CHANGES IN THE MAORI: CONGRESS OF THE TRIBES.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20221, 3 February 1934, Page 12

CHANGES IN THE MAORI: CONGRESS OF THE TRIBES.

To-day’s Special Article.

Waitangi Recalls Rotorua Gathering: When Royalty Saw Old Rivals Meet.

By

J.C.

It has been stated that the ceremonial “ hui” at historic Waitangi in celebration of the Treaty and in honour of the Governor-General’s gift to the nation is the first great gathering of all the Maori tribes that has yet been organised in New Zealand. This is not quite correct.

The passing of a third of a century dims many memories, but the Maori assemblage which greeted Royalty at Rotorua in 1901 should not be forgotten, nor should there be forgotten the fact that that assemblage was practically the last salute of the old order as well as the first coming together of some tribes that until then had not had an opportunity of meeting in any large numbers since the war days.

OUR PRESENT KING AND QUEEN, then the Duke and Duchess of York, not only received a'wonderfully fervid welcome of fealty and aroha from the four thousand Maoris gathered on the official marae, on the plain between Ohinemutu and Whakarewarewa. They witnessed also the most important native congress of modern times, the colourful meeting at which old foes or rivals had an opportunity of composing their differences and jealousies, and of pitting themselves against each other in the song and dance parades which displayed the tribal pride and tradition. Never again can there be seen such a gathering, for in the more than thirty years since then the Maori has changed. At Rotorua in 1901 many of the old warriors whose memories spanned the period between the cannibal era and the peaceful present were seen in a clan gathering for the last time. A discerning member of the Royal party, an English Press writer, realised something of this aspect of the scene when the old chiefs came forward to lay their gifts before the Duke and Duchess. The obeisance suggested to his mind the classic Roman hail and farewell of those about to die. Tattooed Faces Going. Maoridom has lost since 1901, for one thing, the tattooed face which once was the great distinguishing national badge, the visible “ tohu ” of the race. At Rotorua many of the venerable chiefs who cried their welcomes to the grandson of the great white Queen were tattooed of face and body. Some wonderfully carved old faces gazed on pakeha Royalty for the first and last time. There were even grim old fellows there who had eaten of the flesh of their enemies in their fighting youth. There was, too, a little band of tall, lean veterans of Heke’s war, half a dozen of the “ Old Guard ” of Ngapuhi, whom their young people had brought down from the Bay of Islands to lead the Northerners in their parade and gift making. There was one man, I remember, whose black tattoo contrasted singularly with his almost white face; he was a half-caste Who as a youth had carried musket and tomahawk in Hone Heke’s cause. There were veterans of every war in the island since vHeke’s of 1845-6. Many of them had served against each other in the campaigns, when some were Kingites and Hauhaus and some found it expedient and profitable to serve on the Government side.

* All, all have gone. The dark warrior face has vanished. But, happily, the women still preserve the artistic old tohu of

nationality. Hundreds of the wahines have still the blue chin decoration wrought by the tattooer’s little chisel. Long may it be before that handsome relic of the primitive New Zealander vanishes from the land. The war dance of old time was seen at the Rotorua gathering. I doubt whether any tribe at Waitangi will be able to give anything so thrilling and warrior-like as the great “ peruperu ” -which was performed in 1901 by the Ngati-Tuwharetoa tribe, of Taupo, under their chief, the late Te Heuheu.

A hundred and twenty men, in a column six deep, leaped into that wild battle dance with a fire and aspect of ferocity that no other tribal party could approach. They had been trained by the veteran Waaka Tamaira, and that ancient warrior was an athlete to the last. His company on the jump looked like some strange flock of birds on the wing for the moment, as they leaped three feet in the air with their feet doubled under them, their painted faces all turned on one side, their war axes raised high, while they yelled a thundering song.

The modern Maori has so many other things to occupy him, so many distractions that the Old Guard never knew, that it is doubtful whether the ancient fire can quite be recaptured at Waitangi. However, there will be sufficiently vivid and poetical features of the great conference to stimulate the admiration and the wonder of the pakeha beholders. Saving Maori Arts.

In the number of Maori participants—as well as of pakeha spectators—it- will outdo the Royal hui. It will not only be a means of uniting the tribes in a common bond of thankfulness for th£ Treaty that gave them a nation’s status. It will revive their clan pride in a healthy way, recall their ancient craft and artistry.

The Ngapuhi, for example, have become so Europeanised that they are in danger of losing their old-time skill and knowledge iri the arts, crafts and the dances and songs of their race. The Waitangi celebration, with all its preliminaries and its renaissance of the old poetic ways, will do much to save for Ngapuhi the beauty and tradition of the past. And so with some of the other tribes.

His Excellency, Lord Bledisloe, will have the satisfaction of knowing that his gift of the Waitangi estate to the nation will carry in its train a great deal more than he perhaps realised when that inspiration came. The gift and the gathering and all that arises therefrom will help to salve much that the Maori race was in danger of losing through indifference and neglect.