ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. THE MAORI FEAST.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 640, 2 June 1852, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE. THE MAORI FEAST.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — Haying seen the name of the noted chief, Taraia in your remarks on the Feast given to the Natives on our beloved Queen's Birth-day, may I beg your acceptance of the following notes of a conversation between an interpreter and that Chief The interpreter inquired why it was Taraia had not taken his seat at the Feast I—He1 — He replied, Because it is a quantity of food intended for poor men anil clogs. — Interpreter: That is not the reason.— 'Taraia : You don't know my thoughts while they are in my U&itr-Jnterprctor : Yes, I do, because I .can soe that you are angry. — Taraia : There are two things (or reasons) why 1 don't go to your Feast ; the first is because it is not such a feast as we Maories would give to Europeans ; Avhen we give a feast, we allow the party to whom we give it to cook it, eacli to the taste of his own mouth ; and we do not do as you do, for we give as much as the party can eat, and then jalso a sufficiency for their friends^ at home. You say that you are gentlemen, yet you cut your feasts into little pieces, and by so doing you mean to say that we cannot tell how much we should eat. The second is, when you Europeans cook the food for the feast, the tangata Maori cannot see , what Avaters are put into the food, — Interpreter : I What do you mean by waters? — Taraia : It is J said, Europeans have waters which, if put into ! food, the person who eats will die. Now, if you were, instead of giving pudding and beef, and cooking it yourselves, to give us potatoes and pork, and allow us to cook it in the Maori way, we should then call it a feast. No real chief will eat of youi - I'eas.ts unless lie cook it himself ; and such feasts as you give make us ashamed, so that we do not tell you our thoughts when the feast is over. If you were to give us a feast to our own liking you then would hear all our secret thoughts, and you might tell us your thoughts in return. Does Victoria know these feasts are given ?—? — Interpreter : Yes. — Taraia : If she is a great woman, as you say she is, she would show it by giving i^a feast to suit the wish of her Maori children, as you say she is our mother ; but you Europeans often tell very large lies. — I am, Sir, yours, &c. G. Z.

To the Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — I perceive, with some astonishment, that I am invited by Mr. Josejph May to attend a meeting of the Burgesses of the Epsom West Ward, to he held on the second Tuesday in June next. Who then is Mr. May? Our representative in the Council ? Certainly not. — A Deputy-Common-Councillor perhaps, self-elected — that may be. But, sir, with Mr. May I have nothing to do. The sin of an innocent pun ho may forgive me, especially as it was committed upon May-Day, and'no doubt Ms friend would have retaliated in poetry — if he could. So far, we part fair foes. It was against Mr. Alderman Powditch that the spirit of my Elegy was directed. It is Mr. Alderman Powditch whom I now wish to ask — how lie lias kept his faith with his constituents \ Yes, sir, I consider that I have a right to ask him. Sir, on the day for the nomination of Candidates for the West Epsom Ward, I attended the meeting for the express purpose of putting one particular question to each of the Candidates proposed. The question was this, " Will you support and endeavour to carry out the Charter, or will you in any way strive to obstruct it?" — and the answer given by Captain Powditch without hesitation, and with much emphasis, was, that " he would use his best endeavours to carry out the Charter," or words to that effect, — and, in consequence of this (to me) satisfactory answer thus given, I abstained from proposing another candidate, and although I did not vote for Captain Powditch, I would not vote against him. Well after that might he hesitate and wish to consult his constituents before voting in direct opposition to his freely plighted word ; and had he really called a meeting of his constituents, and had they m fact given their voices for such a vote, then he would have been absolved from his promise, and no one would have a right to complain. But the meeting was not a meeting of his constituents ; it was a meeting of a small and select committee, his staunch friends and supporters, and even amongst those, the decision was against his vote, until Mr. May's overwhelming speech finally rendered all other persons present speechless. Now, sir, I, for one, as a Burgess of the West Epsom Ward, protest against Alderman Powditch's vote — against the influence that vote must have had in the Council, and therefore, against the decision of that Corporate Body whose remains lie " unhonorod," and Mr. May would seem to wish that they should also be " unsung." — I am, Sir, &c, Thomas Shayle George. May 31st, 1852.

