The Things that are Maori.

One of the Franconia tourists who visited Rotorua and other show-places on the recent visit of the Cunard luxury liner to New Zealand, was delighted with most of the things she saw and heard, but there was one little complaint, or rather not so much a complaint as a polite hint. She said she and her friends would have preferred to hear the Maori women entertainers at Rotorua sing their own songs and use their own music rather than that of the pakeha. Her remarks are, in effect, those which have been made by many visitors. They come to New Zealand for the features which they cannot get in other countries, and they are always pleased with the purely Maori side. They don't want to listen to “Home Sweet Home” and “Sally Horner” from Maori singers. That sort of thing can be done much better by English or Americans. “We want something thoroughly Maori.”

That, too, is the burden of the views expressed by many New Zealanders as well as passing visitors. The charm and novelty of Maori singing and dancing should not be spoiled by the introduction of the pakeha element.