COMING OF THE MAORI.

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 35

COMING OF THE MAORI.

TRADITIONS OF THE RACE. ADDRESS BY DR BUCK. One of the most enjoyable functions in connection with the sessions of tlie Australasian Medical Congress was a lecture by Dr Te Rangi Hiroa, better known in Dunedin as Dr Peter Buck, who spoke in Burns Hall on Saturday night on the subject of the coming of the Maori. Dr Buck’s reputation as a speaker with original ideas and the ability to hold the interest of an audience had evidently been spread abroad, for the hall was well filled with people from far. and near. For a little more than an hour Dr Buck had the closest attention of his audience while he dealt with the traditions of his race and the history of their arrival in New Zealand, so far as could be gathered frofn the records available. The Chairman (Dr G. E. Thompson) introduced the speaker of the evening in an appropriate manner. He mentioned that Dr Buck was a well-known student of the Otago University, and amongst his many achievements here was the fact that he held for three years the long jump championship of New Zealand. Later on he held a seat in Parliament; and. lie had heard the statement that when Dr Buck was about to make a speech members of the House who were on the point of retiring retraced their steps and were glad to hear what he had to say. Dr Buck expressed the opniion that the Maoris originally belonged to the Caucasian race and migrated from Smith Eastern Europe towards the East Indies, then proceeding to the South Seas, and eventually coming to New Zealand. ‘ The date of departure of the last colonising group of canoes from Hawaiki (Tahiti) to New Zealand has been approximately fixed as 1350. This 1 had been calculated from the average number of generations from various ancestors vfrho Came iii those canoes. The time , of'The year in which tlie canoes set .sail was’of great traditional interest., Recording To the version from the Takitiinu canoe, the branch or division of the wtos Ti’an-uru-oia. From the calendar, this corresponded .roughly with Xov.epiber. The Polynesian months were -divided, .into nights, and not days, as with’ Europeans. The night of the . month on .which .ths canoes left was' the Orongoiiui. Ibis iu most Maori tables was the 28th, but in some it was the 27th. ... ~•> b'urtlier confirmation, of the ilatiijof sailing came from tradition supported i>v" botany. Early European. navigators. : :in observing the sailing powers of. Polynesian seagoing canoes was a ■ fair.-- wiad, had stated that seven knots an hour was easily accomplished. From this Mr Elsdon Best showed that the journey from Rarotanga would take about 15 days. If the canoes left for New Zealand toward the end of November they must have reached tlieir destination by the middle of December. Various canoes of the Meet shared the common tradition that' when the fleet made their landfall at Whangaparaoa, in the Bay of Plenty; the shores were, ablaze with the scarlet blossoms of the pohutukawa. This was stressed in Maori tradition by the fact that one of the chiefs cast his red head-dress or kura into the sea, saying: “ There are kura in abundance in the new land that lies before us." The pohutukawa was in full bloom during December. . Thus Maori and Rarotongan traditions supported each other, and were further confirmed by the flowering of the pohutukawa. Dr Buck concluded by stating that the arrival of the Maori was part of the jiistory of New Zealand, .and thflt the Maoris and New Zealanders were one. The Maoris were proud of the traditions that had been handed down to-them, and the residents of New Zealand should be proud of any traditions that would add to the common store of knowledge. The history of the Maori and of the Polynesians should be taught to the children in che public schools so that they might understand something about the race from which the Maoris had descended, and realise that they were worthy citizens of this country. * " Dr Harvey Sutton (New South Wales) proposed a vote of thanks to Dr Buck for his address, and referred to the value of such an address as they had heard that night and tlie investigations by’ Professor MacMillan Brown in regard to the Pacific. He felt sure that tlie new professor of anthropology at the Sydney University would throw some new light on the problem. The evening had been a memorable one for all present, and the address had been of real scientific value. A vote of thanks for a most delightful evening was carried by acclamation.