MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 November 1940, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

TREATY OF WAITANGI. (Recorded by J.H.S., o£ Palmerston North, for the “Times-Age.”) To any person with but a fair knowledge of the Maori language, allegory, and definitions, the vast differences of the meanings expressed and implied between the English version and the Maori translation of the Treaty arc quite clear. The functions and powers of a Rangatira (chief) and a Governor are entirely different. The chief leads a tribe; the Governor rules the nation, yet in the English version they are synonymous. There being no such Maori position or word for “Governor” we give it the Maori sound “Kawana.” Not even the translator who “explained” the Treaty to the innocent Maoris could understand a meaning for which there was no word in their language. How then could the Maori understand the significance of “Governorship” and “sovereignity,” much less “ownership” for which there are no Maori equivalents. The Maori right arm was the only guarantee to his occupation of tribal land over which, no right of disposal existed. As no individual right to land ever existed among the Maoris, how could they “sell” it to the Queen. If we had observed and faithfully kept the final promises of the Treaty, we w'ould have justly earned and received the gratitude and obedience of the Maori race. Yet what have we done to fit them “for the enjoyment of those full rights as British subjects?” Had we honestly observed this solemn promise nothing would have been heard of their Land League, King Movement, or the downfall of the Maori, despite the fact that every Maori Chief in the Waikato had refused to sign the Treaty.