TRADITIONS FADING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 53, 25 May 1927, Page 10

TRADITIONS FADING

OLD MAORI LORE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO THE RESCUE Wanganui has for a long time been distinguished for the keen interest which it takes in old Maori lore, and has recently given fresh evidence of this in the formation of a Maori Ethnological Society, which promises to render useful service in preserving native traditions as well as in affording encouragement to the proposed revival of Maori arts and crafts. A member of the society, recently interviewed, said he feared it was already almost too late to undertake the work. “There are,” said he, “only a few men who can speak authoritatively, ond the majority are living with the expectancy of but a few more years remaining to them.”

To quote the words of an aged native, “We are losing our traditions,, and 1 am very pleased to know that the work is being taken in hand. I myself am an old man; my tale is all but told. There are others like me. I shall give my remaining years to assist the society to the best of my ability.” It is mainly on this account, with the desire that the traditions of the Wanganui tribes may be preserved for all time, that there is an expressed intention to depart from the usual procedure, which has been to withhold their tribal history from publication. This accounts very largely for the lack of authentic information which is available when any dispute arises as to events which have taken place in past days. If these stories can be placed on record, not necessarily of course for publication, it will indeed have been a great achievement on the part of the Ethnological Society. Without the assistance and goodwill of the elders of the tribes, however, their efforts would largely be of no avail in this respect. Already there have been some interesting revelations in regard to whakaparas, or, as generally expressed in pakeha language, genealogical trees. The ability to draw these up was one of the outstanding facts of Maori life in days past, and it is being demonstrated that some of the younger men have commenced to think out these problems, and already with excellent success.