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Ka nui haere te whakaakoranga o te reo Maori i roto i nga kura. Kia nui rawa ake te haere, ka tika.
E rua nga iwi o Niu Tireni nei. Kai te ako tanu tatau ki te matika, he iwi Rotahi. Katahi ano ka memeha te whakaaro, me whakapakeha te iwi Maori i a ia ano. Ko te whakapakehatanga o te iwi Maori te whakaaro nui o nga rangatira Rura mo tetahi wa roa. Ko te reo Maori te tena, to tena tangata Maoritanga.
Koia i whakahauhaua ai nga tamariki Maori kia kaua e korero Maori.
(Ka haero ano i te peeti 6.)
Though I am neither 'pro' nor 'anti' tour I find myself decidely anti-Hart. In a recent official publication Don't play with poison', of that movement they were very much anti-Nazi; yet the publication itself was so full of emotional crap it would have done the Nazi propaganda minister proud.
The contents reminded me somewhat, among other things, of the arguments typical of a fifteen-year old teeny-bopper. Instead of the time worn phrase "Mary-Jane is allowed why can't I" it was replaced by "We didn't put politics into sport in the first place - the South Africans did so why can't we". I gave up such logic six years ago.
South Africa, Hart exclaim with horror "try and shove it (their policies) down our throats" yet are disturbed by us stuffing our policies down theirs if we "invade grounds during games". Hart might like to know that my shit doesn't stink either.
My sympathies however don't belong entirely to Hart. Think how dejected the N.Z.R.U. must be after being told what the "South Africans really want to do is to get us alongside their policy of Apartheid" when over these last fifty-one years we have been faithfully interested only in rugby. Perhaps it was the ideals of apartheid that the Springbok forwards were trying to implant in Tiny White's head back in
I wonder if Hart can mature six years in six months.
The other day in the caf someone handed me a piece of rubbish called "The Jesus Peoples Press" Among the fire and brimstone and "I saw the light" testimonials I was pleasantly surprised to find an article which appeared to contain reasoning. In case any readers were taken in by it, or led to believe that the ostrich-like views expressed in the paper are supported by a shred of reason, I would like to point out that the argument is completely fallacious. The article, entitled "Why morality?" purports to prove that there are absolute God-Given moral standards.
That moral standards are whatever standards are dictated by a given person's conscience.
The author then quite rightly states that these views are refuted by the following objections.
that view 2. implies that if Hitler, for instance, acted on his concience, then he was moral.
However he then goes on to state that the only alternative to 1. and 2. is:
That moral standards are whatever standards are adopted as moral standards by a given group. This view gets over objection (i) since a dissenter in a society will in general belong to some smaller group whose standards conflict with those of the rest of society, and thus his dissention may still be moral.
Now the author (who understandably does not sign his name) raises another objection which applies to both views (4) and (1):
Given view 4., such a thing as Anti-Semitism could be considered moral in certain situations. Since Anti-semitism is obviously immoral in all situations, view 4. is mistaken.
This objection hinges on an ambiguity in the word "moral" In the first sentence it is used in the sense of "moral relative to some group" and in the second sentence it is used in the sense of "What I or what most people nowadays consider to be moral." If the use of "moral" is made consistent in either of these senses the objection does not go through.
The last step of the argument fails for reasons which are almost too obvious to state.
There is no reason to suppose that absolute moral standards would have to originate from anything, any more than physical laws, and (b) if it is a universal truth that everything does originate from something else then the question "Where does this Moral Creator originate? remains to be answered. And is it moral to try and win converts to a position which must ultimately be a matter of faith by pretending it is based on reason by using spurious arguments like this one?
Professor Philpott's letter of the 5th September, in reply to Mr Peter Wilson's letter certainly needs closer examination generally and further clarification by the Professor.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry into Social Security sat in N.Z. for 2½ years hearing submissions. If, as Professor Philpott asserts in his letter "my own preference is in this region for the highest possible level of social expenditure", why then over the period of 2¾ years did he not make a single submission to this Royal Commission on the principles he allegedly says he is convinced of and supports?
The Hon. Mr Justice McCarthy described at the opening of the Commission in
The Report of this Inquiry states on page 10, item 36:
"We were however, disappointed that a wider interest was not shown by the Universities in problems which we would have expected to have been of major concern to social scientists in the academic community"
Royal Commission reports are generally couched in careful conservative English but this conclusion is startlingly clear.
Will the learned Professor please therefore give some cogent reasons why, as a leading N.Z. professional living in N.Z. for this 2¾ year period and now occupying a major Chair at Victoria University, he failed to make a single submission in view of the professed views he holds? Also, has he yet studied carefully in detail in the time an academic has to do these things and, in fact, is paid so to do, compared to the lay person. Is this Report, and the submission to the Royal Commission by Dr. W.B. Sutch, called the Responsible Society in N.Z. and widely commented by the Commission for further study and wider reading required reading for his students?
It is unfortunate, but thoughtful, sincere people can only remain very sceptical indeed of the Professors so called social views or values, more particularly so from the position he occupies in N.Z.
It can only be assumed therefore:
The Professor is, to be blunt, merely mouthing words on the issues.Not at all genuinely interested in the subject.He approves of Poor Law 19th Century Supplementary Means Tests.
Did you read in newsheet 4-10 inst. the "Contraceptive vending Machines are now in the Union Building, lost anything lately, come along to the House Managers office between 12 and 1, Monday-Friday - Weight watchers, we can help you with Student Travel Bureau to Fiji work camp or Papua- New Guinea village scheme. If all else fails VUWSA Insurance Scheme, endorsed by your association for all students and staff seeking further life assurance."Notices:
For Sale:
Jansen 75 watt amplifier and quad-box. Very good condition. $375 or so. Ring Dave. 552476.
"'For New Zealand rugby is a religion, in South Africa it is anti-Christ," Dr Barakat Ahmad, Rapporteur of the United Nations Special Committee on Apartheid, told over one hundred people at a H.A.R.T. fund-raising dinner Saturday night.
For Ahmad has been visiting New Zealand Hart to explain the United Nations attitude to apartheid in South Africa. He was in Wellington on Friday and Saturday and addressed a public meeting in the Concert Chamber on Friday night. Probably a lot of people at the public meeting were disappointed with Dr Ahmad's address. He stuck very carefully to his brief as a representative of the Special Committee on Apartheid and refused to answer many questions which fell outside his area. The United Nations battle against apartheid was often apartheid therefore fell on the people of member states. "In a true democracy", Dr Ahmad said, "it is the
The important thing about Dr Ahmad's visit was not that he provided us with any apartheid, but that he was here at the invitation of an unrespectable non-governmental organisation. The New Zealand Government was not happy about his visit, and showed it by refusing to pay Dr Ahmad the respect usually accorded important foreign diplomats. Jack Marshall and his cabinet colleagues didn't meet Dr Ahmad, and he is reported to have had angry discussions with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Some people may say that Dr Ahmad's visit was no business of the New Zealand Government, and that it was just another example of United Nations irresponsibility and extremism.
No one who met Dr Ahmad during his visit would have called him an extremist. His address at the Wellington public meeting was very low-key and moderate, and personally Dr Ahmad was a trained diplomat all the way through. When he spoke in the Concert Chamber Dr Ahmad said the New Zealand Government had a good record on voting in favour of anti-apartheid resolutions at the U.N. That was surprising news to many present. However, interestingly enough one of the resolutions New Zealand voted for last year. Resolution 2275 of the 26th General Assembly, authorised the Special Committee on Apartheid, inter alia, to consult with non-governmental organisations opposed to apartheid Dr Ahmad pointed out that he was talking in New Zealand with Hart by the authority of this resolution, supported by the New Zealand Government. So there was no real excuse for the Government's rudeness to Dr Ahmad. Marshall will have only himself to blame if people infer from his attitude to Dr Ahmad that the New Zealand Government is not serious about its participation in the United Nations.
The result of Dr Ahmad's visit will be a strengthening of the contacts between the Special Committee on Apartheid and anti-apartheid groups in New Zealand. Sitting in the midst of a vast bureaucracy in New York there is not much practical help the Special Committee on Apartheid can give to Hart and other groups in New Zealand if the Springbok Tour comes here next year. It is all very well for the New Zealand Government to talk about the ineffectiveness of the United Nations in the safety of its own country, but if the Government continues to ignore the international campaign to isolate the white minority regime in South Africa, it may find itself painfully isolated in the United Nations forums in New York.
Dr Ahmad's visit to New Zealand shows anti-apartheid groups here the importance of their work fighting apartheid. We are part on an international campaign to isolate Vorster's latter-day Nazis, and our struggle is a very important part of that campaign. It is a part of New Zealand anti-apartheid movements job to make the New Zealand Government and public more aware of the international dimensions of our struggle.
