A Book’s Progress: The Story of The Ancient History of the Maori

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 24, Issue 1, 1 May 1991, Page 31

A Book’s Progress: The Story of The Ancient History of the Maori

MICHAEL REILLY

One of the treasures in the Alexander Turnbull Library is the Maori manuscript collection of John White, who died in 1891. Many of the items in this collection were intended for his work devoted to providing a series of Maori historical texts encompassing the mythological origins to the present of nineteenth century New Zealand. Only the first six volumes of the projected thirteen were published between 1887 and 1890. A seventh featuring some crudely drawn illustrations was issued posthumously. The set was entitled The Ancient History of the Maori, His Mythology and Traditions. Along with the Maori publications by Sir George Grey, these still remain one of the major published collections of Maori tradition. They have been the subject of a variety of criticisms which have been summarised elsewhere. 1 What has been less well publicised, apart from an excellent synopsis in the New Zealand National Bibliography to the Year 1960, 2 is the sequence of events which marked the progress to publication of White’s major opus and contemporary critical reaction.

The story of this book begins appropriately enough in the last months of Grey’s administration (1877 to 1879) when a flurry of telegrams between John White and the Native Minister John Sheehan led to White being appointed as the compiler of a Maori history. 3 Sponsorship of scholarship was a feature of Grey’s administration perhaps little appreciated, either then by the populace, or later by New Zealand historians. Be that as it may, the choice of White for such an enterprise was universally praised at the time by collectors and scholars such as Samuel Locke, Alexander Shand and the German ethnologist Adolf Bastian. 4

The decision was made for a number of reasons. Grey spoke of a need to collect Maori history before it was lost. Sheehan focused on its practical application as a body of tradition for the Land Court and university study. Both men championed White as one of the best qualified for the job. 5 White himself considered the status and salary an adequate trade-off for giving government his private Maori manuscript collection. 6 Who made the final decision to proceed is not clear. Certainly the three key participants were White, Sheehan and Grey. The matter may

have been under discussion for a while; White alluded to other approaches much earlier in the 1870 s. 7 As he addressed the sequence of telegrams to Sheehan, not Grey, one might reasonably assume Sheehan was the crucial figure. They had plenty of opportunity to meet; both men lived in Napier, worked on Maori land matters and had business and legal associations with the Maori chief Henare Tomoana. Matters may have been initially thrashed out on such an informal level. Since Grey was the Premier he must have given the final authorisation. His own Maori scholarship, his lengthy acquaintance with White and his public endorsement of the project suggest he was just as involved in the initial decision to proceed. Beyond that his precise role is unclear, but judging from later comments, including a suggestion that he was supposed to have at least supervised the work’s English translation, he may have been led to expect a larger place in the project. 8

The published terms of White’s employment listed certain key conditions. These included an annual salary of £450, that all the manuscripts translated for the history project would become government property, and that White would be available for other work in the Native Department. Unfortunately the new government installed after 8 October 1879 was not so generous. To cut his departmental budget the new Native Minister John Bryce turned the matter over to the Colonial Secretary, then responsible amongst other things for New Zealand’s external relations. Using a comment by Bastian, that the work would be to the credit of New Zealand and the world, Bryce argued that it ought to become the Secretary’s responsibility. 9 The process toward a radical altering of the work’s conditions had begun.

Early in 1880 parliamentary members began to campaign in the House for changes to the planned work, 10 and shortly thereafter Cabinet decided to cut the salary to £2OO for three years, with a £SOO bonus payable on completion. 11 In Parliament the same day, a motion was put to cut the salary to £SO as part of a general drive to slash incomes. The proposers were also unhappy that no cut-off date for the project had been imposed. 12

The work, however, had its defenders who stressed the intrinsic worth of the historical material. There seemed a genuine concern that if some effort was not made the knowledge would disappear. Grey, though amongst its defenders, questioned the size and scope of the proposed undertaking. In his view preparing a Maori history at that time was unrealistic; the project had to be seen as a collection for some future historical work. Nor did he know how long such an enterprise would take; he cited his own collecting of traditions over the previous thirtyfive years. Maori parliamentarians were lukewarm about the whole venture. Hone Mohi Tawhai, who came from White’s old stamping ground around the Hokianga, thought the proposed salary would not be

sufficient even to pay Maori informants. Te Wheoro suggested that Maori themselves did not care much for the history as they had not asked for it. Such protests did not prevent them subsequendy becoming acknowledged sources of information for the history.

Government speakers, perhaps swayed by the project’s defenders, now amended the original Cabinet proposals and instead extended the project’s life to four years. The Premier made it clear such a deadline was intended to bring about as speedy a conclusion to the work as possible. On 27 July 1880, White was officially informed that from 1 September his salary would be reduced to £2OO, to be paid for three or at most four years. In addition, a £SOO bonus was to be paid if the work was completed to the satisfaction either of the government or any person they appointed to report on the matter. 14 After a fairly token protest White acquiesced. He at least had a job, and one beneficial side effect was his exemption from the further indignity of the general civil service salary reduction ordered that year. 15 Privately White complained that ‘so vast a history’ could not be compiled and translated in the allotted space of four years. 16

