THE LOYAL-HEARTED MAORI.

Otago Witness, Issue 2499, 5 February 1902, Page 73

THE LOYAL-HEARTED MAORI.

A PATRIOTIC FAREWELL

The Maori language is one which particularly lends i€self to picturesque and poetical figures of speech, musical as it is and replete with stirring sentiments adapted to the expression of love or war ; consequently when it was known that the East Coast chief, Tuta Nihoniho, was preparing a farewell address to the " youths of New Zealand who are going to fight the Boer?," something out of the common wa» expected, and the expectation was realised. The loyal heart of the Maori chief has breathed forth to the pakehas a stirring motto that should shame the miserable anti-patriots to bilence e\crmore. The following is * the translation : —

Go, O my rhildren, go in the noble resolve and lo\ ing attachment for our parent England, who ha-s been wronged by the Boers and thobe people who assist them ; go, then, and face the guns of the Boers and the sudden death which may be the fate of any one of you. Go, go, then, there is no other refuge either in front or behind you but the refuge mentioned in the 46th Psalm of David in the Bible. All such deeds as drinking and such like pastimes must be left behind you in New Zealand. When you are afloat on the ocean continualls' look to God for guidance. Go, go. then, and take my name — that of the Ika-roa-a-Maui-Tikitiki-o -Taranga (the long fish of Maui. the Topknot of Taranga), known to the Europeans as the two islands of New Zealand. Take it ; make it known amongst the nations. Go, be brave ; receive your wounds in front, that being the mark of a chief (that is of the brave) ; for he who receives his wound behind is put down as a coward ; go, therefore, like the chief (as the brave). Great was the love for yoa and the grief for ourselves the Maoris, because the native people were not pr-nnittpd to go with you to die assistance of our Mother England Now, O my children, this is a new thing to me under the sun— namely, having two children, one whit" and tlio other brown, that when trouble owrtakes me, their parent, that I should forbid my brown child to corns to

my assistance and invite my white child to. die with me. What, then, i& to be done with regard to the acute pangs of love of my brown child towards me, its parent? There are two aspects to this question — (1) a loving regard lest harm should befall a much-beloved child; or (2) a feeling that the child is despised as being incapable of accomplishing any great deed ; but the Maori proverb says : " Big morsel or little morsel, the jaw has to move all the same." Farewell, then ; be brave ; set your thoughts on God to help you. By so doing you will return with honour to us, your parents, and we, your parents, on our part, not knowing what is in store for you, will leave you in the hands of God. Go, then, and may God be near you always. God save King Edward the Seventh.— From your friend, Tuta Nihoniho, Captain Ngatiporou Rifles.

While a performancp at the Melbourne Opera House was in full swing one Saturday night, Detective Sexton walked into the drees circle and arrested a quiet-looking girl named Violet Grey on a charge of imposition. The girl, who had assisted in the show until the abolition of the " first part.'' is alleged to have developed an extraordinary mania for presenting costly bouquets to her friends. She ia said to have called at the shop of Mrs Jessie Collier, of Brunswick street, Fitzroy, on New Year's Eve, and ordered £4 10s worth of flowers, under the name of Mies Lewis, alleging that a friend of hers was to be married.