There will be many people around this university who will be feeling left out after looking at the front cover of this issue. The intention is to help you feel just that.
If you are not interested in Maori culture you will read little, if anything, in this Salient — and so perpetuate your ignorance.
Maori Language Day was chosen by the New Zealand Federation of Maori Students as a day on which to make a concentrated drive to bring Te Reo Maori to the notice of the public and the politician. The irony of such a situation cannot be avoided. The white New Zealander needs to be educated about Maori Language but he is not alone, many Maoris need that education also. Tied to this is the tragedy that a National Maori Language Day should be necessary at all.
Maori Language has been ignored by the large majority of New Zealand they don't understand a single word.
White New Zealanders neither understand nor seem to want to under stand the Maori. The real point, however, is not whether we should interest ourselves but why we must.
It is an interesting reflection on the social conscience of some of the teaching staff at this university, that it took an open challenge from a student to provoke Professor Philpott to benefit non-Economics students with an outline of his views in Salient. Peter Wilson was chided by Professor Philpott for not reading the whole of Philpott's speech to the Institute of Management Convention. Perhaps if Professor Philpott thought of education in terms of the whole of society and not a privileged few, more people would have the opportunity of obtaining access to his views. One might even be excused for thinking there is something subversive about economists' opinions, when they are hidden so well from the vast majority of society.
Professor Philpott described Wilson's letter as a 'tirade' and then went on to express himself in a way more befitting the discharge of a public sewer than teacher writing to a student. I was quite frankly amazed by his tremendous conceit and self-righteousness. All the people Wilson quoted were dismissed by Philpott out of hand. Ernest Mandel, I learnt, was 'wrong'. Presumably Philpott thinks he is right. What really got me was Philpott's statement towards the end of his letter that "the function of the University is to explore and propagate truth and reason.........." That doesn't quite square with his arrogant dismissal of those whose views he dislikes, and it makes me wonder how much exploring of the "truth" goes on in the Economics Department. — Just by the way, if Ernest Mandel is "wrong", then Professor Philpott should write to the United States, West German, French, Swiss and Australian Governments to tell them they need not bother banning Mandel from their countries any longer because he's "wrong" (not that I would expect Professor Philpott to be at all concerned about the suppression by five governments of Mandel's academic freedom!).
Unfortunately Philpott found it necessary to launch into an incredible argument that an older generation fought for, paid for and achieved for Wilson the right to attend this university "in economic conditions far more rugged than any you've experienced and without any sign of 'alienation' on our part." This argument is used in a patronising fashion to denigrate Wilson's arguments and as such should be rejected. Of course an older generation had to fight for better conditions for their kids. But it is quite patronising to use that fact to denigrate young critics today. And surely the real point is that some of that "older generation" went on fighting for better conditions and still are. I refer to people like Dr W.B.Sutch, whose constant fighting for a better society impresses me far more than all the academic criticism of him poured out of the ivory tower university Economics Departments.
Finally Professor Philpott talks in his letter about the backing of "demonstrable accomplishment." In my book "demonstrable accomplishment" means the guts to get up and say something's wrong and fight to change it, however unpopular the issue; rather than the "demonstrable accomplishment" of a fat bank balance, a long list of academic letters and volumes of wordy, unintelligible academic publications combined with silence about the atrocities of war and exploitation all round the world. What is more important in seizing the ear of the "Establishment" Professor, "demonstrable accomplishment" or "demonstrable subservience?
Every Malaysian student on this campus is aware of the sedition act which is presently in force in Malaysia, not withstanding the Internal Security Act and the prohibition of questioning special Malay rights even during Parliamentary debates. So it is understandable that the attitude of radical Malaysian students to Kiwi radicals is largely coloured by envy. But the Malaysian dissenters and radicals who have been arguing so vigourously their grievances in Salient recently, are demanding precisely those freedoms of speech and thought that local revolutionaries despise as irrelevant.
Malaysian students take note: Although we enjoy the so-called privileges of freedom of speech, thought, and protest, this does not mean that we(revelling in the freedoms of a capitalist bureaucracy), have no legitimate complaints in the matter of freedom. The machines of capitalist governments in the west have long ignored the voices of protest movements and of their citizens. So it is naive of Malaysian students at home or abroad to demand free speech and thought as a preliminary condition for political action in Malaysia. Indeed, in New Zealand these preliminaries no longer open the channels for action, and the exercise of these freedoms are meaningless exercises - (as evidenced by the utter futility of the anti-Vietnam and anti-French Test protest marches.) Malaysian radicals wake up! You verbalize so radically, but you talk only of fighting for bourgeois-democratic "freedoms". You have sought and found an escape in the murky climate of debate, but when democratic freedom comes to Malaysia, your children will learn less brutal yet very decisive experiences in political frustration.
The rather long reply of MSA secretary seems to tell people implicitly that the "Peace Loving Malaysians" may possibly involve a few members from MSA otherwise he need not take so much trouble to explain so much so long because the letter of "A Sympathizer for Overseas Students" did not allege that the "Peace Loving Malaysians" were members of MSA. However, it is hoped that the VUWSA and NZUSA will investigate further the matter. The open threat of "Peace Loving Malaysians" is intolerable within the campus.
The reply shamefully argued that it was quite legitimate for the members of the staff of the Malaysian High Commission "to look after the welfare of Malaysian students" apart from their diplomatic and official business. The letter then accused that"it is far more reasonable to suggest that the Singapore Government more than the Malaysian Government would have spies around the University campus." it is common knowledge that both the Singapore and Malaysian Governments are birds of the same flock. This argument only confirms that both governments are conducting syping activities on the campuses in New Zealand.
The letter appearing in the MSSA critique indicates that there are spies if we can find out the real names of the "Peace Loving Malaysians." Again, it is interesting to quote from the MSA reply that "If in fact there are such activities taking place....." which implicitly indicates there are likely spies around the campus. Would MSA have the courage to help investigate the real persons of "Peace Loving Malaysians"? Also, the "Peace Loving Malaysians" are likely to be a few of those frequent visitors to the High Commission judging from- the threatening language they used. The long reply avoided to mention the names of "Peace Loving Malaysians". The reason to visit the High Commision of given by the MSA secretary are merely making more stories.
I would like to challenge the High Commission to give the number of users and the list of materials used by the students. They are liars! So far how many students have gone to ask the High Commission to order materials from Malaysia? The answer is simple: None! Also the staff of the University Library will be very surprised to learn that the High Commission is much more efficient than the University in regard to library services.
It is vital to point out that the High Commission may have committed a breach of diplomatic agreement by purchasing stuff for others and sending it through a diplomatic mail bag. It is rather strange the High Commission becomes an efficient library overnight after being accused of maintaining a security service network spying on students in New Zealand.
One will also very much suspect whether the reply was written under the instruction of the High Commission as half of it madly explained what kind of extraordinary services (such as the illegal and possibly corrupted diplomatic mail bag service) could be offered by the office of the High Commission. It is astonishing to learn that students visit the office to obtain research materials. It is hoped that the High Commission will set up a centre for Malaysian Studies for advanced research in near future.
The reason why the MSA leaders have never heard of Malaysian government spying activities at the universities is simple. No one would take the risk to speak the fact in front of the government-backed MSA leaders in fear of revenge taken by the Malaysian authorities. Meanwhile, there are a few students who would possibly voluntarily or involuntarily directly or indirectly report to the High Commission. The political threat of "Peace Loving Malaysians" is a typical case. How do the MSA leaders know that the staff of the High Commission haven't had close contact with a few students?
The real story of some students applying for membership to the MSA is entirely not a direct reflection of their backlash sentiments against the recent excellent articles published in Salient, but a premeditated coup by first infiltrating into the MSA and later overthrowing the present dying MSA leadership. This is rather the reflection of discontent towards MSA leaders. However, they are also waiting for the MSSA leaders to fall into their trap - to get rid of MSSA under the pretext of merging two organisations into one. One can predict that both will be "winners" - collaboration of two groups of reactionary student leaders.
MSSA leaders have recently busily visited students to round up their supporters under the slogan of overtaking the MSA with the aim of future collaboration with MSA reactionary leaders. This is a union of just a handful of MSA and MSSA reactionary leaders. This is ful of MSA and MSSA leaders who are either aware or unaware of the direction coming from the High Commission of Malaysia. The willingness of MSSA leaders to surrender can also be proved from their editorial "The Only Way" "The desire for national unity continues to dominate political and economic developments in Malaysia." This is the basis of political philosophy of MSSA leaders to sell out their organisation and members under the name of 'unity' of Malaysian students. They decide to collaborate with the few MSA leaders who are the running dogs of the fascist Razak regime.
