A NEW EDITION OF THE MAORI BIBLE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19247, 26 February 1925, Page 5

A NEW EDITION OF THE MAORI BIBLE

Tt will come as a welcome to all lovers of the New Zealand Maori Bible ' that a new edition has now actually arrived in Wellington. Several years I ago the supply of Bibles in the Maori I tongue completely ran out and nothing other than the New Testament and Psalms has since that time been pro 1 curable. Now even these also have been exhausted and missionary ami general Christian activity has been hampered. The call for a new edition Jof the scriptures became more and ' more clamant until it was heard by the i British and Foreign Bible Society I which then instituted inquiry into the . w holo question of revision, printing, binding, and publishing; and also the i desires of missionaries and leading [Maori scholars as to necessary altera- ; tions. , A conference representative of the ■ churches was hold in Auckland in Novemb<*r 1922, and was attended by represent at ivos of the Church of England. Presbyterian and Methodist I churches while the Rev. A. T. Thomp--1 son ALA.. B.D. represented the Bible ! Society. At this conference it was decided to go on with the project of reprinting. and to have an edition of the I.Maori scriptures in binding and print i according to the expressed wishes of ; the people. The verses of scripture were to be well marked and the type land binding to bo. modern and of a size convenient for use. The three churehes, Church of England, Presbyterian ami Alethodi-4 guaranteed parts of the issue and the N.Z. Council of the Irtish ami Foreign Bible Society gave the additional necessary guarantee. The revision was placed in tho ; hands of the Venerable Archdeacon Herbert Williams with the provision that only acknowledged errors were to be altered, thus preserviing the style the readers already are familiar with. i The result has been that the present edition is in Maori and will become for all generations a standard book for aeI curacy and beauty of diction. This has been made possible* by the intimate i acquaintance of the present day missionaries ami Maori scholars with the Maori language. Such a knowledge will tend to lose its accuracy in the coming generation and this new edition will serve as a Mandat'd of comparison and a check to decadence. As it stands it is acknowledged that the pureness oi its .Maori and its grace and power of expression will make the edition a true parallel with the English Author | tzed A ersion. To assure the edition against inaccuracy in the printing the proofs were read by the Ven. Archdeacon Williams who while on holiday in London spent several months lu . careful supervision of every detail.