MAORI MEETING HOUSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1921, Page 6

MAORI MEETING HOUSE.

OPENED AT WAITARA. AN INTERESTING GATHERING. There was a very large gathering of Maoris from all parts of the North Island at Waitara yesterday to. celebrate the opening of the new Maori meeting house, Ko Tama Wahine, which is erected on the ancient meeting ground known as Owae, on an eminence overlooking the town and river. For some time preparations have been going on for a grand opening ceremony, wiith a return to the dying customs that have made the Maori race an interesting study. One of the Maori's first cares is to lay in a stock of provisions that will survive the onslaught of healthy appetites, and with this end in view fishing parties have been busy for weeks storing up their catches, for fish still maintains pride of place in the Maori’s dietary. Provision mercliants have supplied prodigious ofden> for the staple foods, as the store laid in was not to last one day but several before the new meeting house was properly and sufficiently christened. The banquet yesterday was held in European style, and the interior of the building was beautifully arranged and decorated. The fare was entirely pakeha, and arranged to do honor to many distinguished visitors, both from important Maori tribes and the pakeha friends. Amqpg the visitors were the Hon. Dr. Pomare (a member of the Executive representing the Maori race) and Mr. W. H. Skinner, of New Plymouth, who is a well-known student of the Maori race.

The meeting house itself is rather a departure from the generally accepted idea of’Maori taste, being built Of ferroconcrete in European architecture and fitted with every modem appliance and convenience. Electric lighting throughout the building is generated by a steam plant, which is also utilised for steam - rooking, thus making it possible to handle a large amount of cooking on special occasions. Water is laid on in the most approved style, and proper attention has been given to sanitation, the building being in every respect as modern as the latest ‘European. The opening ceremony yesterday commenced with a poi dunce of welcome in ancient Maori fashion, followed by a picturesque poi dance adapted to Pakeha music supplied by the Tirau fife and drum bend. Each item was ushered in by the stalwart brave Hone Kairau, who we-ilded a heavy stock whip and bustled about in the official capacity of master of ceremonies in thigh bools and a merry widow straw hat. Hone certainly appeared the most important member of the gathering, and the small brown picaninnies wilted before the menace of his whip when frequently their curiosity over-came their judgment in the serious phases of the ceremonies. The welcomes over, the appointed men of words from the tribes represented cook the centre of the ancient square in turn and spoke as only true Maoris can speuk in their native tongue. Shortly after one o’clock the feasting commenced, and it was late in the afternoon before everyone was satisfied, the crowd by this time having swelled to a considerable size, the pakehaa being represented in strong force. The scene as a whole must have reminded the older Maoris and the pioneer Europeans present of the early days, when that same square watj the meeting place of the tribes in many an important counsel of war or of peace. * The scores of small children playing about in the mud, the loud-voiced welcomes when a newcomer jodned the assemblage, the wahines squatting in front of their wharcs, and the inevitable mongrel kourj nosing about for stray scraps of eel or shark were all characteristic of the ancient Maori kaanga. To the pakeha observer at least the wildly eloquent speechifying of the important men of the tribes might have been an exhortation to fight, and the crowded kianga accounted for as a gathering for safety • from an intertribal attack. But the j more modern buildings, the European | dress and the intermingling of the pake- ’ 'ha tongue with the Maori told of rhe inroads of the white invasion, and I brought to their minds the fart that the ! glory of the ancient Maori is now past, and exists only in legend and history. Yet he appears always happy in his new environment, and takes kindly to the customs of his white friends Nevertheless, the lapse into the old ways of yesterday seemed to awaken the lingering spirit of savagery, and without a doubt they were happier for a brief space than they have been for many a day. This meeting house wall serve to further civilise, or at least modernise, the Waitara pas, and will be only another step towards Europeanising the Maori in one of his last strongholds. Whether it is a matter for regret, not even a Maori can say, for he would not forego the luxuries the white man has brought, even while the ancient spirit craves for freedom.