LIFE ON MOTITI

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 99, 26 February 1947, Page 6

LIFE ON MOTITI

COMMUNICATION WITH TAURANGA (Contributed) How many people outside Tauranga have ever heard of Motiti Island? And even in Tauranga, the average individual scarcely knows anything. about this isolated little island, which lies about 20 miles east of Tauranga.

Motiti is long and narrow, about ten or twelve miles long, and between four and five in width. In the early days it was well in the fighting fore, many a cannibal feast being held in the different pahs that were then all over the Island. But today the few families living there, seventeen in all—including the teachers, and the other European family which lives at the other end of the island —are quite peaceable folk, enjoying life in a very different manner than did their predecessors. Maize and kumaras are grown extensively all over Motiti, and a good living is made from these. At no regular time, but really all through the year, maize is sent away, and kumaras are bagged and sent to the mainland to be sold. Motiti maize is well known to grain buyers, but few realise the difficulties that attach to the sending away of the products. The local boats, when in running order, take what they can, while often a punt comes over from Tauranga taking away over fifteen tons at a time—the local boats are limited to three. The loading is a big job, and can only be done in calm weather. There is no jetty of any description; the sacks of maize and bags of kumaras are taken in drays as far out in the sea as they can go, then loaded on to a dinghy and rowed out to the waiting boat. This takes some hours, while the trip over takes anything from three to five hours and often the trip is particularly stormy. Lack of Communication

This pleasant island has up till now, had no means of quick communication with the mainland. If anyone were ill medical advice could not be had. The patient simply had to get well as best he might. The boats only bring the mail, when they remember it, and forgetfulness is a feature on this island, and often two or three weeks pass without the mail, and when at last it does come there is often another wait, this time to get the outgoing mail away.

The long delays in waiting for mail often causes much anxiety, and the present teachers, who came almost four years ago, found it very trying, and appealed to the Minister of Internal Affairs for help in having some means of communication with the mainland established on the island. Letters passed slowly—the difficulty of the mail, and consequent dragging out of correspondence has already been described—and it was not until the end of 1945 that things actually began to happen. A letter from the PostmasterGeneral arrived suggesting a radio telephone, to be installed in a European residence, “preferably at the schoolhouse.”

This was quite satisfactory to the Maoris, for the schoolhouse is the apex of the island. It is here that pension papers are brought, the difficulties of Social Security, births and deaths registered, sometimes the writing of private letters, and of course it is also the first aid post. Letters are brought to be stamped and put in the teachers’ bag, as also they are sorted and given out when the mail comes in. Thus, the other European residence being so far away, it was decided to have the radio telephone at the schoolhouse, where it is within five minutes’ distance of almost every home. The Education Department was then approached for permission to install the telephone in the school residence and again letters slowly passed between the teachers and the Education Department, concerning the closing of the house during school vacations, and yet leaving the telephone Open to the operators. However, the house is so constructed that it is possible to lock it up, apart from the room in which the telephone is installed. A plan to this effect had to be drawn and sent to the Department, which finally approved and all that was wanting now was the instrument itself.

Local Operators Trained

A radio telephone was offered from Wellington at a price of £l7O, but this was considered too far away should it require attention. Aid from the Member for Tauranga, Mr F. W. Doidge, was next sought and his inquiries led to a used army one being offered at £25, but there were several parts to be obtained—a battery, a new crystal, etc., so again that was not satisfactory. Finally one was purchased from a firm in Tauranga, costing £l5O com-

plete, the Island residents dividing this amount among them. Thus it will be seen that £l3O was entirely from the Maori families. Still there were days, was not idle. Four were chosen to operate the telephone—the teacher, the other European, and two young Maori men, both of whom had received secondary education and very capable at such work. All were to undergo a test in the working of the telephone, sending and receiving of telegrams, etc., the work of course being quite voluntary. When the boat bearing the telephone arrived, heavy seas prevented it from using the comfortable landing at Wairanaki, so the “Huinga” steamed round the island to a sheltered spot called Tumu—sheltered certainly, but such a place—almost perpendicular, and just a track. However, there were plenty of willing Maori youths who thought nothing of the ascent. It was not long before the islanders, old, young and middle aged, were flocking to the schoolhouse, to see and hear all there was to be seen and heard. They crowded in the room, on the verandah, peering in the windows, and listening with bated breath every time the radio inspector spoke to Tauranga in his testing. It was fairly late in the afternoon when the first telegram came through and a voice from Tauranga said: “Congratulations Motiti. Aroha.”