Having instituted a new, stricter regimen, government officials requested that White submit annual reports. These reports clearly charted his progress, and the problems he was increasingly to face as the cut-off date loomed and the collection was found to be nowhere near complete. White had quickly begun to copy manuscripts, intending to translate these once the copying was completed. In 1884 he proudly reported a total of 4,348 pages of Maori manuscripts copied. Unfortunately matters were not straightforward. In 1882 more time than anticipated had to be devoted to copying ‘a mythological and genealogical tree’ for the ‘Takitumu’ migration, and some manuscripts that had to be returned to their owners. 17 Aware of his difficulties, White twice warned the government that the four year term would be fully taken up copying Maori manuscripts; he would not be able to undertake their translation as well. When he asked for advice on this difficulty the government simply instructed him to translate the material once the copying had been completed. It seemed no one realised that this was impossible given the four year time frame imposed. 18

In 1884, following the terms of the 1879 agreement, the government had two officials inspect White’s papers. The officials concerned were G. T. Wilkinson, a Native Agent in Alexandra in the Waikato, and W. J. Butler, a Wellington based interpreter. 19 They were instructed to ascertain whether the work had been done satisfactorily and whether ‘judicious selections’ of Maori tradition had been made. 2 Within a few days of receiving their instructions they had submitted their reports, suggesting a rather cursory reading of the material. The officials, while praising the work’s historical value and White’s scholarship, suggested various rearrangements of material. Butler queried the reliability of the early mythological content, and both

criticised White’s writing and his organisation of material, which Butier described as ‘peculiar’. They recommended that White supervise the work’s printing. Cabinet was now asked to decide on awarding the bonus. Alas for White’s future, political events now conspired to put the matter to one side. Governments rose and fell in swift succession; the result being a hiatus of six months despite attempts to raise the matter by the project’s allies in Parliament. 21 Perhaps frustrated by such delays and feeling isolated from events while living in Auckland, White himself enquired about the bonus in November. The new Colonial Secretary in Robert Stout’s Ministry, P. A. Buckley, handled the Government’s response. To be charitable, one must assume Buckley was poorly briefed; nevertheless his outburst is extraordinary. He replied that White’s letter was beyond his comprehension and ‘a huge joke’; he promptly recommended that ‘the whole of the foolery ’ (his emphasis) be referred to the Native Minister, John Ballance. 22

In the dying days of December 1884, T. W. Lewis, the permanent head of the Native Department, following Ballance’s instructions, prepared a memorandum crucial to the future of the history project. It was to open a period of intense negotiations between the government and White. Lewis suggested that the manuscripts ought to be translated ‘by competent Maori scholars’. He thought the department’s own interpreters could at least commence the task. So that the work was widely read a suitably qualified person should edit the translations. The history would be published in parts beginning with the next parliamentary session. A setdement should be made with White and his manuscripts transferred to the department. Before receiving his bonus White would arrange the manuscripts in the order he intended for publication. 23

Ballance accepted the recommendations, adding his own that the suitably qualified person alluded to be his friend Edward Tregear, soon to make his own scholarly mark in the field of Polynesian studies. 24 Accordingly Tregear was contacted in New Plymouth and offered the editorship of a proposed English language edition of the history. Faced with such a golden opportunity Tregear accepted almost as soon as he had received the letter. 25 Indeed so eager was he that within a few weeks he announced to a somewhat bemused Native Department that he was preparing to depart for Wellington. Although there were no English manuscripts to edit, his request was approved. He continued working in the Survey Department, no doubt waiting in anxious anticipation to begin editing White’s history. 26 While negotiations proceeded with Tregear, Lewis proposed that White be brought to Wellington to supervise the publication of the Maori language edition. Since the Colonial Secretary’s Department, despite Buckley’s outburst, remained responsible for the project, Lewis’s proposal had to be channelled through this department. 27 White’s

response, addressed to the head of the Colonial Secretary’s Department, C. S. Cooper, was almost as swift as Tregear’s, but was hedged with caution. White wanted to be paid £2OO a year, with a further sum of 10s 6d a day while working in Wellington, and for the government to meet the costs of moving himself and his family to Wellington and back to Auckland. 28

The Native Department, whose plans had been proceeding smoothly so far, now backed away from these demands which were considered excessive. Alternatives were discussed. Initially it was suggested that the manuscripts be sent to White in Auckland. However, between 17 and 20 January 1885, the Native Department decided to dispense with him altogether, the decision apparently being conveyed to White at an interview with Lewis. 29 No replacement appears to have been suggested and the dumping of White may have been a precipitate reaction to the financial costs involved.

About a month later, in the last week of February, White again wrote to Cooper, oudining various plans for the history’s publication. Clearly this was part of a bid by White to keep his interest in the history project before the Colonial Secretary’s Department, and to prompt it into some kind of action that might counter plans being made in the Native Department. As a result Cooper and the Government Printer, George Didsbury, discussed publishing a version of the history. Their discussions, however, were terminated by the irascible Buckley who again sent the matter to the Native Department. 30 The Department immediately instructed that all of White’s papers be brought together in Wellington, accompanied by his explanation of their organisation. 31

Yet unbeknown to White the situation was turning in his favour. Lewis now submitted to his Minister certain alterations to his earlier plans for the history’s publication. Tregear, he reported, could not begin work till the Maori manuscripts were translated, neither did he know enough Maori either to translate or even understand the language used in the manuscripts. Other translation requirements meant the department’s own interpreters would take a long time to complete the history’s translation. He also noted White’s explanation of the manuscript organisation which would require some rearrangement of existing material. To resolve these problems Lewis recommended that White make the translation either under the original terms of his appointment or under a new arrangement. Subsequent editing and publication of material would be left to the government. Ballance agreed, with the proviso that the history should be issued in parts. 32

