[189] TE TOA TAKITINI
Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper.
Number 44.
Hastings, 1st March, 1925.
THE NGATI POROU CHURCH
Ngati Porou have notified us that the consecration of their church has been postponed until 25th April, However, this occasion will be only for those living there – that is it will be for Ngati Porou only. The major celebration when people from outside will be invited will take place in the coming New Year.
The reason for the postponement is the advice from the Department of Health that no large hui be held during these months when infantile paralysis is spreading.
PRAYERS FOR THE DAYS OF LENT.
Lord, graciously hear our prayers and have mercy on all who confess their sins to you; ease the burdens of those whose hearts are weighed down by sin. O merciful God, grant them reconciliation with you, through the merits of Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God, our merciful Father, whose love is for all humanity, you despise nothing you have made and you take no pleasure in the death of a sinner but would rather that he turns from his sin and is saved; be gracious to us, O God, forgive our sins, look favourably upon us, grant to us your calm in our sorrow for we are exhausted by the weight of our sins. It is your nature to be merciful and you alone can forgive sin. Have mercy on us, good Lord, have mercy on the people whom you have redeemed. Do not bring your servants into judgement for we are but dust and afflicted by sin. Rather turn your away your anger from us who confess our wrongdoings. Be swift to help us in this world that we may live with you in the world to come. Through the merits of Christ our Lord. Amen.
Published by Rev F A Bennett, and printed by Cliff Press, Queen Street, Hastings, HB.
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Te Toa Takitini
Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper.
The price of the paper is 10/- a year.
Address letters to Te Toa Takitini, Box 300, Hastings.
Te Toa Takitini, 1st March, 1925.
TE MANIHERA AND KEREOPA
Martyrs for the Faith.
12th March, 1847.
(By Rev Tahupotiki Haddon.)
[On 12th of this month (March) it will be 78 years since the deaths of these servants of God, Te Manihera and Kereopa. As a result of the request from the Editor of our paper that we collect accounts from various places of the characters of these men who gave their lives in the service of God, the following article was sent for printing in Te Toa Takitini, to be retained and to be wondered at by their descendants after them. The blood of these men was shed for the faith. Therefore it is appropriate that Christian believers express their love at all times for these men and that they dwell in our souls as examples to us all of stout-heartedness and dedication to spreading the Gospel and of faithfulness even to death. – The Editor.]
Te Manihera was from Ngati Ruanui. Kereopa was part Ngati Ruanui and part Taranaki.
Te Manihera lived at Owhangai, a pa close to Hawera. He was a direct descendant of Turi from on board Aotea. He is my ancestor and also of others.
This man was taken as a child by the Waikato war party and lived in a famous pa known as Mauinaina in the district of Te Hoe-o-Tainui at Piako. When Ngapuhi attacked Mauinaina, he was taken by Ngapuhi.
When they came upon the Mission ships heading for Tonga that child was throw out as an offering to God, according to the stories. Presently, there was a Pakeha child lying in a coil of rope on board the ship. When a wave came and washed over the ship the coil of rope and the boy were carried into the sea. When the Maori child, Te Manihera, saw this he jumped into the sea to save the Pakeha child.
When those on board saw that he had grasped the child, they put out the boat, reached them, pulled them into the boat, and put them on the ship.
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When the parent of the child who had been saved saw what had happened he was filled with love for Te Manihera for saving that child and adopted Te Manihera as his own child. The Pakeha was a minister of the Wesleyan Church, the Reverend H H Lawry (Te Rore), who was travelling to be minister to the Maori people of Tonga, one of the islands of Hawaiki. The child who had been saved grew to manhood. Having been told how he had been saved by a Maori, he became convinced that he should stay as a minister to the Maori People by whom he had been saved from the foaming waves of the dark green ocean. Now, that child when he grew up was adopted by Te Paea, mother of Tahupotiki, who married her husband, Charles Haddon, in 1861. Tahupotiki was born in 1866 and it was Te Rore who ordained Tahupotiki as a minister.
There Te Manihera was taught the principles of the faith and grew up. When Te Rore was called to return to England, he took Te Manihera and left him with the Church of England ministers on Norfolk Island (Mawhekairangi). He joined the Church and it was the Church that returned him here to New Zealand.
