Te Toa Takitini 2
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Te Toa Takitini
(Which grew out of Te Kopara)
Te Kopara followed Te Pipiwharauroa.
Te Pipiwharauroa followed He Kupu Whakamarama
which began in 1898.
Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper.
(Maori Version at PapersPast.)
Number 2, Hastings, 1 September, 1921.
OUR PAPER
Many people received Te Kopara in past years without paying for it. There was no charge for ministers, no charge for hospitals, and no charge for prisons. The paper was sent to them to cheer them up. There was another group who were in debt to the paper. Some were in debt for three years and some even for four years or more. It will not bode well for Te Toa Takitini if it gets into the same situation. Therefore we are informing people that if they are more than two years behind with their subscriptions this will be the last copy of the paper they receive. Act quickly to settle your debts if you want Te Toa Takitini to continue to arrive on your marae. We have received many messages of congratulation about our paper. But we have to point out that the paper will not survive on congratulations alone. So turn your words of congratulation into actions. As it said in the proverb in the first edition:
Nau ko te rourou, naku ko te rourou ka ora te manuhiri.
By your food basket and mine the guests will be satisfied. [cf Nga Pepeha 1981]
This is a plea to the People and to those who are wealthy to help our paper financially. Were we being paid for the work we do in writing the paper that would not be important. We give our time and our little learning out of our great concern for the people.
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If you have a similar concern for the people will you not want to send some of the money God has entrusted to your stewardship? Let us share our generosity. You have your food basket and I have mine. Let us spread our love. Our newspaper is not being produced to line someone’s pockets but to advance the mental and spiritual lives of the people as a whole. A perceptive saying during the war was: It was because Germany went spiritually astray that it sank.
That saying is right. If there is something spiritually wrong with a people, that people will sink. Therefore we ask you chiefs to support our paper which will set good examples for our people to follow. This will be your guiding voice by which your stories will reach all the marae of Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu and reach even Wharekauri [the Chatham Islands] and other islands of the world. Many copies are sent to friends in England.
A final word to the Ministers. The paper comes free to some of you. Some of you think that you should pay for each copy. Some of you do not support us – no greetings, no stories. Our desire is that you, the Ministers in each district send articles and also the names of people wanting papers for themselves. Write to us about your Hui, wherever in the country they are happening, about the work of your Councils, about what your schools are doing, about Church meetings, about new ideas, and about deaths. We will choose which part to print and what to omit. But remember to keep your articles brief. Don’t draw them out to great length. Our paper doesn’t have room for long articles.
So, best wishes to you all and to our paper.
For Chest Illnesses and Flu take Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, 1/6, 1/9 a bottle.
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FROM HASTINGS.
Having heard the exciting news, we congratulate the girls’ teams in Hastings who have taken up hockey as their sport for this time of the year. Very good. This is one of the popular sports at this time. We have received your requests to print accounts of what you are doing and of your ideas. Come, bring your plans. My strength is the strength of many even though I am small. I may be small in size but my hope is that every place will do as you have done and tell me of the recreational activities you engage in at various times. I am also grateful for any accounts you send of hui, of conferences, of songs, of performances, of matters for the advancement of knowledge (debates), and other pleasant ways of teaching fitness and raising the spirits of the teams. Be strong. Although you are opponents in your sports, be strong (play the game). Be a sport. Honour our Lord in everything y0u do.
To the Editor.
Sir, please print this statement for our friends to see. Our plans for playing hockey have been reported. Our teams have been set up with the idea of doing this together to see whether our health and our mental well-being can be improved by exercise [running].
The teams that have been set up are Matariki from Korongata, Huia from Omahu, Kahuranaki from Te Hauke, Pohokura from Waipawa, MIA from Tahoraiti (Improvement Team), and afterwards from Te Pakipaki comes the YMP (Young Maori Party). The top team is the MIA, and below them comes Matariki. We were not very fit before we took up playing hockey but now we are very fit indeed. I think that it is perhaps the running that has helped.
