MAORI AND CELT.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 725, 26 January 1910, Page 3

MAORI AND CELT.

/ : :, AN-:INTERESTING INTERVIEW.-; -; ,it is/pleasant to'meet a lady from ani'othcr nation.:.who,;..after four years residence in; tlie'Dominion, speaks ivith such heartyK.aifection, .for./ it, and ./expresses' siich- pleasure' at returning to' it,. as does .Madanie Boeufye, tho wife ; of Consul I.at- -Auckland, -who returned..' to. New .-Zealand: yesterday, by: .the.-. Arawa, after an .-'absence of- two: : $eat§'- spent chiefly in .Ireland and . .Prance. . One gathers . that/Jladiimo./Boeufve is. an excellent advocate for !tho-country which is now her home, and .that she has. lost no. opportunity'..of'' extolling its' charms. Sho.' gayo...t\vO lectures .on- New.; Zealand ,whe'n iii Ireland, and .found licr'audiences ■ intensely:'interested,';especially in all she coiild tell- them about-the..Maoris. /', '.

is'lrish.by birth, and, .French- by i marriage. and ; adoption, is a . mcmber .oi' the .Gaelic Society, , which is doing:, so ./much, successfully to spread a knowledge of the. Gaelic language and its / noble . ancient.. lite'rahire,: anil' her studies, have .encouraged-. her in a/ theory which she holds/ that .there was some connection between. the Gaelic race and the Maoris. What that -connection /was- she /can hardly:guess,:but. thp.' mauy points ■of similarity betwtfch.. tho . races : convincp her of its exisience. . :-' .'•

:At Trinity .College, Dublin, slio examined the itncient ''Book ;of Kolls," 'and Was much''interested' to. find-there 'nictures: of ornaments exactly .similar ;to ; Maori designs'.. Some: ' o f. the Celtic carvings.: arelyery; elaborately -interlaced, but there are simpler ones, and .she mentioned -the . design'O of;_ the double circle seen, on ancient tombs',; /which is a symbol j" of eternity: The same design, she says,: slio has' seenJ.iii-rllaori carvings. 'In "the' ; lo; .'gends,; again",-jthe , two races -have 'much in"'■commonthe Maori tangi resembles closely.-the. Irish wake, and Madaino Boeufve; thinis-.that :in appearanco there is . again.; a.'.strohg .resemblanco. . ■ Mnny' times, :iii- Ireland ..she ..met .people who had .the...physique'..and the.'features/.'it not, tho; colouring, :'of the .-''Maori.; \ : Madame Boeiifve,-thinks .that, speaking; generally,the outtoofcin Ireland in brighter, than it . -was." ' A grc'afcdeal is expected from tho":.wqrk ;of,> the Land, Commission which': is buyiiigf'estatea from/owners willing. to sell, arid; putting tho tcniivifa .bjick oil, the' cases ./the, landowners ;, are.'. reservingtheir ; homes ; ' and homesteads, but :'othors are : leaving ".the country.:; Ifonly: the ./commission succeeds in, fettling - the: land .question,as seems probable;-, Ireland:Venn'look .;forward. to .-a >,liappy.-future.'-■-.•-a."'-'. ■'. V'- a-ii V The Suffragist-.question .is just beginninpr'to be.kikenitpby Irish women and Maldain'e.lloeuf^e'believes; they.-are .bound. 'to- wi'ii Ulie' franchise' in' time. ?:'T]ie/-poli-;l tics that* interest Irish women are'mainly those' of their own land,' and not Imperial. V.Thcro.are many "other, matters in which tli'ey. tako.'a ltcen interest. .Many' iiro v . ' themselves, into;, / the work.of; tlio Gaelic Society, of which.Mr.' W.,' 8.., Yeats and -iLiidy. ; Gregory./.are leaders, -and . 'Madame -Boeufve . remarks, that..a woman's .willingness to , learn (3aelic?in'ay. bo/regarded asVa ;.prbtty" vbre teSt 'of her .patriotism,; for it' .is the, hardest language in 'tlio. world to learn, ■ aiid'wheii; she, explains that five letters may have one -sound arid, that "mh" can bepronounced, "v"' one that' .it must .be liord.' .After all, though,' what about. Unglish, arid how do wo vget |.tlib. "g":ill enough?'-; ■'-

, Mad?ihb "Boeufvo. spent some timo'.' in France, at Nice and ,m Paris, whicli sho declares is, absolutely, tho .most;- beautiful,"city") in the ' world. One of the 'interesting things she saw ' iri' Paris was .tho Russian opera .with a: striking' innovation in tlie 'iyay- of .a- ballet -Tyhere : the pel-formers .were all young boys, jvho: dariced exquisitely. ', ■. • ;■