Here he met Bishop Selwyn. As a young man he accompanied the Bishop to preach the Gospel to the tribes of Aotearoa and Te Waipounamu. After these journeys he returned to his own tribe, Ngati Ruanui, living at Owhangai, the pa of his ancestors, as worship leader for his tribe. The tribe was overjoyed at his safe return and he was welcomed by all his people of the Taranaki part of the Taihauauru. He married Harata, a descendant of Te Rangihaeata, also of Ngati Ruanui.
When there grew in his heart the idea of preaching the Gospel he thought that he too would go as an itinerant missionary. This was the beginning of his travels. He began amongst his own people, Ngati Ruanui, at Ngarauru, and came to Whanganui.
(To be continued.)
HELP BISHOP AZARIAH.
These are the amounts received by the Diocesan Office in Napier to help fulfil Christ’s instruction when he said, ‘Go and preach the Gospel to all the peoples of the world.’
Bishop of Dornakal Account: Whakatane, £3; Ruatoki, £3; Waipatu, £5; Taupo, £3; Waipatu, £10; Waimarama, £5; P Kohere, £5; Whakarewarewa, £2/2; Pakipaki, £5; Moteo, £5; H Rapaea, £5; Porangahau, £1/5/3, ditto £1/6/11. Amounts received since 1st April, 1924. – WJS. You parishes of Tauranga and Turanga it is time for you to step up and do your part.
THE SUPPLEMENT. There is no Supplement this month.
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WORDS OF GUIDANCE.
R[eweti] T K[ohere]
(The first part of this article is in Number 38.)
I begin with the words of the wise men of the English people about how the strength of individuals or of the people arises from the justice of the cause. Although what is right may be buried for a long time, the time will come when it emerges and grows and matures. The strength and the bravery of the people comes not from wealth or from guns or from having many regiments of soldiers but from the justice of the cause. If the purpose is wrong the heart will not feel constrained, it will not be confident but will sink. The main reason why the Germans were defeated was that their anger was wrongly based. Where there is justice there is strength, bravery and stout-heartedness.
Tennyson wrote:
‘My strength is as the strength of ten
Because my heart is pure.’ [Sir Galahad i]
To this we can add the words of Shakespeare:
‘Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just;
And he but naked though lock’d up in steel,
Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.’ [Henry VI, Part 2.]
Shakespeare also has wise words about the name. They have become proverbial in English.
‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.’ [Romeo & Juliet II, ii]
Romeo and Juliet are lovers but their ancestors have passed down to their parents a family feud and will not agree to them marrying. Consequently the woman, Juliet, utters these words, ‘What’s in a name?’ because, while their love is right and their bodies made for each other, their names are the ground for a quarrel.
From one angle, names are very important.
‘Good name, in man or woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls;
Who steals my purse steals trash: ‘tis something, nothing;
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‘Twas mine, ‘tis his, and has been slave to thousands;
But he that filches from me my good name
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed. [Othello III, iii]
Shakespeare wrote these words. The significance of a name in this passage is different from that in the one explained above. As a result of the bravery of Othello, a black man, he marries Desdemona, a very beautiful white woman. He asserts that it was through his prayers that that woman desired him. Desdemona was deeply in love with her husband but a wicked man alleged that she had betrayed him. As a result, Othello became jealous and stabbed his wife.
One of the worst crimes in the world is to defame the name of a woman. Some people speak ill of another to get money. But the main reason for defamation is jealousy.
Here are some more words by Shakespeare.
‘Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.’
[Hamlet III, i]
People, more especially, women, for women also engage in back-biting – giving others a bad name is their main occupation in this world – fail to enquire carefully if what they are saying is true but blacken the name of the person they are jealous of.
Sometimes the good aspects of a person are turned into bad by his or her enemies. Iago says of Desdemona,
‘So will I turn her virtue into pitch,
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh them all. [Othello]
Enough of Shakespeare’s words or we’ll have to have a separate edition of Te Toa Takitini or increase its size to contain the great words of England’s greatest writer.
But let me just quote the words of Dr Johnson, another leading English writer.
‘He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.’ [Vanity of Human Wishes I, 219]
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These words have also become a proverb used by the English. They were written by Johnson about Charles XII, King of Sweden. Charles sought world-wide fame and that his name be known for his bravery. He fought major battles with other nations. He was called, ‘The Madman of the North,’ The title of the work in which Johnson wrote his wise words about Charles is, ‘The Vanity of Human Wishes.’ It is his exposure of the vanity of the world’s honours even though a person seeks such things – people like King Charles who sought the glory of the world and died of a dreadful illness. His name abides as a caution to people against being like that or against our speaking boastful words. Were Johnson writing in our days he would have used these words of the Kaiser.
