Maoris and Rarotonga

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1001, 18 June 1930, Page 10

Maoris and Rarotonga

ANCIENT VOYAGE RECALLED; CONSIDERABLE criticism was levelled at the personnel of tlie recent party of Maoris which visited Rarotonga, but those attacking tlie mission, in declaring that not all New Zealand tribes were represented, overlooked the important aspect that only certain Maori communities associate themselves directly with Rarotonga. The voyagings between New Zealand and Rarotonga of an ancient and almost forgotten Polynesian stock, 1 e Ngutu-au, are recalled by the pilgrimage.

The visit was really little more than for the purpose of conveying the godwill of New Zealand Maori tribes linked -with Rarotonga to the related people of the Islands. Misunderstanding concerning the visit first arose when it was announced that the purpose was "to examine and discuss the traces of relationship,” and, later, when it was thought that the representatives of a few tribes had been given authority to speak for most of the tribes of New Zealand and for much more important Maori chiefs. On the face of it, the idea of discussing traces of relationship was ridiculous, and this was explained by the Minister of Native Affairs, Sir Apirana Ngata, who ■was associated with the mission. The important relationships between Rarotongan and Maori families have been investigated fairly thoroughly, and the whakapapas—records of descent —affecting the communication between New Zealand and Rarotonga centuries ago, have been noted. National importance should not have been attached to the mission, which was simply an expression of tribal goodwill. MODERN REVIVAL Yet, this revival in times when the Polynesian races are merely shreds of their former extent, of the association of two peoples, has interest by recalling the visit and the departure from New Zealand of a forgotten race, the Ngutu-au. Mr. George Graham, the well-known Auckland Maori student, once recorded information of these early New Zealand immigrants for the Polynesian Journal. It was in the early years of this century that ait old man of the NgatiPorou tribe, East Coast, told him of the traditionary people called Ngutuau. Since then, he heard of this people, who left Rarotonga for an unknown country and then returned, from a native of Aitutaki, Cook Islands. Apparently, Mr. Graham observed, the Ngutu-au arrival in New Zealand, probably 17 generations ago, was a familiar tradition in parts of the East

Coast until recent years. The race was reputed to have sailed front New Zealand in a mokihi —a raft-like structure of flax stems and the whan tree —and to have accomplished the tremendous return to Rarotonga across the long leagues of Kiwa’s Ocean in such a frail craft! Several of the Ngutu-au remained in New Zealand, and it is recorded that a Rarotongan came to the East Coast in the ’so's, seeking relatives who were members of the long-separated Ngutu-au people. Islanders of Manihiki, in the Cook Group, have been recorded to regard New Zealand as their homeland. They refer to the Dominion as Hawaiki, just as the Maoris of this country trace history back to various Hawaikis, east from the Continent of Asia to Tahiti. Many Cook Islanders say that ancestors of theirs came from New Zealand, and it is obvious that the communication between the Cook Islands and New Zealand was formerly extensive. MAORIS AT RAROTONGA On the Great Migration of the Maori canoes from Tahiti to New Zealand in 1350, several of the important canoes are known to have called at Raratonga. When the Tainui canoe was there, efforts were made to have the Rarotongans migrate to New Zealand, too. "Maori” is a term frequently used to describe the natives of some islands of the Cook Group. Throughout the centuries, the common language of the New Zealanders and the Cook Islanders has changed in remarkably few important details, apart from forms of consonants peculiar to the various groups of the Pacific Islands. It is interesting to know that Makeanui-Tinirau, the important Rarotongan chief, spoke in Maori, if slowly and deliberately, when he welcomed his visitors from New Zealand. A striking example of the lasting kinship of Polynesians was the griei shown by the Rarotongans at the ill ness of Sir Maui Pomare, who stopped at the island, at the time of the mission, on his journey to California foi health reasons. TUPUA.