Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1073, 10 September 1930, Page 8

Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones

Maori Election Sidelights AX engaging question arises from a contemplation of the names of the candidates in the election for the vacant Western Maori seat in Parliament: Will a Mr. Smith or a Mr. Jones represent the native race in the House ? It provides a commentary on the extent to which European names have been adopted by Maoris.

Before a person of Maori descent can be judged a he must have seven-eighths white blood. This condition alone is causing an increasing number of European names among Maoris, apart from the fashion among some natives to use names which apj peal to them. There have been full- | blooded Maoris called Tregurton, I Schultz, Macpherson and Lefevre. | In the election of a member of Par- | liament to take Sir Maui Pomare’s place, two candidates possess the j thoroughly British names of Mr. • Smith and Mr. Jones, though the j former has entered the campaign with j the native equivalent of Mr. A. H. te ; Mete and his opponent as Mr. Pei te Hurinui-Jones. From New Plymouth, the Rev. Robert Tahu Potiki lladdon provides a somewhat unusual combination of European and native names, too. In Parliament at the present time one finds that Mr. Tau Henare, M.P. for Northern Maori, is simply Mr. Henry, and that Mr. Tuiti Makitanara, M.P. for Southern Maori, is just a Maori form of Mr. McDonald. The Eastern Maori member and Minister of Native Affairs, Sir Apirana Ngata, enjoys the distinction of being one of the few prominent Maoris of recent years to cling to true Maori names. Sir James Carroll’s father, of course, was a -white man, but the great orator established a precedent which could well be followed by other native leaders by preferring to be known as ‘Ariki” or “Timi Kara.” Bishop Bennett of Aotearoa is known as “Peneti” among many Maoris. Dr. Peter Buck, who is achieving such fine work as ethnologist at the Bernice Bishop Museum, Honolulu, has Te Rangihiroa as an authentic Maori name, and Dr. E. P. Ellison, director of Maori hygiene, is called “Eriliana.”

Maoris early showed a preference for British names. At the beginning of last century a savage North Auckland chieftain passed under the rather innocuous title of Geqrge. He had styled himself after King George IV*. In the Maori Wars Wiremu Tamahana was none other than William Thompson, and then the Taranaki leader, Wiremu Kiugi. was just William King. Hipango, the Wanganui chieftain who achieved the melancholy distinction rt being probably the first Maori to die in England, was known universally as John. A Hokianga prophet elected ro compare his wisdom with that of Abraham by calling himself “Aperahama." The Maori who served with the British forces in the Maori as a major, “Kemepi,” was only Kemp, after all. Fifty years from now New Zea-

landers will probably read that “Mr. Geoffrey Wliyte-Bassington, M.P. for Western Maori, made an impassioned appeal in the House with oratory typical of the Polynesian race.” A candidate in a Maori election must be prepared for really difficult work. The size of the four electorates —embracing New’ Zealand and the Chatham Islands, with considerations for the Native Minister in the Dominion’s tropical possessions—is alone sufficient to deter most of tire candidates in constituencies the extent of Parnell or Roskiil. And then again, a Maori pays scrupulous attention to oratory, an art sadly lacking among ordinary politicians. If there had not been this care, the New Zealand Parliament would not have been endowed with the rich language of Sir James Carroll, the logic of Sir Apirana Ngata and the charming utterances of Sir Maui Pomare. The Western Maori electorate sweeps from Auckland, the Bay of Plenty and Taupo across Waikato and the King Country, down the west coast, embracing Taranaki, and then on to Wellington. It includes the Chatham Islands, but that is not strange because the Maoris of those Islands are principally of the NgatiTarna and Ngati-Mutunga tribes of North Taranaki. In this vast area, many tribes exist, with diverse branches of native thought. There are traces of th<? rivalry of the centuries of cannibalism. Ngati-Tauia, for instance, were once deadly enemies of Ngati-Haua. tribesmen from Waikato. A Maori candidate must possess tact in meeting these tribes.

Maoris have catholic tastes in politics, which do not resemble the beliefs of Europeans very closely. Should he receive the sanction of Tahu Wiremu Ratana, Mr. TV Mete will represent -what is virtually the Ratana Party; Mr. Jones is standing in the interests of the Young Maori Party: Mr. Tumate Mahuta, brother of the Waikato King, Rata Mahuta, is advancing the ideas of the King movement; and the Reform Party has three candidates—Mr. Haddon, Mr. Taite te Tomo and Mr. H. H. Piahana. Other candidates may yet appear. The United and the Labour parties have been represented at other elections and there have been distinctively Maori schools of thought, notably the Treaty of Waitangi Party. But Maori politics are losing much of the glamour of the days of Mr. Henare Kailiau. There would be satisfaction if ancients of the forceful naturfe of Te Rauparaba, Hone Heke, Te Kooti or Rewi Maniapoto could come to life to place native grievances before Parliament. / D.C.S.T.