A Sad But Inspiring Story

Te Ao Hou, November 1964, Page 55

A Sad But Inspiring Story Mr Miller's account of the thirst for knowledge which the Maori possessed at this time, and the great strides forward which they had made before the war came, gives us cause to ponder just how the Maori people would have advanced if over one hundred years ago there could have been the same concern for their welfare as exists today. Think of the progress that might have been made in farming pursuits if the right kind of encouragement had been given. History decreed otherwise. Speaking of those days before the war, Mr Miller said to his audience, ‘I do not know how much is known of all this in Waikato. You ought to know about it and tell it to your children, for there are few more inspiring stories in the whole history of Christian civilisation—not a bit less inspiring because it ended in total defeat.’ It is a sad story, but if in its telling Maori and European can learn to appreciate each other's best qualities and to understand each other better, then assuredly New Zealand society as a whole must benefit. Auckland Institute and Museum photo Wiremu Tamihana: a statesman, teacher and Christian leader, caught up in a tragic conflict. Yes Mr Miller, there are many young men of the Maori race who have deep thoughts when they survey the rich pasture-lands where once the cooking fires of their ancestors burned: when they remember the unjust confiscations and the barren period after the war, and witness today the slow and painful efforts the race is making to gain parity in the educational field. There are many who are thinking of the urgency of the task they have before them to stir their people and rouse them to the greatest heights of achievement, so that they may be worthy of the sacrifices of their ancestors. Mr Miller ended his lecture by expressing the hope that some day, the people of Hamilton may think it right to erect a memorial to Wiremu Tamihana, whom he described to his audience as ‘the greatest man who has ever lived in this place’. What could be more appropriate, he asked, than to give the name of this ‘friend of education’ to one of the buildings to be erected in Hamilton as part of the new University of Waikato. Let us hope that this may be done, for it would indeed be a fitting memorial.