MIA played Matariki. The result was 1-all. Matariki was the stronger team because it is a team of expert players. YMP played Kahuranaki and Kahuranaki won 3-nil. Huia and Kahuranaki have played four times, and Matariki has beated Huia three times. A competition between the teams is planned for the end of this month.
Te Rarii.
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DEATHS DURING THE WAR.
A scholar from Harvard College in America says that it will take France seventy years to replace the millions of men who died in the recent war.
MOASCAR CUP.
The football match between Te Aute College (TAC) and the Mormon College (MAC) for the ‘Moascar Cup’ played at Hastings, the MAC won by 24 points to 9. It was a strongly contested match and the MAC were the stronger team on that day and played very well. Many people came to see the match for these were the only teams from the Maori schools playing for that Cup.
The Moascar Cup was won by the New Zealand Cavalry team in Palestine during the recent Great War. When they arrived home the soldiers presented it as a trophy to be contested by all New Zealand schools. It is laid down that only young people who have not reached the age of twenty on 1st April of the year are eligible to play in the school teams.
TAMATERANGI.
A proverb was incorrectly ascribed to Taharakau in Number One. It was Tamaterangi who said:
He ao te rangi ka uhia; he huruhuru te manu ka rere.
As clouds deck the heaven, so feathers enable the bird to fly. {cf Nga Pepeha 352}.
Our apologies.
A GIFT.
Moori Pere (Donnelly) presented the silver caps to the Hawkes Bay Rugby team. She gave them to encourage the team as they face the imminent arrival of the team from Africa, a team that has been doing well. We thank Moori for her thoughtfulness in this, one of many areas that is appropriate for chiefs to be involved with. She it was who also welcomed the Gisborne Reps to Otatara.
This woman has lain ill for two years but she has improved under the directions of Ratana, and our hope is that you will continue to get better, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
CONFIRMATION SERVICES.
On Sunday, 28th August, the Bishop of Waiapu visited Omahu and Moteo to conduct Confirmation Services. Many people gathered for the services. And many also were confirmed – 16 at Omahu and 5 at Moteo.
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THE UNION (TE ROPU MATAARA.)
Members of the Hawkes Bay Branch 0f the Sheep Owners Association met to look into the costs associated with shearing. The President and organisers of the Union were also invited. Many discussions took place but those matters have been referred to the general meeting to be held in Wellington. The Association thinks that the amounts being asked by the shearers are too burdensome, but the Union has laid down that payment appropriate to the times has to be agreed. The slogan they adopt is, ‘Be watchful.’
PITAU AND PAREIHA HAVE ENTERED UPON THE LONG SLEEP.
There is great sorrow over the many sad events that have occurred, particularly the deaths of Pitau of Gisborne and Retia Pareihe of Hastings and of many of their grandchildren over recent months. Great trees! [cf Nga Pepeha 1672] The thud of their falling! Tell these myriads, these thousands. You are not alone in your courage. Afterwards it is for me to bring it all together, from your two lines of descent, under the shelter of Te Toa Takitini
Mate atu he tetekura, ara mai he tetekura. [cf Nga Pepeha 1766]
‘As one chief dies another rises to take his place.’
There is weeping and looking to left and to right. There is going back to the hills, to the great resting places there in the hearts and in the eyes of people. And there is the unspoken prayer in our hearts that God will give each of you hope in you suffering and clouded hearts.
THE SYNOD. COME, MY CROWD OF WARRIORS, MY MINISTERS.
The main Synod will be held in Napier at the beginning of September. It will be very good if our fellow ministers make every effort to travel to that hui. Many important things will emerge from it. Come, my friends. The crowd of warriors will make light of the work. If you must then die like the shark. [cf Nga Pepeha 1306 et al]
Give children suffering from the flu Woods’ Great Peppermint Cure, 1/9, 2/9 a bottle.
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THE DAYS OF CHILDHOOD.
