MAORIS IN AMERICA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 213, 14 October 1909, Page 4

MAORIS IN AMERICA.

REMARKABLE SPECTACLES. HAKAS IN THE STREET. (New Zealand Times Correspondent). >iew York, {September 5. The Maoris have conie to town. They have taken Xew York by storm. T'licy did hakas in Broadway which caused no end of excitement the other day, and last night they began their performance in the New York Hippodrome, the biggest house of entertainment on earth, and sent thrills through the great audience of 0000 or 7000 people. Tumultuous applause greeted them. They were the feature of the entertainment.

DIFFICULTIES OF LANDING. The trouble at San Francisco, where seventeen members of the company were '•■ held up" on suspicion of fullering from trachoma, had a fortunate ending. At one time it appeared as if only half j of the company of forty would find l their way to New York, but influence in the right quarter averted this, and all the members are now safely housed in this city. Much time was lost, and much trouble occasioned, before matters were iinally adjusted, 'iho Maoris came across America by way of t'he intensely interesting Santa Fe route, in three batches. The lirs't lot numbered nineteen, and came over in charge of the manager, Mr. W. Farmer Whyte; the second lot numbered ten, and the third eleven. The last batch arrived here on Friday, August 27th. They were met at the railway station by their comrades, and Xew Yorkers had t'heir first taste of the Maori haka. Some of the company had not seen each other for nearly three weeks, and the greetings that were exchanged in t'i«J shape of the thrilling hakas were something to be remembered. ASTONISHING NEW YORK.

Nothing like it had ever been seen or heard before in this city, and when shortly afterwards the whole of the fortv Maoris were driven round to s'ee the sights of New York hi- three large tourist automobiles the scenes that were witnessed were nothing short of remarkable. The Maoris had put on their best mats for the occasion, kiwi feathers and all, and some of them carried their clubs, and every now and again they stood up in the cars and brandished their weapons' and shouted their war cries, led by Chief Kiwi, till they grew almost delirious with excitement. They simply couldn't be stopped. It was their day out. Friends and relatives who -had been separated for what to them was quite a long time in a strangfe laud were reunited, and in the absence of an orthodox Maori tangi the only way to give vent to their-pent-up feelings was to indulge in the good oldfashioned hakas in the streets; and they did it to their hearts' content. Moreover, those who had come on ahead were welcoming their belated friends to a great city, and no doubt they felt it incumbent 071 them to make that welcome as hearty as possible. It was about tlie heartiest thing New York had over seen—so hearty that it struck roinlmiatinn into the breasts of many good and peaceful citizens who had never soon and possibly heard of the Maori before.

WAR CRIES IX BROADWAY. Tralfic was suspended. The drivers' of the tramears in Broadway forgot t.) start their ears, so intent were they on watching these strange visitors, Motor ears stopped or slowed down, sO that those wlio were in them might witness the weird proceedings. Horses' pricked their ears up and fidgeted uneasily between tli ( . shafts. Small boys gathered ill thousands, aand followed the procession. Pedestrians stopped on the footpaths and looked on in amazement. The lady in the shop hurried from the counter to see what all the commotion was about, and the young man who had been serving her followed. Work in the office?*, in the shops, in the factories, ceased till the Maoris had gone by, and all the way along the great thorough"up town" and "down town" people hung out of the windows to see these men go by. Jt was a great triumphal procession", and without doubt the proprietors of the Hippodrome have never liad an attraction which was a bigger advertisement for them than this one. THE MAORIS SPELLBOUND.

Jt was the time of their lives for the Maoris. Thev saw the tallest building iu the world, the Great .Metropolitan I'.uitdipg, with its forty-two storiS tlmve ground and its nine stories underground, and marvelled to such an exlent that they considered it worth a .special liaka. 'Hi-v saw some of the bin-rest shups in tile world, and they saw the home of Andrew Carnegie and other of the world's biggest millionaires. At night liny saw the great city in ts drevs of electric light, and it amazel them, for surely there i* no city in the world wh'eh can show such a dazz.liig bla// 1 of light in one of its streets like that in Broadway, and in the viein ty of Ihe Time* square. And thev weui t" toner Island! There is only »ne (V-iu'v Wand in the world! Into Lu la Park, into Dreamland they went, and rode on scenic railway* and the Virginian lieel and tried to keep their feet on witching waves; sounded the depths of the Great Divide, shot down chutes', saw lion tamers at work, and watched the antics of performing bears and mon* Jkevs. They had 110 words to descrit* it. The millions of electric lights, making up a scene of dazzling glory, the thousands of people, the stir and bustle, the din and clamour. Can we wonder that it amazed them all? Is there anyone who has seen it who can adequately describe Conev Island? GREATEST NIGHT OF ALL.

But last night was, after all, the greatest night for the Maoris, for it was then they appeared for the first time before a'New York theatre audience—a great building crammed with people, every scat occupied and many thousands standing. Every day th?y had been busy rehearsing their parts, for their hakas and ; poi dances were worked into a story in which a large number of pakehats were engaged, and in the course of which three big spectatcles such as only the Hippodrome can stage were put on. And of all the spectacles presented at the Hippodrome for the first time last night those in which the Maoris were seen were the greatest—at all events the most applauded. "THROUGH THE CENTRE OF THE ' EARTH."

This was the theme it opened with. A Maori village scene—a remarkably realistic picture, in which five real Maori houses (including a large carved Maori meeting house like tlicTamate Kapua at Ohinemuri) were seen on the stag,- with a dozen more painted on the

■scene in the background. Then came a cave scene, followed by "magic waterfalls" (a superb bit of staging), a lake with a "sinking island"' (the Hippodrome has a stage tank 50 feet long. 25 feet wide and 15 feet deep), and finally "The Hidden City" underneath the lake —a city of silver. It was magnificent, and the Maori hakas and the poi dances by the girls were introduced most cleverly and with telling effect. The girls captivated the audience with the poetry of motion) as they whirled , their pois to the haunting music of tiu'ir songs, and the men with their hakas seemed to make the huge building shake. The audience became greatly excited, and applauded loudly. If New Zealand was but little known in Amercia before it is well known now. Thousands of people nave seen the Maoris, and hundreds have talked with them. Their photographs are in the big programmes, which arc eagerly bought at ten cents apiece, and shortly a little illustrated book, telling all about the Maoris and New Zealand, will also be on sale in theatre and on the bookstalls.

The Hippodrome season runs for niitf months. There are two .performances daily, afternoon anil evening, and when it is stated that an average of between 5000 and (>OOO -people attend eaeli performance it will be seen what a bij advertisement this means, for > T ew 7„valand. About 00.000 people every week, over two nnd a-half millions in the Jiitie months! What with the presence of .Sir Joseph and Lady Ward in New York, and the 1 visit of the Maoris at the same time, ,New Zealand has been very prominently before the public here for the past week , or so. Interviews with both Sir Joseph I and Lady Ward have been published in I several of the large newspapers, with I their photographs, and columns have been devoted to the Maoris.