Maori Delicacies

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 87, 17 August 1923, Page 2

Maori Delicacies

STBNCRAYS AND SHARKS. A plea for the prohibition of the netting of stingrays and sharks in Ka'.vhia Harbour by Europeans was contained in a petition by Kana Puhi and 37 others, read to Parliament by the chairman of the Native Affairs Committee (Mr J. A. Young), who announced that the committee had no recommendation to make.

u The petition is quaintly worded, as follows 1 ;

To the honourable Speaker and the honourable members of the House of Peprosoutatives of the Dominion of New Zedond in Parliament assembled, Greeting! We, your petitioners, aboriginal Natives of New Zealand residing at Kawhia, in the provincial district of Auckland, humbly pray that: (1.) The Europeans bo prohibited from netting fish in the Kawhia l harbor for the purpose of marketing same; (2) they select these fish, which are suitable for the market, and discard the sharks and stingrays, winch they leave on the to dry. Let it bo understood that these are delicacies with the Maori race, and that they have been so from the days of our ancestors even to the present; (3) Hie Moris fish for sharks and ' sting, ays in the summertime, for in the winter they are allowed to spawn. We are therefore afraid that if the netting in the harbour continues, it might considerably reduce our supplies of sharks and stingrays, for the Maoris consider thorn delicacies of the first order; (4) we are desirous that the netting be confined to the ocean; (5) our petition to prohibit them has been brought by the desire to protect our exclusive rights to our, fishing reserves. Enougn! Good health to the Speaker, and the lion, members, under the blessing of the All Highest. Enough!