KORERORERO TORONGA.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 May 1920, Page 10

KORERORERO TORONGA.

(Tales that are told of Maori and Pakeha for the Taranaki Daily News by Ingoa Ifore, rights reserved). TE RAU-PARAHA. Unlike our more- primitive custom of naming the child at its nativity, appropriately or otherwise as the fates may subsequently decree, the Maori chief may await his permanent designation until he earns it. Such was probably the case in Rau-paraha's final baptismal rite, for "he of the broad sword" was surely not conferred upon him at random. If any man in New Zealand deserved the name by right of conquest, fame, or infamy, 'tis lie. His genius for organised warfare was shown by the patient preparation of two years by which he provided both growing and garnered stores for the arduous foot journey of his people down the West Coast. He persuaded both friends and quasi enemies to plant their crops on the proposed line of march. This was done in response to the prediction of famine made by the old schemer's tohunga, and the surplus became available to him by gift or conquest as occasion might demand 1 during their progress. His personality was such that it is said no man withstood it and every woman yielded homage to it. His foresight told him that if lie obtained possession of Ka-piti Island, then the home of whalers and whaling vessels, he could earn or steal from them a supply of muskets and tu-para or double barrel guns, with which, like Napoleon, he would hope to conquer the world—of the Maori. Planning wisely, striking quickly, and when these failed, using treacncry to those who offered him hospitality, he, like the Kaiser, nearly succeeded. To those who know Maori character, this treachery and his personal , influence with a people whoso instinct differed so widely, is still an unsolved inconsistency. Rau-paraha's evil influence, begotten mainly by his unvarying success, did much to dispel that disingemw ous chivalry which distinguished the old Maori people from most other fighting races, and which was made so clear to Lord Pembroke, who. in his introduction to "Old New Zealand," says, "A friend asked a Maori chief who fought against us in Waikato, why, when he commanded- the main approach, he did not take our ammunition and stores?" "You fool," said the Maori, much astonished, "if we stole your powder and food, how could you fight us?" We must not forget, however, that the Maori loved to fight, just as the American President loves to make peace (oil paper). If force of character, and, to our civilised mind., his evil instincts, are to be told of him, Rau-paraha's history could be put in a walnut; but it has already required several volumes by various writers to tell of his conquests, which, after all, are not the things that matter. One phase of fighting tactics taught by Rauparaha was the sudden signal for action by a simple and unsuspected movement, usually a clap of the hands. This was used on a French brig in the Wellington harbor when every Maori visitor jumped to the nearest sailor, and every man was pinioned without a struggle; again at the Chat,hams, when Te Kooti caught tho crew of the Rifleman in like manner, and made his escape. This signat and his infamous treachery were again in evidence near the Hutt, when Te Rau-paraha, having secretly ascertained the superior strength of his enemy, proposed peace. A conference was arranged, and a sumptuous feast cooked on the spot, around which sat Rau-para-ha's 700 men with 700 of the enemy in a huge circle, completely intermingled, one of each alternately. Rau-paraha and his nine Rangatira Toa with the enemy chief and his nine leaders in the centre. After prayer and incantation for peace, Rau-paraha, as though about to speak, stood for n moment, took three paces forward, raised his hands above his head, and, with a resounding clap, brought the palms together. Then followed with Maori precision the sharp uplifting of 700 stone meres, and 700 skulls were fractured as with a single blow. Thereupon these "braves" captured the 300 who had remained in the pa, and made of them mokai, or beasts of burden for the victorious army. Such tactics, it is true, gained many a victory over the simple tribes, but they also assigned to the author of them an undying hatred, and a high place in Te Reinga, that eminence from which the spirits of the unworthy took their final leap. Rau-paraha was once captured by strategy, a sack pulled over his head by some sailors, and taken from Plimmerton to Wellington. After throe months his specious tongue persuaded Sir George Grey to release him. and, laden with presents, he returned to his people, boasting that he had, single-handed, overcome the guards, captured the booty, and escaped from prison! The pakeha, among whom ho was known as "Bloody Robuller," feared and hated him as much as the Maori did. His son, Tami-ha-na te Rau-paraha, who, however, was suspected to be of different paternal descent, was an honored and much esteemed missioner among the whites and the Maoris. Family traits do not always persist, and breeding for moral quality in men, as with the attempt, to produce a uniform type in animals, is far from being a fixed science- part in the Wairau and other. atrooVties will long be remembered against him, although he died professing to be a Christian, after having built and endowed the well known Maori church at Otaki, though one never hears his name associated with it. One must be e.vcused for doubting the sincerity of his belated atonement, for age and his passions had written the message of fate on his brows, and forth from the shadows came Death, with the pitiless syllable "Now."