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Appendix

Judge James Alexander Wilson, of the Native Land Court, levelled a very serious charge at the Maori people, in his book, Te Waharoa. He said Maoris did not know how to be grateful, that the phrase, “Thank you!” was foreign to them. Because of this failing in the Maori character, according to Judge Wilson, the Maori had no word for gratitude in his language, and the word “Whakawhetai,” often used nowadays to convey the idea of gratitude, was borrowed from Tahiti. It was not a Maori word at all.

In one of Shakespeare's plays (“As You Like It”), because of the intrigues of his brother to secure for himself the estate, the Duke, with his family and his friends, went out to live in the forest of Arden. Here they lived happily, having left behind them envy, intrigues and evils of the world, forgetting, too, the discomforts of forest life. Even in winter they still enjoyed themselves, regardless of the falling snow and the howling gales. They still kept up their singing—

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen.
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot;
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.

One might infer from his complaints of ingratitude and the absence of consideration that Shakespeare had a taste of the cruel teeth of ingratitude.

During the Hauhau war on the East Coast in 1865 a powerful chief chose to stand by the Government. The rebels were defeated. And the prisoners would have been slaughtered at the instigation of another loyal chief if the aforesaid chief had not intervened. He said to the prisoners: “Let each tribe go home to re-kindle its fire.” Although the majority of the Ngati-Porou Tribe threw in their lot with the rebellious movement, they did not lose a single acre by confiscation, as other tribes suffered. The Government did take steps to confiscate the land, but the page 100 chief firmly stood in the way. The Government even went as far as to offer the chief a large sum of money in consideration of the services of the friendly natives. This was his reply: “Take your money away, I don't want it; the fight was mine, not the pakeha's.” And it is known this chief never entered the Native Land Court.

Where can we find such magnanimity? But it was not appreciated. This chief did not get a single acre of the lands he saved. And, what is worse, his descendants were mobbed in the Native Land Court. They lost their lands where once their forbears flourished, they lost their three cemeteries and the ashes of their sires. The whole thing is a tragedy.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot;
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.

—Translated from the Maori journal, Te Reo o Aotearoa, March, 1929.

Judge F. O. V. Acheson, sitting as a member of the Native Appellate Court at Tikitiki in 1933 to hear petitions in the Kautuku or Marangairoa 1 D. case, said to the Ngati-Porou Tribe, in these words:

“Perhaps you people do not realise how fortunate you have been that you had Mokena Kohere as a friend at court to plead your cause, to stand between your lands and confiscation. If you knew what plight other tribes are in to-day because of the loss of their lands through confiscation by the Government you would appreciate your good fortune.”