MAORI MEMORIES
WHY SIR G. GREY WAS KNIGHTED (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) Our pew Governor’s outstanding success in making peace with the Maori people was a source of gratification to the distressed pioneers who numbered as only one to every ten Maoris. The principal cause of that success was his phenomenal skill in having acquired an intimate knowledge of their language. Their confidence in him was due mainly to this fact, and that, unlike all others in high places, he took personal part and risk in fair fights against them. In their eyes he was a hero. The British authorities marked their approval by making. him a K.C.8., an honour he well deserved. Sir George then set himself the difficult task of converting the two races to a peaceful and friendly attitude under one rule and authority. The most difficult task was the control of lands over which the Maoris considered they held an inalienable right. Maori hospitals were provided, and their people were encouraged to follow our rules of treatment. The great difficulty in this was and still is, that sickness was considered to be a disgrace, never to be spoken of or disclosed. In Maori social circles there were therefore no “organ recitals” as a topic. The missionaries had the Utopian ideal of christianising the Maoris and forming them into an independent nation. This of course was impossible. Sir George Grey’s experience in administering another colony was most valuable. He had greater power, more money and soldiers than his predecessors. His principal helpers were Chief Justice Marten, Attorney-General Swainson, and Bishop Selwyn.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19380920.2.83
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1938, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
265MAORI MEMORIES Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1938, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Wairarapa Times-Age. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.