LIFTING A TAPU

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22976, 2 March 1938, Page 12

LIFTING A TAPU

EAST COAST MAORIS CARROLL MEMORIAL HOUSE REPLY MADE TO BISHOP [by telegraph OWN CORRESPONDENT - ] HASTINGS, Tuesday Following reports that a tapu had been laid on the Sir James Carroll Memorial- House near Wairoa, on account of the non-observance of traditional customs. Bishop Bennett. Bishop of Aotearoa, stated that tapu had lost its significance in these days of modern enlightenment. The younger generation did not believe in tapu. Although the ridgepole may have been laid in the wrong direction, and other traditions departed from, it was not of any conseqence to the modern Maori. Replying to Bishop Bennett, the secretary of the Ngati-Kohungunu Memorial Committee, Mr. S. Carroll, said: "The bishop regards tapu from the Christian viewpoint. On behalf of the Xgati-Koliungunu I disagree. The time has come when the Maoris should stand together to protect their ageold customs. The Maoris have jpuch to lose by assimilation by the pakeha. The time has come for a national revival. "We do not laugh at pakeha customs." he added. " Our King must participate in traditional ceremony before the enthronement, therefore why should Maoris not observe their own customs?"

Negotiations are in hand to secure a man in the Bay of Plenty who can perform a suitable ceremony to lift the tapu, as there are none sufficiently well versed among the Ngati-Kohungunu. The official opening of the memorial house will take place <on May 28.