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Aotearoa, or the Maori Recorder, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1 January 1861, Page 4

[TRANSLATED PROM THE MAORI.]

Great was your exit, but small is your advent ” says the old Maori adage,- 1 hough the advent he small, however, its smallness is based on that winch is great,—its smallness is based upon that which is right. [i. e. the establishment of a Maori printing office, though small in its beginning, is nevertheless, a step in the right direction.] 6 In 1857 the cry was uttered “Let Aotearoa the Maori Printing Press be lifted up [i. e. let the suggestion regarding a Printing establishment be practically carried into effect.] ‘ The tribes spiritedly responded to the call First came the Kgatitipa. After them came the Ngatipaoa, the Ngatitamatera, the M hakatohea -then the people of Whaingaroa, Aotea, Kawhia, the whole of Waikato; Mokau, Taupo, Whanganui, Wellington, Wairarapa, Poverty Bay Waiapu, Whangaruru, and Kaipara. There are other places [the people of winch have assented ] but collections have not yet been made. Ihe tribes and places not agreeing, are Ahuriri, Te Wairoa, Te Tarawa and some of the Lgapuln, , Should this project appear insignificant now, let no man'despise it, for the child draws nourishment from its mother’s breast for some time ere it crawls and it crawls for some time, ere it is able to, walk. In like, manner, the Maori tribes will be some time , searching out the matter, ere they become fully acquainted with the advantages derivable from the establishment of their own Printing Press.

The Native people have already possessed' themselves of property for- the .Benefit of .the body,—mills, ships, ploughs, hearts/ horses, horned cattle' and sheep; and now, ; in the year 1860 a Printing-Press has been obtained for the benefit of the mind. • ?.f'"";;' /.::..-; , r , , •',-• ...\ , If stranger tribes should inquire, , " Whose money procured this great thing —this ; revealer of right and wrong,' of truth and error?"— writers of this paper now inform them, that the cash was raised by the Native peopleby the child and by the aged, by women ; and men, by chiefs and slaves. . It was arranged that the Maori Printing Office should be in Auckland, for here is the fountain whence the streams in numerous branches flow on; moreover, s hither most of the Native tribes are wont to resort. ' : "" ..' , If this happened to be the more youthful period of the life of him who has been selected to take charge of the Printing Establishment of the Maori, —if the "earthly tabernacle " were indeed hale,—then there would be shoulders upon which these most onerous duties might be placed [ with comparative ease.] The arrangements proposed to be carried out, however, will be attended to, and in due time the trust will be resigned into other hands. Sufficient has been accomplished [by the writer ] in drawing hither the machinery from lands beyond the great sea; ; his eye' now gazes upon the object which all the tribes hoped to see, and his heart yearns within him while it says " Yes; it is done !" The heartfelt happiness which he,— cherished the idea of beholding the necessary material to carry out the project—feels in the realization of his wishes, is an abundant compensation, and the only compensation he values, for now is [ according to the Maori song]— " Drawn hither, The Canoe; [ that is, the Printing Press.] To the pillow, [i. e. resting place] The Canoe; To the couch, [its second but more permanent place of rest] The Canoe; To the landing where the Canoe shall He.", [i. e. its final and fixed place.].