MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 18 August 1936, Page 5

MAORI MEMORIES

(By J.H.S. for “The Daily Times.”) LAND AND WAR. The years 1843 and 1844 were memorable periods in N.Z., and tlie Maoris fully realised the importance of display in securing the co-operation of both friendly and enemy tribes against the incursions of the white land grabbers. At the banquet given to the Waikatos the Governor was also an honoured guest. The Auckland Maoris actually gave away at this feast 11,000 kits of potatoes, 9000 sharks, 100 fat pigs, 1000 blankets, and great qualities of wheat, rice, sugar, and tobacco. Eloquence and dignity graced the attitude' of the Man o’ (hosts),, clad only in the traditional Maro (small waist mat), toward their grateful Manuliiri (guest*?); but the appearance of the would-be civilised gentleman Wetere,' next in rank to the great Chief To Whcro Whero of Waikato, was farcical. He was dressed in white trousers, blue frock coat, a cap with gold band and ostrich feather, but no boots or shirt. After a week of feast and talk, the assembled guests retired to their homes fully impressed with their wrongs and their ability to overcome the intruders from over the great ocean of Kiwa. In Taranaki 200 armed Maoris took possession of a settler’s farm, cut down his fruit trees, and said they would remain until a fair value was paid to them for the land, and derided the Pakeha authority.

Commissioner Spain reported a year or two before that Col. Wakefield’s claim of ‘ 1 twenty million acres in a country as a large as Ireland,” had dwindled down to 60,000 acres; but even this was objected to by the Maoris, who decided tluft arms were their only resource. Governor Fitzroy went much further and declared that Wakefield’s 1 N.Z. Company had only paid for 3500 acres in Taranaki. These decisions told the Maori plainly that their best weapon was physical force, and laid the foundation of the Taranaki wars. The Governor’s decision was neither judicial nor judicious. lie should have uphold Mr Spain’s quota of GO,OOO acres and ordered a fair payment to the Maori occupants.