‘He left the name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral, or adorn a tale.’
One of the people named by Johnson in his work on the vanity of the world’s honours is Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Wolsey reached the peak of human honours. He was of lowly birth; his father was a butcher. However, because of his intelligence he made rapid progress. He was the King’s ambassador to other nations. He became a bishop and before long he was appointed Archbishop of York and soon afterwards, Archbishop of Canterbury and a Cardinal. He was also appointed as one of the King’s advisors. He devoted himself to raising the status of the King and was repaid by the King will all his heart desired. He was the King’s spokesman and the gateway to the King. The only person above him was the King himself. But he did something and the King turned against him. He was abandoned. Such was his fall from grace that he was reduced to begging bread for himself. He said to his friend Cromwell:
‘O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I serv’d my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.’
Shakespeare [King Henry the Eighth, III, ii]
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How true are the words of Scripture: ‘And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.’ [Psalm 106.15 AV]
Finally, we have the words of Lord Byron, a brilliant man and an excellent wordsmith. When Byron was a child his father left him and he was brought up by his mother. He was terribly spoiled and went astray and was abandoned by that woman. Embarrassed by living in England Byron went abroad where he lived idly. He was wealthy and therefore everything was easy for him. He gave himself, body and heart, to the pleasures of the world – wine and women. He was 36 when he died, His body was taken to England for burial. Lord Byron left these words to the world:
‘There’s not a joy the world can give like that it takes away.’
[Stanzas for Music]
Byron grieved for the days of his childhood and innocence. The amusements, the entertainments of the sinful man were pretences, deceits, His heart within him was weakening.
‘Though wit may flash from fluent lips and mirth distract the breast,
Through midnight hours that yield no more their former hope of rest;
‘Tis but as ivy-leaves around the ruined turret wreathe,
All green and wildly fresh without, but worn and grey beneath.’
(To be continued.)
A NOTE
Since the great English writers are buried in Westminster Abbey, one of England’s great churches, a petition was presented to the Archbishop of Canterbury asking him to permit the placing of an effigy of Lord Byron in the Abbey. The Archbishop was moved by that request but could not agree because of Byron’s many transgressions. Byron was one of England’s great writers, with a great facility with words, but although he was so knowledgeable his failings could not be overlooked.
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MONEY OWED TO TE TOA TAKITINI.
This is to notify my kind friends from every tribe that your invoice for Te Toa Takitini will be sent during March. We have placed in the hands of Pakeha companies set up for such work the task of managing the subscriptions for our paper. Therefore, do not be surprised and don’t be distressed. There are some who owe four or five years of subscriptions. Remember the words of our forebear who said:
‘He huruhuru te manu ka rere.’
By feathers a bird flies, [cf Nga Pepeha 1768].
More than 900 people take our paper. The trouble is a great many people forget to feed our paper.
If you are troubled by a shortage of cash at this time do write and explain that to the Editor, Te Toa Takitini, Box 300, Hastings. If you have a good and justifiable explanation then we will not stop sending the paper to you. But since the cost of just printing the paper is now £250 a year, I am asking my friends to help me. With your basket of food and my basket of food Te Toa Takitini will thrive.
You great tribes, you noble tribes, can you not find some way of helping your child? Te Arawa is the only tribe that has taken a page for themselves at a cost of £12/10 a year. Where are Ngati Porou, Mataatua, Ngati Kahungunu, Ngapuhi and others of the country’s great tribes? Perhaps the Councils could take a page for themselves to show the work they are doing for the well-being of the tribe.
THE COST OF THE TE ARAWA CASE.
Te Arawa Lakes Board.
The Board has completed the payment of £2,500 to [Te Aara], the lawyer who conducted the Lakes Case.
Do not let your heart get [horerepu] at this conclusion because there are other people who must be considered.
First there is Apirana Ngata, the man who devised the scheme which persuaded the Government to take the noble path of negotiation.
You appreciate that this y0ung man did not give his abilities and his understanding to get money, but rather because of his respect for the Te Arawa tribe.
There are others from different canoes.