Mauri mahi, mauri ora. [cf Nga Pepeha 1792, 1793]
‘A working soul is a healthy soul.’
People, the right time has come for us to give some thought to the kind of occupation which will provide a living for us. Time goes quickly and when we consider it it is very clear that you spend your ‘time‘ mainly on yourself. Everything has its value – the food in the shops and everything in those shops. But what appears to make for serious problems is the attitude of the ‘Trade Union’ which distributes the food throughout the country. As I see it, that group have found out how to deliberately transport most food and even other goods as being the same weight whether they reach that weight or not. As a result of this the price of everything a person requires continues to rise. So as a result of the attitude of this people, to my mind the only people who get any benefit are those who have shares in those groups. What we have to seek is a way to elude these impositions. To my mind the first thing we need to do is to commit our hearts to using all our strength to work to ensure that a person gets a proper payment whatever work your heart inclines you to.
But when the work has begun the important thing after that is generosity with the fruits of your work. Part must be stored against the day when you recall some obligation, because no-one can say, ‘I will do such a thing on such and such a day.’ [cf James 4.13] The world goes on turning. The Pakeha has thrived on the face of the earth as a result of all the things we see in these our prospering friends. Let us pass beyond these high fences of working hard, of generosity with the fruit of you work, the reward of your sweat, and be firm in ensuring that your sweat is valued when you give your body to someone else to do his work or fulfil his plans. Then we can invite the world to look carefully at the right place for putting the road which will ease the turning of the world. The time is coming when the Saviour will return to this world and the word will be spoken to the people who are living and to those who are raised, ‘Behold your measure and your measure.’ We know the payment for good work and for bad work, for punishment and for blessing.
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Therefore, to my way of thinking, when a man has worked and has been blessed with possessions and has received the value of his sweat whether he be a boss or some other sort of person, it is right that the boss gives the worker work lovingly and that the worker works lovingly, and that the boss does not withhold what is due to the worker as a result of his sweat and that the worker works hard. But, my friends, as I see it, if the boss and the worker share a faith in Almighty God this situation will come about. They will be united in love. Then it will be easy to pay the value of the work done and also to work hard for the amount arranged.
There is no time to be wasted given the serious issues which face the world. Therefore, Young People, get involved! The time will come when you are Elders and it will be appropriate for you just to sit. Then you may turn your thoughts to the past and reflect on and weep for your parents who have passed beyond the horizon, who have descended to your ancestors, and you may weep and wonder and ask, ‘What have I found on this long road over which I have travelled?’
Then you will realize that the most important thing bequeathed to you is the family Holy Bible. And the important thing that you will quickly fix upon is this, ‘Faith, Hope and Love abide, these three; but the greatest of these three is Love.’ [1 Corinthians 13,13]
Therefore, the way in which you must grow up into mature adults is to follow the principles of the Faith: there you will find the things, all the aspects of the days to come, and when they are clear to you you will begin to live in Hope. But when you are clear about the things you may Hope for then you will truly know the value of this thing, Love, one of the great treasures bequeathed by your forebears to every marae. Therefore, Young People, devote your efforts to seeking out everything in Faith, Hope and Love.
P[araire] H[enare] T[omoana]
THE PARISH OF MOTEO.
We are very grateful to the women’s group of Omahu for undertaking to maintain the burial ground of our church. This kind of work is very good. So, you women in other parts of the Vineyard should perhaps show a similar enthusiasm. This should not be seen as a competition but as a way of paying respects to the people buried there.
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THE TRUST FUNDS OF THE DIOCESE OF WAIAPU.
In these days when the whole world is oppressed by the problems and the difficulties of finding money our thoughts go back to our ancestors of fifty years ago and we are grateful to them for their efforts to make provision for the generations after them. The blight of having no money has struck us all. It has had serious effects on the running of the Church. Through the great thoughtfulness of those chiefs who have passed on, those who run the Church are being sustained today. Let us look at the Clergy Trust Funds in hand:
The amounts are correct as on 1st September 1921.
