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TE TOA TAKITINI
Registered at the GPO as a Newspaper.
Number 76,
Hastings.
1st December, 1927.
HUKARERE SCHOOL
This is to inform the Maori People that the Management Board of Hukarere has agreed to admit some younger children to Hukarere.
One of Napier’s best Government schools is very close to Hukarere.
The small girls will live at Hukarere but will attend the Government school. When they reach the appropriate classes for Hukarere they will cease to attend the Government school.
The fee for a younger child is twenty pounds (£20) a year. You perhaps know that the fee for the older children is £30 a year.
Te Toa Takitini applauds the Board’s decision. It is very good that they have agreed to have some younger children staying at Hukarere. When a child is small the heart is pliable. When they are older they will be familiar with the rules and ways of Hukarere.
Congratulations to the Managers of Hukarere.
WE SALUTE THE PROFESSOR
In the next issue of the paper we will print articles by Professor Grossman of the University of Auckland in which he salutes the Maori People and shares his thoughts as to the way in which the Maori People can thrive.
Published by the Rev F A Bennett and printed at 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 December, 1927.
REPORT OF THE MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE WHICH SAT AT T E HOUHANGA, 14th – 16th October, 1927.
Chairman: Rev Canon W H Keretene
Friday: On this day the people gathered at the marae and the members of the Committee arrived. Rev H W Kaipo led Evening Prayer.
Saturday:
Morning Prayer – Rev H
Paraone. Th Committee convened at 9.30 a.m, Evening Prayer – Rev W N Panapa.
Sunday: 8 a.m. Litany – Rev Canon Keretene.
11 a.m. Morning Prayer and Holy Communion – Rev M Kapa.
- 3 p.m. Evening Prayer – Rev H Taurau
7 p.m. Night Prayers – Rev Canon Keretene
Members of the Committee attending:
Rev Canon Keretene, Revs Taurau, Panapa, Messrs Hemi T Paa, Heke Te Rangi.
Two members representing the district: Messrs Pera Netana, Puhipi Nepia
Standing in for absent members: Rev M Kapa, Mr Paraone Netana,
THE CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS.
The Chairman thanked the local people for welcoming the Committee to the district. The subjects to be discussed by the Committee are as follows:
(1) The financial support of the Maori Church in this Diocese. It is right that we should know the amount of any funds, the lands given by the elders and the money they donated, and also the help given by the Pakeha section in earlier times and up to the present day. You have been informed about all these things in the Report of the last meeting of the Standing Committee.
(2) Ministers’ stipends. The Standing Committee of the Pakeha section thinks that they can afford to give a fixed amount of £120 for each minister each
Year. Beyond this, each parish must collect sufficient to provide a stipend of at least £140 for a Deacon and £150 for a Priest.
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(3) Laziness of the minister. The Tribal Committee is putting pressure on us to make every effort to raise the Maori portion of the Ministers’ Stipend Fund; but they are also urging us to see that the Ministers are doing the work required of them. If you observe any weakness in part of the work it is good if you inform the Committee so that the deficiency can be corrected.
(4) Ministers’ Reports. The Committee continues to ask Ministers not to forget to send in their Reports every quarter. So that the Committee and also our elders of the Church can know how the work is progressing.
(5) Maori Bishopric. We have made known to you the state of this matter from the time it first became a concern of the Maori up to the present day. Had the leader to who this proposal was committed been firmly convinced to this day it would by now have been completed. As it is the thoughts of people are still being gathered, and the purpose – the furtherance of the faith- has been forgotten, so that today this important matter is left hanging.
(6) Education. We here in the North must make every effort to get our children on the paths of education. It would be good if the four tribes could collect money so that our children will see the advantages and the deep satisfaction of education.
(7) Money. With money most of our work and our visions can be fulfilled. Let us commit ourselves to assisting in every project which will help to advance the faith.
Business..