Therefore, best wish to you, [Te Aara] and your£2,500 burden.
And we are very grateful to you, Apirana, who have wearily carried this matter on its noble path out of love for your canoe, Te Arawa.
We also salute you, Rapata Levin, for your ability to bring Te Arawa together in this project. Best wishes. Te Arawa will not forget you.
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WE SALUTE PARATENE.
Although the circumference of the totara over the deceased is one fathom or two fathoms we still salute him, we still weep for him.
Greetings to Te Toa Takitini, the living face of our father, Paratene Ngata, who has been parted from us to rest his body and soul. Therefore, the love of people for our father should be directed to you, because it is as if you were his youngest child who lived with him as his servant, and it was you who went to the marae of Aotearoa and Te Waipounam. Your father has fallen but his heart goes on because his ideas are shared by you and your elder brother, Apirana T Ngata.
You manage this section while your brother deals with the broad, lofty and deep matters of the new world and the old world for the benefit of both sides.
And so I say this; may God protect you in all the difficulties of sad times, and may he keep your feet from stumbling, and may he give you both many days and years in the future to fulfil the hopes of our father, Paratene.
Tutengaehe H Paretiti,
Matata.
GREETINGS FROM THE WIDOW OF MAJOR PEACOCK.
Please pass on my love to the Maori People for the many expressions of condolence to me and our children, now bereft of our father. Major Peacock’s major concern was for his young men of the Maori People. On many occasions he named the Officers and the Maori soldiers. Before his death he arranged the place where his body was to be buried. He said, ‘When I die take my body to the cemetery at Narrow Neck so that I can lie amongst my Maori lads. These are the lads I loved dearly. Let me and my Maori children lie in the same cemetery.’ He died at Te Aroha. According to his instructions his body was taken to Auckland and across to the permanent resting-place he had chosen, alongside the camp where he and his young men lived together.
I am very grateful for the wonderful help Dr Te Rangihiroa gave us at that time, especially for his speech on the day of my treasured one’s burial.
I am not able to write to each one of Major Peacock’s lads personally, therefore, I am asking the paper to carry my love and greetings to each of you soldiers who served under the leadership of Major Peacock. May God’s blessings rest upon you all.
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THE ARCHBISHOP.
Because he is getting old, Archbishop Julius has decided to resign from his position. The whole Church feels for this man. He has been a father in God to the whole New Zealand Church. He is a very wise man and there is no better speaker than he; his speeches and sermons are exceptionally fine.
His successor as Archbishop is Bishop Averill. Maori of the Dioceses of Waiapu and Auckland know this man well. He favours the Maori People and sets out his proposals with clarity. Te Toa Takitini salutes these servants of God and prays his blessings upon them for many years to come.
MAORI LAND.
H Poananga LLB.
Timoti bequeaths his land to Haimona, he being his closest relative. Timoti dies and the land goes to Haimona, despite the complaints of close family. Afterwards Haimona dies without having made a will. The close family of Timoti and the family of Haimona both want the land. What will the Court decide?
Timoti and Haimona are imaginary people but perhaps the situation relates to some issues that affect some of you.
Rawenga te Riri died (he was like Haimona in the example) and his lands were contested. The Appellate Court declared that the land should go to the close relatives of the man who willed him the land, that is, to the close family of Timoti in the above example. It is coming up to three years since this judgement.
In November, 1924, the Supreme Court was asked to consider who were entitled to the shares of Hokimate Reweti (he had died as was the case with Rewenga te Riri). The Supreme Court said that an ōhākī (dying speech) was an ōhākī, a will was a will, and they were different. The will served to allocate land separately. However, land can be returned only in the light of the words spoken when the person or the relict who gave the land was alive. If there is a Maori custom which says that the lands should be returned to the family of the one who gave it, that may well have applied to lands given by way of an ōhākī. However, in 1895 the legal status of an ōhākī was done away with.
So we see that that the decision of the Appellate Court was invalid, and we see also the answer to the question posed above.
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GRATITUDE
We are very grateful to the members of the ‘Cathedral Dorcas Society’ for the gift of beautiful clothes for us to give to the children of Taupo. Blessings upon the group for this token of their love for the children of the Taupo district. May God protect, bless and strengthen you for the work you are called to do.
Kereti Tina
Taupo, 15th January, 1925. From Manihera Tumutahi.
