HIS WORK SURVIVED A CENTURY

Te Ao Hou, December 1955, Page 15

HIS WORK SURVIVED A CENTURY It is now exactly a century ago that Rev. Richard Taylor, Church of England missionary in Wanganui, published his scholarly book on the Maori people called Te Ika A Maui. This was the first book in which many of the best-known Maori traditions and myths were published. The most remarkable feature in the book, for modern readers, is the translation of some old Maori chants, particularly those describing the creation. It is no exaggeration to say that very rarely if ever have the great difficulties of rendering ancient Maori chants in good English verse been so successfully handled. It is a great pity that the translations are so few in number, but it is not surprising, because the style of translation of Rev. Taylor, although very remarkable to an car attuned to modern English verse, was very different indeed from the style fashionable during the reign of Queen Victoria, Rev. Taylor's contemporaries probably found his versions too bare, not sufficiently poetic, and they probably missed the wonderful accuracy with which the translations bring out the world of feeling surrounding the Maori words. The most important of the chants, has been reprinted in this issue of Te Ao Hou. An adequate study of Rev. Taylor's life and work has never been made and although this cannot be done in the space available in Te Ao Hou, a few facts have been brought together here to explain how this exceptional translation came to be written. A little book The Impact of Christianity on the Maori People, by A. W. Reed, published earlier this year, described in an interesting way the attitudes of the missionaries to the traditional religion. The author quotes an instruction sent by Samuel Marsden to his laity: ‘Rather propose and enforce with meekness the glorious truths of the gospel than dispute with their superstitions and absurd opinions.’ To avoid dispute was wise counsel but many people now think that the rejection of the traditional Maori world of thought as ‘absurd opinions’ was perhaps regrettable. As Mr Reed points out, in Europe many early pagan beliefs were not so rejected and have become part of the Christian inheritance. Rev. Taylor (1805–73) was a sensitive cultured man with an almost artistic temperament. Although his capacity for work was amazing, he was not robust. Minister at Wanganui from 1843, he spent the last thirteen years of his life largely in retirement, concentrating on his scientific studies.