MAORI MEMORIES.

Waikato Times, Volume 113, Issue 18877, 22 February 1933, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES.

INTERESTING VIGNETTES.

(Recorded by “J.H.S.”) REO MAORI. The Maori language is the simplest yet one of the most comprehensive of known tongues. It is proudly selfreliant in its constructive simplicity and does not appear to borrow too much of its form from other lands. Its sub-dialects differ so slightly that they offer but few tribal difficulties. The classillcation of the personal pronoun into singular, dual and triplial form removes many obstacles from the pathway of the student. The unvarying sounds of the five vowels, once they are observed by the learner, should remove every difficulty in pronouncing any Maori word —thus a as in arm, e as in Erin, i as in marine, oas in oasis, u as in Ruth. Hare H-ongl, a Maori, highly educated In several languages, concludes his appeal for the preservation of his mother tongue thus — “Could we but use thee, as thou can’st appear, "In all thy parts so excellently dear; Tuned to her tender accents, sadness tell, And stir the scornful note to passion’s swell; To rhythmic measure happiest songs unite, And climb —nor fear to fall—to rapture’s height. In aphorism apt, and brightly terse, Strong and harmonious in resounding verse."

Of all our orators, Sir George Grey, Sir James Carroll, and Sir Maul Pomare, were decidedly more eloquent In Maori than in English, and they inew It.