Ignorant of these developments, White put a final desperate case before Cooper. Writing in March 1885 he begged to supervise the history’s publication, adding that such was his intense and lifelong interest in Maori history he was even willing to modify his terms for shifting to Wellington. Cooper proved unsympathetic. He informed

White that he would have to make a literal translation of the work before earning his £SOO bonus. This was to be done as quickly as possible, though the translation might only be used for reference not publication. White would appear to have been taken aback at this cool response. At any rate he did nothing until Cooper telegraphed for a reply more than a month later. 33

White had so far endured the many changes in the long-running saga with an admirable show of forebearance, but his tolerance was about to end. Managing to retain a veneer of politeness he pointed out to Cooper that he had understood the bonus was to be paid once he had completed copying the Maori manuscripts. He asked for terms for translating these, hastening to add that he was willing to begin the task as soon as possible. He attached to his letter a lengthy memorandum protesting at the many changes, all of which, he alleged, ignored the terms of his original 1879 contract. 34

Privately he expressed anger at government actions in more vivid language. In late May, a few weeks after his official response, he prepared two letters, one to his local member of Parliament, Frederick Moss, and one to Grey. In the event neither was posted, no doubt due to their forceful expressions. In these revealing letters he expressed fears for his own future. He thought the government would, as he put it, ‘throw me on one side’, and he accused them of having ‘blighted my powers for any future exertions’. He was particularly concerned about the suggestion that the work might not be published, fearing it might be used by someone else to write their own history of the Maori. He resented too the government’s appropriation of his manuscript copies, which he believed would render his own collection quite useless for any future venture. Nor was concern for simple financial security ever far away. He proposed several alternatives, all but one involving some form of government funding. 35

Before White had begun pouring out his exasperation in private letters, government had already conceded the point. Responsibility for the project, though not financial control, was passed over to the Native Department on 14 May 1885, Cooper admitting that the original transfer to his department had been a mistake. 36 Lewis soon set out proposals to employ White and ensure speedy publication of the history. He recommended that White be paid a daily allowance of one guinea to come to Wellington and begin the translation, and that he should also occasionally assist departmental interpreters during the parliamentary session. His passage to Wellington would be paid for, but no other allowances. His work might be terminated by the Minister without notice. Finally the work ought to be available as soon as possible and published ‘in parts in a popular form’. 37

Still somewhat wary, White now made a series of counter-proposals. Finding the government’s further clarification and restatements unhelpful he had a personal interview with Ballance in Wellington on 29 June 1985, where he gained useful modifications. 38 The £SOO bonus would be paid after the printing and publication of the Maori manuscripts had been undertaken and after a literal translation had been prepared. The one guinea payment was authorised on the basis that White had to be in Wellington for the history’s translation and printing. Its payment would be terminated without notice, if the translation and publication did not proceed ‘satisfactorily and with reasonable speed’. The Director of the Colonial Museum and Geological Survey, Dr Hector, was to act as referee if such a stoppage was made. Payment for the passage of White and his family to and from Auckland was conceded; however the government retained the control and copyright over the manuscripts. Reiterating Ballance’s earlier views, Lewis insisted that publication proceed as soon as possible. In a draft retained within the department Lewis wrote that he was glad White preferred to edit everything himself. Again it was made clear his translation would not necessarily be published, but rather might be retained for scientific research from which a more popular edition could be prepared for publication. 39

A stubborn and persistent man, White still held out for the bonus, but his desire to undertake the history finally won out over his need for greater financial security. 40 Appointed on 1 July 1885 White quickly prepared a first instalment for printing as demanded by Ballance. However, in spite of everyone’s best intentions it seemed the history was destined for further trouble. An interdepartmental wrangle soon erupted after officials in the Colonial Secretary’s Department objected to having to continue paying for a work, and an employee, they did not control. The matter was only resolved after Cabinet confirmed the existing arrangement. White complained that the government had reimbursed only part of the costs of his family’s shift to Wellington. On top of all this, the printing itself was delayed due to pressure of work on the Government Printing Office and White’s own inability to supply copy fast enough. 41

The next two years saw the publication of the first four volumes of The Ancient History of the Maori between August 1887 and February 1888. The first three dealt with what White described as the ‘Takitumu’ migration. Each volume comprised Maori and English versions of every tradition. A certain amount of the material was derived from earlier publications, acknowledged in the various introductions. The ‘Takitumu’ traditions were presented roughly in chronological order: beginning with traditions of the Maori wharekura (school of knowledge), mythological accounts, a lengthy sequence of traditions concerning Maui, and lasdy recounting the migration, settlement and early Maori

ancestors in New Zealand. Planning also began late in 1886 for illustrating the entire work. Artists in the Survey Department, possibly including Tregear, were employed to carry out the necessary work. 42

At the very time the project was beginning to bear fruit, it was suddenly threatened by a change of government on 8 October 1887. The Stout administration, and in particular the Native Minister John Ballance, had ensured over the previous three years that what had originally seemed a broad and ill-defined project would become a scholarly reality. Lack of sales of the later volumes now precipitated a consideration of the project’s worth by the new government. Despite a raft of retrenchments being ordered elsewhere, the new Premier, Harry Atkinson, minuted that the history be continued. 43 Judging from the available evidence, Atkinson believed the work to be a worthwhile enterprise and White’s own abilities for the job without equal. 44 Perhaps too his brother, A. S. Atkinson, who was a longstanding friend of White may have acted as an advocate in the history’s favour.

