PARIHAKA COMEDY-TRAGEDY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 816, 18 March 1955, Page 13

PARIHAKA COMEDY-TRAGEDY

THE PARIHAKA STORY, by Dick poet Southern Cross Books, Auckland, 14 "HIS historian of the long series of blunders that centred on the Taranaki Maori town of Parihaka is not quite. just to other historians. The treatment given Parihaka in "the history books" (some of which he names) is "less than satisfactory," and he said to a Taranaki Maori that if it is mentioned at all, "usually it’s to tell a string of lies." General histories of New Zealand are few, and heavy condensation of events, or omission, is unavoidable, In a general history that was widely read, I wrote nearly three pages about Parihaka, and told a story not different in essentials from Mr. Scott’s, except that on the subsequent allocation of land he writes with fuller and later knowledge. I am no contemporary historian, or stu ent of history, would question the main lines of his indictment. Mr. Scott is a, passionate advocate for the Maori, than, a judicial. historian. Burning with a sense of injustice, he draws heevily in black, without shading. I suggest there is rather more than nothing to be said for the Taranaki settlers. His history, product of much research, would be even more impressive had he written it with less bitterness and violence. Why drag. in ‘"‘Massey’s. Cossacks" and the Petrov case? However, the European record at Parihaka is a very sorry one, and Mr. Scott has done well to piece it together in so much detail. Frém the Waitara blunder sprang the Taranaki war, wide confiscations of land, and broken promises about Maori reserves. The Parihaka Maoris simply wanted their land, and they were led by that very remarkable man Te Whiti -prophet, mystic, pacifist, unbending on principle, but shrewd in stratagem, and witty and ironical in negotiation. On the European side there was land hunger and ‘talk of war and even of extermination. Unable to overcome Te Whiti’s non-military resistance, the Government in November, 1881, sent*an army to the large, prosperous and happy town of Parihaka, where it was met by children chanting songs and then by the rest of the populace, unarmed, gathered quietly on the marae. Never was a punitive force made to look more ridiculous, but the comedy faded when the troops pulled down houses and damaged or looted the contents, and destroyed crops. Added to this, in its administration of the law and

special penal legislation, the Government shockingly violated the ‘Principles of ' justice. I should say Mr. Scott’s most original contribution is his ‘denial, backed by evidence, of other historians’ statements that adequate reserves were provided for the Parihaka people. He contends that, despite good intentions, justice has never been done. And he shows — a matter germane to our general attitude to the Maori-how deeply and lastingly these folk were wounded. There were Parihaka Maoris who would not sign a document, even to their benefit, or accept social security from the Government. The Maori has a very long memory.

A.

M.