Maori Ko For Gov.-General

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 838, 5 December 1929, Page 1

Maori Ko For Gov.-General

REPLICA OF NATIVE TOOL LAYING OF FOUNDATION STONE OF MASSEY COLLEGE His Excellency the Governor--General, Sir Charles Fergusson, will carry away with him from New Zealand a souvenir of the Dominion in the shape of a “Ko” or Maori digging tool. This was presented to him yesterday by the Fletcher Construction Company, contractors for the building of the Massey Agricultural College at Palmerston North, and was used by his Excellency in the laying of the foundation stone. It was made by A. Kohn, Ltd., jewellers, of Auckland, and is an exact replica of the Maori tool. The “Ko” was the most important of agricultural tools to the Maori, and ranged from 6 to 10ft in length. A teka, or foot-rest, is lashed to the lower end of the shaft, the blade of which is very narrow. The soil was not turned over, the tool being used for breaking up ground for crops, digging post holes and excavating soil in the construction of earthworks. The upper end of a well-finished ko is elaborately carved and the foot-rest is made from a carved block of wood, though a few specimens in bone and stone are | • | known. The ceremony of digging with the ko was considered a tapu task by the Maoris, who chanted as they dug, standing one behind the other in a long line, their spade-levers being gaily decorated with feathers. The elaborately carved model presented to his Excellency yesterday carries a gold plate with details of the presentation.