AN INTERESTING LEGEND.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2032, 23 September 1919, Page 1

AN INTERESTING LEGEND.

HOW OTAKI. DERIVED ITS NAME. A paper read at a meeting of the Otaki Literary Club recently contained the following: A great many of the old Maori names of this land have been derived from legends which the old superstitious Maoris treasured and passed down from generation to generation; and a weird, fantastic tradition exists with regard to Ttow Otaki. received its name. It is said that in the dim remote past a Maori sorcerer or tohunga in Taranaki had a young and very beautiful wife, who fell in love with another man, and fled with him away to the south. The sorcerer, whose name was Hou, set off in pursuit,'following them all the way to Packakariki. As he journeyed down the coast he named a great' many of the places he passed — names which stand to this day. For instance, it is said that at Wanganui, Hou was much delayed, not knowing which way the fugitives had gone, and he called the place Whanganui —the place of long waiting. Then he made a detour on a false scent, and named the locality Aramoho —meaning a fool’s errand. On reaching the broad waters of the Manawatu, Holds heart failed him for a time, fearing that he would be unable to cross; therefore he named the river Manawatu ---heart standing .-till. On approaching Otaki, the flat was covered witli thick scrub, and Hou made his way warily through the heavy growth, pushing his spear in front of him as he went, and was thus, the tradition goes, that the name was given—Houtaki, Hou after the sorcerer, and taki or takitaki, meaning feeling one’s way with a spear or stick. This tradition is firmly believed by the older Maoris, who ridicule the theory advanced by some that the name was originally Aotaki. “The “Tl” was gradually dropped, and the name has remained Otaki ever since. It may bo mentioned that the legend goes on to (lie effect that when reaching the rocks at Packakariki, Hou came to a great rock at the base of To Paripari. In those days the rock was not solid, but hollow. lion heard his wife talking with her ahdactur on the other side of the rock. lie altered a powerful incantation or karakia, by means of which he cleft a passage through the great rode, whereby he passed through -to the other side. "Then, sending his wife out into the sea on some pretext lie turned her into a rock, which stands to this day, named Wairaka, after lion’s wife. The Maoris say that the pakehas may laugh at this tradition, but they point to the cleft rock of Te Paripari and the rock Wairaka out in the sea as proof of [lie truth of the story. The pakehas look on this rock as a work of Nature, hut the Maoris call it still “Te ana o Hou’’ —the cave of Hou.

slime, went out shooting a short time ago. As they reached a stile, the pretty 18-year-old daughter of Mr Aires, the village statiomnaster, approached them, and one of the youths laid down his gun to help the girl over the stile. As he did so one of his companions inched up. the gun, which accidentally wont off, and the girl received the full charge in her head, and died at; once. According to a British White Paper, there are 148 taxpayers in Great Britain who have incomes of £IOO,OOO ami over per year. The taxable income of those few people is no less than £27,000,000, and they pay in income tax and super-tax £1.1,352,000. In spite of the high wages generally prevailing, there are no fewer than 2,400,000 people who have incomes hetwden £l3O and £l6O per year, the majority of these being relieved from the operation of the tax by abatements and allowances.

Ernest Baudissart, one of the three famous Alpine brother bandits, has .been arrested, says a French report. When Louis Baudissart, the youngest brother, was shot some time ago by a road-mnnd-er during one of the midnight raids of this brigand trio, the French Government placed a price on the heads of the other brothers. They are alleged to have killed a number of people, and have twice been condemned to death in their absence. Ernest: surrendered only after a fierce straggle.