MAORI CULTURE AS LIVING FORCE

Chronicle (Levin), 12 June 1947, Page 7

MAORI CULTURE AS LIVING FORCE

-Press Association

By Telegravh-

WELLINGTON, June 11. At a Maori and European gathering said to be unprecedented in New Zealand with elders of the Native raea south froru Wanganui, Taupo and' Wai rarapa in attendance, Sir Apirana Ngata was entertained in Wellington last evening at a dinner organised by the Ngata-Poneke'' Association. This was followed by a lecture by the guest, as president of the Polynesian Society, on -Maori culture. • . Having referred to Sir Apirana as a great Maori and a great New Zealander, Dr. B. Beaglehole said he personally looked ' forward to a New Zealand notdf the Maori nor the palceha, but of a real amalgamation 'of the races, going forward hand in hand. In his address Sir Apirana said Dr. Beaglehole 's hopes could not be realised in a few minutes. There were deeply rooted antagonisms betweCn any races; diff'erenees of blood, colour, even in such things as foods. For instance, once it had been a source of distaste to the European that the Maori ate shark. When vitamins were discovered, the shark went to the top of the list as a real food value. The Maori people had felt the slight of having different schools/possibly because their children did not all have such good clothing as Europeans; possibly because they were more susceptible to eertain illnesses than pakehas. The speakbr challenged the youug people present to determine whether they were proud of their xace or not. Many of them had lost the faculty of learning their language by ear; they depended on the eye; and when they could not express an opinion in one language they turned to the other. This 'grasshoppers condition produced deterioratiou of the old Maori clarity of thought. There was a great deal of researeh work waiting for_ intelligent young Maoris. They should not be like junior clergy before a bishop in synod; like civil servants before a departmentai liead — frightened to speak. They should learn to inquire carefully, note things accurately, and not to be afraia to state the truth. They were of the proudest race in the world. Even the finest European seholars of Maori had not produced the finest renderings of Maori. The Wil'liams dictionary itself had imperfcctions. Sir Apirana said he had been working with others for 12 months on the Maori translation of the Bible, which had now been rendered, not in a literal translation, but closer to what the message meant, and sweet on the Maori ear. Ln his youth, as was still the case, he had studied Greek, Eoman and Egyptian myths. He had wasted his time. Maori lore was infinitely better. Take even Josliua making the sun stand still, he said. The Maori storv of how the .goci of old lassooed, the sun made even better study. Sir Apirana said that the greatest impulse in his life was the revival of Maori culture as a living force in the community, not as a dead exhibit in a museum.