SIR PETER BUCK

Te Ao Hou, Summer 1954, Page 14

We are proud to be able to offer our readers a message sent by the late Sir Peter Buck when Te Ao Hou was first published, shortly before his death. SIR PETER BUCK KO TE AO HOU Ka 50 tau inaianei, ka ki tetahi kaumatua, ‘No te Ao Maori matou, mo koutou mo nga tamariki Te Ao Hou.’ No te hui tuatahi a te kotahitanga o Te Aute i Taumata-o-mihi i Waiapu taua korero. Ko matou ko nga taitamariki o taua wa i ngakau nui ki te tuku i o matou matauranga o Te Ao Hou hei awhina i te Iwi. Ko Te Kotahitanga he hua no nga tumanako o Apirana Turupu Ngata, M.A., LL. B., i kuraina a ia ki Te Aute a ko ia te tamatuatahi o te Iwi Maori ki te whiwhi ki nga tohu matauranga o te Whare Wananga o te Pakeha. Kua eke a ia i taua wa ki nga taumata teitei o te Ao Hou, mo te mea i riro Maori mai i a ia nga honore o te Whare Wananga Pakeha. Ko Apirana te Hekeretari a me te Kaihautu o Te Kotahitanga kua horapa atu kia whakauru mai ai te hunga i kuraina ki Tipene me Paerata. Ko ta matou he hua i tetahi ingoa mo te Kotahitanga kia uru ai te katoa o te hunga taitamariki tane wahine e ngakau nui ana ki te awhina i te iwi i roto i te Ao Hou; a ka whakataua ko Te Ropu o Te Ao Hou. I tu a matou hui a tau i runga i nga marae maha, a i whakapuakitia e matou o matou nei whakaaro mo nga ahuatanga i te aroaro o te iwi. I tautokotia e nga kaumatua a matou moemoea, a matou wawata, otira i mohio iho ano ratou ma matou ano ma nga taitamariki e whakatutuki, ko ta ratou whakatauki: ‘Ka pu te ruha Ka Hao te rangatahi’ otira i manaakitia ta matou kaupapa e o matou kaumatua. I roto o nga tau ka ngaro Te Ropu o Te Ao Hou, engari ko tona wairua kei te ora tonu. Ko nga mea tuhonohono i a matou. I nga morehu o taua ropu ko te aroha ki te Iwi, ko te ngakau nui ki nga mahi, ko te aroha tetahi ki tetahi a i kiia ake ra he ngaro ingoa noaiho. Ma te wa e whakaatu nga painga a taua ropu ki te iwi a ki Niu Tireni—tena te wa ka whakakaupapatia ona korero ki ro pukapuka. Ko te rangatahi i a matou kua kanukanu. Kua riro te tokomaha o matou ki o tatou tipuna i te Po ko Ta Apirana tera, ko Te Maui Pomare, ko Taiporutu Mitchell, ko Takuta TE AO HOU — THE NEW WORLD Over 50 years ago, an old man said, ‘We old people are not clear of the age of stone, te ao hou is for you young people.’ The speech was made at the first conference of the newly formed Te Aute College Old Boys' Association held at Taumata-o-mihi in the Waiapu district. We young people of that era were full of enthusiasm to make our education of service to our people. The Association had been inspired by Apirana Turupa Ngata, M.A., LL.B., a Te Aute old boy and the first Maori graduate of the University of New Zealand. He had accomplished something in the new world even then, for he had proved that students of Maori blood could enter the Whare Wananga of the pakeha and graduate with honour. Apirana was the organizing secretary of the Association, and the movement spread to St. Stephen's College and Three Kings Wesleyan College in Auckland. We had to formulate a new name that would include not only the old boys of sister colleges, but also all young men and women who desired to work for the uplift and prestige of their race in the new era which was opening before them. And so the Young Maori Party was born. Annual conferences were held on different maraes, and we discussed with the old people the problems which lay before us. They were hearty in their verbal support of our dreams and aspirations, but they realized that action had to come from the younger and more vigorous generation which was to take their place. They summed up the situation with the old adage: The old net is laid aside, The new net goes a-fishing. And so, with the blessing of our elders, the new net went a-fishing. In the course of time, the Young Maori Party faded away as an organization and a name, but its spirit lived on. We were bound together by links of racial affection, respect, and common endeavour, and no longer needed a distinguishing name as a symbol. What the Young Maori Party accomplished for the Maori people and New Zealand, the historians of the future will be better able to appraise through the perspective of time. The new net, that we commenced to haul over half a century ago, has become frayed and

Wirepa, ko Pihopa Peneti, ko Te Puea Herangi, ko Wai ake ko wai ake ko te hunga nana i hao te rangatahi o o matou nei ra. Ko matou ko nga morehu kua noho ko matou nga kaumatua a ko ta matou he tumanako kia pera te hao a te rangatahi i o matou nei ra a kia neke atu ranei. Me pera ano ta matou nei ohaki me ta o matou nei kaumatua ki a matou i o matou nei ra — ‘Mo koutou mo nga tamariki te Ao Hou’. He Ao Hou ke ano tenei. He ingoa hou to te Tari Maori, a tamatuatahi te tu he Maori hei Tumuaki. E tika ana ra me puta he pukapuka ma te Tari Maori ‘Ko Te Ao Hou’. Kia ora te Tari Maori me Te Ao Hou ma te wa koe e manaaki hei kawe korero ki nga marae maha. Ki te hunga e tae atu Te Ao Hou ki a koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou. Ki nga taitamariki o te Iwi — kia kaha kia maia whaia nga taumata teitei o te Ao Hou. E kore e eketia aua taumata i te koroingo noaiho engari ma te wera wera o o koutou kanohi. Ko aua taumata nga koha o te puku mahi, o te ngakau nui a o te manawanui. Ma Te Atua koutou e manaaki kia eke tahi ai koutou ko o koutou taina tuakana Pakeha ki aua taumata hei mea whakahirahira hei mea whakamanamana ma matou a mao koutou matua tupuna. is laid aside. Sir Apirana Ngata, Sir Maui Pomare, Tai Mitchell, Dr Tutere Wirepa, Bishop Bennett, Princess Te Puea and others who helped to draw that net have passed on. Those of us who remain are now the sedentary elders who can but watch and pray that the new net will have as good as or better fishing than the old. We can but repeat the words applied to us in the wonderful days of our youth, ‘The New World is for the young’. A new world has opened up. The old Department of Native Affairs is now the Department of Maori Affairs, and for the first time in its history, its Under-Secretary is a gentleman of Maori blood. Appropriately enough, the Department has decided to issue a Journal entitled Te Ao Hou. To the Department, I offer my congratulations, and to Te Ao Hou I wish a long and successful life in the service of the Maori people. To the homes which Te Ao Hou will reach, I send my greetings and aroha. To the younger generation, I wish all success. Success cannot be attained by resting on the doings of our ancestors, but by our own determined efforts. Success is the reward of hard work, sustained effort, and unyielding courage. God grant you these and more, so that, with your pakeha fellow-citizens, you may share in bringing honour and happiness to this land of ours. Three great men of the Past: Sir Peter Buck (Te Rangihiroa), Bishop F. A. Bennett, Sir Apirana T. Ngata.