ay-back Maori Children Come to Town

Manawatu Times, Volume 65, Issue 3, 4 January 1940, Page 5

ay-back Maori Children Come to Town

SEE CITY LIGHTS FOR FIRST TIME FIRST RIDE IN TRAIN—FIRST TALKIES Fo*ur Maori children whose ages run from nine years to 15 years, are at present taking their first big adventure into the laud of the white man. They have come from the heart of the Urewera where for months on end the only pakehas they see or their three school teachers. They have also come from a valley where Nature reigns in quiet serenity, to the hustle and noise of a mechanical city, but having learnt beforehand of the white man’s wonders, they are taking everything in their stride and enjoying themselves immensely. They have been in Palmerston North for the first portion of this new adventure. Here they had their first train ride, first ride in a lift, saw their first talking pictures, spoke and listened for the first time over a telephone, gazed in fascination at, to them, a fairyland of electric lights. Later they go on to Wellington where further wonders await them. * It is hard to believe that there still exists in New Zealand a district which has remained untouched by the white man’s progress. Yet this can still be said of Maungapohatu, once made famous when the prophet Rua made a stand against the authorities. To reach the settlement one must travel either on foot or horseback along a track that winds through valleys and over ridges, for a distance of 12 miles from the Wairoa-Rotorua highway that skirts the shore of Lake Waikarcmoana. Theer is a second route of a similar nature that conies into the settlement from the Opotiki side. When Rua made his headquarters there, the population of Maungapohatu was fairly large but at present it is confined to about a dozen families. It has its post office and school, the latter being supported partly by the Native Department and partly by the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. The school roll numbers 26 and the three women teachers instruct the Maori youth in the three R's and handcraft work. In charge of the school is Miss I. D. Paulger who is accompanying the four children at present seeing the sights of Palmerston North. Miss Paulger has been for 15 years m the Urewcrjj, and says she has no desire to change from the w’ork she is doing. The Maoris apparently depend on her a great deal and her tasks are many and varied as a result. In addition to schoolmistress, she is postmistress, Sunday School teacher and church missioner. In the last-named capacity she is called upon to conduct Christian burial services. She has no authority to marry people but can tell amusing stories of widows coming to her for advice about a second husband. She adds: But no matter what 1 might say they invariably go away and do as they like.” Miss Paulger also tells an amusing story of how one day she decided that part of her duty was to teach the boys now to play Rugby. She wrote away for a book of rules and when those arrived, she duly set to work to “swot up” the game. There was a none too level piece of ground nearby and having consulted the rule book once more, she and the children set to work to mark out the playing field. The boys were eager to blow up the ball but she thought enough had been done for one day so it was decided to start play next day. There was great excitement when the ball was eventually inflated and she and the boys got to work in the setting of a scrum. Here Miss Paulger ended her Rugby story but admitted that the ground had since been ploughed up for potatoes. Maungapohatu boasts of two bicycles carted in by pack horse but they are not of much use as

the only level ground is where the meeting house stands so that anyone wishing to ride would have no other choice but round and round the building. The four children with Miss Paulger at present are exceedingly fine specimens, their manners and English speech reflecting with credit the training they have received at the hands of their teachers. They came direct to Palmerston North to attend the Youth Conference of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, travelling via Taupo by car.