THE EXHIBITION.

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 84, 11 December 1906, Page 3

THE EXHIBITION.

TFbom the Dunedin Eveni.mg Stak.] MAGGIE PAPAKURA. A CHAT WITH THE FAMOUS GUIDE

One of the notable people at the Exhibition just noAv is Maggie Papakura, the Avellknown guide at Whakarewarewa. Accompanied 'by her sister Bella and the poi girls, she arrived Avith the Arawas last week, and soon made it plain to the pressmen paying, daily visits to the pah that ehe Avas not there to be intervieAved. The good offices of Mr J. Turner, m charge of the geyser and thermal display at the Exhibition, produced a change of attitude, and finally Maggie ©aid that she would talk to two of them — the Dunedin 'Star' and the Christchuieh 'Press.' " You bear m mind," Avas Mr Turner's Avord of caution to the representatives of these papers before the interview, "that Maggie is an educated Avoman and a lady." The reporters found her all that. She talks charmingly, but not «o much m regard to matter as to manner, and her Avay of pronouncing Maori words such as WhakareAvarewa and TaraAvera is m itself very interesting. She gives such a delicate value to the "c's," such a rich, one to the " a's," and such a peculiar turn to the "t's" that m listening to her one is reminded of those triumphs m pronunciation Avhich only the educated Parisian, handling the subtleties of his OAvn tongue, achieves. " I*ve been guiding for nine years," said Maggie. " I and my sisters Bella and Pip ; Avere the first guides at WhakareAvareAva. We get many thousand visitors every year, usually nice pepple. Occasionally Aye strike a bad one — one avlio is hard to get on Avith — but among the great number of nice people Avho come these are hardly noticed when they are there, and they are soon forgotten after they leave. It takes a week to get round all the sights of Rotorua. and sometimes parties wish to be guided round them all ; but I ahvays prefer to keep to WhakarewareAva, where" the gej'seis are, and where my oavii home is. " Yes, I took the Duke of York and the Duchess round. I don't think I shall soon forget the kindness of the Duchess. You see, Aye AA-ere m such a state about such great visitors coming. I suspect we Avere A*ery much like a lot of other people m the colony at that time — Aye didn't know Avhat Aye would be required to do m the presence of royalty, nor lioav we should address them. I remember that m our dilemma Aye Avent to Mr Seddon, and asked Avhat Aye should do. He just said to me : 'Be yourself, Maggie ' ; and after all it Avasn't much of an ordeal. All my nervousness Avas dispelled as soon ac the Duchess, with a very gracious smile, held out her hand. And the Duke — he Avas just as nice. They wer v charmed Avith everything they saw. I took them over the boiling holes and the geysers, and I knoAV tney Avere interested, -for they asked questions about everything, especially about us Maoris, and I told them all that I could. I should never have thought that royalty could have been so homely. When they left, the Duke gavo me a brooch,, which, of course, I regard as one of my treasured possessions. "A very charming visitor Avas Paderewski. He played, for me m my own home, and lam told that mine AA r as the only private piano on Avhich he played Avhile he Avas here. I don't knoAV Avhether ' charming ' is a Avord that one can apply to a man, but if you could call any man ' charming,' he Avais. He gave me a parrot, Avhich we call 'Paddy,' and I can tell you Aye have educated him a lot. — he- talks Maori beautifully. Once Aye dressed PadereAVski up as ft Maori rangatira. Bella painted the tattoo on vhis face, and Aye Avere all photographed m a group — good fun. He Avas fSvice at Whakarewarewa, taking the mud baths for his nerves — he was a very nervous man. Mark Hambourg Avas another delightful man. All the musical people are nice. Among my photographs I have a large one of Miss Jessie Maclachlan ; and you " — nodding to the ' Star ' representative—" can tell the Otago people that I always look back on Miss Maclachlan's visit It is one of^iny beautiful memories." " & it true," asked one of the reporters, " that your visit to Australia Avas for the purpose of assisting m arranging the poi dances m the opera 'Tapu'?" " I believe that Avas the story," replied Maggie, " but there Avas nothing m it. I just Arent over for a health trip — I had a bad chest at the time. I don't think I could give you my impressions of Sydney m Avords — it Avas such a great wonder to me. On my first visit to Australia I saw Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, and the Australian people AA'ere just as kind to us as everybody else has been. Among other things, the State Governments gave us free passes on the raihvavs, and our last visit of three and a-half months seemed no more than a day — Aye enjoyed ourselves so much. I have long memories of the Jenolan CaA r es, and also of one of j the Masonic balls that I Avas at. I'm A r ery fond of anything connected Avith the Masons. As for the poi dances Avhich Bella has arranged for the Exhibition — I don't want you to take this down — but I can never help- admiring Bella, although she is my own sister. I think 6he is so clever. In the present instance she has arranged and modified the dances so nicely so that they are Avhat the visitors to the pah on Saturdaj r said they were, 'just the thing.' " "Where were you educated, Maggie?" " Oh, that's a long story. We went first of all to a ladies' school at Tauranga, but after a year of it nothing Avould persuade us to go back. We.Avere so young and so frightened, and Aye couldn't speak a Avord of English, so you can imagine hoAV the other girls teased us. I thought on the whole that Aye were treated rather badly. Eventually Aye mastered English, and later Aye went to the ladies' school at Houkarere, Napier. The three years spent there were delightful, and I should haA'e liked to have stayed long. I think an important element m the training at this school is that you haxe to qualify m domestic economy before you get your certificate for passing the upper standards. " I would like you to say a Avoid about Mr Seddon. We Avill never forget his memory, and Aye got a great shock when Aye heard of his death. He had such a kindly way that Aye used to run to him like an elder brother with all our little troubles every time he Aras m our part "of the country. In my home I haA r e a photograph of a memorable group — the Duke of York, Hon. Mr Carroll, Mr Seddon, the Duke of Roxburghe, and myself. We are m the front row of a party of sixty. Of course Aye have had all th* Governors at WhakareAvareAva at some time or other. And Aye have specially pleasant recollections of Lord and Lady' Ranfurly. Lady Plunket also is much interested m I everything pertaining to the Maori. " As I mentioned before, Bella, Pipi, and I AA-ere the first guides at Whakarewarewa. Sophia used to do the guiding at TaraAA'era before the eruption, but she's getting old now — she is seventy-six — and gets the old age pension. We ahvays look on dear old Sophia as 1 one 'bf ourselves, because her husband is related to us. She is ( a Avonderful old Avoman, and carries her years so Avell that she doesn't look more than fifty or sixty. ' - , ".What do I think will be the future of I Maori pcophVand Maori things? Well, I "Jhink the Maori individuality -will won be

buried. The old custoais will be lost, the old tongue Avill be lost, too. Tliat is my idea. Whether it will be so really is hard to say. As civilisation advances everything 'Maori Avill go back. We must give our children an English education to fit them for the struggle of life, and so as time goes on we hear them talking — m their ordinary conversation \vith other Maori children, I mean — more and more English and less and less Maori."