TE WHITI AND POMARE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 774, 21 May 1954, Page 18

TE WHITI AND POMARE

Sir,-It would be interesting to know upon what authority your reviewer David Hall bases his statements (Listener, April 15) that, "For all his spiritual potency Te Whiti remained the leader of a resistance movement which could not hope to succeed. Pomare led an acceptance movement . . . which meant new life in a real world." Man of Two Worlds, by J. F. Cody, is, like most biographies by New Zealanders, a picture that is all light and no shade, Sir Maui Pomare and Sir Peter Buck both sprang from the MRaukura Movement of Te Whiti. Pomare was elected to Parliament bound by a promise to support Buck’s proposals concerning the 18,000 acre block outside the West Coast Settlement Act. He crossed the floor of the House and ‘supported the Reform party in a different proposal that proved disastrous to his people; and was rewarded with Cabinet rank. The few Maoris who remained true to Sir Peter’s proposal were the only ones who prospered. Later Sir Maui made some atonement for his former error by obtaining the Royal Commission of investigation, and compensation for the confiscated lands, but this should have been done anyway. In this he was supported by Sir Peter but the latter never forgave him for his former breach of promise; and, very recently, repercussions resounded throughout the land.

As medical officers both Sir Maui and Sir Peter did great work for their people but, because they never properly understood Te Whiti’s teaching, they failed to suppress "tohungaism." In the last two decades the application of Te Whiti’s true principles has brought about a co- operation between even old fashioned Maori people and the doctors and hospitals that the other two failed ‘to attain. This is not to belittle their achievement but to say that they would have done better had they better understood Te Whiti. The latter had two policies, one to deal with immediate problems, the other his long-term principles which are now being more and more appreciated by Europeans as well as Maoris. One example of their potency is seen in the activities of Te Kotahitanga Tautoru, based on Taranaki, which is very much alive in a real world. Its inter-racial and inter-church, cultural, educational, recreational, and economic welfare work successfully unites European and Maori in building common citizenship. Among other things it was the Kotahitanga which came to the help of the small band of Maori people who wished to honour the promise to Sir Peter Buck that he would be buried in Okohi Pa, and convened the Dominion-wide organisation now building the National Memorial there as a repository for his ashes.

C.R.O.N.

Z.

(New Plymouth).