ORATION AT MAORI FUNERAL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 91, 20 April 1946, Page 6

ORATION AT MAORI FUNERAL

FAREWELL, A SAD FAREWELL

ADDRESS AT GRAVESIDE AT RATANA.

Prior to the funeral service following the death of Mr. te Koopu Hawira Winiata Puhaki at Ratana, Mr. M. Ratana, M.P., delivered a parting oration in Maori. Then came the climax, when Air. 'Leone te Motu, private secretary to Mr. Ratana, made the following speech. Speaking in English with oratorial beauty, and facing the casket, he said:

“Go forth, O sir, to the peace that knows no ending. To you, in the spirit of my ancestors, I bid farewell to share with the last long sleep of death, tragic in its suddenness. Depart from the cradle of your loved ones, from the centre of this, your stately courtyard. Depart on your illustrious canoe ‘Aotea’ across the streams of darkness and over the lone sands of Haumu, beyond Paerau to mystic Haiwaiki, there to rest with thy mighty dead in the supernal realms of 10. There may you rest on the pillow' that does not fall, and on the couch from which there is no rising.

“Soon you will be faring forth to the Great Father in Heaven. Go, O Chief, in your canoe made by the loving. hands of our pakeha friends; go to join your illustrious forebears w'ho have gone on before. The stately, the superb, the specially selected totara of the groat forest of Tane has fallen: its mighty crash is heard throughout the four corners of the earth. The earth from which you sprang is now violently throbbing and rent, in twain. Depart hence, O sweet songbird of the early morn and evening shade. Farewell, farewell for ever.” Mr. Motu. turning to his listeners, continued: “Pakeha friends, to you in the name of our elders, I greet you. Welcome to this courtyard all that remains of our forebears; welcome since you have come -to witness and share with us the pains of sorrow’ and grief we hold over our departed Rangatira. It is well, for bv so doing you have drawn closer the bonds of love which doth knit us all together. I greet vou all, o n behalf of the bereaved family anfl relatives; come upon the wings of love and let us weep together. To-day w r e mourn the loss of a friend: our hearts are consoled, however, by vour presence. Tt is true we have lost a jewel, but the Great Creator has found him. Haere mai. t.ena koufou Lena koufou.” Messrs. V. B. Short, S. Andrew's and Dukeson renlierl in glowing terms, expressing regret in the loss of a man most respects bv all.