The beneficial effects of such support were felt less and less during these last years of the project’s life. As early as 1886 Parliament had begun to query expenditure and the length of time the work was taking. 45 In 1888 the government promised that the year’s vote would be the last. During the same debate supporters of the project stuck grimly to the same arguments advanced in 1880. They stressed the importance of the project for knowledge of Maori history, and pointed out that to cut funding would be ‘manifesdy foolish’, as one put it, with the work so near completion. The government tried to mollify its opponents with one or two minor criticisms of their own, and a solemn promise made both by the Colonial Secretary and the Premier to enquire into the costs of completing the history. The annual vote was reduced by the symbolic amount of £5. 46

The official files for the history after 1888 reveal growing alarm and a strengthening desire to finish off the matter as speedily as possible. The government repeatedly sought to learn the exact number of volumes in The Ancient History. Estimates varied widely depending on whose opinion was sought, though the final figure seems to have been twentyone (seventeen volumes of traditions, three of genealogies and one of notes). The muddled situation was typified by the actions of the Colonial Secretary who reported to Parliament the Government Printer's estimate of eight volumes even though White’s own figure of thirteen had earlier been reported to the Cabinet. Estimates of a completion date were almost as wide of the mark. Although in all fairness this may have been due to an overburdened Government Printing Office, which had to try and fit in producing this major work together with its other business, without any additional funding or staff. 47

Late in 1888 the number of copies of each volume seems to have been reduced from 2,500 to 1,500. Great efforts were made to off-load what was becoming a worrying stockpile of books upon a suitable English publisher. A disappointingly small number of copies was eventually accepted by the publishing house of Sampson Low. 48 Soon after, the Colonial Secretary authorised the presentation of a free copy to any public library in New Zealand which asked for one. 49 In the midst of all this Grey complained that White was incorporating too much from Grey’s own publications and alluded to the possibility of court action. White denied such an accusation, though he began seeking permission from authors before quoting their writings. 50 References to Grey emerged again the following year in a memorandum from the Colonial Secretary who, perhaps tired of the entire project, suggested paying White off and employing Grey, which he maintained had been part of the original agreement. 51

The Colonial Secretary’s outburst resulted from a disagreement between two government departments about White’s salary. In August 1889 Native Department officials noticed that their colleagues in the Colonial Secretary’s Department had made no provision for his salary in their vote. They argued strongly that the history be carried through to completion. 52 After the Colonial Secretary’s unhelpful suggestion to ditch White entirely, a new Secretary, W. R. Russell, accepted the Native Department’s argument to continue payments while the matter was submitted to Cabinet. Cabinet in turn decided the salary should be met from unauthorised expenditure. None the less the Colonial Secretary’s Department continued to resist supplying the funds for another month and processed payment only after ministerial intervention. 53 The project’s financial future had become so precarious that White was advised against taking extended leave of absence, and warned his salary might be struck off the estimates before the end of the next Parliamentary session. 54

The end came on 30 July 1890. A motion was put in Parliament to have the item struck off. Speakers complained about the lack of deadlines and the costs. No one spoke in the project’s favour. The government presented only token arguments, mentioning that it was considered a work of great importance but not supporting the item either way. The amendment to strike it off received support from members of the Liberal opposition, including Joseph Ward, William Pember Reeves and John Ballance. No division was called for and the item was struck out. 55 White himself was officially informed only in September that it had been decided to terminate his services after 30 September 1890. He was thanked for his past services in ‘adding to the historical knowledge of the colony’. 56

In spite of all the delays, the disputes and the general muddleheadedness of those involved, much progress had been achieved in those last years. The fifth and sixth volumes were issued, while at the date

of the project’s termination part of a seventh was in type, and a further two and a half volumes had been translated and were ready for typesetting. Four volumes of genealogies were also begun during 1890 but held over due to printing delays, and disappeared once the project was axed. 57 They, like the other unpublished material, lie amongst the heterogeneous manuscript collection comprising White’s papers. The two published fifth and sixth volumes, along with volume four, completed White’s history of the Tainui canoe. The sequence from mythological accounts to nineteenth century historical incidents used for the Takitumu volumes was repeated.

If most parliamentarians viewed with relative equanimity the end of White’s history, not everyone was so contented. White expressed his own feelings in a letter to Dr T. M. Hocken:

As to the Maori History being stopped, not any thing in life could have caused me such regret. I had used all my energy in life to obtain a complete account of the maori and after the written agreement I had with the Government and the six out of the seventeen volumes in Print, and four more translated ready to printf,] for the House to do as they have is a fact that I have not yet been able to understand, but if the History is not worth its cost to translate and Print, well it is not for me to say that I am to have all my own way, but I do think that if I die there may not be any one who will be able to put the maori I have collected into the full meaning that the public may wish, as for the Poems I do not know any one who has studied, them to render them into English but such is life. 58

