Letters to editor

Tu Tangata, Issue 15, 1 December 1983, Page 20

Letters to editor

Teenaa koe e hoa,

I read with interest the two articles on the conservation projects undertaken by me on the Niu Mokai and the Meeting House Aotea at Makirikiri.

I would like to make a few comments on the restoration process as described in the article on the Meeting House Aotea which I think are very important.

Although that was the process carried out at Makirikiri, it must be understood that was for the carvings at the Meeting House Aotea, and cannot be taken as a recipe for all Maori carvings and Meeting Houses.

This process was devised for this particular house and it would be very dangerous to treat all Meeting Houses the same, what is good for one situation or condition can be detrimental to another. Each case has to be treated in its own right and there is no standard treatment in scientific conservation. Only a trained and experienced conservator can make these assessments and no Joe Bloggs from down the road can do this. I have seen too much unwise advice given to Maori people by good willing persons who are no experts and consequently wasted good money and time of the owners of Maori taonga.

Thus it would be very unwise for Maori Marae Committees to start conservation programmes without having obtained expert advice and guidance.

One place who can help in this respect is the Maori Buildings and Advisory Committee of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Private Bag, Wellington. They will get in touch with experts who will give advice etc.

Another point I would like to make is that when programmes of restoration are undertaken, detailed records are kept on chemicals, people, time etc so that future workers will know what has been carried out and by whom. To capsulate that as described in the article is a good idea but keep also a copy in the Marae records.

Lastly, the man described in the photo on page 25 of the July/August issue is not me but my good friend Barry Bloomfield of Dannevirke who supervised the programme when I was back in Auckland. Heoi anoo aku koorero, Kia ora koutou katoa

Karel Peters Conservator Anthropology Department

Ko Hikurangi te maunga, ko Waiapu te awa, ko Ngati Porou te iwi, ko Apirana te tangata, nana i whakairo te motu. Ngati Porou, tena rawa atu koutou katoa.

They thundered in on Holdens, 4WD’s, Toyotas. From bow-tied 3-piece suits to tramping boots and bush shirts. I saw the blue-blooded pride of a people assemble, say hello, well done, good to see ya. With vigour and style Ngati Porou whanui demonstrated the joy of being together.

A tribal “at home” such as this will never again be duplicated. The oh so recent passing of Maraea Te Kawa has ensured that. But the old and the young, the interested and the passionate succeeded in weaving yet another aho into their historical kakahu and in a world of copies Ngati Porou can still remain original.

There were the puzzling and confusing moments. The old people, confronted by such brain bruising concepts as the “Austronesian family of languages” were hard pushed to reconcile Hawaiiki with Formosa, Vietnam and Madagascar. “I thought when my kaumatua died he’d return to Hawaiiki. Now I hear it could be Madagascar. Where is he?”

Without knowing it, the kuia sitting next to me followed Moni Taumaunu so closely I could hear the same story being told at the same time by two voices. If that isn’t duophonic sound then what is?

And further up the Waiapu valley where once the chorus of tui and bellbird accompanied the voices of the past, the unfenced cows now chew the grass alongside the vines at Rangitukia.

An onlooker could be forgiven the mistake of assuming that all’s quiet on the eastern front. But when opposing political factions are drawn together beneath the mantle of a Christian ethic then in the words of Hone Tuwhare:

“Watch out.

Ruaumoko will not be Able to contain himself”

Once was the time when the village sent its own “out to get education”. Without a doubt we got it. And I saw those youngsters, now grown older, return to the cultural hearth some with ruffling feathers, others carrying the indelible stamp of an international community. With studied calm, supreme confidence and efficiency they used the technology of today to tell the stories of yesterday. The vidiomatic tokotoko had arrived.

I am so glad it happened, and so glad that I was there.

Ngati Porou, those of you whose energy and vision brought us all together, I write only to say thank you.

Heoi ano, na.

Tungia Baker

Dear Sir,

A friend of mine who comes from a close-knit Maori community, tells me that among his people, the ability (E.S.P.) (able to forsee the future), is quite common and taken very seriously.

He tells me that faith-healing is also widely used, but, that Maori people do not like speaking about these abilities, in case, they are laughed at, and for fear of ridicule.

I am extremely interested in this information, and can assure your readers, that, far from being ridiculed, any examples or information on Maori people having and using these abilities, would be taken very seriously and would be of great interest to scholars and those interested in psychology.

Would any readers who have such knowledge be kind enough to write to ‘Tu Tangata’ and tell us what they know?

Their information would be treated very seriously and could be of great importance.

It could be, that people who are close to nature and spiritual things, have these abilities, naturally, perhaps we all might have them, but, they have been taken from us, by the same ridicule and lack of understanding.

I would be grateful, if your magazine would kindly publish my letter.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs M. Morgan

Dear Sir,

This is my reply to Oily Olson’s gripe about our Maoritanga. I am astonished, dismayed and downright disgusted that a man from Tuhoe should downgrade his precious heritage. I would say without fear of contradiction that he would be the only single Tuhoe who would come out with such trash. In other words he is a lost Tuhoe lost in the mist of the Pakeha world, a brown Pakeha. What is a New Zealander? The original name of New Zealand named by Kupe some 800 years before the advent of Captain Cook was Aotearoa, therefore he should be calling himself a Maori. The North Island was Te Ika-a-Maui and the South Island Waipounamu (Muruhiki) so in fact Oily doesn’t know his early Maori history. Of course ignorance is bliss.

