NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCVIII, Issue 18084, 11 July 1923, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Visit of the Maori Footballers: Shades of Te Rauparaha! "What would the mighty Maori chieftain say if he could see to-day’s friendly contest between Maori and Pakeha? Here are his words: Ka mate! Ka mate! Ea ora! Ka ora! Ka, mate! Ea mate! Ka oral Ka oral Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru Nana i tiki mai, whakawhiti te ra! Upane! Upane! Upane! Ka upr>ne! Whiti to ra! It is impossible to express in a bare translation what these words mean—the tense feelings of alternate fear and hate, culminating in au outburst of triumph over impending death. The brevity of the original, the idiomatic usages, and the full rich resonance of the vowels, make a true rendering into English very difficult. In a Government publication there is this translation :

Death is done, And life is come. Behold the illustrious chief of power. 'j\) v/hom we owe this lightsome hour. He stays with us an honoured while, And evil flies before his smile. Only the Maori can give the liaka its characteristic interpretation. But Te Rauparaha’s war song has lost its native meaning. Behold another miracle of British statesmanship. Maori and Pakeha moot in friendly rivalry on the playing fields. Both enjoy equal rights of citizenship. United under the flag, co-partners m every peril, and sharers in tho privileges and responsibilities of freeborn citizens of the greatest Empire the world has ever known. « » a ‘ Tho Hole in the Hill.” All Canterbury looks forward in pleasurable anticipation to tho official opening of tho Otirn Tunnel, now definitely fixed for Saturday, August i. After years oi delay and dis-

appointment the “'Hole in tho Hill ’ will become one of the steel highways of the Dominion, linking East and West in bonds of trade and neighbourly intercourse. The people of Westland displayed commendable patience as they witnessed the snail-like progress made in the biggest engineering job ever attempted in the Dominion. Governments have come and gone during the long years of struggle against tremendous difficulties. Millions havt, been poured into the work, while the parochial critics in the North Island have protested against the large sums of money being expended on what they regarded as a financially unsound railway undertaking. The good-hearted people of Westland, however, despite years of disappointment, never lost their faith in the cause they so wholeheartedly espoused. Domestic disagreements were forgotten in the united demand they made that the State should honour tho promises given to the most neglected province of the Dominion. The days of discouragement, and the days of misgivings are over, and on August 4, the people of Canterbury and Westland will rejoice that the long wait is over, and that

regular railway communication connecting the two provinces has become an accomplished fact. From the national viewpoint, the event is of great import, more particularly as tho enormous sum invested in this mighty engineering work can now be transferred from tho category of the deadweight of debt to the list of investments that begin to produce revenue. West Coasters have implicit faith m the Otira Tunnel ns a profitable undertaking, and every New Zealande. shares the liqpe that the hostile critics will be confounded, and the great undertaking fulfil all the high hopes of the people of the two provinces most intimately interested.

Article XI. “If as a result of senseless acts of sabotage and equally ruthless reprisals, followed by a diplomatic rupture, tho Ruhr peril becomes acute,” the diplomatic correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle” warns France and all other Powers interested, “Britain may be impelled to evoke Article XI. of the Covenant of the League of Nations in the Treaty of Versailles.” Ostensibly France is such a stickler for the terms of the Treaty that the Poincare Administration should not offer any opposition to Britain’s proposal. Article XI. provides that “any war ot threat of war, whether immediately affecting any of the members of the League or not, is hereby declared a matter of concern to the whole League and the League shall take any action that may be deemed wise and effectual to safeguard the peace of nations, and the Secretary-General shall, on the request of any member of the League, forthwith summon a meeting of the Council.” It is also declared to be the friendly right of each member of the League to bring to the attention ol the Assembly, or of the Council, any circumstance whatever affecting international relations which threatens to disturb international peace of the good understanding between nations, upon which peace depends. The French attitude is clearly defined in the recent utterances of French statesmen. Trie President, for example, stated the other day that nothing would make France abandon her policy in the Ruhr. Hence the justification for the Council of the League making a timely effort to promote an acceptable settlement.