POLYNESIAN SOCIETY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 215, 30 January 1913, Page 8

POLYNESIAN SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING. The annual meeting of the Polynesian Society was held at the Library, Technical College, on. Tuesday evening. Mr. S. Percy Smith was re-elected president, Messrs. J. B. Roy and W. L. Xowman also re-elected members of the council, and Mr. W. D. Webster hon. auditor. Mr. W. Churchill, 8.A., New York, yas elected an honorary member, and the Bishop of Melanesia a corresponding member. The names of four j gentlemen were mention who had expressed their intention of leaving their collection of Polynesian books to the society. The accounts of the treasurer (Mr. W. L. Newman), showed receipts £219 9s Bd, expenditure £2Ol 10s Bd, leaving a balance on hand of £l7 IDs. The capital account now stands at £l6O 7s 3d, and the "memoir" account at £l5B. The membership now stands at 202. f ANNUAL REPORT. Tn presenting the twentieth annual report, the Council stated, inter alia: "The work on the lines for.which the society was established in 1892 has gone on ur»interruptedly, and much has been placed ! on permanent record jn the pages of our Journal that will be of groat use to students of the Polynesian race in the future. The Journal has been issued with regularity, except in the case of that for December, which was delayed owing to the desire to complete the printing and issue of Volume 3 of our "Memoirs." This volume of Memoirs, the full tile of which is "The Lore of the Wharewananga," contains over 200 pages of original matter which has not heretofore seen the light, the transcription and translation of which has occupied Die editor for two years. It throws quite a new light on Maori beliefs, which are on a higher plane than those of any other branch of the Polynesians that have been published. The society is very fortunate to have had access to the original documents in which this matter is contained, and also, in the response made by some, of our members and others in providing a special fund for its publication. The second part of tJr.se documents—which-' treats more op.-dally of the .history of the tribes from whom the information was derived —will appear from time to time in the pages of our Journal, for the special fund will lie about exhausted in the publication of Volume 3. But sufficient copies will be struck off of part 2 to make a separate volume, and form volume 4 of our Memoirs. Members will find this matter of great interest, dealing a* it does with the migrations of the East Coast tribes from the original fatherland to the Hawaiian feroup, thence to Tahiti, and finally to New Zealand. It will also contain a detailed account of the original discovery of New Zealand in about, the tenth century; the settlement ot the tangata-whenua people who were apparently a cross between the Polynesians and Melanesians; and the first occupation of New Zealand by the Eastern Polynesians in the twelfth century. The whole of this matter, containing about 120.000 words, is now ready for the Printer. Dr. W. Wyatt • ills MsS. of Rarotongan traditions have bee„ continued during the year under review, but we have now'reached a point- where we have to trust to the good offices of a.gentleman residing in harotonga for further translations. ,iml us he is a verv busy man, the further conf.nnation of these papers may be delayed somewhat."