Now the Maori All Blacks He is apparently short on rugby history although our capable Race Conciliation Officer, Mr Hiwi Tauroa did sort it out for him and those other ignorant ones, I will spell it out again for him in the fervent hope that this time it will sink in. The first Rugby team to tour the British Isles was a Maori team under the captaincy of Joe Warbrick. They toured in 1888 seventeen years before the 1905 tour by the All Blacks. Maori tours that followed the one in 1926 and the one recently to Wales and therefore purely and simply traditional not racist as Oily insists. Those that utter racism are themselves encouraging racism.

As for the crime rate; Unemployment which is very much more than our Pakeha counterparts is the main contributing cause. This must be put directly on the Government’s shoulders. Now on the other hand if you care to

look at it in perspective you see positive manifestations such as land development in forestry, horticulture and business; resurgence in Maoritanga; Kohanga Reo; Matua Whangai; Whakairo, Tukutuku and hosts of other cultural activities aimed at specifically fostering a Maori identity which Oily would have us deny. This denial would perpetuate the brown Pakeha image which is the root cause of many of our ailments.

In conclusion Oily, we admire you considerably as a very able, magnetic T.V. personality so look after that most important task, Tuhoe, Ngati Whare, and Ngati Manawa from whom you spring are proud of you; more especially when you answered a question put to you by one of your children “What is your main ambition”? Your reply was this “To develop and renovate your Waikotikoti Marae complex”. Now then Oily surely that means kia mau ki nga taonga o tatau tipuna hei tikitiki mo to mahunga. Kia ora mai ano na to Whanaunga,

Henry Tahawai Bird Chairman Southern Tu hoe Executive Dear Ed, First let me introduce myself, I am Mrs Sarah Boxall originally from Gisborne, my maiden name being Richmond daughter of Mrs Dorothy and Whare Richmond of Gisborne my home town where I was born and raised in Stanly Road Awapuni. My youngest sis-

ter is probably known to you, The Lightwood Family entertainment group who are now residing in Melbourne. Her name Nancy Lightwood nee Richmond.

I have been in Australia for the last fifteen years and during that time I have become involved working among the Aboriginal people in Western Australia. The last few years my involvement has become more intense and I accepted a challenging position to manage an Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Centre here in Mullewa. Its population is 5/600 Aboriginal and 4/500 white population. I feel this is the grass roots of the Aboriginal problem, and if we are to preserve this nomadic race of people this is where the reeducation must start in Centres such as these throughout Australia.

I don’t want to go into much more detail than this at the moment, as my main objective was to write and ask for the assistance of my own Maori people. Now how you can help me is to put me in touch with people who are doing the same sort of work I’m doing amongst our own people who would be interested in coming together to pool our resources at a conference.

Yours sincerely, Mrs Sarah Boxall

Manageress

Dear Sir, The Auckland Entrepreneurs Association was formed in late 1982 by local members of the Vth Tu Tangata Business Wananga held at Massey University and conducted by Dr George Kanahele from the Hawaiian Entrepreneurial Training and Development Institute. A Constitution for the Association has been drawn up and we are at present in the throes of petitioning for registration under the Industrial

Societies Act 1908. The Association has been formed to assist people already engaged in or intending to set up in a small business. It is a non-profit organisation geared to assist primarily the Maori people but membership is not restricted to any racial group in keeping with modern trends to share expertise with all. The objects of our Association encompass the acquisition of technical and business expertise, deployment of innovative talent, development of skills in promotion and marketing, the establishment of a comprehensive store of information relative to the business

interests of members etc. We are anxious to work closely with established business agencies such as the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, Small Business Development Division of DFC etc, with whom we have already established contact. In order that we may reach more Maori people with items of news relating to business, the development and day to day running of same, it has been suggested that we approach your maga-

zine with a view to becoming a regular contributor. You will appreciate I am sure that the Tu Tangata Business Wananga members have been drawn from throughout New Zealand and that during the time the courses have been conducted a large number of people have passed through successfully, However, although members of our Association do keep in touch with classmates of their particular Wananga group outside of Auckland, there does

not seem to be any other attempt to keep open the lines of communication. Our Association feel that your magazine, having a national circulation, would be an ideal carrier of news to these people as well as creating interest in others especially in these difficult economic times where small businesses are having problems. We feel that tremendous encouragement is needed and that people must know just where to go to gain information on their particular project or business idea. All Wananga people have received the training to provide these things and if by publishing in your magazine news material

about progress made by ex-Wananga students, others are encouraged to set up in business, the the Tu Tangata Business Wananga will continue to contribute to the community. We would appreciate you approval of our suggestions and of course any advice or ideas you may have which would be of assistance to us. Yours faithfully, Christine L. O’Brien Secretary