During the war years some of the Hawkes Bay people began to increase Trust Funds for themselves. These Funds continue to grow year by year.
These are some of the Clergy Trust Funds of the Diocese of Waiapu.
Let each parish continue to increase our Trust Funds. Your forebears made every effort to lay down these amounts for our benefit in these days. What are you of this generation doing? Remember the name of our paper, Te Toa Takitini, ‘Our strength is in our numbers.’
Moteo Parish
Moteo 553 4 0
Waiohiki 515 0 2
Omahu 639 15 0
Total 1707 19 2
Waipatu Parish
Ngatihori 1137 14 3
Waimarama 309 6 6
Total 1447 0 9
Waipawa Parish
Waipawa 343 17 2
H Rapaea 100 0 0
Total 443 17 2
Waipatu Parish
Te Hauke 149 0 0
Pakipaki 109 3 3
Warihia Ihukino
i.e Kohupatiki 32 0 0
For the Tongoio Church 288 8 6
For the Clergy House
at Te Waipatu 52 10 0
Waipawa Parish
Porangahau 344 0 0
Taupo 300; Turanga 400; Hikurangi 800; Te Kaha 570; Mohaka 200; Whangara 430; Waiapu 630; Whakatane 160; Wairoa 200; Tokomaru 370; Kawakawa 400; Tauranga 420; Nuhaka 300.
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THE SUNDAYS IN SEPTEMBER
We begin in this edition of our paper articles about each Sunday of the month.
September 4. Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The main teaching of this Sunday is seen in the Collect, Epistle and Gospel. It is the understanding that we cannot stand without the help of God. That is said in the Collect. The Epistle states that we find life ‘only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ And in the Gospel we are urged , ‘seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’ The life of our souls depends on him, as does the life of our bodies. There are many signs of God’s love for us.
An illustration. During the war a soldier learned that his wife was seriously ill. He put in a request for permission to return. It was declined. So he ran away. On the way he was arrested.
He was court-martialled. This was the judgement. ‘On Friday you will be shot dead.’ The man did not stir; he held his head high. Then he responded, ‘That’s good.’ Then the prisoner asked, ‘Is that all?’ The officer said, ‘No. There is a letter.’ Thereupon he read out the document in which the General forgave his wrongdoing.’ On hearing this the man burst out weeping. He fell to the ground and sobbed. When he regained his composure his heart was fixed. The pitying statement, the gentle statement, brought calm to the man’s heart. He returned to his rank, and because of his good conduct and his efforts it was not long before he was promoted to the highest ranks.
God loves us very much, loves us body and soul. Be kind, be gentle.
September 11. Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The word for this Sunday is: ‘Let thy continual pity, cleanse and defend they Church.’ In the Gospel we see the pity of Christ in the raising of the son of the widow of Nain. And in the Epistle: ‘To know the love of Christ.’
An illustration. The light of the Jews was extinguished because they coveted that
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light for themselves. The plan was that they should carry that light to the four corners of the earth. Jesus also said, ‘You are the light of the world.’ The leaders of the Church are calling us to ‘show love to Melanesia.’ Some say, ‘But what about the Maori?’ These are like the Jews coveting the light for themselves only. We must be careful lest our light is extinguished. The love of God is for the whole world.
September 18. Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity.
The message of this Sunday is in the Collect which pleads, ‘make us continually to be given to all good works.’ It is by God’s strength that his will happen. The Epistle says, ‘I beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.’ These are the ‘good works.’ The Gospel contains the word of our Lord about the lowly heart which ‘takes the lowest place.’ ‘He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’
September 25. Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity.
The teaching of this Sunday is about the Christian’s battle with the world, the flesh and the devil. In the Gospel is the basis of our strength: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour.’ The Epistle tells about the coming Day of the Lord. Therefore be firm.