CORPORATION WIMJUAGS. — " INDEPENDENCE."

To the Editor of the New Zealanher. I Sin, — A note from i\Jr. Joseph May, the redoubtable Coloration ijueller, wbicli I lound in the Ctoss of Friday last, lias reminded mepleasantlj' that I had still a few woids (o say on the subject of the "decease" of that remnikable assembly. Joseph himself thinks that he has only " scotched" it, and cheerfully invites all the Burge-ses of his \V,nd to meet him at the " Half-way-Hount*," on the second Tuesday in June, when they will have an opportunity of contiibuting towards some ' little expenses incurred for advertising, notices, &c." I fear, Sir, that wicked Cross has charged him for pun. li&lmig hibt.peech.es, wiih something extra for the italus, perhap.>; ami Joseph, being of the " canny species, likes to have fame, as well as roadd, cheap. It would seem that some vulgar fellow (there will always be giumblei-a >ou know) das objected that he had received no notice of the meet ng, which purported to be an assemblage of the electois of the Ward, with the object of shedding their concentrated light upon Alderman Powditch, their elected ; to whom Joseph replies, with the simplicity of a great man and the condescension of a democrat, that no one was invited to that meeting except those who were considered ■' likely" to aitend ; but that no matter how humble a Burgess mijjht be, Joseph May would have " honoi'Kld" him with a notice, had he been aware of his wish to be present. Now this js charming, and the AKlei man must find great solace in the reflection that he has put a public extinguisher upon himself at the instance of so clear «nd pleasant a gentleman as his ''constituency," Mr. Mny. 1 return to the pioceedingsinthe Municipal Council of the eventful Bth of May, and find t'<at they were opened by a discussion arising; out of a most insidious attempt on the part of His Excellency the Lientenant-Governor to entrap the Corpoiation into acceptance of an invitation to a ball on the Queen's llirth-day. Had the worthy Aldermen bpen detected in a valse a deux temps, or the Councillors been discovered in the supper-room consuming tipsy cake and dunking champagne, their plea that they are not in existence would be haidly tenable. Under these unfortunate circumstances, it was a most happy suggestion of a learned Councillor that, as they were not jet quite born, they could not be expected to dance, more especially if it were desired, as appears to have been the fact, that th>y themselves should pay the piper. The difficulty was finally got ovei, after a spirited discussion, by "ordering the Town Clerk, who would seem to have escaped into the world, by some unfortunate accident, before the other members, " to acknowledge the invitation" en attendant the " crisis" I suppose. In thp history of deliberative assemblies, since the Doctors of the Sorbonne were occupied in considering the virtue of baptism administered before binh, I remember nothing more euteitaining than this. Having got over this difficulty so ingeniously, they proceeded to the business of the day. ftlr. Joseph May baring effectually " bothered" Alderman Powditch on the previous evening, it was well known bow the farce would terminate; and honourable gentlemen came there, not to discuss the question, but simply to speak the speeches which they had set down for themsrlves — in which, by the way, some of them failed— to record their votes, make their bow, and retire amidst the plaudits which their " indeppndence and public spirit" deserved at the hands of their admiring constituencies. The triumphant majori'y having declared that the non-compliancp of the Government with the requirements of th» address, and the vague and unsatisfactory replies of His Excellency to that curious document, were the reasons upon which their decision was grounded, it will be only necessary to state the items of their demands to make their justice and propriety at once apparent. Imprimis— £ 18,000 for roads. Item — Vaiious reserves set forth in reports. Item — All lands reclaimed from the sua (by the Government 1 j in Commercial Bay. Item — Such other land within or without the Borough as would give a revenne for Corporation purpose-. Item — The money received for licensing fees. Item— Funds to arise from licenses to trade within the Borough, Item-— Afi increuted grant for the roads. (£iß,6uu ; having been already declared su ficient.) Item— The several suits mentioned in the reports. (Amounting, I believe^ to £Q3'2,Z3 < 2.) Item— sooo acres of land. Item — £ J 2OOO per annum for ten years. Item That the limits of the Borough be reduced to the boundaries of the town of Auckland. There was, it seem?, a