No matter what is the outcome, the final result will be the merger and MSSA will have to go. The shameful admittance of backdoor negotiations between MSA and MSSA leaders for a 'united' Malaysian student body shows that MSA and MSSA are the same stock which cannot be trusted. The plot of overtaking is only a smoke screen to create illusion among the rank and file members and other students. Such arrangement is a ususal farce among those student scabs. All students must learn from this and expose such fraud.
Mr Thomas Ibo (sec. MSA) claimed that the allegation against the Malaysian government's spying activities is not true. He regarded the allegation as 'a mere collection of slogans which neither help nor guide Malaysian students but only confuse them.' For his information and benefit (as well as for the students of this campus) we have obtained information from reliable sources in Kuala Lumpur, that the Malaysian Security Services keeps dossiers on Malaysian students (in the country as well as abroad) who are opposed to the policies of the Malaysian government. In fact the Malaysian Securitiy Service has dossiers on a few of the Malaysian Students on this campus.
Mr Ibo must be naive if he thinks that the Malaysian High Commission would inform him, the MSA or anyone else about their spying activities.
Counter Secret Agent No. 5.
P.S. The other day a man was seen going into 175 Taranaki street from a car with a D.C. plate flying a Malaysian flag.
The statement of the MSA secretary had explained but nothing but simply tried to cover up the bloody threat of those student rascals — so called "Peace Loving Malaysians". Why did the MSA secretary not condemn the damned threat of "Peace Loving Malaysians"? Why does his letter avoid to discuss the bloody crime of "Peace Loving Malaysians"? Does he think such political blackmail is not important or does he try to help "Peace Loving Malaysians" out of the attack? Doesn't he consider "Peace Loving Malaysians" as spies? Unless MSA takes a firm step to condemn "Peace Loving Malaysians" openly, and further demand the University authorities to find out who are the "Peace Loving Malaysians" and expel them from the University, one can only suspect MSA leaders and "Peace Loving Malaysians" are either close collaborators or the same persons. All students know that MSA is financed by the Malaysian government. It is a tool of the Malaysian government to control the students here.
The organization of the stage one accountancy courses this year has left much to be desired and it is hoped the publication of some of these criticisms may lead to improvements in the future.
Accountancy 101
Accountancy 102
The problems of large classes and staff shortages inevitably cause difficulties in stage one courses. However none of the above criticisms can be so excused. Surely it takes little time for the examiner to read papers before the exam and mistakes in set assignments should be corrected as well. Similarly an improvement in staff-tutor-student communications would take little effort. Both tutors and students should know what marks count and more specifically tutors should know how they are evaluated to avoid inconsistency.
The Accountancy Department is infamous for these inadequacies which are quite separate from the quality of lecturing and are not confined to stage one. It is more critical they be eliminated now that most of marks for the final grade are based on term work.
A lot of boob heads refer to the big blue hunk of concrete up on Crawford as the "University". I'm buggared if I can see the connection myself. Varsity produces magistrates, businessmen, school teachers and other degree strait jacketed perpetrators of capitalism, plus a smaller group of "radicals" who do an equally good job of making Marxism look ridiculous by jealously confining it to lifelong study groups and factions. Crawford turns out a crowd of dedicated cop haters and active anarchists who lack only unity in their untiring struggle against private property, the vagrancy laws, police, conformity and surplus capital. Crawford graduates also make good use of refresher courses, in many cases throughout their lives, while the average student applies his Philosophy and Oral French only at the moment of examination. However both institutions arc centres of learning, and both have their quaint customs, which happens to be quite similar in at least one peculiar instance.
In the shit house of the true university a student's reflection carved on the wall reads:
While displaying excellent spelling and adroit use of the pun, the fragment also has a deeper meaning.
It recognises that the receptacle of human faeces is not the most comfortable place for sexual activity, but is aware of the fact that in an institution not providing more suitable accommodation it must be so used. An admirable work all round; immediate impact, humour, accurate reportage of social history and a touch of wistfulness.
Now, at the other so called centre of culture and in the same facility, what do we find? The artist in this case has expressed himself with a different medium, that of a mobile sculpture. A great ugly box on the wall, you can't help but be struck by it. And on pressing a button (after the insertion of a fee, naturally), Lo and Behold!, a purple and white packet of french letters tumbles out - a masterpiece, some would say of student freedom and culture.
In fact its a step backwards, and makes one wonder whether it might not be better to assault a constable than pay $24 as the price of education. The sculpture says in essence that sex is a furtive sneaky thing that involves money and begins in the toilet. No cough, cough s'cuse me pakita durex please ta when all the customers have left the shop anymore. Segregated too, in case Joe Muryfuka sees his liberated chick buying some for possible use with someone else or Jesus freak Jim is overlooked making the first move towards mortal sin.
Now if some enterprising joker set up a hamburger stand in the bog, why there'd be more outcry than if Terry Auld joined the Communist Party of New Zealand. And if Hart tried peddling their badges in there or if all the Salients sat there to be collected people would say that it was beyond a joke and not only eccentric but dirty. Because basically people go to the can to piss, shit, comb their hair and nothing else. Except of course to masturbate if there's no better posy which is not true of Varsity. People who know do it at 1p.m. on Wednesdays in the main lounge.
However, maybe Varsity students only feel randy in the shit house and probably feel proud of their sneuve server. They must do, as its still there, and a radical activist wouldn't leave it so if he didn't like it.
But if you're still at school and reading this - Please - choose your university with care.
Kai whiua nga tamariki e korero ra i to ratau ake reo i nga papa takaro o te Kura. Ko te whakaaro, ma te whenei e awhina nga taitamariki ki te piki ake i roto i te ao Pakeha. He whakaiti noa i te reo, i te tangata korero i taua reo te hua. Ko te whakaaro ano hoki, kare e taea rawatia te reo Pakeha, me nga mahi whakaakona ai ki te reo Pakeha, e te tangata mohio tonu ki te reo Maori. Mena hoki he pono, taua whakaaro nei, kare e tika me mate noa te reo. Ma te reo e whakaatu mai te mauri ake o tena, o tena iwi. Ma te akonga mohio tonu ki tona ake reo e ata ako era atu reo, mahi hoki. Ka waimarie, he hui ake te kaha o te reo Maori i te kaha i tumanakohia, engari ka nui te kino i taea. Ka ora te reo Maori, otira kare i whakaako tikatia i nga tini wa. Ko te reo Pakeha ke te reo, ahakoa ra te kino o te whakaakoranga i etahi wa. Kare te akonga Maori, kahakore ki te reo Pakeha, i ata whakaritea ki te piki ake ki roto i te matauranga o te Pakeha.
Tena, he taha ke to te ahuatanga nei. Kai te taitamariki Maori te matauranga kia whakaarotia, he waimarie. He mea taharua a ia - tetahi taha ki te ao o nga tipuna Maori, tetahi ki te ao o te Pakeha. Koinei te wa e kite ai ia i nga rerenga ketanga o waenganui o nga iwi katoa o tenei ao. Me tukua te taitamariki Maori tae noa ki to taitamariki Pakeha, ki te whakanui haere i tenei wa, Ki te ngaro haere te ao o te Maori i te kaha rawa o te ao o te Pakeha, ka ngaro tetahi tino mea, nui te wariu ki Niu Tireni nei. Ki te tauawhitia noa etahi maramara kore take e te ao Pakeha - whenei ano i te haka, i nga pueru waiata-a-haka - ka rite tonu te hua.
Me ora tahi nga ao e rua nei, a me whakahanumi, whakamana hoki tetahi ki tetahi. Ko te huarahi e taea ai tenei ahuatanga, ko te reo Maori.
Teaching of the Maori language in our schools is to be increased a little. It needs to be increased a lot.
New Zealand is a nation inhabited by two peoples. We are learning to be one people, but we no longer think that the best way to become one people is for the Maori people to discard all their distinctive ways and become brown-skinned Pakehas. For a long time this was the aim of the educational authorities. The Maori language being the basis of a person's Maoritanga, its use was discouraged. Children speaking their mother-tongue in the school playground were liable to be punished. It was believed that this would help a young person 'get on' in a European world. Yet the effect was to disparage the language, and the person, brought up to speak it. It was also believed that a pupil grounded in Maori would be less likely to do well in English and in subjects taught in English.
