THE MAORI IN WESTLAND.
Sir -In reply to ‘"Cantnell" in your issue of December 31, the word "kawatere" will be found in the 1932 edition of Williams. Its definition is "Cyanorhamphus novae-zealandiae, parakeet." The study of Maori place-names is full of traps for the unwary, and the comments by R.S.D. suggest that Mr. Mitchell realises the hazards of committing himself to interpretations. Who would think that Temuka should be Te Umu Kaha, the fiercely heated oven, or that Ngahauranga should be Ngauranga, the landing places? J. R. Grigg’s story about Ko te Awatere has a familiar ring, and is probably an invention-not, of course, Mr. Grigg’s. Only testimony of old Maori residents is entitled to attention in these matters and even then not invariably. I have no local knowledge on this particular question whatever, but I should certainly back the contention of the author’s Maori informant, Tama Mokau, that Kawatere was the correct name of the Buller River.
W. T.
MORPETH
(New Plymouth).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 501, 28 January 1949, Page 5
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163THE MAORI IN WESTLAND. New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 501, 28 January 1949, Page 5
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