supplementary item not included in the declaration of rights, that all thp useless Government officers should be cashiered, and their salaries handed over to the Corporation, all, of course, exclusive of the third of the land revenue and the other sums already appropriated by the Legislative Council. A nice little bill — and His Excellency's answer was — "evasive, your honor." Whereupon, oh, ye Burgesses, we your chosen champions will rescue you from " iron despotism," from grinding tyranny, and wasteful extravagance, and your bridges shall go to wreck, and your roads to ruts, pestilence shall come upon your families, and fire consume your dwellings : but Sir George ?nust be made to feel that here is at least one Dragon whose eyes nre never shut, against whom his lance is powerless, his cunning vaiti — ahpm ! I have added together, as I find them in the official returns, the amounts realized by the sale of land from the foundation of the colony to the end of th year 1851, and find the total to be somewhat over j£69,000. I find that the Government expenditure on roads and public works within the limits of the Borough has, within the past five years alone, since January 1847, exceeded £30,000. I find that at the end of the year 1849 the number of acies granted by the Cr>wn, for which money had been received, was 6641. Allowing for the sales of 1830 and 1851, let us say that 13,000 acres have been paid for in cash ; then taking the number of acres alienated within the Borough, as fixed by Sir George Grey in his despatch accompanying the Charter, at 40,000 acres, there will remain 27,000 acres from which the Government may be said to have derived no funds whatever; on the contrary — a large portion of this land has been purchased from the natives, and surveyed at Governmen expense to satisfy the demands of the original scripholders. Seeing, then, that the account of expenditure on roads and public works shows a large balance favouring the Government : seeing that there are 27,000 acres of land within the Borough, the owners of which have contributed nothing to the lind revenue, and nothing towards the construction of roads and bridges by which they profit equally with those who have contributed, I am at a loss to understand why it has been resolved that no tax shall be imposed, or how the demands made upon Government can in any fashion be justified. Independence is a very fine word, but in this colony it has many meanings.. The independence of the Hon. M.L.C. displays itself in uttering impertinencies to the Governor, and sometimes getting snubbed, always laughed at for his pains— truculent abuse of all in authority, confers the title of " independent" upon the local newspaper — it remained for our Municipal Corporation to show that a public body, having power to do good or ill, .displays its independence by making demands, with which, from their intense absurdity, compliance is impossible, and then permitting evil to follow which it could without difficulty, without the smallest compromise of principle, have prevented. The stuidy beggar who terrifies the passer-by into giving him an alms is highly independent in this respectable sensp. In these observations I mean not to defend or to condemn the Charter: it is no doubt capable of improvement like everything else of human institution; but 1 take the address of the Corporation to the Governor and his reply thereto as the issue made up between the parties, find I believe that no impartial judge or jury would hesitate in deciding against the' Corporation. 1 think, therefore, that the Corporation has abandoned its duly, and has not merited the " adulation" bestowed upon Us independence and public spirit. — I am, Sir, &c, A..

The following announcement is republished by the Madras Spectator from an English journal : — "In future all regiments destined for service in India will go out to that country direct from Great Britain, and after ten years' sojourn in the East, will go on to Australia or its dependencies for a term of five years more ! The object of this arrangement is to afford discharged men of good character and their families an opportunity of settling in those colonies, where grants of lands with other advantages, will be bestowed upon them, on discharge there, under certain easy conditions, by which means an efficient body of pensioners will thus be organised for local duty

on any emergency." As the colonists, we believe, decidedly appiove of military settlors, this regulation is likely to be as popular ab it is piudent. We doubt, however, whether it will have the precise effect intended, which is evidently to secure a strong English party in each colony.