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Waka Maori, Volume 12, Issue 21, 17 October 1876, Page 261

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European correspondents who have a knowledge of Maori are requested to be good enough to forward their communications in both languages. To the Editor of the Waka Maori. _ . Matata, September 30, 1876. +l. £? ad '~" G ' reet pg- Take my words on board of the WaTca and let it take tliem across Ngarnroro river and on to the Ante, where the people for whom it is intended reside, namely Arihi te Nahu, Nepia te Hapuku, Hapuku te Nahu, Tipene, and the rest of them. My friends, your letter published in the WaTca of the Bth of August last has reached the coast, and I have read it. In answer I ask, are you children that you should talk in that manner about the Pakeha? (H. R. Russell, Esq.) Yourselves only are to blame for your own folly and infatuation, for you had previously lost your land at Heretaunga in a similar way. What is the use of your writing about such matters ? Possibly you think you will not be laughed at for talking in this way. Write no more on this subject; your father Henry Eussell is not to blame. You saw that lie was a Pakeha, and yet would persist in calling him your father, although you are Maoris. This saying may well be applied to you, viz:— " A wild people, who have never seen the Pakehas. Heretaunga is their home, and they are called the Ngatikahungunu tribe." You take the Pakehas' money, and get into his debt, and then you say he has taken your land from you without any claim or right to it whatever. No, the fact is you go to public houses and get partially drunk; then finding yourselves without money, you go to the Pakeha and, with a profusion of promises, and abundance of talk about your land, you extract money from him, and when you recover your reason you say the Pakeha has lied. Let us hear no more on this subject. Prom Hakopa.

To the Editor of the Waka Maori. Ohiwa, Opotiki, August 19th, 1576. Friend, —Greeting. Please take my letter oil board of our canoe, the Waka Maori, that it may be carried to the ends of our island and read by both Maoris and Pakehas. My friends, ye tribes of the island, I ask have you seen the circular published by TSTgatikahungunu, proposing that a (Maori) Parliament be established for this island. Now what is the meaning of having this parliament ? "Will it produce good or evil, justice and right, or confusion and trouble P The ancients said (in Proverbs), "Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood; so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife," —and where is the Native district which has been set apart by law for the establishment of such a parliament ? And where is the money of this people, the Maori, to enable them to muster in one place for the purpose of carrying on the business of the country? Shall we be arrogant and offensive toward the Government ?—that would be wrong, rather let us ask that the system of counties be extended to the Maoris. The selling and leasing of land will never cease, for it is written, " The love of money is the root of all evil." It is doubtless from ignorance that the Arawas refuse to allow the Lands Court to sit in their district —leaving it without the law, and calling it purely a Maori district. Perhaps some of our friends may understand the meaning of Ngatikahungunu's request to the Queen to look upon their grievances ? I cannot comprehend it, for we have brought our troubles on ourselves;

the Government did not take our land, we sold it ourselves because we desired to get money. "What is the use of Maoris entering Parliament as if they were "the dead stumps of Takana," not understanding the English language. (TaTcana is a beach at Rotorua, with a number of stumps of trees protruding from it.) It would be weU if there were no Maoris in Parliament —let us attend to our affairs outside. The tribe of Tuhourangi is called the " land holding Putaiki." But this is not done in defiance of the Government; they look to the Government as their support and protection. The Maoris still retain their freedom and rights, for our country has not been treated as some islands have been treated—the Treaty of Waitangi is still in force. Let us ask the G-overnment to extend to us the system of counties to occupy our attention. But the suggestion of Ngatikahungunu that a (Maori) Parliament be established, and that we petition the Queen to look upon our grievances, is simply absurd. How is the Queen to remove our grievances ? Is she to condemn the Government, or what ? From Tamati Hapimana.

To the Editor of the Waka Maori. "Wellington, October 13, 1876. Sie, —In the Wananga of the 7th of October, there is an article written by some nameless person, criticising and sneering at the Maori of the Government translators, and also the Maori of the Waka Maori. The article in question is printed in English only—not in Maori. He holds up to ridicule certain sentences which he has culled from the translation of the Native Lands Bill, and which he says are bad Maori, and impossible to be understood by the Maoris throughout the country. But I say if he had published in full the passages from which he selected those sentences, the meaning would have been clearly apparent. Those sentences from our language, the language of the Maori people, are perfectly correct and good Maori; no Maori in any part of this colony would say that any one of those sentences condemned by the Wananga is inaccurate. It says the following sentence is incorrect, " I taia i runga i te mana o te Kawanatanga," (" Printed oil the authority of the Government,") but I say it is perfectly correct, and no Maori would say otherwise. It is for the Wananga to condemn it—of course it knows best, because it is a Pakeha. The Wananga is in the habit of condemning everything. It condemned the Maori of the Rev. Mohi Turei, in the letter which he wrote to the Waka Maori, as if he were ignorant of his own language! However, the aim of the writer of the article referred to is very evident; he knows those sentences are correct, but he wishes to vex the Waka Maori by his sneers and mockery, springing without doubt from the jealousy of his heart. Prom your friend C. W. Hadfield. a Maori.