MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 December 1940, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES

SCHOOL OR BARRACKS. (Recorded by J.H.S.. of Palmerston North, for the “Times-Age.”) The Manakau chiefs saw large piles of timber ready for the proposed building at Kohekohe. They sent a Karere (messenger) to Rangiriri to say “Our fate is upon us.” The assembly sat all night and warned Te Wheoro that they would carry the timber back to its source on Queen’s land. Many planks were thrown into the stream, when old women from Kohekohe rushed into the water waist deep and rescued each piece as it was thrown in. There was no anger. All seemed to enjoy the fun. Kumeta said they might call the proposed building a school but it was really a Pa (barracks) in disguise. They thought the carpenters and labourers were rryn-ly soldiers in mufti, with guns and powder in casks labelled sugar or flour. Their search party made one discovery which seemed to confirm every suspicion. From a dozen boxes marked “Groceries” they took out a gross of black bottles of O.P. rum. This I they knew to be the most deadly weapon and the definite source of danger to the safety of the race. A post was erected proclaiming that as stated in the deed of transfer “the boundary of the Crown land was the left bank of the river.” The water was, therefore, still the property of the Maori people. Such logic was difficult to dispel. The King party published a little newspaper in Maori named “Te Hokioi,” a mythical bird known only by its scream and the omen of war. Articles on the river steamer repeated words from the Treaty of Waitangi—“All Governors tell us that the Queen promised us full chieftainship over our lands, rivers, fisheries, etc., which we may wish to retain.” In reply the Governor issued “The Pihoihoi Mokemoke” (sparrow on the roof), of which more anon.