MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 December 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

HARORI (FUNGUS). (Recorded by J.H.S, for “Times-Age.”) Harori was applied by the Maoris to both the field mushroom and the fungus which grew so freely on the logs and stumps of fallen trees throughout the west coast from Wellington to Kawhia. Mushrooms have increased' tenfold since grass lands and top dressing have favoured their growth. Tree fungus, however, has almost disappeared since bush felling has ceased to operate. The white settlers highly valued the mushroom, but did not venture to experiment with lhe fungus, though they saw the Maori enjoying it every day. About 1869 Chew Chong, the Chinese storekeeper and first butter factory owner, found an unlimited market in China for dried fungus, and created a great source of industry and revenue for the Maoris and the poor pioneer bush farmers' wives and children. Some families earned the then princely wage of £1 a week whilst the astute and secretive Chong’s net return for the sole agency was more than that per day. Most of it was exported in white pine casks made on the premises and labelled "salt butter,” as even his Chinese fellow suppliers did not know the source of his wealth. Chong paid a halfpenny per lb, and sold at 4d to Bd. Taranaki was its first discovery, but it soon spread to almost every part of New Zealand. Do we have to await the initiative of another Chew Chong to discover and recover an unlimited market for tinned mushrooms at Is per lb., nearer home than China?