Even if this were true, a language should not be allowed to die so lightly. It is a unique expression of a people. A pupil with a thorough knowledge of his own tongue is likely to do better in other languages and subjects. Fortunately the Maori language showed more vitality than was expected, but much damage was done. Maori survived, but was not often thoroughly taught. English was used, but often in an inadequate form. The Maori pupil, impoverished in language, was often ill-equipped for further learning. Yet this is not the whole story. Potentially the young Maori is privileged. He has a fool in each of two rich coutures. He has the opportunity he should be allowed to build on: an opportunity which Pakeha children should be allowed to share. For New Zealand will be immeasurably poorer if one culture disappears before the advance of the other.
We will be poorer if all that happens is that detached bits, without roots, are adopted into the Pakeha culture - as with the haka and Maori costume. Both cultures must survive, inter-mingling and enriching one another, and the key to both is language.
It is drawn to the attention of students that the University endeavours to provide special examination facilities for those with physical disabilities and for others in exceptional circumstances during the October/November degree examinations. For example, in past years a student with a broken leg and several pregnant students have been assisted in this way. Students who wish to make use of such facilities should contact either the Clerk of Examinations in the Robert Stout Building or one of the Student Welfare Services.
Students are advised to read the aegrotat regulations on pages 92-94 in the University Calendar. If you are in doubt about the value of submitting an aegrotat application, enquiries should be directed to the Clerk of Examinations or the Liaison Officers or a member of the Welfare Services staff.
Tuini Ngawai was a prolific composer of (action songs i.e. dance poetry) Some 300 plus compositions from about
What we are trying most to say on Maori Language Day is that we are not dead, and especially that our language is not dead. Nor is it going to die. As National co-ordinator of the day I have encountered several problems. The one that has pissed me off most is the attitude: "The Maori Language (pronounced Marry language) is dead and has no place in New Zealands' Socicty." A lot can be read from such a statement.
To me, this attitude means that the majority of New Zealanders (i.e the pakeha majority) still see New Zealand as a part of Great Britain, that just happens to be divorced from the mainland by a couple of continents and oceans; they refuse to acknowledge the presence of a very large minority group. By saying the language has no place, you are saying that the people have no place. This is why it is important to devote a day to publicise the Maori language — In order to reveal these racist attitudes.
Although the Maori Language is very much a living language, it has very real problems. The first, already mentioned, is the predominant attitude of "No Place for Maori". It is not new. Most middle-aged Maoris and Maori elders can tell you how they were strapped for speaking Maori at school, something which in fact continues in a few country schools today. In most cases the teachers didn't succeed, but they did succeed in belling into them the attitude of Your language is a social and economic hinderance. Thus when they have children they speak English (the language with the "go-ahead-look.") to their children.
However the language used on all marae situations is Maori. When elders speak together they use their native tongue. Thus the problem gets even worse. The generation gap in Maori society is more like a gaping crevice, because the young and old, literally, speak different languages. One doesn't really appreciate how bad the problem is until the possibility' arises of going to ones own mother's funeral, or someone really close to you, only to be alienated from the tangi because of the "language barrier."
There has been no reliable survey on the number speaking Maori in New Zealand and this is an indication of the government's former antipathy and present relative disinterest towards the encouragement of Maori language.
However, Dr Bruce Biggs makes what he calls an informed guess in The Maori People in the Nineteen Sixties. He says that almost all the old Maori people speak the language fluently, over half between 30 and 40 and under half of those aged below 30. Geographically, Maori as the primary language is concentrated in the rural areas — especially the cast coast of the North Island, parts of the Waikato and King Country, the northern tip of the north island, south of Lake Taupo, Otaki and D'Urville island. A greater proportion of Maori people understand but cannot speak the language. While it is true that the percentage of those who speak Maori fluently is declining, there is no doubt that the remaining percentage is large enough to be significant as a communicatory and socialogical factor in present day Maori society.
The retention of this beautiful and living language is not only possible, but inevitable. It has withstood a century of hampering and (unlike Latin, which is offered at most secondary schools) has shown that it is technically capable of adapting to present day conditions. It has borrowed English words and adapted them to the Maori alphabet and pronunciation. Auckland becomes Akarana, table becomes tepu, bullshit becomes bull tutae. These words and phrases are criticized as showing a weakness in the language. Yet English is the result of Centuries of extensive borrowing. Maori is a versatile language and still in the process of evolution. Thus treating the language simply as a classic study is pretty stupid.
As regards the place of the Maori language in schools: There will be certain statements made by groups affiliated with the New Zealand Federation of Maori Students, concerning this on Maori Language Day. One of the most significant events planned for the day is the presentation of Hana Jackson's 2 year-old petition, which calls for the availability of Maori language at schools.
It is time to take an even stronger stand to ensure that Maori language courses arc available in fact as well as in theory — especially at primary school levels.
As it stands Maori language courses are "available", all teachers being entitled to take two hours a week for Maori culture and/or language. Few teachers, however, are aware of this, let alone capable of carrying it out. And two hours a week is insufficient.
One of the main excuses given for not introducing the language into schools is the lack of teachers and it's easy to see why. There are few "qualified" who arc capable of taking Maori language courses in Training Colleges. Present courses are offered at only one or two of the 16 odd training colleges in New Zealand and they arc quite inadequate. Secondly though there is only a handful of 'qualified teachers' who speak Maori, there is definitely more than enough Maori speakers who could be trained. That groups such as Nga Tamatoa and Te Reo Maori have taken the initiative which the government refuses to take, in organising Maori Language courses, teaching seminars etc, is something that I find disgraceful. Such organisations arc low on funds, and to have to go begging for money in order to finance such worthwhile schemes is a condemnation of the governments sense of responsibility. I see the compulsory availability of Maori language courses in schools as a long term plan for making New Zealand a bi-lingual country, and a multi-cultural society.
It is strange that it is necessary to encourage the continuence of a language that is spoken by about 50,000 and understood by double that figure in a country with a total population of just under 3 million. It is equally strange that it is necessary to make a political issue of the retention of Maori language and its inclusion in formal education in New Zealand.
The predominant attitude towards the Maori language is one of condescension by the pakeha, arrogance of some young Maori people who know their tongue, and determination of others like myself who have been stranded.
"To the Honourable the Speaker and the Members of the House of Representatives of New Zealand in Parliament assembled. We, the undersigned, do humbly pray that courses in Maori language and aspects of Maori culture be offered in All those schools with large Maori rolls and that these same courses be offered, as a gift of the Pakeha from the Maori, in All other New Zealand schools as a positive effort to promote a more meaningful concept of integration.
E hoa maa, teenaa koutou katoa. E piirangi ana matou kia whakaakongia te reo Maori, me ngaa tikanga Maaori, ki roto i Ngaa Kura Katoa e maha ana ngaa taitamariki Maaori, aa, kia hoatu hoki eenei taonga hei koha ki te Paakehaa, ki roto i oo ratou kura katoa, kia tika ai te koorero he iwi kotahi taatou.
This article was taken from a Maori Organisation on Human Rights newsletter and was written by Poata Entera of Nga Tamatoa Council.
The Maori has finally realised that his identity as a Maori is in jeopardy. His once sacred culture has been commercialised, the land of his ancestors has been taken away from him and his native tongue has just about been torn out of his mouth. The Maori is quickly realising that very soon, unless severe measures are taken his identity as a Maori will be as extinct as the Moa.
The Maori just wants to be what he was and is, a Maori! He doesn't want to be a brown skinned New Zealander. He is proud of his ancestors and ancestral background, and he is proud of his customs and traditions. He is very hurt and disgusted when he sees that his customs and his culture are being used by the Pakeha as nothing more than a "tourist gimmick"! How do you think he feels when he sees the haka - Ka Mate Ka Mate Ka Ora Ka Ora, Ka Mate Ka Mate Ka Ora Ka Ora, Kia Kaha E Tai Tamariki Ma - and when it has finished the Pakehas applaud. They applaud the people who have just issued them with a war challenge!
The Maori doesn't want, and won't let his customs, traditions, beliefs and land be degraded, commercialised and taken away from him. Do you believe that Maui fished up the North Island of New Zealand with a flax line and bone hook? You find that a bit hard to believe? Well, I find it a bit hard to believe that Moses opened up the Red Sea with a walking stick.
If the Maoris took away something that you and your ancestors believed in, how would you feel?
The Pakeha is now in possession of 66 million acres of land, leaving the Maori, or tangata when-ua - people of the land - with a mere 4.7 million acres. These figures alone, without any other examples, show just how much the letter and the spirit of the Treaty of Waitangi, referred to as the foundation of New Zealand, has been observed or honoured.
The Maoris know that if the foundations of anything are not stable, there is little or no hope for whatever is built on those foundations, unless those foundations are repaired or replaced.
