HAWAIKI.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 June 1922, Page 8

HAWAIKI.

THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE MAORI. When the biographies of the truly great men of New Zealand come to be written, and the worthy deeds recorded, there will be one name engraved close to the summit of the scroll of fame that will be revered, especially by students of the Maori and other Polynesian races. That name will be S. Percy Smith, F.R.G.S., F.N.Z. Inst., whose death occurred some few weeks ago at his home “Matai-Moana,” New Plymouth. Although confined to his home, and bed, lor many months, the late Mr. Smith was actively engaged on the work he loved so well, that of placing on written record the vast amount of knowledge he had accumulated in connection with the history and traditions of the Maori people. How very thoroughly he executed this great work is shown in the many publications that bear his authorship. Among these may be mentioned “Hawaiki” (the original home of the Maori), “Maori history of the Taranaki Coast,” “Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century,” besides numerous papers and translations in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, published quarterly in New Plymouth. Of this journal the late Mr. Percy S. Smith was president and editor from its inception up to the time of his death, and it will be readily conceded by students of ethnology, anthropology, history and antiquities of the Polynesian races, that no greater master of these subjects could have been found in the whole world. One of the last undertakings of this master-mind was the re-editing and additions to, the fourth edition of “Hawaiki,” and advance copy of which has just reached us from the publishers, Messrs. Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd., Christchurch. In this publication the author, in a preface written last December, states that a great deal of further information has been included in this fourth edition, principally from the teachings of Te Matorohanga, one of the learned priests of the East Coast Maori College. All students of Maori history and traditions will welcome this last great publication from so renowned an author as the late Mr. Smith has proved himself to be. Tracing, as he does, the migrations of the Maori through the islands of the Pacific, right back to India, the vast amount of work involved will ever remain a tribute to his untiring and earnest endeavor, for within the pages nf Hawaiki it will be found that nothing has been conjectured, but that every statement has received the most careful investigation. We think that the fourth edition of Hawaiki will one day be a classic that will 'be read and taught in our schools, and the distinguished author will then be looked up to and his memory revered for the wonderful records he lias placed at the disposal of all who care to read.