Hocken and Sir Robert Stout, the former premier, both expressed their regret at the work’s termination. 59 Stephenson Percy Smith, soon to found the Polynesian Society, had fears in 1890 that a ‘mania for reductions’ then ‘possessing 7 the Parliament would prevent the work’s continuation. 60 The strongest statement of support came from A. S. Atkinson. He sought to drum up parliamentary and other support, including that of his brother and Percy Smith, with whom it appears he was well acquainted. He described those seeking to stop the project rather graphically as ‘te iwi nanakia’ (the deceptive people), and the speeches of the Colonial Secretary in the House as ‘ta te kuare tana mahi’ (his contribution was that of an ignoramus). 61

Eventually even he had to admit defeat, writing in October, ‘Ka po taku rangi i tou kupu pouri rawa’ (my day has set on your very sad message). The depth of his feeling was subsequently expressed in a letter of condolence to White’s widow, ‘lt will be a constant source of great regret to me as I know it will be to you that he was not allowed to finish his work stopped by those who did not know its value and which it would have been his joy [and] pride to have finished.’ 62 White’s newspaper obituaries also criticised the government’s actions, labelling them ‘questionable wisdom’, and referring disparagingly to

the ‘roar of retrenchment’. One columnist suggested the government could do well to arrange with White’s widow for the ‘valuable papers’ to be worked on by a competent scholar to complete the Maori history. 63 Another supporter of the project’s continuation proved to be the Native Department. Proposals were put forward by Lewis to the Cabinet late in 1890 to continue paying White’s salary for two years. However, White’s death in January 1891 saw the matter put aside, only to be re-submitted by the department to the new Liberal government which decided to wait until contacted by his widow or executors. 64 A curious case of a reformist government being more cautious than a previous conservative government.

Events now forced the reluctant government to take the matter in hand finally. Shortly after her husband’s death Mary White pursued his claim for compensation but was politely fobbed off. 65 A few days later the Government Printer enquired about the government’s plans for the outstanding history material set in type by his office. The government decided to issue the seventh volume and asked Tregear to revise it for publication. However, this was abandoned when it was learnt that the Maori manuscripts for it were thought not to exist. Instead 300 copies of the illustrations to The Ancient History comprising 120 plates were issued in the same general format as the earlier volumes. 66

Meanwhile the Native Department seems to have approached the Government Printer and Mrs White about the missing Maori papers. 67 Mary White, taking up an offer of help from A. S. Atkinson, a solicitor, sought advice on her position. He advised her not to part with any manuscripts until the question of the £SOO bonus was settled. 68 The needs of the government and the hopes of Mary White were soon joined. In exchange for the manuscripts sought by the government she was to seek compensation for the arbitrary stoppage of the history project and for the costs of the passage for her and her family back to Auckland, as set out in the 1885 agreement. Her claim was strongly supported by officials of the Native Department. 69

As a result on 8 September 1891 Tregear was instructed to assess the value of the manuscripts in the White family’s possession, with a view to arriving at an equitable amount of compensation. Following his recommendation the Government paid Mary White the bonus and took possession of White’s papers in Wellington and Auckland. Tregear had expressed the hope that the papers would be placed in the hands of a scholar (presumably himself) ‘to thoroughly sift and digest’, but nothing came of it. Nor was the government’s acquiring of papers very thorough-going, at least in Auckland. In 1919 George Graham was to write to Percy Smith that he had spent some pleasurable hours perusing manuscripts in the White’s old family home. Judging from his description of the papers they included some of those deposited by the family in the Auckland Public Library in 1926. 70

Contemporary reactions and reviews, with one exception, considered The Ancient History of the Maori to be a significant ethnographic work. The exception was the review published in the Wellington Evening Post which damned the first volume for its disjointedness, its ‘broad language’ and large amounts of genealogy. The anonymous reviewer then trumpeted his principal criticism:

The presence of whole pages containing indecent allusions is assuredly without excuse, and certainly renders the volume before us unsuitable for general perusal. When we read the legend of the creation of woman in language which is positively disgusting, we shudder when we reflect that the author, who makes ‘the New Zealander speak for himself has promised that the Maori shall give us the meaning of the names of mountains, rivers and headlands.

The reviewer hoped no further volumes would follow and wished the first had not gone beyond its proof sheets. 71 The reaction of the public was immediate. Stocks of the first volume went so briskly it was almost sold out, but those purchasers who had hoped for titillating obscenity were quickly disabused of this expectation. Sales of subsequent volumes nosedived. Whereas officials accepted the fact that the high sales had resulted from the newspaper’s obscenity charge, the Minister responsible for the project preferred to think that the sales slump was really caused by a lack of interest of the ‘busy class’ of New Zealand colonist. Presumably they were too preoccupied taming the bush to read a book. 72

The following week the Evening Post , in an editorial entitled ‘Another Source of Extravagance’, castigated the government for producing such expensive works. It reported that The Ancient History was to be suppressed owing to the amount of‘indecent matter’ contained in it. 73 This report was taken seriously by many of White’s supporters. A. S. Atkinson told White that he had written to the government appointed referee Dr Hector urging the latter that such actions were about as reasonable as expurgating a work on anatomy. Taking a realistic view of human nature, Atkinson suggested either putting the offending terms in Latin, or raising the book’s price. Later he began his own systematic correction of typographical errors and the like, for which purpose White appears to have supplied him with extra copies. 74

Tregear too believed the reported suppression and wrote in no uncertain terms supporting White’s work:

Allow me to offer you sympathy in regard to the manner your book has been treated by the ‘Evening Post’ and others of like idiotic intellect. It is infinitely vexing that the book should be checked just at its start, and for such reasons! To me, the canting hypocrisy that devours thousands of books of Zola and other filthy French writers (as this generation does) and then turns up its eyes in horror at the idea of the names of the parts of the human body being printed in medical Latin, is too much .. . the book was not intended for a popular work, but for those interested in Maoris and Maori history —for the popular reader there are thousands of volumes of‘slush’

published every year —whilst these stories and the almost lost words in which they were told can never be got again. 75

Other correspondents also spoke of the great value they found in the texts. A retired Wesleyan minister and friend added that he could not find anything worthy of suppression. Another thought the many tales did not shock ‘good taste’ or ‘the domestic circle’. 76 Another significant contemporary to support the work was Percy Smith who made extensive private and public references to its value. In 1888 he devoted a significant portion of his presidential address to the Auckland Institute to reviewing the contents and value of the first two volumes. He called them a ‘storehouse of mythological information’ which he considered would be referred to as the standard work. By preserving ‘this traditional lore’ White had performed ‘a work of very great importance and interest’. He felt the translation suffered by needlessly encumbering the English with renderings of Maori proper names. These, he suggested, could have been relegated to an appendix. He singled out the publication of variant texts from different sources and tribes as of value for comparative studies. In his view the ‘inestimable service’ White had performed for ‘the student of Polynesian mythology’ by publishing the work was only equalled by the works of Grey. 77

The following year, writing privately, Smith again stressed the importance he attached to the variant traditions published by White. To him they were evidence of the accounts’ ‘authenticity and antiquity’. Nor was he critical of varying translations of proper names. He thought this resulted from the alternative meanings a word could have, and White was right in giving these. He accepted too the style of presentation used in The Ancient History. White, he suggested, had not studied deeply either philology or ethnology and had therefore correctly restricted himself to presenting the Maori text and translations, allowing others ‘more deeply versed in these sciences’ to summarise and show the affinities to the traditions of other races. 78 Towards the end of his life he still recommended the set of volumes, despite their many errors, for the Maori texts contained in them.

Late in 1887 a second review of the first volume was published in the New Zealand Mail\ it was far more complimentary. Taking a dig at the Post reviewer it referred to the ‘storm of prurient indignation’, believing it had influenced the government to consider for a brief time ending the work. The second reviewer may have had connections in official circles as the review set out remarkably clearly the conditions of White’s appointment. The reviewer singled out the Maori song translations as ‘one especially excellent part of this book’. He believed the literal translation of traditions one of the strong points, and thought the material on the wharekura, the creation and a mythical flood had never been so clearly shown before. 80

Tregear meanwhile began to assume a role as the history’s public defender. He sent copies or wrote to eminent people about The Ancient History, including the distinguished Sanskrit scholar Max Muller and the Polynesian scholar William Wyatt Gill. He assiduously reported back their comments to White, including Gill’s description of the history as ‘priceless’. 81 In 1888 the New Zealand Times published an unsigned review of the second volume by Tregear. He regretted the smaller number of genealogies, but regarded the translations of traditions as particularly valuable since most recorders shrank from giving them. He noted the archaic language of the ‘old charms and spells’ which benefited, he wrote, from White’s inestimable mastery of the obsolete priestly dialect. Tregear also referred to White’s translations of Maori song poetry, praising his ‘unique power of expression and sympathy’. 82 As successive volumes of The Ancient History emerged, notice was taken by English reviewers. The magazine the Saturday Review considered the works a ‘treasure of knowledge’. It made various comparisons with other bodies of tradition such as Indian Vedas and Greek mythology, and thought the Maori one of the most metaphysical of backward races with an astonishing grasp of abstract conceptions. 83

The English anthropologist, E. B. Tylor, reviewed the first four volumes for The English Historical Review. He thought the work’s main interest for European students lay in providing a well preserved and carefully recorded series of‘barbaric traditions’. No better opportunity, he maintained, had been provided to judge what ‘savage tradition’ could really stand for as a source of history. He did point out the ‘awkward differences’ between the various accounts of some traditions but hoped White would not think the work was underrated, for in fact Tylor thought ‘the full and untouched versions of the stories’ showing their own historical defects made them much more valuable than if they were ‘artificially reduced to consistency’. 84

The language used both by White and the government in various letters and memoranda reveal them as engaged in a typically bureaucratic mode of discourse. Though conscious of the work as an important piece of scholarship their chief concerns focused on issues of administrative and financial control. On occasions this led to inappropriate, if understandable decisions being reached. For instance the government limited the project to four years, but seemed unaware of the ramifications this would have even when these were pointed out to them. It is not surprising that the undertaking was eventually terminated before it had been completed. Since publication, the verdict on The Ancient History has not been entirely kind. Doubts have been raised about its worth as a body of Maori tradition. This is certainly not the place to begin to comment

extensively about these, except to observe that the controversy seems to stem from a fear that the individual traditions bear to varying degrees the imprint of White’s own authorship. If this is indeed the case, as so many fear, clearly the texts of the traditions in The Ancient History require a critical re-evaluation. In this regard, a few observations may not go amiss about the factors any such programme of reassessment needs to take into consideration.

Concerning White’s editorial function, it would be useful to discover what practices were followed by other nineteenth century editors. White was associated with Sir George Grey over many years. His editorial practice may suggest what to expect in White’s own case. 85 What should not happen in any evaluation of White as an editor is to try him as if he were a colleague in the late twentieth century.