Many matters were brought before the Committee including questions relating to the faith, questions about Scripture, and some wider issues relating to the position of the Maori People today. These issues were vigorously debated by the Committee as well as by the people, and this was of benefit to and a learning experience for all who attended this hui. These are some of the important matters discussed:
(1) The foundations of the Holy Catholic Church, and the many churches coming here in these days.
(2) Ways of farming which will provide a living for Maori of Te Tai Tokerau. The Rev M Kapa explained the work being done by Tiati Atihana amongst Te Aupouri tribe. Formally they made a living from kauri gum; this was no longer possible. Under the direction of Tiati [?Judge] Atihana, what is called the Consolidation Scheme has been implemented. All the acres belonging to a person are brought together in one place. All the land has been divided into blocks of 70 acres or more [?as Tiati determines.] Tiati’s procedure has been followed
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in Ngatiwhatua and Te Rarawa and is now beginning in Ngapuhi. Te Atihana is to be praised for his efforts to finds ways of making a living. The Maori of these areas are obtaining all the things needed to improve the land, fencing wire and other things, as well as cows, and have begun milking cows and growing corn.
(3) The situation of a man and a woman married by the Church. If a woman is deserted by her husband is she able to take Holy Communion (or vice versa)? If after they have lived apart the man takes a new wife or the wife takes a new husband how does the Church view them and their children? Is it possible for the Church to rectify the position by marrying them and allowing them to take Communion? The Committee explained as much as they were able to in answer to these questions since they affect many Church people in all our areas. These questions will be referred by the Committee to the Archbishop who will clarify the matters for all of us.
[Similar problems were dealt with in Number 3. Whichever Diocese we belong to it is right that we refer them to the Bishop for his advice. These problems arise in all our parishes. The Diocese of Waiapu gives the following guidance.
Question 1. If the one abandoned was not at fault they are able to take Communion.
Question 2. Marrying a new spouse. The Church does not permit a second marriage while a former partner is alive. Even though a couple have been divorced by a Supreme Court ruling, the Church is not able to marry them to a different man or woman. If people have been confirmed and they have been divorced and have been married a second time by the Registrar, one must first explain the Bishop their desire to take Communion, and he alone may makee the dccision.
Question 3. About the children. We have no concerns about the children. They are not affected by the parents’ situation. Even if they are illegitimate the Church welcomes them. Baptism, confirmation, Communion and all the services are open to children.
Question 4. Arrangements for those who were married before and later parted. This a difficult problem. No firm ruling has been made but such a situation is referred to the Bishop. There are people in the Diocese of Waiapu who 20 or 30 years ago were left by their spouses during the troubles of those times. Although they are living with another partner and even have children they are not able to marry because their former spouse is still alive. But because of the quality of their lives and their following of the teachings of the faith they have been confirmed by the Bishop and also partake of the Lord’s Supper now. Our Bishop is a very understanding man. If a person meets the above criteria they will receive a gentle answer to our question.
Best wishes to the Auckland Standing Committee. Your discussions dealt wityh matters that also concern us. Therefore, it is good to have the agreement of this other Diocese of our Church, and that the people of the Church can be informed about the difficulties we live with. – The Editor.]
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AN ORDINATION
On 18th Dccember, the Bishop of Waiapu will ordain several men, Maori and Pakeha, to ministry.
Those to be ordained will gather at Hukarere on Friday 16th, a Fast Day. Communion will be at 7 a.m., at 9 a.m. Morning Prayer and the first Sermon, at 10.30 a.m. the second Sermon, at 11.30 a.m. the Litany and the third Sermon, and at 3.30 p.m. the third Sermon.
The Bishop has delegated to the minister, the Rev F Bennett, the preaching of the Sermons to those being ordained. He asks the prayers of the Church for those being ordained, for himself, that he may b given God’s wisdom, that he may be a steward of the mysteries of God, a means of bringing the blessings of God to the spirit and mind of the person preparing for ordination.