An illustration. A woman in Nelson was bitten by a katipo. The woman thought nothing of the tiny katipo. Her hand swelled up. She became more ill and decided to go the doctor. When the doctor saw it he decided quickly to cut off the hand that had been bitten. The woman would not agree. But as it got worse she eventually agreed. The amputation did not stop the poison which had already gone further. He did a further amputation at the shoulder. The woman died because she allowed the poison too long to continue its journey.
Beware of the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil. They are poisons that will progress if they are not rapidly brought to the Doctor.
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MILK IS THE FOOD.
It is good for a person to ask himself, ‘What is the good food which will grow and sustain my body?’ But indeed it by the questions one asks in one’s heart that one seeks information about everything.
Likewise, under this heading, ‘Milk is the Food,’ you can concentrate your thinking on your body particularly, and ask the question, ‘Did I indeed drink milk?’ Then we will see and agree that this was the first food that our parents gave us in our childhood. It was that food that grew our bodies and our bones; it was this that made us grow up in the world and become adults. It is right that we who have become adults and elders should ask, ‘What food did our parents eat to provide milk (wai-u) for us when we were infants. I think we may be surprised when we see, when we realize, that some simply ate food without knowing that that food would be changed into milk.
Some were unknowingly fed on contaminated milk without knowing that such food caused sickness and impedes the growth of a person’s bones and muscles. But people who sought out and ate food which produced good milk for the children saw good results as they fed their children. Some people thought that once the baby had begun its life there was no longer need to be concerned – but she was still one of the mouths consuming food that would provide good milk for the baby. From the child’s first year up to the fifth year, before the time when the child goes to school, it is right that it is assiduously fed with milk to help the bones of that infant body to grow well. It is also good that the child continues to be fed with milk while it is going to school or to work. The strength and health of adulthood depends on the quality of the wai-u, of the milk, drunk during childhood. Today we have great expertise in testing milk for its good quality, for its contamination, for diseases, and it is right that we are stringent in our investigations. Our instructions are, ‘Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you; ask and it will be given you.’ [Matthew 7.7] These days it is the practice for schools to be constantly looked after by teachers and doctors. Milk is not easy to come by, but as it is the source of health for the body there is nothing wrong with
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wanting it and seeking it out. Although milking a cow may be arduous, or owning a cow may be difficult, that is nothing when we know that milk is the relish of the foods which have made us grow and brought us to the present day. Therefore make every effort to find ways of getting a cow or a supply of milk to mix with the good foods that your various areas produce. These are good gifts for your elders to give to all your marae.
THE PRESENT DISASTROUS EVENTS LIKENED TO AN OCTOPUS.
Now the body of this monster, the octopus, has been raised above the waves of the plans and the works of every aspect of life whether they concern God or human beings. The tentacles of the octopus have been extended to every place. Wise people have observed that the tentacles of that monster are very long as it emerges on this occasion as it has grown old during the long time it has been lying under the sea. The recent great storm in the world, the Great War, was him making a whirlpool of the ocean, stirring up the mud below, thrusting his head up, making staring eyes, showing his teeth – completely terrifying.
In the murky waters the tentacles go about feeling for things. Everything is revealing its weakness! The greedy heart is still rampant everywhere. But two things remain for you in these days. First there is your own bodily strength, and then there is the promise of the Creator, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the world.’ [Matthew 28.20] Therefore stay alert. Abide on the headland where an army can be summoned. Be resolute. Welcome life. [Te haere ‘Tainapu-tirotiro marika.’ I runga i au whakaaro katoa mo te mahi mo te tuku mahi ranei mo te whaka-mahi ranei] in the days of this burdened world. Pray to the good Grace-giver because in his love for the world he gave his only Son so that people may not die but have eternal life. [John 3.16]
Seek ways of coming together so that you are at one in seeking means of constricting the stomach of this monstrous octopus. ‘Three in One and One in Three’ is the staff of Toa Takitini which will put the enemy to flight!
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