Of course the texts of the traditions remain crucial in any such consideration. One might ask about the origins of such material. How did the Maori texts for The Ancient History come into being? A preliminary examination of evidence suggests a variety of origins. 86 Some texts were written directly by the informant, others by an intermediary (sometimes another Maori, sometimes not). Regarding Maori authors, details need to be discovered about their authority to relate the traditions and the source of their knowledge: was it a ‘canonical’ tribal version or highly idiosyncratic? Similarly, a Pakeha intermediary must be as vigorously evaluated as White himself. An additional factor to consider here is the process involved in reducing any Maori oral tradition to a written text.

How do such autographs, where they exist, compare with printed texts in The Ancient History ? Here some techniques and principles from textual criticism may be usefully employed. What is known of The Ancient History suggests that texts were derived from multifarious sources, including Maori manuscripts, Maori newspapers, Land Court reports, Maori letters to officials, other manuscript collections by Pakeha (in which case their authors and procedures need to be investigated), other scholarly publications (although these were acknowledged), White’s own manuscript collection, and his personal recall of conversations and incidents spanning his adolescent and adult life. It is quite possible that any single text may be derived from one or more such sources.

As the issues raised illustrate, a comprehensive evaluation of The Ancient History will be a mammoth undertaking. Yet it would be encouraging to think that in the second century of the work’s existence some attempt might be made in this direction. It would be the most fitting salute to the endeavours of one of New Zealand’s earlier scholars.

Notes on Contributors sheila box is an Australian journalist who lives in Castlemaine, Victoria. colin davis is Professor of English History, School of English and American Studies, University of East Anglia. He has taught at Victoria University and Massey University in New Zealand. moira long was until recently Special Printed Collections Librarian at the Alexander Turnbull Library. michael reilly is a member of the History Faculty, University of Otago. dr j. R. tye is a former Reader of English at Victoria University, and a past president of the Friends of the Turnbull Library.

REFERENCES The author would like to thank Dr Niel Gunson and Mr Bob Langdon of the Australian National University for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper. 1 J. P. Johansen, The Maori and His Religion (Copenhagen, 1954), pp. 277-83; M. P. J. Reilly, ‘John White: An Examination of His Use of Maori Oral Tradition and the Role of Authenticity’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, 1985), pp. 1-8. 2 Edited by A. G. Bagnall, I, pp. 1116-17. 3 Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHR), 1879 (Session II) G-16; John White, MS Papers 75: folder 837 d Native Department files, ND 79/1360, 79/1755. The White manuscripts are held at the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL). They form the principal collection cited in this article. The appropriate folder number and where necessary the official file number only will be given, e.g. 837 d ND 79/1360, 79/1755. The initials NO or ND stand for the Native Department and CS for the Colonial Secretary’s Department. 4 A 69, Locke to White, 23 April 1880; A7l, translated extract from A. Bastian, Die Heilige Sage der Polynesier, Kosmogenie und Theogenie (Leipzig, 1881); Auckland Public Library, NZMS 4/6(5), Shand to White, 11 December 1879. Shand collected and published much Moriori traditional material; Locke collected traditions on the east coast of the North Island and in the Taupo region. 5 New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, (NZPD), 36 (1880), pp. 446-48.

6 A6l, White to Moss, [May 1885]. 7 837 a CS 85/1586, p. 2. 8 837 c NO 89/1883; NZPD, 36 (1880), p. 446; NZPD 62 (1888), p. 494. 9 837 a NO 80/877. 10 NZPD, 36 (1880), p. 280. 11 837 aCS 80/3713. 12 NZPD, 36 (1880), pp. 445-47. The two following paragraphs also derived from NZPD, 36 (1880), pp. 445-48. 13 NZPD, 36 (1880), pp. 445-48. 14 A6O letter number 1318; 837 aCS 80/1649, 80/3467, 80/3713, 80/4084, 83/4037. 15 837 a CS 80/4488. 16 A6l, White to Moss, [May 1885], A6l, White to Grey, 27 May 1885; A6l, White to Bastian, 30 August 1881; 837 a CS 85/1586, p. 5. 17 The use by White of the Rarotongan Maori form ‘Takitumu’ rather than Takitimu shows the influence of his reading upon this work. In this case the source may have been the collection of Cook Island (mainly Mangaian) traditions by W. W. Gill entitled Historical Sketches of Savage Life in Polynesia published under the Grey Administration in 1880. The significance of White’s usage was initially pointed out to me by Agnes Sullivan.

18 A6l, White to Bastian, 30 August 1881; the annual reports and associated correspondence are located in 837 a CS 80/4953, 81/770, 81/2169, 82/2586, 82/3793, 83/2516, 83/4037, 84/1793. 19 837 aCS 83/4037, 84/1793, NO 84/1684. 20 837 aCS 84/1793, NO 84/1595. 21 837 a NO 84/1669, 84/1684; NZPD, 48 (1884), p. 444, 50 (1884), p. 379. 22 837 aCS 84/1793, 84/4663. 23 837 a NO 84/3784.

