MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 April 1940, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

WHY SIR GEORGE GREY SUCCEEDED. (Recorded by J.H.S. for the “Times-Age.”)

Prior to the coming of Sir George Grey, each Governor of New Zealand was seriously handicapped by three conditions. None of them understood the Maori or his language; there was no British subsidy or colonial revenue, and no military forces available. In addition to these, the other three potential factors in the question of the Maori revolt, the missionaries, the Governor and the New Zealand Land Company were not agreed as to what should be done. Sir George studied and realised as no other man before him, the ideal simplicity of the Maori language, and mastered it in a remarkably short period, gaining thereby the confidence and sympathy of many leading chiefs. His military experience and knowledge of finance enabled him to obtain both soldiers and money with which to end the war. In quick succession Kawiti, Heke, Rangihaeata, and Rauparaha were dealt with by diplomacy or force of arms, and for such distinguished service the Imperial Government conferred upon him the honour of K.C.B.

Then with the same success he devoted his genius to problems of equal or greater importance in dealing with the genuine grievances of the Maori people who had been deprived of their principal symbol of spiritual life—the land. Sir George Grey modestly attributed each success to valuable experience gained in another country, under somewhat similar circumstances.