THE KING MOVEMENT

Taranaki Daily News, 9 November 1935, Page 5

THE KING MOVEMENT

DEFENCE BY MR. P.H.JONES RETAINING MAORI k NOT “PRESERVING LOST CAUSE.’®, / ■ < The prominence of the Maori King movement in connection with the De-, rnocrat Party policy and • a resultant article in a weekly newspaper has led Mr. P. Te Hurinui Jones, Te Kuiti, to write in explanation of the movement and what it stands for. “The promise by the Democrat Party to set aside £l5OO a year from the Maori purposes fund as an annuity for the Maori King has resulted in an uncalled for and rather mischievous article being' published in a weekly newspaper of October 23,” writes Mr. Jones. “The most unsatisfactory feature is that the article in question was inspired in the first place by a political promise oh which neither King Koroki nor those closely related to him were consulted, or to which they have contributed in any way. ’ ‘ “The house of Potatau,” continues Mr? Jones, “has the unique distinction of being related by leading lines to all the principal tribes in New Zealand. King Koroki’s male line of descent was the Arawa line. Most of the ill-will shown now and again by certain sections among Maori tribes emanated from the various tribal wars and from the wars with the pakehas, when Maori tribes threw in their lot with the British troops and ' fought against the so-called rebel Maoris. The Maori kingship was not ,; sought by the Waikatos or the house of Potatau, but it was thrust upon: * them. Not thrice but many times that famous warrior of aristocratic lineage,' Potatau 'te Wherowhero, refused the/ ■.* offer of kingship, and he did not accept; until it became absolutely necessary for ■? him to do so in order to avert an outbreak t>f tribal warfare—this is from an unwritten page in the Maori history of the 1850.*5. • - “Generally in the pakeha mind the Maori King movement synchronised with the outbreak of the war . with the pakeha in the sixties and has been coloured accordingly and the pakeha l viewpoint correspondingly distorted,; with the result that the Maori King movement has been blamed for most of>the unhappiness that followed. Pains-’/ taking investigation since has shown’ that the attitude of the pakeha then and, his greed for land made the outbreak of hostilities inevitable. RESPECTS TO THE DEAD. “The lamentation, and the gun volleys and the great war dances and chants bi grief at the funeral of King Tawhitd were not a farewell to a lost cause but were the proper and fitting Maori way of paying their respects to their illustrious dead. The same thing, modified by modern influences, was seen when King Te Rata’s remains were taken up Taupiri mountain two years ago. , . ; “The' late King Mahuta and King Te Rata, each in his own way, exercised much influence in Maoridom and each had a place in the Maori mind in keeping with his high position.; Maori'kings no doubt have' detractors, but so Jiave 6 all k'ings. At critical times in history, however, nothing stirs the imagination more than the institution of kingship, or is more likely to bring about solidity and emphasise individuality. “Our loyalty and affection towards < such an outstanding monarch as King George V is not abated when we do honour to King Koroki also. Rather in making a place in . the Maori heart for one of our own blood it is-but a natural manifestation of racial pride. Some mis- ' f guided Maoris are inclined to'.cast aside these things in a ridiculous attempt to ape the pakeha. I' do not ■ think the pakeha is. impressed by such as these and in his heart of hearts, pities him of cur race who has lost his individuality in that of the pakeha. . ; “The late Lord Oxford, then the Rt. Hon. Mr.. Asquith, ohce.. said, ‘the modern world,. with its steam-roller methods, its levelling of excrescences, its rounding of angles and blunting of edges, all of them in due place and season healthful and even necessary processes, tends inevitably and increasingly towards uniformity, sameness, monotony. Let us do all we, can, in our children and in our cities, to keep fresh and potent 'the saving salt of individuality.’ “The ‘kingitanga’ is therefore not a pathetic attempt to revive the dead but a natural valiant and praiseworthy gesture to the world that the individuality of the Maori still lives.”