MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 May 1939, Page 5

MAORI MEMORIES

A SOUND PROPOSAL. (Recorded by J.H.S. for "Times-Age.' > In that fateful year 1863 the then relatively powerful Maori race, far more numerous than their original Manuhiri Pakeha (white guests), began to real ise that these settlers were seeking s'l' ■oyernment. Why then should they n-" ’iso attain the same standing in their! wn home land? They were not a' nmity witii their true guests; buj -ere determined to get rid of lane bbers and the Queen’s military force ■ :o, they genuinely believed came to. n the newly constituted Maori ' % Maori chiefs decided that in the llty to rule themselves they were qual and perhaps superior to the ■ settlers who realised that fact y seeking the assistance of those miliary forces who were not concerned in ho real issues at stake, only in killing md then retiring over sea. The real mischief or danger did not come from one or two thousand Maori warriors who were tp meet General ameron's Britisn soldiers; but from :mall bands of raiders who roamed hreughout the groat Hunua forests, and appeared mysteriously at unexpected times and places. Tamihana and other chiefs who earnestly desired peace had been busy for a year forming plans foil two chiefs from each tribe to join tfie King's Council.-pad not war come to upset the scheme, it would have succeeded- It, was proposed that men of sound common sense like Tamihana, Rewi, Pfltara, Renata, and six others, each with a following of over a thousand active men shoqld band together under the sovereignty of the Maori King. As evidence of their good intent they proposed to seek the guidance of an English Resident Magistrate who would instruct, control, and pay a civil police force from both Pakeha and Maori resources.