Throughout New Zealand history will be found misdealings and raw deals from the Pakehas towards the Maori. But don't think that the Maori took these lying down! Maoris like (to name but a few) Hone Heke, Rewi Maniopoto and T.W. Ratana had fought for the rights of the Maori. But, inevitably, the Pakeha has turned the Maori heroes into villains. The Pakeha has recorded in history books and through other means that Hone Heke was a villain, Rewi Maniapoto was insane, and T.W. Ratana was an alcoholic and a fake. But to me, as a Maori, these three men were heroes. Heroes in every sense of the word! Men who fought for the rights of their people, men who fought for the equality promised, who fought for their people's land and men who tried to get the best for their people.
The voice of the Maori has never been acknowledged throughout New Zealand's history. The Maori has been completely ignored by the European. Taking a few examples:
The committee, needless to say, was never set up, therefore nothing was done for the Maori people.
The Tamatoa Council, who participated in the protest, asked Duncan MacIntyre, "Do you really expect the Maoris to have faith and trust in you and the Maori Affairs Department when at the top of the power structure sits Mr. Jock McEwen, who was one of the authors of the
In Nga Tamatoa Council published a two-page Newsletter "The Fly", dealing further with Maori identity, education and details of Polynesian gangs.
Polynesian gangs. Of the past, of the present. What about the future? There is an increasing number of Polynesian-dominated gangs springing up all through New Zealand but particularly in the biggest Polynesian populated city in the world - Auckland. Are these gangs problems? I'll leave that question because it will answer itself in the following.
Formed in Otara, Auckland, in
Formed in
Formed in Ponsonby, Auckland, in Nigs 'headquarters' was in Ponsonby Billiard Parlour, which is within a stone's throw of the well-known hotels - Gluepot and Suffolk. Their rivals were the 'Spades', who were another gang from the same area. The Nigs were a peace-loving gang compared to other gangs of the same period. The Nigs 'fathered' another gang in the area: They were known as the 'Junior Nigs' whose membership comprised the younger members from the Ponsonby area who weren't old enough to join the Senior Nigs.
Formed about three months after the original 'Nigs' started. They got together for much the same reason as their 'idols'. The Junior Nigs, about 70 strong, were involved more with the Police and the Welfare departments than their 'fathers' were. Their ages never exceeded 16 years and the youngest was only 9 years old. The Junior Nigs and the Senior Nigs have quietened down considerably these days. The Nigs had no set uniform.
Maori gang Upt Pop Festival. Reading the
In the Maoris' case, a young Maori of today realises that he is different from his parents, who are Maori, because :
In fact he knows nothing about what he is supposed to be, except the Maori values. His parents say to him, "we won't teach you our language because the pakeha will punish you if you speak it at school. We won't teach you the Maori culture because all you have to do is look in a souvenir shop. We won't tell you who your ancestors are because they will only tell you that they were bad just like they have done in school history books. You will have to learn from the pakeha because this country is run for the pakeha by the pakeha!"
So the young Maori goes out to learn from the pakeha, but only finds that the pakeha rejects him because he is a Maori!
He meets other people who are in a similar situation, i.e. no identity, and eventually finds a substitute identity, be it Stormtrooper, Nig, Spade or what-have-you. Not only does he have an identity, but he also has security.
This is not the Maori parents' fault entirely. Over the past century the pakeha has been attempting to assimilate the Maori into the European race, but obviously they have failed to a certain extent. What they succeeded in doing is - throwing the younger Maori generation into an absolute state of confusion. This generation is the
Education:
This is where something should be done. At present, the educational system is geared to turning out brown-skinned New Zealanders. To give young Maoris the identity that is rightfully theirs, this is the place to start. Firstly, I think that the Maori language and aspects of the Maori culture should be made available in all schools. This I feel will lead to a far more meaningful concept of integration.
On the 8th and 9th May, which was a week-end, Nga Tamatoa introduced a group of young pakehas to the marae environment. This was a very successful venture for all parties concerned. The introduction of the pakehas to the marae environment was for two reasons:
I feel that the term 'marae' is often used far too loosely. The way I have heard people talk about the 'urban maraes' often leads me to understand that they are talking about community centres. The marae, which people often forget, is also used for the laying of bodies in state, and where people who know the deceased can go to pay their respects. These huis continue for three or four days and have been known to continue for much longer. An 'urban marae' in Auckland, Te Unga Waka, is in my eyes a failure. On one occasion, there was a tangi being held upstairs while a dance was held downstairs which is making a mockery of both the marae and tangihanga. Another problem that I have observed with the 'urban marae' is the site on which it is placed. For example, the Mangere marae in Auckland has received numerous complaints from local residents about 'all the noise that goes on'. When the women welcome people onto the marae, and it is a still night, their high-pitched voices carry for a considerable distance. So, a site for a marae is most important. There is more to a marae than just a carved meeting house. You will notice that nearly every site that a marae is erected on, it has a historic background. So, if you intend erecting an 'urban marae', I would suggest that you contact the local kaumatua
For any suggestions, information, suits for libel, criticisms etc. write to: Poata Eruera, Sec. Nga Tamatoa Council — also for Enrolment — Subscriber Fees: 50 cents.
This article is an abridged reply to an Otago University Committee of students anti Lecturers set up to investigate the possibilities of introducing Maori language teaching at that University.
1. A (a) 1. According to the Committee, Maori is one of the two languages regularly used in New Zealand. In fact several other languages are also regularly spoken in this country among them Niuean, Tokclauan, Rarotongan, Samoan and Chinese, all of them living languages. There are admittedly more speakers of Maori but Maori is none the less the language of a minority, in all about 232,000 including quartereastes and half-castes, less than 10% of the total population.
2. The actual number of Maori speakers is difficult to compute. In recent figures suggest that this proportion is likely to fall dramatically within the next decade.
3. In
In Auckland city which now houses the largest concentration of Maori people in New Zealand, it is generally considered that no Maori children speak or show any interest in the Maori language. It is perhaps relevant here that repeated attempts to establish courses in Maori language at the secondary school in Ngaruawahia have utterly failed and the project has now reluctantly been abandoned. It is therefore difficult to accept the view of the Committee that Maori is a living language, in any way to comparable with English.
4. It may also be seriously questioned whether Maori "has strong living oral tradition and a significant body of recorded literature." It is unfortunately the case that modern Maori has been subjected to the incessant pressure of a more dominant language and is now littered with transliterations, e.g. motuka (motorcar), tepu (table), pene (pen), moni (money), and so on. Even genuine Maori words have gone down in the struggle, thus whara instead of tangata for fellow, mama rather than whaea for mother, etc. Many Maori forenames are merely English names in disguise, e.g. Hori (George) Hoani (John), Hamiora (Samuel), Mohi (Moses), Eruera (Edward). Modern Maori has in short been largely pidginized. The utterances of a few elders who are still capable of speaking extempore and at length on the marae are Virtually unintelligible to most of their listeners, the more so since Maori oratory is traditionally allusive in style and redolent with archaisms which now have no meaning.
5. The literature spoken of is very limited, as any one acquainted with the history of literacy amongst the Maori must be aware. It was not in fact until the
The total amount of material in genuine Maori in the Hocken is in fact extremely small: the amount of genuine literature is negligible.
6. A (a) 2. It is also difficult to accept many of the Committee's pronouncements under this head. The study of Maori may be "of value" to students of other disciplines such as Anthropology, History, Linguistics, Religious Studies and Sociology. The argument is a little strained in the case of Linguistics and Sociology. The first has only just been introduced as a terminal course, and the second is still not taught at Otago. It is also doubtful whether a knowledge of Maori will enlighten the student of Religious Studies who might indeed be better advised to study Arabic or Japanese. In addition, neither the Anthropology Department nor the History Department has so far felt it necessary to press for a course in Maori as an aid to under-graduate studies in Maori ethnography or history and neither is likely to insist on Maori as a prerequisite. The particular instances in which a knowledge of Maori is indispensable at undergraduate level in this University do not readily suggest themselves. It is normally only at post-graduate level that the need begins to make itself apparent and even then various notable students of Maori ethnology and history have found it possible to dispense with even a working knowledge of Maori.
7. A.3 It is difficult to believe that any undergraduate student will ever edit and publish manuscripts and recorded material in Maori or in any other language. The editing of such texts, as Dr Pei Te Hurinui Jones has testified is a most difficult and laborious business even for a native speaker which is therefore likely to be beyond the capacity of all but the occasional honours student in Maori language with a particular aptitude for so esoteric a task.
8 A.4. It may be true that a student of other languages "can derive considerable benefit" from the study of a language based on oral tradition - no proof is adduced for this proposition - but it is difficult to imagine such students being specifically directed by advisers of studies to study Maori or any other similar non-indo-European language. Some definite commitment on this point on the part of the various modern language departments might seem to be in order if the Committee's proposal is to be proceeded with.