LETTERS RECEIVED
Some Old Papers
To the Editor.
In 1891 a Maori newspaper called ‘Te Paki o Matariki’ [The Fair Weather of Matariki] was printed. It did not appear at fixed times. The numbering of the editions was sometimes incorrect. Therefore it is difficult to know how many editions of the paper appeared. I want to collect copies of that paper so that they can all be kept together in our Dominion’s Library. These are the editions I have.
Printed at Te Kauhanganui, Maungakawa, 26th July, 1892; No 6, Cambridge, Waikato, August, 1892; No 6, Cambridge, Waikato, 6th October, 1892; Copy, Maungakawa, Cambridge, 15th November, 1892; Copy, Maungakawa, Cambridge, 25th July, 1893; No 9, Maungakawa, Cambridge, 25th July, 1893; Copy, 12th April, 1894; Copy, 25th May, 1894; Copy, 2nd June, 1894; No 4, 22nd August, 1895; No 5, 16th December, 1895; Copy, 18th March, 1896; Copy, 2nd May, 1896; Copy, 8th July, 1897; Copy, 24th December, 1897;Copy, 6th January, 1902; Copy, 2nd May, 1907.
I also have copies of ‘Te Kahiti Tuturu’ [The Real Gazette], perhaps printed by the same people. No 1, was printed at Maungakawa, Cambridge, 20th November, 1894; No 3, 20th October, 1895; No 5, 29th September, 1896.
I would like people to tell me if other copies of that paper were printed. If you have copies I would be grateful if you would send them to me in Wellington.
Yours sincerely,
Johannes C Andersen,
Turnbull Library, Wellington.
[This request comes from a good friend to Maori, Mr Andersen, and it is right that we should respond. He is not asking in order to make money, but so that everything can be safely held by the Dominion Library. If you go to Wellington and want to see the papers and the old books of the Maori People, do go to the Turnbull Library where you’ll find our friend Mr Andersen who is the expert on the old Maori papers and also an expert in Maori string games. Greetings, friend. – the Editor.]
To the Editor of Te Toa Takitini.
We are deeply grateful for the kindness of Te Toa Takitini in producing the excellent calendars and for its kind greetings to the chiefs and the poor, the women and the boys and girls.
‘Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you,’ and we wish you, Te Toa Takitini, and the Editors the same. May God bless you and all of you, guard you, strengthen you, give you understanding, so that your light may shine upon everyone.
In gratitude for Te Toa Takitini, I am sending £1 for the Calendar and Te Toa Takitini.
M M Tumatahi, Taupo.
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THE CONFERENCE OF THE STUDENT CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT OF THE NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITIES.
On 31st December, 1923, this group held their conference at Cambridge in the Waikato. This was the 23rd Conference of the group which is held each year in various parts of the Dominion.
All the Universities on the two islands were represented.
The number of people who attended were: Men 80, Women 120. There were doctors, lawyers, engineers and those who had attained the degrees of MA, BA, BSc, but most are still studying. It was a wonderful thing to live among such people, men and women, They are people who have taken Christ as their guide. No matter what their work or profession, they are people for whom the teaching of Christ in the Scriptures is their guide in life.
There is one Conference each year beside the small groups that meet in each college; however, when the Conference is held, all meet in the one place.
Many matters were raised at that Conference but the main concern was to seek together the teachings of Christ in the Gospels and other Scriptures, particularly relating to the situations of the peoples of the world. This is a matter of broad concern to the whole world. All the universities of the world, of the peoples, of the languages, of the realms, have come together as one and their association is known as ‘The World’s Christian Students’ Union.’ The man who breathed the spirit into these houses of learning, these houses of instruction, of the world was Dr Mott, an American. This association has grown immensely, with the young people who go to
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the universities and other colleges becoming aware of the goodness and the rightness of the objectives for which the movement was set up and they have joined. In each country – England, America, France, Germany, India, China, Japan, Russia and others – the groups come together each year with a common objective, and the leaders of the World’s Christian Students’ Union decide when a large international gathering is to be held somewhere with representatives from each country. An important thing to remember is that these are people who, through their thinking and their feelings, have investigated the examples of the limitations of human learning, and have turned to the words of Christ and other words of Scripture to guide them as to how best to use that learning for the betterment of the whole world.
