MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 March 1939, Page 10

MAORI MEMORIES

MUTUAL SINCERITY NEEDED.

(Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”)

Yearly government expenditure in Waikato in the ‘sixties’ was about £6,000, including £1,260 for salaries and pensions to Maoris. Postal costs for mail carriers to Taranaki and Ahuriri were also heavy. All of these services were performed by Maoris. From all such services the Maori King _was paid his tithes. None of these King’s servants or magistrates except his soldiers and guards of honour were paid, so had no sense of responsibility. As with all Maoris they revelled in this freedom. Any grave danger from the King Movement was thus negligible. There was no hostility toward the Queen whom they regarded as a contemporary. During the Taranaki War, some few agitators sought to change the name Queen Victoria in the Church Service to “King Matutaera,” but were scorned by laughter. All that was wanting to secure complete trust and confidence between the two races was mutual sincerity and protection against a few wily exploiters especially on our side of the stone wall - . , , , In Taranaki Wiremu Kmgi declared, and not without justice on his part, that “Waitara is in my hands, I will not give it up.” If the final decision concerning the Waitara and other disputed blocks of land held by us were left in the hands of Wiremu Tamihana, the relationship between the two races would have been radically and permanently changed. , Tamihana’s simple proposal was Let all parties withdraw, and leave the final decision to the law.”