9 A.5. The proposition that a knowledge of the Maori language can be of considerable value to teachers, etc. is clearly based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation likely to be encountered in the field. Few Maori have no English and few readily speak in Maori when they might just as easily speak in English. The great bulk of teachers, workers, lawyers and doctors in Maori communities normally secure all the information they require without recourse to the Maori language - for the simple reason that much of what they want to know is only adequately, expressed in English. The case of Mr J.McEwan is quire peculiar. His predecessor had no Maori and his successor may very well have none either. The present Minister of Maori Affairs is not expected to do more than pronounce two or three
10. A. (b) 1. It may be that the 40 Maori students at Otago "Ought to be able to study able to study their own language at their own university." Most of these, however, do not speak Maori and will find no particular incentive to remedy that defect as part of their normal courses. The number of Maori Arts students is very small and no doubt many of these find existing courses in such subjects as Ambropology more immediately useful and rewarding. There is in fact only one place where a Maori student should learn Maori if he is not to make himself appear ridiculous in the eyes of his elders and that is on the marae. It is dubious Whether the suggested increase in the number of Maori people living in the South Island Dunedin is not specifically mentioned - affects the issue much. Most local Maori speak only English and prefer to do so. The only really living Polynesian languages in the South Island are Samoan ana Rarotongan, Which were unfortunately excluded from the terms of reference.
12 A (b) 3. The Hocken Library has a valuable collection of Maori material in the sense that is irreplacable and in common with a great deaf of the rest of the Hocken collection ought to be kept locked away except for Very occasional consultation, as Hockan himself stipulated Faculty might be interested to know that the greater part of the collection is made up of hyms - drawn from Ancient and Modern -catechisms, scriptual extracts, sermons by pakeha missionaries, and of Bibles, Paipera Tapu, printed either in New Zealand on primitive presses or in England by the "Peretehi mo te Poreni Paipera Hohaite", the British and Foreign Bible Society.
13 A (b) 4. It may be questioned whether the introduction of Maori would strengthen the work of the History Department at least in "New Zealand studies" (sic for Maori studies?). In the nature of things the amount of Maori history which can be taught at the moment is very small in relation to the offering in pakeha history and this balance will not change much in the foreseeable future, at least until the methodological problems involved in writing Maori history have been solved. In fact, the current proposal, if passed, is more likely to set back work in the field by absorbing scarce funds and diverting attention from what can and should be done at once.
14 A (c) 1. It is far from clear from this report that there is much genuine interest among students in the Faculty of Arts, either here or elsewhere, in courses in Maori language, and it may well be that much of the present rather sentimental interest among students and staff in other faculties at Otago would quickly evaporate if the very leisurely courses in the Department of University Extension were replaced by a full unit concentration in a single year which candidates would actually have to pass.
15. B. As has been said, Maori is now spoken by fewer and fewer New Zealanders, in spite of current salvage operations. Though it is admittedly a beautiful, expressive language - hence perhaps the inability of the average pakeha even to pronounce it - Maori has no developed literature of its own such as might cast even the dimmest light on the essence of Maoritanga or, more important, stretch a student's mind or stir his imagination. What is more, it will now never have such a literature nor is there any particular reason why it should do so. (The only Maori Burns fellow so far appointed had no Maori and if he had written in Maori he might well have had no audience.) In brief it cannot properly take its place within the framework of a broad human education which it is one of the University's essential functions to impart, at least at undergraduate level.
The corollary that Maori should not merely be introduced but be developed "fairly rapidly" to Stage III and postgraduate level" is even more difficult to accept, the more so since the new subject is not regarded even by the Committee as fully autonomous in the way that French and German are. As the Committee makes clear, only the first year is to be taken up exclusively with Maori "language and literature", and one may suspect that even this requirement may have to be abandoned, as has been done in Auckland, in order to attract students. In subsequent years the new subject is apparently to be permitted to deal with Maori "culture" and society - viz. subjects which are currently taught in the Anthropology and History departments.
16 C & D. First, it is hard to see why Maori should be allowed to develop beyond a certain point. In the present instance, indeed, there is a good case for stretching the work over three years and counting it as a single unit. However this may be, many subjects which have a far greater intellectual content than Maori are taken by students as terminal units or even as papers at various stages in their courses. Many others might be taught as terminal units at an appropriate point in the curriculum. Thus Anthropology was a terminal unit for many years, as Modern Pacific History now is, and the History and Philosophy of Science. If Maori is to be allowed to grow in the way suggested then there is no intrinsic reason why other subjects should not do so as well. And this is a tendency which should be resisted.
18. the Committee would seem to have over-looked certain important matters which it might well have taken into account before coming to so decided a conclusion. One of these is the extent to which the Faculty should go on building up undergraduate courses. In the last few years the academic staff of the Faculty has almost doubled and several new subjects and departments have been created to meet student demand. In consequence Faculty has been obliged to resort to quite revolutionary changes in examining methods without any prior discussion of the academic advantages involved. The Addition of Maori must exacerbate this problem. Perhaps more serious is the tendency to academic impoverishment implicit in the multiplication at under-graduate level of subjects which might be better reserved for postgraduate study, after students have been well grounded in the essential elements of the Graeco-Roman tradition. It may also be objected that if Faculty agrees to this proposal it may well do so at the expense of other developments for which a much better case could be made, e.g. Italian or Spanish or Japanese, or the proper whole report, however, is that the Committee should have decided on the basis of a quite casual student suggestion to recommend the erection of a whole new department in a minor field already catered for elsewhere at the expense of a major traditional field of interest, that is to say Polynesian history which has recently been deprived by death or retirement of its major figures and is now virtually on the point of extinction in most New Zealand universities in spite of the plethora of resources available in such libraries as the Turnbull and the Hocken.
By way of reply.... these are extracts from an address that Koro Dewes, lecturer here at Victoria University, gave at the 40th Anzacs Congress, 1968, in the section "Educational Needs and Problems of the Maori Community."
I am sick and tired of hearing my people blamed for their educational and social shortcomings, their limitations highlighted and their obvious strengths of being privileged New Zealanders in being bilingual and bicultural ignored. I believe that there persists in New Zealand a type of linguistic imperialism, and exponents of this are convinced of the superiority of English language over Maori. Polynesian and Asian tongues. Teachers with such convictions are likely to possess negative attitudes to the mother-tongues of minority groups with which they are faced in the classroom situation.
My frustrations are not minimised when my attention is drawn to the fact that even in predominantly or wholly Maori schools, Maori language as an optional subject is not taught as widely as it could be. The reason I believe is a complacent or indifferent attitude, or prejudice on the part of State School Headmasters and Educational authorities against Maori language.
The early Missionaries irrespective of denomination set out to replace the indigenous moral and spiritual values by dogma, creed and moral philosophy of Christianity. And the means to achieve these ends was familiarity with Maori language and its use as the medium of instruction. It might well be that this policy facilitated the adjustment of early Maoris to Christianity and commerce; there is no doubt that literacy amonst Maoris was high.
In
The aim to Europeanise the Maori people as fast as possible remained official policy until the early "thirties" of this century. Numerous Maoris can testify to being beaten soundly for speaking Maori in the school grounds. It was not until the establishment of the first few Maori District High Schools in
In Maori schools policy. So far as Maori language was concerned the Committee supported the teaching of the Maori language and recommended that everything possible be done to implement it; as a minority group with Pakeha children, the Maori child should feel personal worth, security, and a sense of identity.
In
1967 Maori language was taught in 6 District High Schools,10 State Secondary Schools,
10 Private Secondary Schools (or Church Maori Boarding Schools).
It is estimated that in
To answer adequately the question of the place of Maori language in the education of Maoris, let me read to you some of the material which I collated from the replies of 6 private schools, two State Post-Primary Schools and two District High Schools, nearly all of which have rolls which are predominantly Maori.
1. Maori language is an integral part of a great heritage. It stimulates pride of race, self respect and self confidence. Without these a minority group can easily become depressed. Many ideas deep feelings, patterns of thought can be expressed adequately in Maori, but would sound banal in English.
2. It is believed that respect for and knowledge of Maori language plays an important part in the development of the student's personality and character.
3. A person who knows his own language and traditions feels more secure and is not likely to suffer from an inferiority complex.
4. In being able to communicate or participate on official Maori occasions a student's education does not alienate him from his own people.
5. An opportunity is provided for all students, European or Maori, to study a living language as opposed to a dead one.
In addition, one who knows the language or the customs of the Maori people, is a more complete New Zealander than he who has no such knowledge.
