MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 September 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

“BE YOURSELF.” (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) How the real Maori of the early days would have appreciated this appeal of Elbert Hubbard’s to “Be natural,” had it only been coined in their days. The very name Maori means literally “natural.” Joseph Rhodes, ,of Clive Grange, near Cape Kidnappers, and his wife, early settlers of Hawke’s Bay, understood this attribute of the Maoris who were both his workers on pay and his landlords at a rental of sixpence an acre. The Harvest Festival and other functions were held in the great woolshed decorated and transformed into a fairy palace by nikau palms, mamaku fern, kowhai blossoms and many other native beauties Shearers, bullock drivers, stock drovers, cow cockles, farmers for miles around, all with their wives and families bo'th pakeha and Maori, were the honoured guests. The host and his domesticated wife and daughters entered heartily into the enjoyment. Here a.ll were on the same social plane. Even the Maoris employed on the farm and their women as domestic helps were “at home.” A close friend and adviser of Sir Donald McLean, then engaged in the increasingly difficult problems of the Maori and the pakeha relationships, was Joe Rhodes, whose quiet manner in debate, though simple and differential, served as a key to the solution of many Maori questions. Joe Rhodes was an accomplished Maori linguist, and that was the first essential for mutual agreement.