24 837 a NO 84/3784. 25 837 a NO 84/3784, 85/71. 26 837 a NO 85/195, 85/479. 27 837 a NO 84/3784. 28 837 a CS 85/193. 29 837 a NO 85/71. 30 837 aCS 85/590. 31 837 a NO 85/734. 32 837 a CS 85/590. 33 837 aCS 85/590. 34 837 a CS 85/1586. 35 A6l, White to Moss, [May 1885]; A6l, White to Grey, 27 May 1885. 36 837 a CS 85/1586. 37 A6O letter number 564; 837 aNO 85/2040. 38 837 a NO 85/2040. 39 837 a NO 85/2040, 85/2215; A6O letter number 737. 40 837 a NO 85/2215; A6O letter number 742. 41 837 a NO 85/3165, 86/23, ‘additions and alterations to General Authorities’; A6O, Gamble to White, 15 December 1886 and 10 February 1887; for White’s

responses see backs of letters. 42 837 d NO 86/4040, 87/1376; A7sa, Tregear to White, 26 August 1887. 43 837 d NO 86/797. 44 NZPD, 62 (1888), p. 494. 45 NZPD, 56 (1886), p. 9. 46 NZPD, 62 (1888), p. 494. 47 837 d NO 86/211, 88/797, 88/844, 88/1989, 88/2449; 837 c NO 89/1574, 89/1883, 89/2953, 90/373, 90/2086; NZPD, 62 (1888), p. 494; obituaries in New Zealand Herald, 14 January 1891, Auckland Star, 13 January 1891. 48 837 d NO 88/1989, 88/2174, 88/2247, 89/711, 89/770. 49 837 c NO 89/988. 50 837 d CS 88/3639 (NO 88/2772). 51 837 c NO 89/1883. 52 837 c NO 89/1883. 53 837 c NO 89/2623. 54 837 c NO 89/2953. 55 NZPD, 68 (1890), pp. 258-62. 56 837 c CS 90/2671.

57 837 c NO 89/1510, 89/1574, 89/2953, 90/200, 90/373, 90/2086; marginal notes in 815, 820, 824, 836; A. F. McDonnell, MS Papers 151: folder 27, ATL, White to Didsbury, 18 February 1890. 58 Dunedin, Hocken Library, MS 451: T. M. Hocken Personal Correspondence, White to Hocken, 3 November 1890. 59 A 69, Hocken to White, 3 October 1890; A 69, Turton to White, 17 September 1890. 60 Polynesian Society MS 1187 (hereinafter PS): folder 145, ATL, Smith to Carroll, 29 July 1890. 61 PS/145, S. P. Smith to Shand, 25 September 1889; A7O, A. Atkinson to White, 3 September 1890. 62 A7O, A. Atkinson to White, 8 October 1890; qMS, John White, [Private Journal, typescript (top copy)], 1846-1850 (hereinafter Private Journal), ATL, Attachments, A. Atkinson to Mary White, 29 April 1891. 63 Obituaries in Auckland Star, 13 January 1891, New Zealand Herald, 14 January 1891, Auckland Weekly News, 24 January 1891, p. 7. 64 837 c NO 90/2086, 91/414.

65 837 b NO 90/2284, 91/353. 66 837 c NO 91/414, 91/750. 67 837 c NO 91/414, 91/750. 68 A7O, A. Atkinson to Mary White, 21 May 1891, and 23 June 1891; Private Journal, Attachments, A. Atkinson to Mary White, 29 April 1891. 69 837 c NO 91/971. 70 837 cNO 91/1820, 91/2085, 91/2417; Polynesian Society records, acc. 80-115 (hereinafter Acc. 80-115), box 3n, ATL, Graham to S. P. Smith, 12 March 1919. 71 Evening Post, 20 August 1887, p. 5. 72 837 d NO 88/2174; New Zealand Mail, 9 September 1887, pp. 30-31. 73 Evening Post, 24 August 1887. 74 A7O, A. Atkinson to White, 25 October 1887. There is a set of The Ancient History in the ATL with corrections by Atkinson similar to those described in his letter. 75 A7sa, Tregear to White, 26 August 1887. 76 A 69, Wallis to White, 7 November 1887; A 69, Oliver to White, 30 November 1887.

77 PS/211, S. P. Smith, ‘Presidential Address to Auckland Institute 1888’, [the New Zealand Herald?], 4 June 1888. 78 PS/145, S. P. Smith to Carroll, 7 July 1889. 79 Acc. 80-115, box 3h, S. P. Smith to Leverd, 3 August 1916. 80 New Zealand Mail, 9 September 1887, pp. 30-31. 81 A 76, Tregear to White, 14 and 27 March 1888. 82 New Zealand Times, 22 March 1888, p. 5. 83 The reviews were reprinted in the fifth and sixth volumes of The Ancient History. 84 E. B. Tylor, review of The Ancient History of the Maori vol. I-IV, in The English Historical Review, 5 (1890), 391-92. 85 D. R. Simmons, ‘The Sources of Sir George Grey’s Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna’, in The Great New Zealand Myth (Wellington, 1976), pp. 363-70. 86 The following two paragraphs are taken from Reilly, ‘John White: An Examination of His Use of Maori Oral Tradition . . .’ pp. 326-53, 360-68. Attention is drawn to two further articles by the author concerning John White. They are ‘John White: the Making of a Nineteenth-Century Writer and Collector of Maori Tradition’, New Zealand Journal of History, 23 (October 1989), 157-72; and ‘John White. Part II: Seeking the Elusive Mohio: White and his Maori Informants’, NZJH, 24 (April 1990), 45-55.