kohikohinga," tho reminiscences and reflections of Vernon Roberts —known to Waikato natives as Rapata —collected and arranged by his son, G. T. Roberts.

It is fortunate, indeed, that of late tho sad truth of Mr. Hutchinson's words has been recognised by some of the oltf pioneors themselves, and tho history and literature of New Zealand enriched by their published reminiscences of days already passing into the hazq of legend. Koliikohinga is the Maori term for a collection, and the book is a collection of short articles, all dealing with Maori life and character. Sidelights on Maori Character. Set down with a commendable absence of sentimentality, these jottings give a vivid picture of the Maori, working and playing, in war and in pcaco, at a time not long after " the pakeha brought him Christianity, waipiro, and the general blessings of civilisation." " A queer mixture of cunning and childishness, wisdom and gullibility was tho old-time Maori. That he was treacherous to a degree is well known, but, then treachery was, in his unenlightened days, what might be called a legalised art in warfare. Wo hold treachery in abhorrence, but the Maori is not to bo judged by our standards. Treachery was to liirn strategy." Some of tho Maori proverbs illustrate this point of view. Translated, they run: " As the spider is unseen when hidden in his web, so the,real intention of the man is concealed in tho recesses of his heart;" " It is possible to search the corners of a house, but thoso of a heart impossible;" and, still more straightforward, " Tho practised liar is the best liar." Other Maori proverbial sayings compare very favourably for wisdom and general applicability with those of older legends. " The eel-fisher's sleep is tranquil while that of a member of a war party is broken;" " Let industry lie rewarded, lest idleness get tho advantage;" " The shaft of wood may be parried, but tho shaft of the tongue cannot he parried. 99 Characteristic Anecdotes.

Typically Maori is (lie talc of Wirihnna, the ferryman. A friend of Rapata late one afternoon hailed Wirihana, but it was a long time before lie appeared, and, getting nothing more from him than " Taihoa," the other became angry. Finally Jic and his horses Avero taken on board at dusk, but on arrival at the other side Wirihana's " strategy" became plain. "I suppose you know about the time this ferry. . . When sun go down I charge you two times twice." Wirihana's procrastination had had a very definite object. One of the illustrations is " the first and probably the only note issued on the Bank of Aotearoa." Tawhiri, a ranga'tira with vague, if grandiose, notions about finance, presented Rapata with a neatly-printed note for kotahi pauna (one pound). The design included a (lax bush and tea-tree flowers, and (in Maori) the statement: " This money is authorised for everybody." It took Rapata some timo to explain to the old optimist that he might be in some difficulty when lie was called on to redeem the notes.

The Look contains many footnotes to Maori history. For instance, it is the declared belief of.Kapata that the famous defiance at Orakau, " Akc, akc, akc," which is generally attributed io Rcwi Maniapoto, was really uttered by Hauraki 'i'onganui. Pleasant Native Customs. Among the Maori customs noted by Mr. Roberts is the habit which natives bad, when travelling, of calling out plea-sant-sounding words and phrases, syllable by syllable, quite regardless of their meaning. " When several natives were travelling in company they would vie with one another in getting effects." For instance, one in front calling out E-ka-ta-i-na would bo answered from the rear with E-ka-ra-we, or Pa-ke-ke-a-no by Ka-ta-hi-a-no. As the author suggests, such careful practice in enunciation might well be imitated by their white brothers.

The jacket of the book, with its imitation of Maori weaving, is of distinctive beauty and originality, while the title pages of the numerous articles are enlivened by delicate reproductions of attractive sketches of native interest, made by the author's sou.

" Kohikohinsra: Reminiscences and Reflections on Kapatu (Vernon Roberts);" edited by G. T. Roberta. (Whitcombe and Tombs.)