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Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 7, Issue 1, 2009

Nineteenth-century Māori-language publications relating to the Nelson region

page 24

Nineteenth-century Māori-language publications relating to the Nelson region

Books in Māori, 1815–1900, a comprehensive "The important Māori-language newspapers offer a potentially rich source of regional history". annotated bibliography of nineteenth-century Māori-language publications, was published in 2004.1 Collectively, the more than 1600 items described (nearly 400 for the first time) present a different and interesting perspective on the history of New Zealand during a period of extraordinary change for Māori.

Twenty-two items in Books in Māori relate specifically to the Nelson region, dating from the early days of the New Zealand Company settlement through to the end of the century. This article provides a summary description of these items for the purpose of alerting readers to the material; it does not reproduce the full entries, details, or format as presented in Books in Māori.

The term 'relate specifically to the Nelson region' is used here to identify items that meet one or more of three criteria:

  • • printed or published in what is currently known as the Nelson-Tasman area
  • • written by Nelson-Tasman authors
  • • with content of specific relevance to the Nelson Tasman area

Of course, many other publications included in Books in Māori—for example, the Maori-language government gazette, published for nearly 70 years—would also have page 25included notices and information relating to Māori in the Nelson region. And the important Māori-language newspapers offer a potentially rich source of regional history.2

The Nelson-related publications listed here fall broadly into two categories: Practical & Administrative (including legislation) and Religious. The listing follows that pattern, with items described in chronological order within each category, prefaced by the unique reference number from Books in Māori (e.g. BIM 113).

A Practical & Administrative

BIM 113 (1842)
Author/Title: Martin, Sir William, Ki nga rangatira Maori katoa e noho ana ki Poneke, 27 Akatopa 1842. […] Na to koutou hoa, na te Matenga, na te Tino Kai Whakarongo. Ki nga rangatira o Poneke no Wakatu.
Printer/Publisher: Probably printed in Wellington at the office of the New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator.
Description: 1 p. A short circular letter from the Chief Justice addressed to the chiefs of Wellington and Nelson. He cautions against using blankets intended for bedding as cloaks, because they get wet and the wearer gets sick. Warm clothes such as the Pākehā wears are recommended.
BIM 203 (1844)
Author/Title: Fitzgerald, John Patrick, He pukapuka na te rata o nga tangata Maori o Poneke. […]
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by Charles Elliott.
Description: 1 p. A circular letter by the Colonial Surgeon to Wellington Māori, presumably also circulated in Nelson. It warns against making pregnant women carry heavy loads or do hard work, and offers advice on clothing and the care of mothers and babies.
BIM 209 (1844)
Author/Title: Matthews, Joseph, He painga mo te tinana. He mea pai tenei mo te tangata Maori kia wakatupu i te witi, hei witi kai, hei witi hoko.page 26
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by Charles Elliott.
Description: 1 p. An exhortation to Māori to grow wheat for food and commerce, and to farm sheep for making woollen clothing. Matthews was a Church Missionary Society missionary at Kāitāia.
BIM 250 (1845)
Author/Title: N.Z. Southern Division. Wakarongo mai. Na te mea, kua puta mai he tautohetohenga mo te paenga o te whenua (o te Whakaminenga o Nui Tireni) i "Whakapuaka;" […] Naku, Na te Ritimona, Wakatu, Hanuere 27, 1845. Te Kawana o Poneke.
Printer/Publisher: Probably printed in Nelson at the Nelson Examiner office.
Description: 1 p. With parallel English text headed: '(Translation.) Notice. Whereas, a dispute has appeared, concerning the boundary of the lands (of the New Zealand Company) at "Wakapuaka," […]'.
A brief notice issued by Mathew Richmond, Superintendent of the Southern Division, confirming that the boundary cut by surveyors on a block at Whakapuaka, accorded with that shown on the plan. Translated by Thomas Forsaith.
BIM 520 (1860)
Author/Title: N.Z. Native Secretary's Office, Ki nga rangatira Maori me nga iwi Maori katoa o tenei motu. Ware o te Hoa Hekeretari Maori, Aorere, Taitapu, Akuhata 20, 1860. E aku hoa, e nga rangatira me nga tangata | Maori o te Wahi Pounamu. […]
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson at the Nelson Examiner office.
Description: 2 p. With parallel English text headed: '(Translation.) Assistant Native Secretary's Office, Collingwood, Golden Bay, Aug. 20, 1860. My friends, the chiefs and Maori people of the Middle Island—'
A circular letter to Southern Māori from James Mackay (Jnr), denying rumours of revenge for deaths in Taranaki (resulting from the Waitara land dispute) and the impending arrival of troops.
Probably also translated by Mackay.page 27
BIM 922 (1878)
Author/Title: Thomas, Edward Croft Greenway, Riotewari: He kupu whakamarama mo nga raruraru o nga whenua Maori.
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by R. Lucas and Son.
Description: 11 p. Translation by Rev T. S. Grace (Jnr), of Ryotwarry: A solution of the Maori land question. Thomas, an ex-India Service judge, proposes adopting the South Indian Ryotwarree land tenure system, a form of tenancy where Māori would be the landlord and Europeans the tenants, but with an intermediary commissioner.
BIM 1185 (1887)
Author/Title: N.Z. [Legislation], Rahui Maori o te Hauauru me Whakatu (Wai-pounamu): He Ture hei tuku tikanga whakahaere mo nga rahui Maori i te Hauauru me Whakatu.
Printer/Publisher: Printed and published in Wellington by the Government Printer.
Description: 6 p. Translation of Westland and Nelson Native Reserves Act 1887, providing for lease arrangements administered by the Public Trustee on West Coast and Nelson reserve lands.
BIM 1337 (1892)
Author/Title: N.Z. [Legislation], Rahui Maori o te Tai Hauauru o te Waipounamu me Whakatu.
Printer/Publisher: Printed and published in Wellington by the Government Printer.
Description: 6 p. Reprint with minor textual changes of the Westland and Nelson Native Reserves Act 1887 (see preceding entry).

