RAROTONGA.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5384, 6 February 1929, Page 2

RAROTONGA.

o—described as pabadise. BY FORMER PAEROA RESIDENT. Mr D. Brawn, a former resident of the town, and now in business at Rarotonga, is visiting friends at Paeroa. After an absence of three and. a-half years, the; progress made by Paeroa in the way of buildings, roads, etc., impressed him greatly, the re-’ markable advance agreeably astonishing him. Rarotonga, in Mr Brown’s opinion, is the nearest one; ccjuld l conceive of Heaven on earth. Climate, surroundings, inhabitants, the mode of living, everything combined to .make life pleasant. Trade; was excellent, but at the same time business, in keeping with all other matters, ran a smooth, unhurried course. The; vexacious servant question did not exists as the natives almost fought one another to gain domestic situations under Europeans, They were; excellent cooks and valets, the latter vieing with each Other to make their respective masters the smartest arid bestgroomed on the island. They were surprisingly clean, more; so in the matter of personal, hygiene than the majority of Europeans. In language, customs, and looks, the aboriginal inhabitants were very much like the Maoris, but to be noted among them wejre quite a number of decidedly Chinese, Indian, am} 1 American-Indian caste of feature. Those of Indian countenance had also the lithe, slim body of their presumed' prototype. Unusual and uninteresting peculiarities existed in their, language, for though somewhat akin to Maori it contained many words of undoubted ancient Greek and Norse derivation, a fact that was engaging the e&gep attention of world savants in their efforts to trace the original home of the Polynesians and their , early history in Oceania. A Scandinavian professor, Dr. Olsen, sent out under the auspices of his Government especially to pursue and attempt to, unravel this fascinating subject, informed Mr Brown, with wh<tn he was staying at the time, that he bad discovered in Central Asia a tribe vqry much like the Cook Islanders.

The Cook Islanders have no de>finite theory or legends as to hßjw they at their present home, but at the same time have remarkably long memories, anti a decided mania for pedigrees. One chieftainess assured Mr Bi;own she could trace her ancestors back 12,000 years! .‘Whence they came; originally they do not know, but massive sacred stones! » which dot the islands they maintain were brought from some far country by their, forefathers, the These stones, some of them huge affairs, have their religious significance, and! one acts as the coronation chair for the Makea, king or parar mount chief, with smaller ones adjacant for the lesser chiefs or, Ariki, to seat themselves on during, the ceremony.

Of recent history Mr Brown tells of Charles Ward, a true product of the seas in days of. sail. Forty years agp Ward landed at Rarotonga, took „ unto himself a native wife, and ever sinc,e he has been one of them, but, at the same time, remaining British to the core. Some years after his fp-st arrival, which was some years before Britain took possession, Ward spied in the offing the flag of a French man-OMvar. Immediately he secured some coloured calicos, and with the help of his. native wife sewed together the strips to form a Union Jack, which he proudly and defiantly nailed to a tree-top. Hastily setting sail in a small schooner, and manufacturing Union Jacks the while, he; landed on nearby islands to hoist the British colours thereon. To-day the Cook Islands, are under the jurisdiction of New Zealand, with Sir Apirana Ng,ata at the head of the department concerned. Undep* New Zealand rule the natives are happy, contented, and at peac.e.