THE MAORI'S MESSAGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 123, 19 June 1901, Page 4

THE MAORI'S MESSAGE.

(Daily Telegraph.) j The Hon. W. P. Reeves, Agent-j General for New Zealand, recently re-1 ceived from the Maori iohabitin's of I this colony a " tnngi,'' or " lament,"' on! the death of Queen Victoria, with thej request that it might, it possible, be: laid before King Edward VII. Mr. j Keeves accordingly forwaried to Sir Dighten Probyn the retjirst and thej "weeping," of which the following is a: translation: i "Hark! Hark! There is the sound; of weeping in the M;»o> i p ilis. aged J wemen beat their strong menj stand by with heaving chests and clouded brows, young women lift their streaming eyis to ho wen, even the' children j >iu the'r wailing to the ( lamentation of thcj£ parent, for the Maoris are mourning the d>>ath of the j •Grent Wbite Mother.' The Maori nation has learned to love the Great Queen-Empres?, wEo-e rule brought friendship and peace to their trioes and nations, who had spilled each other's blood in uneless warfare, and the civili-' eation and friendship of the white races. Very few cf the Maoris havo' ever seen tho Great Queen, hut they; have been cold cf hot- goodnef-s. nnd those of the young braves who attended the Diamond Jubilee bear witness to the greatness and beneficence of Vic-! toria; therefore tho Maoris, rcliote i proudest boast is their loyalty towards the Empire and its grcit, ruler, are bowed down with sorrow at the death sf her whom they have looked upon, ; revered, and laved as their ' White Mother.' j " The heart of the Maori is full of sadness for the death of his Queen ; Nature seems to have lost her beauty ; and he thinks sorrowfully that the' story of the magnificent welcome ho I proposed to give her Royal grandson J can never gladden the heart of the dead monarch. | "No more for ever can the Maori ; *ing ' God Save the Queen'; it was j . his leve for his ' White Mother' that caused him to give to his utmoßt to provide men and horses to fight the battles of Queen and Empire, aßd had it been permitted a thousand Maori warriors, the bravest of the brave, were ready to fight and die in England's quarrel. " But the Maori most cot weep always ; his * V hite Mother,' who perhaps still sees him, would not bive it bo. The Queen is dead ; long live the King; and though the memory of the * White Mother'' will long remain enehrifted in the heart of these, hor loving Bnbjeets; though the Maori mothers will t«ll their children of the greatest woman and the truest heart the world has ever seen, the Maori knows that the best tribute he can pay to the memery of his beloved Sovereign is to transfer his unswerving loyalty and never-dying affection to lier sob and sncetssor, King Edward VII. " With tears scarcely dried, with a heart still full of woe for the loss of the •White Mother,'the Maori tenders bis allegiance to his new Ssvere-'go, and prays 'Ged Save the King.'" Id forwarding this poetic lament, Mr. Reeves stated that it was "expressive of the feelings of the native race of New Zealand." Tho above having been laid before the King, Sir Dightoa Probyn has wnitten Mr. Reeves "that he is commanded to conTey the expression of his Majesty's j thanks for the sympathetic and loyal • feelings expressed by the Maori on the j occasion of the death of her late j Majesty Queen Victoria."