Greetings from Lanka (Ceylon)

Te Ao Hou, March 1969, Page 10

In publishing this article, Te Ao Hou does not show its support of the theory here advanced (see note at end of article), but wishes to show appreciation to Mr Bokala-mulla for his expressions of friendship. Greetings from Lanka (Ceylon) The caption may, perhaps, be puzzling to the reader of this article and some explanation appears necessary therefore at the outset. As two Colombo Plan students on a study tour in Rotorua, a colleague of mine and I were present at the reception accorded the Maori Affairs Parliamentary Committee at the Tamate Kapua Meeting House the other day. We were of course, not there on official invitation but at the personal invitation of a friend who took part in the concert at this grand function. My colleague and I were complete strangers at this colourful gathering and the only acquaintances were a couple of Maori Welfare Officers. After an eloquent welcome to the Parliamentary group, there came a thunderous roar of greetings from the distinguished guests, who spoke one after another. They made bold claims of their kinship bonds with their brethren in Rotorua in their utterances. There were greetings from Taranaki, Waitaki, Murupara and the distant corners of the South Island. But I wonder if anybody present could ever dream that the two strangers amidst them too had their kinship claims to the Maoris of New Zealand, just as much as any tribal member present. They did not for a moment think that we were so close to them in our blood and in the very origin of our race. We were lost to each other as a race for the last 3,000 years and it was most unfortunate that our cultural ties remained buried and obscure in the misty past. Let me crave your indulgence at this stage to enlighten you on our claims and bring you our greetings from Lanka — the land of the Lion Race.