The Ordination Service takes place at the Napier Cathedral on Sunday, 18th December, at 11 a.m. Bennett is to preach.
Those from the Maori section to be ordained that day are:
Wiremu te Moana of Ruatoki as Deacon
Wi Te Hauwhao of Uawa as Priest.
Remember to pray for the ordinands. The Church provides an example of such a prayer in the prayer Ember Days.
The Collect
Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, who of thy divine providence hast appointed divers Orders in thy Church: Give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to all those who are to be called to any office and administration in the same; and so replenish them with the truth of thy doctrine, and endue them with innocency of life, that they may faithfully serve before thee, to the glory of thy great name, and the benefit of thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [Book of Common Prayer]
THE PLACE OF THE BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.
One of the important matters of contention in the recent sitting of Parliament was whether members should agree to the Bible being read in the country’s state schools. People are aware that this matter has been a cause of much trouble from a long time ago up to the present.
But at last it appears that there will soon be agreement about the matter.
General Synod passes a motion asking Parliament to approve of the use of the Bible in schools.
All the New Zealand Churches are in favour of this. In addition to that motion, each diocesan synod has passed a similar motion.
Had our members of Parliament held to the motions passed by their Church, perhaps the bill would have passed. The fact is, the elders of the Church are very sad that the Maori members did not support their cause asking that the children of the country be taught the beautiful words of the Bible as part of the curriculum taught in the schools.
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GUIDANCE FOR THOSE MILKING COWS
From the Department of Agriculture: Translated into Maori by R[eweti] T K[ohere]
1. Sick cows. Do not put the milk of sick or ailing cows in the milk cans..
2. Putrid food. By chilling and by stirring the putrid taste of the food is concealed in the cream but the taste of putrid turnips or leeks or suchlike cannot be masked.
3. Filthy sheds and yards. Milk absorbs foul smells, If the wind blows into the milking machines and the teats take in the smell, the milk will also smell.
4. Wash the udders with a clean cloth and clean water from a clean vessel and dry them before milking.
5. Dirty machinery. The treatment of milking machines is as the Agriculture Department has previously advised.
6. Dirty vessels. Buckets, separators, and other vessels should be rinsed with cold water, then brushed clean in warm water, and after the cream is emptied out they should be washed in boiling water.
7. Washing the separator once a day. Washing the separator only once a day makes for problems for the cream from the second separating may not be all out and may go off.
8. The easy flow of the cream. The cream should flow steadily; if this is the case it will lie for a long time
9. You should cool the cream. After the separating stand the cream in cold water.
10. You should stir the cream. Stir the cream with a metal implement, not a wooden one.
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11. Mixing the warm cream with cold cream. Never mix warm cream with cold cream. Separate the cream from each separating into clean cans or buckets. On the day when they are sent [to the factory] they may be mixed.
12. Leaving cream in kerosene tins. Kerosene tins are not good for storing cream.
13. Dirt and lack of ventilation in rooms used for separating. The room used for separating should be as clean as the butter factory; there should be ventilation at the top of the walls; it should not be close to the yard.
14. Keeping cream for many days. Send in the cream on the appointed days. It is best if it can be done every day.
15. Leaving cans in sunny places, Provide a shelter for the cans while they are waiting for the carrier
16. Rusty cans. If cans are rust they will cause the cream to go off badly.
Do not use the separating room for other purposes.
Don’t wash the tins with cloths; use brushes.
Do not leave cloths lying around. Wash them in hot water every day
Wash the cans with boiling water when they are returned from the butter factory.
Be aware that if you neglect any of these instructions your cream may be graded as second class.
‘SUMMER DIARRHOEA’
T Wi Repa, MB, ChB.
[Continued from the November edition.]
The sites of the sickness.