B Religious

BIM 529 (1861)
Author/Title: Beveridge, William, Te whakaminenga ki te whare karakia. He kupu ki nga tangata Maori.
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by R. Lucas.
Description: 4 p. Translation of The congregation in the church, a tractpage 28
by Bishop Beveridge, Bishop of St Asaph, a noted seven teenth-century Calvinistic preacher who made efforts to develop the colonial church in India.
BIM 918 (1878)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, Parikarangaranga o te arohanoa. Kua hou rawa ki toku ngakau.
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by R. Lucas & Son. Published by James Deck (Snr) of Motueka.
Description: 1 p. Translation of You cut me deep, a tract on salvation. Stanley was a Sheffield (UK) merchant whose tracts were popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. This is the first in a series of 10 Brethren tracts printed by Lucas & Son. All were translated by Joseph Goadby Baker (a teacher at Motueka Native School) for James Deck (Snr) of Motueka who established Brethren assemblies in New Zealand in the 1850s.
For more about the Deck family see Max D. Lash, Nelson notables 1840–1940 (Nelson Historical Society, 1992). Some tracts in the series were reprinted later in Auckland and Wellington.
BIM 919 (1878)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, Nga kara e toru.
Description: 2 p. Translation of The three flags. No. 2 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 930 (ca 1879)
Title: Te haerenga mai o te Ariki. Te tangohanga ake o te Hahi. Nga whakawakanga ki muri. A ko reira te kingitanga o te kotahi mano tau. Me te whakaahua hei whakamarama.
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by R. Lucas & Son.
Description: 11 p. Illustrated. Translation by J. G. Baker of an unidentified original text on Christ's second coming. Probably also from a Brethren source associated with James Deck, though not part of the series referred to above (BIM 918).page 29
BIM 951 (1879)
Author/Title: North, Brownlow, Na te Atua ake tona whakaaro ki te tono mai i a Ihu.
Description: 3 p. Translation of God chose to send Jesus. No. 7 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 956 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, Etahi kupu marama. "Ka rite hoki ki nga ra i a Noa."
Description: 3 p. Translation of As it was in the days of Noah. No. 3 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 957 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, He taro maka ki te mata o nga wai. Na wai te he?
Description: 2 p. Translation of Who is to blame? No. 4 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 958 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, Etahi kupu marama. Naamana, te repera, me ona rukunga i te Awa o Horano.
Description: 4 p. Translation of Naaman the Syrian. No. 5 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 959 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, Eta hi kupu marama. "Ka rite ki nga ra i a Rota."·
Description: 4 p. Translation of As it was in the days of Lot. No. 6 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 960 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, I ruia ki roto ki nga tataramoa.
Description: 3 p. Translation of Sown among the thorns. No. 8 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM 961 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, He taro maka ki te mata o nga wai.
Description: 2 p. Translation of If thou knewest the gift of God. No. 9 in tract series (see BIM 918).page 30
BIM 962 (1879)
Author/Title: Stanley, Charles, Te nakahi parahi.
Description: 4 p. Translation of The serpent of brass. No. 10 in tract series (see BIM 918).
BIM S41 & S42 (1898–1899)
Title: He kupu whakamarama.
Printer/Publisher: Printed in Nelson by Bond, Finney, and Co.; published by the Church of England.
Description: 17 issues (3–7 p.), numbered 1–17 (March 1898–July 1899). Issues from no. 11 onwards have the additional title Te Pipi-wharauroa ('Shining cuckoo'), under which it continued until 1913 (BIM S42).
Monthly Anglican newspaper ('Words of enlightenment'), edited by Rev Frederick Augustus Bennett, assistant curate at All Saints Church, Nelson. Bennett, educated in Nelson and who went on to become New Zealand's first Māori bishop, was in 1899 called to Taranaki, which ended his editorship and saw production move to Gisborne. For more about Bennett, see Bennett, Manu A., 'Bennett, Frederick Augustus 1871–1950', Dictionary of New Zealand biography, updated 22 June 2007. (URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/)
Under Bennett's editorship the paper provided guidance on scriptural interpretation, as well as miscellaneous news, prohibitionist articles, obituaries, letters and accounts of meetings.
page 31

References

1Parkinson, Phil & Penny Griffith, compilers, Books in Māori, 1815–1900: An annotated bibliography = Ngā tānga reo Māori, 1815–1900; compiled in the Alexander Turnbull Library (Auckland, Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, 2004).

Nelson Public Library has a copy in its Maori Heritage reference collection.

Copies of all the items described in the bibliography (with a few exceptions) are available for reference use at the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. I appreciate the support of the Library and the publisher (now Raupo Publishing (NZ), part of the Penguin Group (NZ)) in granting permission to use material from Books in Māori.

2Used as a source, for example, by Robert Jenkin in his article 'Anatoki Gold', New Zealand memories, no. 70 (February/March 2008), p. 38–45. Further information about the newspapers can be found in two works, both published by Auckland University Press and both edited by Jenifer Curnow, Ngapare Hopa & Jane McRae: Rere atu, taku manu! Discovering history, language and politics in the Maori-language newspapers (2002), and He pitopito kārero nā te perehi Māori: Readings from the Maori-language press (2006).

Remote access to the newspapers themselves is available in Niupepa 1842–1933 (microfilm or microfiche), which can be either borrowed on interloan through the library system, or purchased from the Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington. A searchable digital version is also available through an online database hosted by the University of Waikato (http://www.nzdl.org/niupepa).