This branch (New Zealand) met in Cambridge. Four languages were present – English, American, Maori and Indian. However, although they had their own appearances and languages, they were united in a single concern – that the Holy Spirit of Christ would teach them. There were no black, red or white, but all were children of the one Father. Therefore they showed loved to each other and helped each other.
Editor, it was remarkable to see the love shown by the Pakeha in the Spirit of Christ directed towards you (sic): the honesty, the commitment, the depth.
People of other nationalities, besides the English, who attended the Cambridge gathering were Miss Jean Stevenson, an American, John Bairagi, an Indian, and Wharetini Rangi and Paora Temuera, Maori.
Besides the deep matters dealt with at the meeting, there was meeting with the thoughtful young Pakeha, the discussions, making friends, the entertainments, and one saw the real significance of holding these valuable gatherings.
The Editor sincerely hopes that our Maori young people, women and men, at our colleges, at places of further education throughout the country, will seek out this organisation. It will broaden their thinking and lift up their eyes on high. Now the organisation is looking at the Maori People with a desire to know how Maori are, spiritually and physically.
I am sending a copy of the Maori issue dealt with at the gathering. Archdeacon Chatterton presented the issue and Paora Temuera elaborated on it. On the day when questions could be put to the meeting about matters discussed if fell to Wharetini Rangi and Paora Temuera to respond to those relating to Maori. In time you will see the breadth and the depth of the work of the gathering for the Maori section and Maori issues will be a major item on the agenda of all future meetings.
P[aora] T[emuera]
Ohinemjutu, Rotorua.
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THE RED STAR OF TANGAROA.
Mohi Te Atahikoia
Hakaraia Pahewa, I have seen your account and wonder at these ancient stories that are being discovered in this world. I am not criticizing you but would like to add something to ensure that there are correct versions for the coming generations. Let me begin in this fashion. Two people came from Hawaiki. Hence the genealogy:
Tangaroa
|
Whata
|
Mania
Whakatari Hine Rauru
|
1 Pohatu-te-Tahuri
2 Pohatu-te-Takere
3 Pohatu-Whakarongo
(He it is who has the Red Star of Tangaroa.)
Rauru’s work was catching fish for himself and their children, but he caught nothing. Hine felt for her husband and fetched her brother’s hook. When Rauru put out to sea he caught an abundance of fish. When he returned home he hid this hook ands lied to the woman saying that the line had been broken by the fish and the hook was lost. On hearing what his sister told him, Whakatari was sad and went to call the fish. The Hapuku, the White Shark, the Atirere, and other powerful fish of the sea came and he asked them to speak up an tell him if they had this hook. They said no. A school of two thousand whales searched the seabed but did not find it. Then he returned. His brother-in-law was at home. He asked him, ‘Where is my hook?’ ‘It was snapped off by the fish.’ ‘I have searched the whole ocean and it is not there. And now I see it shining between your thighs.’ At this Rahuru (sic) bowed his head and remained silent. The treasure remained hidden. Some time after, Rahuru asked Hine and her children to go to sea with him and the mother agreed. For a time they could see the land but when it was out of sight Rahuru overturned the canoe and the children drowned. When they were swimming, Rahuru felt that he was sinking, and he called out to the woman, ‘Hine, can you reach the shore?’ The woman said, ‘Yes.’ The man said, ‘Here is your brother’s hook.’ The woman said, ‘You still have your brother-in-law’s thing. You were prepared to kill me and the children! You will answer for this!’ Hine stretched out and thrust it into her hair, then swam and eventually reached the shore. Rahuru perished at sea with his children.
A man came along (his name is lost) and
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found that woman lying on the gravel, carried her home, and took her as his wife. A child, Tahu-wai-rangi, was born and Hine taught him to get seafoods. He made koa ‘Koemi’, that is, a net. He also learned to get bait from flat rocks. When the child was older he threw out his net. He threw out his net three times and each time he pulled in a stone, but the faces on those stones kept grimacing at the child. Then the child went home told his mother that he hadn’t caught any fish, only stones. He had cast the net three times and had hauled in three stones. His mother wept and said to her child, ‘These are surely your brothers who drowned at sea. Fetch them and bring them home. The child went and brought the stones. The mother wrapped them in clothing and prayed over them. She put them on the sacred mound outdoors in the enclosure. There those stones rest. They are cannibal gods, today called Pohatu.