It begins in the stomach, which appears inflamed. The person becomes listless. Liquid like spittle descends. The person experiences pain. If food is taken in it is vomited out again. The bowels are also totally inflamed. The stomach feels ill, the food is vomited, The intestines are sore and the food and ‘what have you’ spurts out, The diarrhoea is casting out the bad things. Everything is disgusting and the stomach and the intestines are agitated. Like the skin, they are not. If one touches it with one’s hand it is painful. After a time the infection reaches the throat which is seen to be white.
Symptoms of the illness.
Most women with children know the symptoms of the illness. There are two main symptoms – vomiting and diarrhoea. The [?pahuhutanga] of the child is fast. The eyes are heavy. The fonatanelle is soft (the gap between the bones of the skull on the brow of an infant).The breathing is rapid.
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The skin is hot. The stomach is distended. The tongue is white. There is the possibility that the child may die within twenty-four hours. When given food it vomits.
The Treatment.
Prevention.
Do not feed the baby using a bottle. Babies born in June, July, August or September should not be fed with a bottle if it is possible to breast-feed them with mother’s milk. Summer is coming. Babies born in summer should still be fed with [mother’s milk]. But sometimes it is not possible to feed it with mother’s milk and on must use a bottle. Be very, very careful and look after the children as follows. If you are not careful the child could die. So listen carefully to this advice. The child suckling at thebreast or the bottle should be weaned at nine months. Those nine months ar the ones when the utmost care must be taken to ensure that the child does not die from its food. Time its feeds. During the first two months it should be fed once every two hours. Even if it is asleep, wake it up for its feed at the right time, It should be fed twice during the night. From three to six months it should be fed once every three hours. If the child cries, do not mistakenly assume that it is hungry; if it is crying soon after feeding it is not crying for food. A child cries because (a) it is hungry; (b) it has a wet nappy; (c) it has soiled its nappy; (d) it needs water; (e) it is ill. Be aware that it does not cry only because it is hungry, If it is fed too much it may have stomach problems.
Instructions about using the bottle.
Buy a bottle without a long [?ngakau - ?neck]. There are some called ‘boat-shaped’ that have openings at both ends. After feeding pour away what remains. Do not leave it in the bottle for a later feed. Don’t ever do it! Afterwards, wash the bottle in salt water, then rinse it with clean water and leave it lying in the salt water until the time for the next feed. The teat of the bottle should be taken out, washed in salt water, and afterwards boiled for five minutes. This done, it can be left in salt water. Do not, whatever you do, fail to follow these instructions because a bottle-fed child in the summer can be a prey to sickness.
Medication for those with the illness.
Instructions about using the bottle.
Buy a bottle without a long [?ngakau - ?neck]. There are some called ‘boat-shaped’ that have openings at both ends. After feeding pour away what remains. Do not leave it in the bottle for a later feed. Don’t ever do it! Afterwards, wash the bottle in salt water, then rinse it with clean water and leave it lying in the salt water until the time for the next feed. The teat of the bottle should be taken out, washed in salt water, and afterwards boiled for five minutes. This done, it can be left in salt water. Do not, whatever you do, fail to follow these instructions because a bottle-fed child in the summer can be a prey to sickness.
Medication for those with the illness.
Instructions about using the bottle.
Buy a bottle without a long [?ngakau - ?neck]. There are some called ‘boat-shaped’ that have openings at both ends. After feeding pour away what remains. Do not leave it in the bottle for a later feed. Don’t ever do it! Afterwards, wash the bottle in salt water, then rinse it with clean water and leave it lying in the salt water until the time for the next feed. The teat of the bottle should be taken out, washed in salt water, and afterwards boiled for five minutes. This done, it can be left in salt water. Do not, whatever you do, fail to follow these instructions because a bottle-fed child in the summer can be a prey to sickness.
Medication for those with the illness.
Medication for those with the illness. The child is vomiting and has diarrhoea: (1) Do not give it food for 24 hours. It should be given only water. It may still for a time vomit the water. Do not give it castor oil lest it vomit that. Even though the vomiting is severe, continue to give it water.
