MAORIS AND THE QUEEN

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 33

MAORIS AND THE QUEEN

GISBORNE, February 25. A Maori message that now has a touch of melancholy about it is given in the “Maori Journal” just published. It was addressed to the late Queen Victoria, but was purposely kept private, so .that the Poverty Bay tribe who sent it might rot b 9 forestalled by other tribes, hollowing is a summary of the message : “ Oh, mother, accept our sympathy in your sorrows. Accept our sympathy in the anxious time you must be having during the trouble now existing between yourself and the Boers. We, "your native people, do feel impatient to render you our help, but owing to your cautious mind, we could not obtain our desire, and showed our attachment by helping in another way. Oh, lady aged, our hearts do hope ancl long to see your face, but tin’s may be impossible. In the year 1868 the Buka of Edinburgh visited these islands, and we hoped to have seen him, but were disappointed. The other tribes, however, of the West Coast, oi the North and of the South, were honoured by his presence .amongst them; and now our bosoms throb, our breath quickehs and our hearts quiver for, behold! thy grandson, the Duka of York, together with the' Duchess of York, are to visit our shores; and as we thy people know that he is like the kotuku, that makes one flight only and never returns, we therefore pray you to invite your grandson to let his war canoe turn its bow into our harbour, and let his feet tread our soil at the spot upon which Captain Cook planted his footsteps. We, your subjects, have proved loyal to your mana from 1840, the year of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, to the present day, and we will continue to-do so to the end of the world. Our blood has been spillin upholding your mana, and in suppressing troubles that arose, and we feel proud of the fact that you presented our old men with swords and other tokens of your gratitude.”