Maoritanga PART II

Te Ao Hou, Spring 1954, Page 17

Maoritanga PART II By The Very Rev. J. G. LAUGHTON This is the conclusion of Mr Laughton's essay on the surviving elements of Maori culture, often referred to as Maoritanga. The elements he referred to in the last issue of Te Ao Hou were language, art, social structure and religion. The views expressed in this article regarding Maori land are Mr Laughton's own and in some instances are contrary to considered Government policy which is supported by many Maori leaders. It should be stated that power does exist at present for Maori groups to form incorporations, thus maintaining a common ownership and yet allowing the land to be made fully productive in accordance with the national interest. The fifth and last element of Maoritanga that we would dwell upon is the soil. The soil is the true basis of all life, but the landed heritage of the Maori people of New Zealand is the vested inheritance of the race from the ancestral discovery and occupation of the land, and without European interference the Maori communal title of land is not merely the source of subsistence, but it is the corpus of his tribal and communal life. As long as a Maori has even an infinitesimal share in the tribal lands, his tribal rights are secure. He may go forth, as many are forced to do, to the adventure of competitive individualistic life in the Pakeha city; but so long as he has even an undefined interest in the tribal land he has always home and the shelter of the tribe to go to. That bit of land—it may be only a quarter of an acre in area—is a greater insurance policy to the Maori than a cover of thousands of pounds is to the Pakeha. He can fare him forth with a light heart, for there is always the tribe to go back to, and the assurance that no one would dare to refuse him a hospice and welcome within the tribal domain, for are his rights not written in his share in the community title of the tribal lands? There are some today who feel that the wiping out of this slender interest in the tribal lands would be a salutory thing, in that it would burn the bridges of many Maoris and compel them to be Pakehas. The preservation of communal being is the very genius of Maoritanga, and the material corpus of community life is the communal ownership of the basis of life, the tribal land. That is why the Maori revels as he does in the Maori Land Court, because it is the sanctuary and protector of the writ of his community life which is inscribed on his tribal landed heritage; and because his outlook is communal the criterion is not the size of his share but the fact of his interest. It is for this reason that some of us feel that the only right solution to the problem of the fragmentary title to much Maori land is to restore all such uneconomic individual shares to the original Maori communal title, to be farmed for the benefit of the tribe and not for any individual, and to retain for all the members of the tribe their ‘turangaweawae’—their community right within the tribe. If the cohesive tribal titles to Maori lands are destroyed, the inmost citadel of Maoritanga, the community life of the Maori people, will be beseiged and eventually broken up. Nothing can, for the Maori, take the place of his inheritance in the land trodden by his forefathers and handed down as the tribal domain from generation to generation over hundreds of years. That is home to him and the family circle is the whole of the tribe. Expunge his little title in that land and whatever you may do for him you have made him a homeless wanderer from the tribal life which is his being. Let him feel that he has no longer any right in the tribal lands and he will never again be other than an alien, haunted with the fear that those who have become the owners may ask: ‘He aha to take i konei?’ (‘What right have you here?’) Finally, it is fitting that we should say a word regarding the preservation of Maoritanga, which is none other than the life of the Maori. And, of course, the first means of preserving Maoritanga is to realise what it contains, and how utterly essential it is to the Maori, being the very roots and life-blood of his being. When we know what our heritage is and how priceless it is, then surely we are the more moved

to take measures for its protection and preservation. The language, the arts, the social community life, the religious experience, the preservation of a place in the tribal orbit through a continuance of inheritance in the ancestral lands, these are all integral and indispensable elements in the nature and being of Maoritanga. These are the ‘youtokomanawa’ of the house of Maoritanga, and not one of these central pillars can be removed without threatening the whole structure of Maoridom. Regarding the language, its inclusion in the university calendar is some advance, and the fact that it is now taught, where possible, in high schools is another matter for gratification; but there is little doubt that the dictum of Sir Apirana Ngata is substantiated, that the preservation of the language rests with the young mothers, who either croon to their little ones in the euphonious tones of the ancestral language or, as in many cases, the latest Pakeha jazz hit. If the Maori language is to be preserved it must be spoken in Maori homes, and however essential it is for young Maori people to have a competent knowledge of English, if their Maoritanga is to be really preserved they must know its language. The resuscitation of the arts and crafts, and now the recording by the Department of Maori Affairs of the tunes of Nga Moteatea, so that this generation may not merely read the immortal words as they were collated by Sir Apirana Ngata, but sing them to the tunes that have come echoing down the corridors of time, these are the operations of a pioneer battalion throwing up the fresh ramparts and defences of our Maoritanga. What has been said will have emphasised sufficiently that the preservation of the Maori marae is imperative for the defence of that essentially community life which is the genius of Maoridom. There on his own marae the Maori orator, so often inflicted with inferiorities in his contact with the Pakeha, stands with the proud tradition of a great past at his back, with his own unchallenged right on his own courtyard, sure of himself, no menial but a prince. That outlet, that opportunity of the realisation of itself must be preserved as a corrective against all the suppressions and impacts of Pakeha life upon the otherwise minded Maori. If Maoritanga is to persist it must have the venue of the marae. Regarding worship, we have stated our conviction that religion is even psychologically necessary to the Maori, but how else can he meet the conflicts of this day; how else surmount its seducements and temptations, but in living fellowship with the Living God through His Son, Jesus Christ. No people can preserve the things that are fine and excellent and of good report without the fellowship of God in Jesus Christ. And if the nobility of Maoritanga is to survive it will survive by a real appropriation of the Christian faith. But alongside the realisation of these peculiarly Maori values and the determination to retain them, the young Maori of today needs education and worthwhile work, and decent housing conditions to make him secure in cultural equality with the Pakeha. Perhaps the greatest danger of all to Maoritanga in this modern age is that our young people accept inferiority, and so abandon their pride of race and their appreciation of the splendid things of their own inheritance. Maoritanga is like a pa defended by proud warriors, and has its security as much in the pride of its defenders as in the strength of its palisades. Let the defenders but feel they are defeated, and the feet of conquerors will soon be treading them in the dust of their own fortress. It is here that Sir Apirana's great advice to the young folk of the race rings home so truly—to plant their feet firmly in their Maoritanga, to reach out to lay hold of the culture of the Pakeha, and to look up in faith to God, the Father of us all. (Concluded.)