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If the vomiting is continuing this will clean out the stomach. (2) The second thing to do is to put a cloth which has been placed in boiling water on the stomach. Do it in the following way. Take a fresh towel. Spread it out in a basin without any water in it. Then you take half a yard of flannel, fold it up so that it is narrow, and lay it on the towel. Take another half yard of flannel and fold it and lay it on the skin of the stomach to prevent the skin being scalded by the wet flannel. This being done, take the boiling kettle and pour the water on the flannel in the basin. Take hold of the ends of the towel and twist it strongly to dry the flannel, then gently place it on the flannel covering the stomach. The hand of the older person should be left on the stomach to assess the heat. Don’t press down on it lest the heat be too much for the stomach. The heat should slowly decrease and the spasms and the crying of the baby should stop. Place the warm flannel inside a dry towel to prevent the warmth escaping. Eventually one will see that the baby is calmer and will fall asleep. This should be done every two hour. Give it water every hour. (3) Starting to feed. The best food is raw egg. Break the egg into a cup and then pour it into two cupfuls of water and stir it for a long time. Add some sugar and a little salt. A few drops of lemon juice are nice. Administer one tablespoon every two hours. At this stage a teaspoon of castor oil may be given. Do not be in a hurry to give milk. After a day and a half on may begin to give food. An example of such food is the following. Take some meat that has been chopped up small, i.e. minced meat, and put it into a pint saucepan. Add chopped up onion and a little salt. Pour boiling water over that meat. Stir it. Strain it through a muslin cloth. Feed the liquid to the child – one tablespoon every two hours. If the child is getting better it will soon become obvious. Now one may again give castor oil. Its bowel movements will reveal the state of the child’s stomach. If all is well, try milk again. Do not use tinned milk. If the child is three months old use half milk and half water giving it four tablespoons every two hours. If it is six months old give it two cups of milk to one cup of water. Put in some sugar. Give it four tablespoons of this food every two hours. At nine months change to three cups of milk to one cup of water. Give it one cup of this every three hours.
Final Words.
1. If it is possible to suckle the child do not put it on the bottle.
2. A bottle-fed baby is liable to disaster each summer.
3. If thee baby’s motions are green get it quickly to the doctor.
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THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD.
R[eweti] T K[ohere]
I saw in a Pakeha newspaper an article by a Wesleyan minister in which he said that the best job in the world is that of a minister, just below that of a doctor. He also mentioned the work of caring for the sick, the job of a nurse. These are the most important jobs in the thinking of most Pakeha. This not because one makes a lot of money doing these jobs and that is certainly not the case with ministry because we are aware that the job of a minister is one of the most poorly paid in the world. The doctor makes money from his work. His idea in saying that this is the best job is that it is a job which does good for others and brings benefit to the people as a whole.
It is the case that the job of a minister is a very good one. It is his job to teach people to pursue what is good and to turn from evil, to lead people to God. But many people don’t go to worship and don’t hear the voice of the minister. And many people come to God without the help of a minister, and there are ministers without faith.
It is also true that doctors do an excellent job, alleviating pain, raising up people from sickness, and extending people’s lives. These are noble activities. But the doctor deals with what is evanescent about people – sick bodies, dust which will return to dust. And many people have no need of a doctor.
Perhaps Maori think that the most important job is that of a member of Parliament, a job in which one is on public view and is seen and heard speaking on marae. In a speech, a Te Arawa chief said of the grandchildren of another chief that they would never be real men because their being ministers meant that they could not be members 0f Parliament. It is an important job but it is not a position sought by the wisest of the Pakeha. Some see the position of a member as just an opportunity to raise the dust.
For me – and people will criticize me for this – the most important job in the world is that of the schoolteacher. Perhaps some people will be surprised at me saying this. But I have considered this carefully; it is not something that has just popped into my mind. So if we set out together understanding one another it will become clear to you.
