CORRESPONDENCE

Waka Maori, Volume I, Issue 27, 5 April 1879, Page 377

CORRESPONDENCE

To the Editor of the Waka Maori. Waikato, 27th March, 1879. My Friend,—Take this on board the Waka, to which (being a Native canoe) may be said to belong the old Maori song of the launch,—" Dra" Tainui mto the sea." Who will drag" it? George Grey and Sheehan (or Rianga*) will drag it to sea altogether, t This " song of the launch" Sir George Grey adopted as his motto when he was brought back from the Cape to be Governor of New Zealand. The English Government no doubt thought that he was the only man possessing sufficient influence to bring about a peace with the Maories. But when he returned here, he found that the seeds planted by himself had produced flowers. Then he took up our ancestral song of the launch as a means of destroying the Maories {lit.— 11 to bury the faces of the Native race.") "Ye foolish people, when will ve understand ?" And this is the same George Grev herenow again. When he was Governor of this country, in the days when Potatau te Wherowhero was made King of the Maories, he (Grey) put the following questions to him at Ngaruawahia:— " When you have consumed all your provisions, howwill you exist ?" Potatau answered, "On fish, fernroot, and mamaJcv, (tree-fern), and other such food of my ancestors." Grey,—" When all those things are gone, how will you exist ?" Potatau said, "On you." Then he went away (lefn the countrv). and on his return Waikato was carried out to sea (confiscated). It was Titokowaru who carried out the words spoken by Potatau, "On you." Through Grey, Waitara came to grief. Had he been a just man he would have carefully investigated the Waitara quarrel, the justice or the injustice of it. But he never considered whether the thing was rio-ht or wrong. And why ? Because Waikato was as gall to his eyes, and to the eyes of other land-devouring 1 a nuchas of_ Auckland. In the year ISO 3 I saw a proclamation made by George Grey, which said that "Lands belonging to persons who remained under the protection of the Queen, and of those who kept the peace, would not be interfered, with." This was a deception and a cheat. All the people were acquainted with that proclamation of Grey's, and the further matters set forth' in it. That measure of Grey's at that tfme was a good one—but mark! Chiefs of Waikato joined the neutral party. The Awaitaia, his young men said, had always been a Queenite ; and they were right, for at the discussion above PaitaiJ about the King movement he said to the Heu Heu, " Don't you know that those are the descendants of Muriwhenua, the man-devourer ?" Consider the meaning of the words of that man; they meant that they would get money for their land (i.e., the land would not be taken). And this is the ease of those who- joined the neutral party—the Raihi, Kukutai, and others of various tribes, also the tribe of Ngatiteata—their lands are gone. The Hau-Haus are harmless. They do not possess the subtlety and shrewdness of Grey, who is now again managing the affairs of the country, and splitting up tribes. I hear men, Pakehas and Maories. saying jhat George Grey will bring about good. Just so. He is the chief, and he has a most obedient

servant (Sheehan), to whom I can imagine him speaking after this style: " Q-o—humbug Manga, that we may he enabled to create a division among the chiefs of the King party. Know, Omy servant, that the Waikatos have no land. I took it all long ago. Maniapoto alone has any land left. You and I are wasting our breath talking to the Maori King. He has no land; not so Manga, he is the chief who has much land. If Manga will agree to our proposals', then the King party will have no place to set their feet upon. It will be the same as in the case of the Teira, the Kirikumara, the Rangitake (William King). Although they all had an equal claim to Waitara, what did it matter so long as Te Teira agreed to alienate the land ? Of what consequence was Te Rangitake when we had secured Te Teira ?" This is the little game of the old gentleman. He said last March, "I am desirous of leaving the country behind me in a settled and prosperous state; for I am old, and may soon die, and then an advantageous position would not be secured to you." Poor fellow—how just he is ! Be cautious, ye people! This is the man who dragged Tainui to the water. The bows are afloat; the centre is going; be cautious, lest the stern also get afloat. Once afloat, it will be off; then he will spring into the stern and shout in the words of the old song, " The men of the sea take leave (separate from) the men of the land ; and the men of the land take leave of the men of the sea" (i.e., they will no longer be as one people). At the great meeting it will be seen what he will do. If the Maori people do not yet understand, let them look at the proceedings in connection with this west side of "Waiapu—things just lately have gone wrong there. But which of his promises have been fulfilled ? There has been nothing real but cajolery. This is the part played by Grace. He is one of the well-behaved servants. If a man whom Grace thinks is a chief applies to him for anything, it is immediately given to him; but a man whom he considers to be nobody will get no food, although he may be starving. But he is right, no doubt: the good servant is the one who obeys his master's commands. Insert this in the Waka that it may be read by both our Maori and our Pakeha friends. From one who has been observing the proceedings of the Government for the last 18 years— Prom Te Whetu-iti.

* Ricnga is a Maori word, meaning " vicious and dishonest." M-. Sheehan's name is so pronounced by a large section of the Maori.es. t The meaning is that they will be the cause of the downfall and disappearance of the Native race altogether. •t Paitai is a place near Rangiriri where a great meeting was held in former days in reference to the Kingslup.