MAORI KINGSHIP

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22356, 29 February 1936, Page 17

MAORI KINGSHIP

Sir,—l doubt if your correspondent "Whakatowhea" is right in criticising the title "King of the Maori People. ' The intent of the king movement at its inception in the fifties of the last century A r as to unite all the Maori tribes under one supreme authority; and Te Wherowhero, in assuming the purple, had undoubtedly the concurrence of powerful chiefs of many tribes. Support of the movement was by no means confined to Waikato tribes, and the acquiescence of such notable Maoris as Te Heuheu of Taupo, Te KauiaTakirau, and Wiremu Kingi, who might well by right of ancestry and "mana have claimed the title themselves, lent the new kingship considerable dignity and importance, and universal acceptance in Maoridom. Whether or not the Whakatowhea tribe was party to the establishment of the kingship I do not know. It is more probable that that tribe was at the tune too much intent on cultivating the arts of peace, and developing trade with the port of Auckland" in fish and kumara, to take much part in the councils of the more martial tribes. They should fall in line with their neighbours. The wars of the sixties no doubt separated many Maoris, who took the pakeha side, from allegiance to Te Wherdwhero, but, those old dissensions being happily forgotten, we may hope that the Maori people generally have returned to unity of fealty to an institution that does much, and will do more, toward perpetuating and carrying forward all that is admirable in Maori tradition. Long life to King Koroki as "King of the Maori People." Pakeha Maobi.