If teachers were not doing their jobs we would not have ministers, doctors, lawyers or members of Parliament. The work of teachers is the basis of all these occupations. The work of the teacher is to [?pokepoke] the heart and mind of a person while they are a child, that is, while the heart and mind are malleable. The teacher does the work of a minister insofar as he advises and cautions lest a child falls into error, that is, he shapes the heart. The work of the doctor and the minister is to mend what is broken while that of the teacher is to prevent breakages. The task of the teacher is to be a fence to prevent his pupils from falling off a cliff,
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that of the minister is to pick them up, while that of the doctor is to take to hospital those who have fallen over the cliff. The job of the minister and the doctor is to wash the one who has become soiled. Not all people go to the minister or to the doctor but by the law of the land all children must go to school. In these days teachers teach things for the good of the mind, the heart and the body of the child. Soon the Bible will be taught in schools.
It is obvious that the teacher is the most important person in the world.
Sir Ernest Rutherford, the most brilliant man in the world in these days, said that it was the diligence of his teacher which took him to the colleges and to his lofty position. Sir Ernest Rutherford’s teacher has died, but perhaps he is looking down from heaven upon the outstanding pupil he cared for,
Think about John Thornton, a teacher at Te Aute. Many of our important Maori were his students. He taught things that were important for the spirit, for the mind, and for the body. He was a teacher, but also a minister and a doctor, insofar as he did the work of a minister and a doctor. If he was superior to the minister it was because he was not paid. If he was superior to the doctor it was because he prevented illness.
These three, but the greatest of these is the teacher.
THE NEW ZEALAND SETTLEMENT LEAGUE.
T Wi Repa
This is a new Pakeha organisation. The aim of the group is to settle the unoccupied land of New Zealand. The first meeting of the group was held in Auckland during the Royal Show. The object of this meeting was to look into this matter, whether it was feasible or not. Nearly 300 people attended the meeting. Those 300 had come to the Royal Show. Some were from Dunedin. In the time after the Show the thing took shape. The objects were published. The author of the constitution pointed out that there was a large decrease in the amount of produce from New Zealand being sent to England. According to that person the decrease was because many large blocks of land in New Zealand were lying unworked. The meeting agreed with that idea. The meeting set up a Committee to look into the matter and report to a later meeting. The meeting also agreed to set up a Pakeha group the name of the group to be ‘The New Zealand Settlement League.’ Some things were said concerning Maori lands.
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Some of these lands were to be investigated by the Committee. If they are laying unproductive they want them to be brought under the management of this League.
When I saw the matter in the newspapers I determined to write about it in our paper, ‘Te Toa.’ You are aware, People, that the Pakeha are always on the look-out. It is your land that they want to encroach on. It is true to say that some of our land is lying idle. Those who work them do so in a disinterested way. The voice of a single Pakeha is inadequate to overthrow our ways, and so they have banded together. They will use their collective voice to make the Government listen to them. Collective might is right and triumphs. When one’s strengths are bundled together one’s vision is rewarded. These issues which concern us have been devised behind our backs. The people are living scattered. This is why I want us Maori to come together to combine our strengths to combat those pressures, and to show the people how to heal the scars that are seen by the other side, to teach the people the ways of the present time, and to be a voice to reverse the objectives of our Pakeha friends.
It is not just the members who are discussing in Wellington the important issues facing our country. It is the members in Parliament and also groups outside. These pressure groups support the members. We Maori are asleep and have left the work to our members. This is the right time to set up an organisation to support the Maori members of Parliament. There are Pakeha pressure groups for each cause. What are we doing?
‘WORK’
Translated into Maori by T Wi-Repa.
A Sermon by Thomas Carlyle.
[The first part was printed in Number 75.]
