KAHUPAKI’S SUPPORT

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1039, 1 August 1930, Page 10

KAHUPAKI’S SUPPORT

MAORI LEADER APPROVES OF TAMAKI LEAGUE MEMBERS DEFY WARNING “If you follow the path set out by you, I will bestow my mana upon you. Be sincere. Carry out your work with truthfulness to care for our people, and you will receive your reward." These words were addressed to the new organisation among the Maoris of Auckland, the Tamaki Maori Women’s Welfare League, by Chieftain ess Kahupaki Hongonui, when, at her invitation. members of the league visited Pukaki Pa, Mangere, yesterday morning. Members of the Tamaki League regard it as a considerable honour to have secured the interest of Kahupaki, who has great influence among her people. Kahupaki won prominence in Auckland some time ago when she declared that a totara sapling planted by the Akarana Maori Association on Mount Eden had violated the tapu placed on the mountain by her ancestors of the Waiohua tribe, the original possessors of the Auckland isthmus. Kahupaki predicted that the totara would be destroyed. When the Mount Eden reservoir burst and the waters carried away the totara, she was consequently gratified and declared that the strength of her mana had been proved. At the time, some Maoris held that it was witchcraft which caused the untimely destruction of the totara. There was much talk on the ethics of such a supposition centuries after the tohungas of the Waiohau declared Mo.unt Eden to be sacred. OBJECTS OF LEAGUE The founder of the Tamaki League. Mere Newton, of Onehunga, was invited by Kahupaki to head a party of the members, Chieftainess Te Paea, To Riu Eruera, Emere Beamish, Pikitawhaki Tamahana, Kongo Kirkwood and Tui Newton, to explain the objects of the organisation. “Some of us had been warned that death awaited ore member because the name of Tamaki had been assumed by the organisation,” Mere Newton said this morning. “We accepted Kahupaki’s invitation with an element of doubt, but the reception was extremely cordial. Customary Maori welcomes were extended to us and present in the gathering was the widow of the late chieftain of the district, Napi Wirihana." Mere Newton said Kahupaki had consented to the use of the name Tamaki. The names of a number of women of Pukaki Pa were presented to be added to the membership of the league, and the visitors were invited to a feast, the food being prepared ip hangis (earth ovens), according to native custom.