HE WAIATA MO NGA MAHI WHENUA A Song about Land Affairs 1. Kaore te aroha morikarika noa Ki aku tau rawa ka tatara ki mamao. He moenga tara te kiri ka tauwehe; Te rongo te houhia ki a Ngati Apa He kino ano ra ka ata kitea iho, Ka mahue Kauwhata, ka mahue kei muri Kaore i ara i ako ai ki te mahi Kawana. 2. E rua aku mahi e noho nei au; Ko te hanga i te whare, Ko te hanga i te tikanga. Pukohu tairi ki Te Kuiti ra, Ki te kainga ra i noho ai te ariki. Ki taaku whakaaro ka taemai Waikato Hei noho i te whenua E panuitia nei! E panuitia nei! 3. Pa rawa te mamae ki te tau o taku ate, E tama ma e! Tu ake ki runga ra, Tirohia te he o to mahi; Maaku e ki atu, “Nohoia, nohoia!” No mua mai ano, no nga kaumatua, Na ngeaku waewae i tipi ra i te whenua. Na konei hoki au i kino ai ki te reti Ue! Whaiwhai ki te reti! 1. Never-ending is the sorrow within me, For my cherished ones now parted afar off. ‘Tis a thorny couch which torments my body; Peace is still denied unto Ngati Apa, And ‘tis a grievous thing to contemplate, That Kauwhata is left, left in the rear. Will (you) never learn the ways of the Governor. 2. I have two objects in staying here; To erect a dwelling-house, To set up a way of life. 10 (See) the mist is settling on Te Kuiti yonder, Upon the place where dwelt the exalted one. Me thought Waikato had come To settle on the land, Now proclaimed! Now proclaimed! 3. The pain of it has touched my heart within; O my sons all! Go and stand forth yonder, Look upon the grievous wrong you do; Of which I do say, “Settle, settle (the land)!” ‘Tis a thought of old, a heritage from the elders, 20 Plucked by me (along the trail) as I tripped o'er the land. That is why I deplore (the lure of) rent, Goodness me! (This) chasing after rent! 4 Ngati-Apa—The tribe whose lands, to the south of the Rangitikei River, were overrun by the Ngati Raukawa and allied tribes in the early 1830s. Some years later a number of the chiefs of these tribes sold the lands—except for a few thousand acres—between the Rangitikei and Manawatu for less than £3000! 6 Kauwhata—One of the tribes allied with the Ngati Raukawa. This tribe retained some lands in the Feilding district. 11 Te Kuiti—The preceding narrative will explain the reference to Te Kuiti. It concerns the occupation of the lands there by the refugee tribes from Waikato after the Waikato War. 12 Exalted one—In reference to King Tawhiao, the second Maori king. He is mentioned in the preceding narrative. 13 Waikato—In reference to the Waikato refugees. See note to line 11. 15 Panuitia—Made known, proclaimed. Derived from, Pa 2. Reach one's ears, be heard. (Williams Dictionary page 244) and nui 3. many (Ibid. page 224) Hence: Made known the Investigation of Title etc. to be lodged with the Registrar of the Court. The application, if in order, is then advertised (panuitia, is the Maori term used) in the Kahiti (Gazette). It was the appearance of the application of the Maniapoto chiefs for Investigation of the titles to their tribal lands which the poetess refers to in this line as panuitia (proclaimed). to the many, or proclaimed as the translation of the writer has it. ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ The completion of the foregoing song, we thought, would have accounted for all the Puhiwahine songs; but Te Keehi has now supplied us with what might be called the fragment of a song. According to Te Keehi it was composed by Puhiwahine as a introductory stanza to the action song at the end of Chapter 3. Te Keehi's account is that Puhiwahine, late in her life, had suffered from some mental illness, and that it was thought she was the victim of makutu (witchcraft). Because of this illness she composed these lines: (Continued on page 64)