‘Was it a prayer I uttered?’ Yes. All good works are prayer. Therefore, though prayers are not the work, do bring them to lie at the threshold of heaven. But, as I see it, a person’s prayer cannot be a lazy one, a wrong one, if it is to be welcomed in the peaceful bays of our land. I wonder at the saying of those experts in prayer at the time of the arrival of the faith in England, that is, the saying of the monks, [Ko te mahi te whakapono. Work is faith. (Laborare est orare. To work is to pray.)] This was, in fact, a gospel before the gospel was proclaimed. It is a gospel that still applies. It is a gospel without words. It is a gospel without preachers. But this is a gospel which will not be erased from the World’s thinking. It is a gospel that abides until the end of the World.
Work, for by doing so your body will live.
You, man, son of the soil and of Heaven (of Rangi and Papa),
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you have not ceased to hear and to be aware of the stirrings in your heart and your mind of the eager spirit urging you to work, or of the fearful spirit urging wrong things, have you? But persist with work. Do you not feel the burning within you? If you cover it to extinguish it it smokes. That smoke inhibits your breathing, and you must light the fire again so that it burns and flames and gives warmth and light. That spirit of industry requires you to abhor things that are misplaced, to set right things that are wrong, to plough the wasteland and to lay down your guidelines as to what is good. The spirit will instruct you to teach the violent things to submit to you, the things without ears to listen to you, the unfruitful things to be fruitful, even though wherever you look you see things that are wrong, things out of place, filth, things overgrown. These are your enemies, These are the things the spirit of industry has to contend with to the end of the world, The battle against these things is and unending struggle. You are lazy, they are forthright. They are not lazy, so do not be lazy. Fight with y0ur spear with all your strength. When something is crooked, fix it and make it straight. When the soil is exhausted make it rich again. Make the lazy work, See that the weeds are dug out. Open the eyes of the sleepy. Slash down the Scotch thistle as you go so that there is room for the roots of the grass to sprout as food for y0ur cows and sheep. The cows and the sheep fed on that grass will provide you with milk and wool. Can you also grow cotton to make calico to cover your skin and keep you warm? Are you not aware that these were weeds of the field which the diligence of men has turned into valuable commodities? But my most important piece of advice to you, my fellow humans, is this: if you come across ignorance, foolishness, beastly thinking, fight against it. But attack it with understanding. Do not be weary. Do not pause for breath while these enemies are thriving. This is my word: Strike them down! Strike them down! Strike them down in the power of the name of God! That instruction I give you in the name of the Lord of Hosts. The voice of God does not come to you as a whisper. It speaks loudly. He who has ears, let him hear. Although the voice of God is not a human voice it comes fearfully as the burst of thunder on Mount Sinai, as the blasts of the wayward winds of the sea. Does not the silence of the Rangi-tu-haha [the bespaced heavens – A W Reed] speak to you? Are you not fearful at the voices of the World beyond the morning stars?
Good works are sacred. Good works, though they be simply the work of our hands, reveal the divinity of a person. Agriculture is practised throughout the wide world. Its originator is in Heaven. The sweat of the brow, the sweat of people’s brains, the sweat of the heart, all reach their pinnacle in the sweated blood of the Garden of Gethsemane. If this is not faith [?prayer] and worship, what is it? This is the most precious and noble thing under God’s heaven. Why do you grumble at work? Stop grumbling.
