One of the longest Maori names in New Zealand is attached to a small village some distance up the Wanganui River, a settlement called “Putiki-whar* anui-a-Tamateapokai-whenua.” Refer* ence to this place was made by Mr. V. F. Fisher, chairman of the Maori race section of the 'Auckland Institute and Museum, during a lecture when he pointed out that the importance the Maoris attached to native flax was reflected in reference to it in many of their names'. “There is an agitation to have many of these old Maori names preserved,” said Mr. Fisher, “but I think there is something to be said for the shortening of this one to ‘Putiki.’ ” “Everybody is organised these days,” said Mr. A. E, Robinson, Auckland provincial secretary of the Farmers’ Union, in a speech *o members of the Morrinsville branch of the union. > “The banks are organised, and by raising the bank ratd they have made good profits. And .the lawyers are organised—why, bless my soul, they can ruin you, and charge you for doing it. And the doctors are worse—they can kill you, and charge your executors.” Even the insects were organised, and to illustrate this he told a story of a cqach driver with a whip, who flicked the heads off flowers, but when asked to flick a hornets’ nest, ho replied: “No, they are organised.”
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Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1930, Page 9
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224Untitled Taranaki Daily News, 8 July 1930, Page 9
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