MANA LETTERS

Mana (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 5, 1 September 1977, Page 2

MANA LETTERS

Friends, — Tena ra koutou me o tatou mate.

Haere e nga mate o te motu o nga moutere o Hawaiiki paamamao, haere, haere, haere. Mana, I trust this hullo of mine will help to stimulate the children of ‘Taane’ and including those of our cousins of Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. MANA, te patai a te manu nei, he aha tenei putea, a, he aha hoki nga kai maana, i tua atu te moni. Kaati tena - ? WE are faced with the situation of survival, to say the least a very very high wall confronts us, have we many Sir Ed. Hillary’s among us? The days when our fathers braved the mighty Ocean of Tangaroa, the sea of Kiwa is before us. A canoe, listen to

Tawhiao ‘Hanga te waka utaina ona uwhi, taka, ka oti, toia kite moana, hei te toru o nga ngaru, ka whakaheke ai, ka taea-Ka uu ki uta, ka tuu te maori i runga i te whenua Maroke. Ka nui enei’. “Tohungia e te Atua matou”. PETA R. WAIRUA. Kamo, Whangarei. Friends, — 1 would be grateful if you could place this office on your overseas airmail list for “Mana". 1 would like to wish this venture success and it is certainly about time New Zealand produced a multi-racial newspaper. One can only hope this is a forerunner to Polynesian radio throughout New Zealand. Best wishes, Yours sincerely, Mike Field, Press Secretary, Prime Minister’s Dept. Western Samoa. Friends, — A copy of Mana was sent to me. 1 wish to support this venture and enclose a donation with best wishes. R.N. Govind, Tamavua Primary School, Samabula, Suva. Fiji. Friends — 1 have just returned from a two week visit to Rarotonga and while there 1 stayed at the new Rarotongan Hotel in which the T. H.C. and Air New Zealand have vested interests. While this hotel is attractively designed, and comfortable, I feel that the owner/operators are making serious mistakes in its runningand already there appears to be considerable alienation between the hotel and the townspeople. Why, for example, is it necessary to charge twice as much for a can of beer purchased at the hotel as one pays for its town equivalent? Local prices are obviously going to rise to keep abreast with this sort of introduced profiteering. Island food, cheaper and more delicious thari imported N.Z. fare is not available at the hotel; high prices discourage local people

from eating or drinking there and so the hotel is little patronised by them; the Management (European) is inclined towards arrogance which makes the hotel guest feel far removed from traditional Rarotongan hospitality. If such a large, and relatively, sophisticated public and tourist amenity is thought necessary for Raratonga’s “progress”, then it needs to lower prices for what is at present mediocre service and food, and re-adjust to becoming a very much more integrated and respectfd part of the community in which it has been placed. L. FRENCH* Parnell