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When you are working you are fulfilling the law of God. You are helping with the world’s work. Rise up. Look up, my weary young brother. From Heaven your fellow workers in the years before you found refreshment. They entered into the flock of people helping with the work of the world. Your line of descent is a line of farmers. This is your noble heritage. God is a God of agriculture. God made the heavens, the earth, the waters under the earth and all creeping things. His last precious gift to the world was humanity. Your ancestor, Adam, was told to cultivate the Garden of Eden. This was the beginning of our line of descent. Christ says: ‘My Father works and I also work.’ [John 5.17]. The head of the Christian Church is a working man. The men he called to be Apostles were fishermen, a tax collector, farmers, that is, working men. Do not rely on your noble descent to raise you up. It is true that such a staff may support you for a short time. But if you are not industrious the branch of that tree that you are depending on to raise you up will dry up and die. Is that noble line of descent sufficient to [?pehi] you if you fall down. You will land before the humble farmers. Will the thud be heard when you land below? Look up my farming friends. This is what the Ancient of Days says: ‘The one who does my work is my father, my mother, my older brother, my younger brother, my sister.’ [cf Matthew 12.50]
‘TELL US, GREY WARBLER!’
Ihaia Hutana.
Of the four seasons of the year Spring is the one that the old men and women look forward to. Each of them prepares their garden, thinking of the children, the grandchildren, and the tribe, that they may be part of the blessings of the spiritual world and that people’s hearts may thrive in this world.
As their thoughts are divided between these two things, they make every effort to recite the things of this world and to see them as gifts of the Creator, putting them in possession of the forest world or the animal world, and as signs perhaps of things to come whether good or bad, which will energise the careful heart, the working heart, the gardening heart, to dig the garden, to plant the seeds, or to dig up the gifts, whether of the hands or the heart.
The trench was green, or covered with profuse growth, and coming upon it one says with a shake of the head, ‘Ooh!’ These are some of the things that cause us to think of past days and of those who taught us about such things as
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the right time to plant and to sow seeds, and we appreciate the gift of the Grey Warbler of his song for the gardening year:
Tu – turi ngenge rire!
Tu – turi ngenge rire!
Ri
– re, rire, rire, rire!!!
When there is plenty of food, of talk, the heart of the worker is happy and rejoices. But the lazy person hears the account of the ant, the hardworking insect Solomon wrote about. When the storage pit is full the heart of the child whose cord has been cut is full of talk which is spread over the threshold, to be joined to the portion of speech and make its home in the heart where it produces fruit and knows the fruit trees. It is the job of the eye to glimpse what is beautiful to engage it in conversation with the heart. And the solitary person will seek in some places for the fruit of the good tree and will take hold of it. Similarly the heart will concern itself with abandoning stories of the increase of the little a person has and care for them.
(To b continued.)
CALENDAR
There are two different calendars currently in use in the Church, the Old Lectionary and the Revised.
Amongst our Pakeha friends the new one is widely used. Therefore Te Toa Takitini thought it would be good to prepare a Maori edition of the 1928 Revised Lectionary. The changes made in the Revised Lectionary only affect the chapters and the Psalms. The Prayers, Epistles, and Gospels remain the same.
Lest there be a delay in producing this Calendar we print the Calendar for January.
JANUARY, 1928
Day Morning Evening
1 S The Circumcision Genesis 17.1-13 Deuteronomy 30
(Sunday after Christmas) Romans 2.17-end Romans 13 W Psalms: M 72; 119.1-32: E 91, 121
6 F Epiphany Isaiah 60 Isaiah 61
Psalms: M 72; E 96, 97, 117 Luke 3.15-22 John 2.1-11 W
8 S First Sunday after Epiphany Isaiah 44.6-end Isaiah 45
Psalms: M 46, 47, 67; E 18 John 1.19-34 John 4.1-42 W
15 S Second Sunday after Epiphany Isaiah 49.1-13 Isaiah 49.14-end
Psalms: M 27, 36; E 68 Luke 1.16-30 Jon 12.20-end G
22 S Third Sunday after Epiphany Hosea 11.1-12 Hosea 14
Psalms: M 42, 43; E 33, 34 John 2 John 6.22-40 G
25 W Conversion of Paul Isaiah 49.1-13 Isaiah 45.18-end
Galatians 1.11-end Philippians 2.1-14 G
29 S Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Amos 3 Amos 4
Psalms: M 60, 63; E 74 John 3.22-end John 6.41-end G
