The Maori and Hawaiian Peoples

Te Ao Hou, June 1965, Page 2

The Maori and Hawaiian Peoples The Editor, ‘Te Ao Hou’. Me ‘oukou o Aotearoa la, ka welina o ke aloha! As a student of Polynesia, and a reader of ‘Te Ao Hou’ for the past four years, I have long been impressed not only with the vitality of the Maori people's endeavours to preserve their Maoritanga, but also with the high quality of ‘Te Ao Hou’, which serves so ably as a sounding-board for the Maori community. The newly-increased awareness of the need for economic, educational and cultural improvement among my fellow Hawaiians could, it seems to me, profit greatly by consideration of the problems faced and the solutions suggested by our cousins, the Maori.

The similarity of our Polynesian heritage and of the problems confronted today by Maori and Hawaiian alike, can and should result in a greater exchange of ideas between us. The effectiveness of personal contact—such as the appearances in Hawaii of the Te Arohanui Concert Party, and the visits of Mr Brownie Puriri and the Rev. Manu Bennett—cannot be over-estimated. As the most acculturated, literate and perhaps most influential branches of Polynesia today, Hawaiians and Maoris owe it to themselves—in a shrinking world becoming increasingly ‘Westernized’—to seek a closer and mutually beneficial relationship. As a step towards increasing an awareness of Maori achievements and trends, I enclose payment for four subscriptions to your magazine, to be sent to colleagues of mine in Hawaii. ‘O wau iho no me ke aloha. KALANIANOEO MEINECKE (United States of America)