6. On the more practical plane, it is realised that for those going on to University a language is often needed and Maori suits a Maori student best, for those going to teachings the language can be most helpful, and there are many openings in legal work and Government departments for those who know Maori.
The majority of Maori parents that send their children to Private Schools are delighted that Maori is taught, more so when they experience the advance in their own children's knowledge. Many literally leap with joy to hear their sons give a speech in Maori, not only do the parents swell with pride but so do all the elders Parents have often failed to pass on their own knowledge of Maori, but if the school can stimulate interest, they will help quite considerably at home or during the holidays.
For a very few the language as a subjects lacks prestige and it is not unusual for derogratory remarks to be passed about it e.g. "That Hori (hoary) language". This attitude does not seem to persist, especially when the pupil concerned makes a success of it.
Many Headmasters consider that Maori language is of no value; they argue complacently that French, Latin and German, which are part of Pakeha cultural heritage, are more useful for Maori students. I or this reason also Maori is not made available to Pakeha students in lieu of another language subject.
In her brief reply to me, the Principal of Queen Victoria School wrote this — "I do not understand why official Education Department policy seems to give little encouragement to the specialisation in Maori that is often desired by our senior pupils when they are considering teaching careers. Far more could be done in the schools if the opposite were true."
I would like to quote three propositions made by H.V. George of Victoria University of Wellington, which appeal to me very much and which have relevance to my topic, these are:
It is not generally known that a certain subversive organisation in Wellington has been keeping tabs on some of the leading political lights in the country. By making a substantial donation to the organisation's funds, Salient has managed to obtain the following verbatim report of telephone conversation between two of the country's political elite. For obvious reasons we cannot disclose the name of our informant, nor the methods by which he obtained this information, but we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of what follows.
"Hello - hello - Is that you Norman?"
"Yes. Kirk here."
"Norman, its Bruce here."
"Who?"
"Bruce"
"Bruce who?"
"Bruce Beetham, Norman."
"Oh. Hold on a minute, (muffled shouts, inaudible mutterings)...How are things in wonderland Bruce?"
"Now cut that out, Norman, because I have a proposition to put to you. How would you like to be Prime Minister, Norman?"
"Who me?"
"Yes, Norman, you."
"Well, Bruce, its nice of you to ask, but in point of fact I'm bound to say that at this point in time the prospect of me being PM doesn't really look likely. You see, Bruce, up until February I though I had quite a chance of getting the job since I fitted so well into the mould of New Zealand's leaders - little if any secondary education, a depression mentality, no leadership ability, no imagination - but then Keith broke our agreement by stepping down, since he'd sworn that he would let me carry on the tradition some day. But now that Jack's in the chair, Bruce, I feel that I'm out of the race - I just can't compete against a university education and a gentlemen image; my longer hair and TV training aren't enough any more. I tell you, Bruce, I'm seriously thinking of retiring to London to the High Com's job. I'd have to join the Nats, but there's no difference anyway, is there Bruce, I mean I wouldn't be going against my principles, would I?"
"Well, Norm, I don't happen to think so, but before you do anything you might regret listen to this: Norman, I can make you the PM in November, in return for a few small favours. You'll be on top, Norm, you'll have made it."
"Suffering savages, Bruce, could you? 'How?"
"Its very simple, Norm; all you have to do is withdraw your candidates in four seats where our vote is bigger than yours; we'll win and with those four seats we'll hold the balance of pow... responsibility and will support you for PM. How does that sound, Norman?"
"Sounds reasonable, Bruce. I'd have to get rid of the candidates for those seats, but that shouldn't be too difficult - we could enlarge the NZBC board, or make them JP's. What kind of favours?"
"Oh nothing much, Norm: I'd have to be Minister of Finance, of course, and we'd have to have the right to make all the appointments to the Reserve Bank board, and you'd have to make Weal and O'Brien our Ambassadors to the Vatican and Nepal or somewhere, and one or two other minor things, Norm, nothing much alltogether."
"Sounds reasonable enough, Bruce, but we'd better keep it quiet - we don't want anyone getting hold of it. Tell you what - you issue a statement about the four seats, omitting the details. I'll reject it saying that we can win on our own and then you can tell all your chaps to vote for us in the other 83."
"Hold on Norm, 83 what?"
"The 83 electorates other than the ones you'll be contesting Bruce"
"But, Norm, we've got to contest all the electorates - we've promised all our members a go at least one each and I can't go against that promise. Norm, or they'll all go over to join the reactionary running dogs O'Brien and Weal and stand for them." "Well Bruce, its no deal otherwise, but I'm sure we can work it out. I'll be in Hamilton next week and I'll get in touch."
"Okay, Norm, but I hope we can come to some arrangement" "I'm sure that we'll be able to, Bruce - I think I'd rather like to be PM now that I come to think about it. Goodnight, Bruce."
"Goodnight Norm."
Selected by Helen Shaw
The poet D'Arcy Cresswell (Walter D'Arcy Cresswell The Poet's Progress and Present Without Leave. He was born in Christchurch and made several voyages between New Zealand and England, the first as a youth of 17, the last in
Although Cresswell's letters reflect aspects of New Zealand literature in the making, much of his life was spent in London, where from
The letters retrace friendships with Lady Ottoline Morrell and Edward Marsh, with Sir William Rothenstein and Ormond Wilson. Cresswell corresponds with the New Zealand writers Frank Sargeson and John A. Lee; with the poets Ursula Bethell, Basil Dowling and Michael Hamburger. There is a letter to T. E. Lawrence. A love-hate relationship with the historian C. E. Carrington, for many years a publisher with the Cambridge University Press, is portrayed not only in letters but in passages from a long, autobiographical poem now published for the first time.
Cresswell's life, touched by fame, was one of unswerving dedication to poetry. A poet's hopes, disappointments, determination to continue, often in the face of extreme loneliness, and over all a highly individual manner of thinking, may be found in this collection of D'Arcy Cresswell's letters.
Within a year, two books about D'Arcy Cresswell, New Zealand poet and essayist - one, a selection of his letters to friends in the literary worlds of England and New Zealand, "I was not sure whether we had lost a genius or a humbug." and C.E. Carrington, ever ambivalent in his relationship with Cresswell, queried. "Was he charlatan, madman, or genius? In mid-twentieth century we no longer think the categories exclusive and perhaps should not pose the question."Landfall memorial of
Perhaps not - but being posed, the question stands.
What are we now to make of Cresswell, and of his place in New Zealand letters?
Frank Sargeson has said "It is in the nature of things that his work will eventually be judged by those who never knew him as an individual" - and the difficulty now is compounded by the inaccessibility of Cresswell's work, ironic for a poet who so much sought an audience. His verse - by critical consensus held to be undistinguished when measured against the achievement of his younger New Zealand contemporaries Brasch, Curnow, Glover, Fairburn, Mason - is nearly all out of print, although "Cresswell wears the true mask of a poet at odds with his country and his time. The period costume of his style and the bristling particulars combine in a modern statement, rich in general insights." — a judgement to which Sargeson lends qualified support; Finlayson a more enthusiastic advocacy.Voyage of the Hurunui, the last major poem is still available from Caxton, and some of the sonnets from Lyttelton Harbour are anthologised in the Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse. Of the latter, Allen Curnow has commented:
The critics have on the whole been kinder to Cresswell's prose. Much to his own annoyance, he has been chiefly remarked for the autobiographical and metaphysical tracts published in the decade "I was more and more in my labours becoming convinced that what afflicted this world and must overthrow it was a deep and organised cleavage between concrete and abstract (the senses and reason) in our faculties, whose harmony was poetic and the labour of poets, and the only refuge before Mankind."The Poet's Progress, Modern Poetry and the Ideal, Eena Deena Dynamo, and Present Without Leave. Written in a style which blends Carlylean pomp with an almost Coleridgean insight, these works expound a world-view which is at once egocentric and illuminating. In his indictment of contemporaneity - both Old World and New - Cresswell declared in a thesis redolent of Matthew Arnold's Culture and Anarchy:
Man's senses, Creswell argued, had now declined to the pursuit of mere sensation, man's intellect, losing its anchorage in the concrete world of the senses, went flying after false and meaningless abstraction. It would be the function of the artist to yoke them once more into harmonious unity. In this, Cresswell shares the singularly romantic stance which has dominated New Zealand writing since the thirties - a revulsion against our alienated, rationalistic, scientific, materialism, and a declaration for the artist as "Remaining close to the sources of life, they became the spokesmen and guardians of that potential virtue which is the endowment of every human being; they form the unlicensed conscience of society;"vates the messianic deliverer of a new truth. In Landfall 53 Charles Brasch declared similarly of our writers:
It is timely, then, that these books should be published in a period when we are critically reviewing that burgeoning of a New Zealand literature in the '30s, and also experiencing a wider revulsion against the fragmenting materialism which those writers first protested. Finlay- son's work, a close and absorbing examination of Cresswell's thesis, and its expression in poetry and prose, was written at least partly as a stimulus to the republishing of Cresswell's work:
"It is, indeed, part of my purpose to show the importance of Cresswell's view of the modern world, and to hope to arouse enough interest in his work, both the poetry and the other writings, to justify its presentation anew."