Let me explain here the powers of those gods. One will not feel these diseases of Pohatu-te-tahuri and Pohatu-te-take if one gets seagrass and [ko-tau] seaweed and places them on the oven where the sick are treated.
Pohatu Whakarongo will heal if the stones, properly prayed over, are touched to the afflicted part. That is enough for this part.
Tahu-wai-rangi grew up to be an important man. His mother, Hine, gave orders that a beautiful canoe be built for her son. It was called Hikurangi-ka-tere. On the day, Tangaroa-a-mua, the old lady sent her son to sea. When the canoe was launched she said to her son, ‘Tahu, here is the sacred possession of your father, Whakatari, the famous fish-hook of Whetukura-a-Tangaroa. Which was hidden by Rahuru when your brothers and I were thrown into the sea. However, your brothers managed to get you to land. Go, and may you use well your father’s treasure for your own benefit and for that of your descendants after you.’ The canoe had not been at sea for long before it returned full of fish. Each day it was the same and news of what Tahu-wai-rangi was doing spread abroad. People came to see and to wonder. One day many large canoes came. While the fish took Tahu’s bait they did not take the bait of others. Fish struck at and encircled Tahu’s hook. Those other canoes were jealous and bestirred themselves. They came together around Tahu’s canoe and seized that treasure. They threw Tahu overboard and paddled back to their own landing-places. When Tahu came to the service he prayed to be taken back to land. His leader arrived (his name is lost) and brought Tahu to shore. Tahu spent many days in the vicinity of the village where the people who had committed this atrocity lived. The day came when he was discovered by a woman who took him as hder husband, It happened that she was the daughter of the man who had the fish-hook. Tahu said that the two of them should go fishing. The woman said, ‘But, sir, these are ‘korekore’ nights [when we’ll catch no fish].’
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‘That’s fine, such nights have no power over your father’s hook. Go and fetch it.’ The woman agreed and fetched it. They quickly set up their canoe and launched it. Then Tahu-wai-rangi plunged his wife into the sea where she became a rock. The sea spread out, it was night, and the canoe, Hikurangi-ka-tere, disappeared in the sea spray and was invisible to human eyes.
But let me go back to Hine. The old lady waited for her son. For one, two, three nights she waited. She thought that he had perished at sea and wept for her son. One night in a dream she saw two insistent men, one saying ‘a sail,’ and the other saying ‘a tuawhena (sic)’. She heard the voice calling out, ‘A sail! It is the canoe, Hikurangi-ka-tere, with Tahu-wairangi on board.’ The old lady started up, looked out at the sea, and saw her son returning. The old lady and all the people were overjoyed. A wife was presented to Tahu. She became pregnant. Tahu went to kill birds for his wife’s stomach. He cooked the birds and gave them to her to eat. When his child was born it was named Tau-tunu Kereru [Cooked Pigeon].
As for the idea that Hine belonged to Taranaki, I would say, ‘Yes, perhaps.’ Here is my elucidation:
After the birth of Tahu-wai-rangi there was Tau-tunu-Kereru, then Tu-Tawha-Rangi, then Nganga-te-hau, then Ipuipu-te-rangi, then Whare-patere, then Te Rahekeua, then Karimoe, then Tutataa, then Takoto, then Papauma.
This is my line of descent.
I would relate to: 1 Hineraumoa, 4 Tawhito, 5 Rurea, 6 Taiwha, 7 Tamanahuri, 8 Ruatapu, 9 Tuhenga.
Tawhiorangi and Te Whetukura-a-Tangaroa are two of the important sacred treasures brought here on board Takitimu, the sacred canoe of our ancestors. This, my friend Hakaraia Pahewa, is the information I have to add to what you have contributed to our fine paper, Te Toa Takitini.
THE MAORI BIBLE.
A New Printing.
J Cowan [Kawana]
I have received the proofs of the third edition of the Bible, an important event in the history of the New Zealand Church. Archdeacon Herbert Williams went to England to oversee the printing and we are full of praise for him and for the printers (British and Foreign Bible Society) for their excellent completion of their work. The new Bible has 1200 pages. The print is good. [Tetahi mea hou ko nga reta e kumea ana, kua hoatu he tohu pera ki aua reta. - ? One innovation is that long vowels are marked. (This is not the case in my undated edition, - Barry Olsen)]
(To be continued.)
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