NGATA'S LAST MESSAGE

Te Ao Hou, October 1958, Page 56

NGATA'S LAST MESSAGE Sir, In your current magazine, No. 22, Vol. 6 (No. 2), under the heading HE PITOPITO KORERO, reference is made to the late Sir Apirana Ngata's remarkable message which he wrote in an autograph book of a little girl. I believe that that was his last message to the Youth of the Maori people, and, as such, I have quoted it up and down this country since I was consecrated Bishop in 1952. I would like to point out that he wrote it in the Tuhoe dialect, it is a Maori classic, and should be treasured and quoted in its correct form. Here is the original of it as he wrote it down himself. E tipu, e rea, mo nga ra o tou ao; Ko to ringa, ki nga rakau a te Pakeha, hei ara mo to tinana: Ko to ngakau, ki nga taonga a o tipuna Maori, hei tikitiki mo to mahuna; Ko to wairua ki te Atua, nana nei nga mea katoa. Needless to say there are many and various translations of it into English, but however else one may attempt to do so, the masterpiece is still the original text. Wiremu Aotearoa.