Helen Shaw's Selected Letters - as I understand it severely but painstakingly edited at the insistence of the publishers - provides the denouement to Present Without Leave, as Ormond Wilson had suggested in
From these works, a far more compassionate insight into Cresswell's career may be drawn - far more, that is than from the "I am absolutely incapable of sanely judging a creation of my own Imagine the mental state of a hen contemplating her first egg."Landfall tribute which curiously failed to include any statement from Cresswell's confidante D M. Mirams, the "Miranda" of the letters. Cresswell's egoism - obsessive and insufferable - is there as his critics charge (among them Stella Jones, who reviewed the Letters for the Auckland Star under the headline, "Poets Letters are Painful", but it is tempered by humour. In
and forty years later to Michael Hamburger :
"......here on night watch I somehow feel like writing a letter, which means talking about myself, because I'm only vaguely interested in other persons, whereas I'm fairly absorbed and fascinated at myself."
But more often, there is a poignancy in Cresswell's claims - a despair at ambition unrealised, or more properly, at vocation unfulfilled. The "My spirit is strong and right. The times are weak and depraved. There is no doubt who must win in the end."Selected Letters show a developing crisis from the assertion of
to the anguish of rejection and failure and, one suspects, of doubt in himself. It was this, it seems, which produced his final querulous dismissal of New Zealand for its apostasy in "unless, and until, their meanness to me, and ingratitude for all I have done for literature in New Zealand (far surpassing anything poor little Katherine Mansfield has done, as will be found) is publicly and amply revoked."
and of the Old World for its pursuit of false prophets, Eliot, Spencer, Auden, Day Lewis, Pound, against whom Cresswell spent the last decade of his life writing the Trireme Press satires.
Yet there is more than mere poignancy in Cresswell's proud claims. He spent his most fruitful, and assertive, period - "I feel its force and truth and great modesty and delicacy. Yet I would not stay in that region, which was Lawrence's own. I think sex is to art what sleep is to waking life, an unconscious replenishment."Lady Chatterley's Lover:
So finally, how are we to react to Cresswell's claims, and to the judgements - wry and perplexed - of his peers? At first glance, Denis Glover's assessment seems undeniable:
"But let this be said: Cresswell did create a cosmogony, and he was immovably its centre. So much so that everything in orbit was driven out."
True, and yet - in the light of the new evidence presented by Helen Shaw and Roderick Finlayson - only partly so. Let Frank Sargeson's voice be added:
"It goes without saying that neither his work nor anyone else's has discouraged mankind from taking the path which leads to the termination of the human experiment...... For those of us who had ears for D'Arcy Cresswell's warnings, it is as though the gods have admitted their own defeat; but before abdicating they may perhaps have decided to gather to themselves that slight figure of a man who conceived of himself as a poet wholly dedicated to their service."
Kath Walker was born in
Her schooling began at Dunwich on Stradbroke Island, and ended, when aged 13, she was employed as a domestic in Brisbane.
Three years later, Kath was rejected for nurse training because she was an Aborigine. With the onset of World War Two, she served as a telephonist in the A.W.A.S., and married, and when aged 37, she went back to school under a repatriation scheme for servicemen and women, coming out as a stenographer. But it is in the field of literature in particular, that Kath Walker is largely self-taught.
Second only to C.J. Dennis as a best-selling Australian poet, Kath has successfully published four books since We Are Going, Brisbane, The Dawn Is At Hand. Brisbane, My People: a Kath Walker Collection. Milton Queensland, Stradbroke Dreamtime, Brisbane,
The first three books are collections of verse and some of Kath's addresses, all with a principal theme of the Aborigine heritage, and the current state of Australian race relations.
Kath Walker's is no narrow racial outlook. Rather it is a more universalist approach to race. Or as James Devaney expresses it in his foreward to her first book:
"She believes in the common brotherhood of man and dislikes the patrioteer nationalism that divides men."
For example from her verse:
(-"All One Race", My People, page 1.)
In this regard, Kath differs quite substantially from her eldest son, Denis, and other more firebrand younger advocates of Aborigine rights. Yet she too argues for "Black Power" - Aborigine control over their reserve affairs, and title to their ancestral lands.
Stradbroke Dreamtime, a somewhat different departure for Kath, is a collection of personal childhood reminiscences, and Aborigine folk tales, for children. (To be released in New Zealand in conjunction with her visit.)
Though not of full Aborigine blood, and "fully accepted and accepting" in the white community, she puts her race first, and is a dedicated worker for the advancement of Aborigine civil rights.... Until recently Kath was Queensland State Secretary of the Federal Council of the Aboriginal Advancement League, Honorary Secretary for the Queensland State Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and an executive member of the Union of Australian Women. She was a leader in the Aborigine education scholarship fund "Abschol", and took a leading part in the negotiations with Prime Ministers Menzies and Holt which led to the referendum of
In the
Awarded an M.B.E. in
Now widowed, Kath Walker has two married sons, and three grandchildren.
Earlier this year Salient's cover was of a print - The Red Horse — by Gary Tricker. This long overdue feature attempts to give a verbal resume of his art.
Gary Tricker likes to talk about himself. His vocabulary is quite limited though for he does not associate with words. Communication has been delayed by a hearing deficiency which he has had since birth and which caused him to be isolated from his school-mates more than is usual.
Gary still wonders how he came to live at Korokoro on a site from where you can see all Wellington harbour. He favours a high view in his art too— a sort of mother earth approach, by a well-separated child — for he likes the semblance of seeing everything that is going on as it happens.
Mr. Tricker (senior) worked on maintaining railways especially the old Rimutaka track. Gary has always had a liking for railway tracks and for the country they pass through. "The tracks and the country are in contrast to each other". They provide him with a theme that fits in with the old analogy of life as a journey— a philosophy that rests easily in his art — "I look forward to my old age because it is something I can't experience yet"
Transferring a sketch onto a copper plate by etching it with acid, pressing out a first print, arranging colours, then pressing out a final print is a long laborious process; a process that Gary enjoys because he is involved in it right from the beginning to the end and can control it all the way. He designed his hand-controlled press, but he considers it no more than an engraving tool. Lately he is transferring effects that he's been experimenting with in his etching onto hardboard in oil painting. The odd shaped bubbles that are 'bush' on many landscape prints result from placing small pieces of resin onto the copper plate before etching out the design wanted on the print. These shapes Gary now recreates in oil paint as bush in his valleys, sweeping up to high horizons, and gushing out as sky phenomena in fountains of abstract growth. There is no control over the small shape the resin introduces, and Gary capitalises on these 'accidental' blobs to give an impression of chance within the overall pattern— "I like to get lost, but not too lost."
Living things dominate the landscape in paintings and in the prints. Profuse vegetation denies the hills
Gary Tricker continues to make prints and his most exciting work is in this area. There was a recent one on the cover of Salient No. 11., called The Red Horse. That print indicated the source of his 'play-time' visual thinking. When asked who he considers influences him, Gary shuffles out a small book of medieval folk architecture — gypsy caravans and rocking horses. He is a friend of Robert Ellis, art lecturer at Auckland University, and their obvious similarity is the 'eye-of-god' approach. "Well, I haven't read all that much or looked at many other arstists work, but why can't I start something from myself. We are the development of hundreds of years. We must adapt and must be able to adapt to consciously adapt."
The recent prints are in the surrealist school. There is no attempt to fuse reality and imagination. They arc composed of apparently unlike objects adrift but in proximity to each other. Each recognisable clock, 'wind-up' man animal or building seems to have little relation to the others in the print. The dream is intelligible but the parts refuse to collude in any immediate way. One must examine the parts first, and identify something of the symbolic nature of each, before reaching any still elusive meaning.
Sitting in his studio underneath his home on a wet Saturday, Gary showed me a large section of his work. It was not difficult to follow the development of his technique. Early prints are of buildings, railways and roads, man changing the land. They change to fairytale figures, buildings gradually lose 'real' dimension; begin to separate from physical law. Gravity, time and space lose their significance in the even composition of a wonderland where humour and sorrow are balanced. If you are sad, you become melancholic, and if you arc laughing you become happy. In this dreamland pain is an illusion. Every object is living intensely, and they are all having a good time individually, and all at once too.