archives
TE PUTATARA
A Newsletter
for The Kumara Vine
P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand
ISSN 0114-2097 - Issue No.04/89 20 April 1989
"Ki te whai te mana Maori motuhake i runga i te kotahitanga me te tino rangatiratanga i roto i Te Tiriti o Waitangi."
Ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi, tena koe.
Ki te kaupapa o Te Kotahitanga Maori, tena koe.
E nga iwi o te motu, e nga hau e wha,
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
How do you like the nice new Maori colour?
After much deliberation I decided to go for red as a distinctive colour for Te Putatara just to make it stand out a bit. I think it looks good anyway. Let me know what you think.
As far as I'm aware the only problem with using coloured paper instead of white is that it doesn't photocopy as well. That's an easy problem to get over though. I've included a copy of a subscription form (on white paper) so you can photocopy that to anyone who still wants to get a copy of Te Putatara.
The other way to get over the photocopying problem is to negotiate a special price for organisations that would still like to get white copies. Just work out how many photocopies you take from the original and I'll work out a special price for you.
Another approach is ask me for a special price for multiple copies. I'm sure my special bulk prices would interest you.
Any paying subscriber who can't read red please let me know and we'll try another colour just for you.
Apart from the colour nothing else has changed at all.
More news and views from Wellington, an article on those cheap loans that keep popping up, and the start of a series on the secrets of the Freemasons. This tale will take some months to tell. It could rival the Dungeon Bar.
I must thank the kumara vine for the letters and information that you send me. Your information, ideas and support makes Te Putatara possible. This is your newsletter.
Enjoy your read.
Kia ora
Ross Himona
THIS MONTH
Fan Mail.......................... 2
Wellington Watch.................. 3
Cheap Money....................... 5
Te Pukeko......................... 6
Secrets of Freemasonry............ 7
Tu Tangata: Stood Up.............. 8
Dun Mihaka's new book............. 9
Dispatches from the Dungeon....... 10
Fan Mail
The Editor.
Dear Sir,
Your circular letter of 23 January (received on 27/2/89) was considered by my Council at its meeting on 15 March, when it was resolved that an annual subscription be made to your publication provided that all of the material therein, is accompanied by an English language translation.
Your early confirmation of this latter provision will see my Council's $45.00 subscription forthcoming in due course.
R.M.ELLEY
Chief Executive/County Clerk,
Buller County Council,
Westport.
*
Dear Sir,
Thank you for letter of 17 March concerning a subscription to my newsletter, Te Putatara.
I must say that I was delighted to learn that your Council has adopted a policy of bilingualism. Please convey to them my heartiest congratulations.
As to their request that all material in Te Putatara be accompanied by an English translation I will be only too pleased to comply, assuming of course that the Buller County Council now also intends to print its publications in Maori as well as English.
Your early confirmation of this provision will see my grateful acceptance of your Council's proposition.
Ross Himona.
##
Dear Ross,
"The Struggle"
The ropes are tightening
around our hopes and dreams,
It's so frustrating to know that we
are no nearer to release
Than we were 150 years ago.
We have stood up for our rights
and have been brushed aside
As tho' we didn't matter.
Go back to sleep Maori,
your affairs are safe in our hands.
But the rising tide of our mana
is before us,
Arise Maori and be proud
and stand tall,
Too long have we been overlooked,
Let us use our intellect,
our oratory powers and shrewdness,
And great strength of purpose
to gain our independence
And hold onto our destiny.
Violence and bloodshed
are a thing of the past.
Hold fast to our Maoritanga,
For within it is our freedom.na Yvonne Paretainga Castle
Ngati Paoa-Ngati Maniapoto.
Pokeno.
Subscription Agents
Are you interested in selling subscriptions for Te Putatara?
By selling on commission you could earn yourself extra income. The amount would depend entirely on your sales. Would anyone interested please write to Ross Himona, P.O.Box 408, Wellington.
Wellington Watch
A Round-up of Capital Events
Tamati Bows Out
Dr Reedy recently announced to his staff that he would not be applying for the job of General Manager of the Iwi Transition Agency. The kumara vine reports that he has not yet found anywhere else to go.
Well Tamati, you could always start up your own newsletter. Or you could come and join me as my sales manager. We'd make a good team you know. We're both porangi eh. With my talent, and your public relations skills, we could take on the world.
Maori Affairs Restructuring Bill
This new act demolishes Te Antient and Gracious Old Department of Maori Affair and replaces it with te Iwi Transition Agency (ITA). The Land Court is mainstreamed to the Department of Justice, The Board of Maori Affairs is demolished, and te ITA takes over Maori Land Development from the Board.
All of this is to happen on 1st October 1989.
Pukeko Peters jumped up and down (just like Pakura) and declared that this would all be overturned when he became the boss. Then the National MP's deluged the media with press releases trying to kick up another big race relations fuss, but most of the media ignored them.
The kumara vine has come in with a strong tip that Bob Henare will be the General Manager of the ITA. Te Putatara can't comment yet.
Iwi Authorities Bill
The next Act to be introduced to Parliament will supposedly empower Iwi Authorities. The kumara vine reckons that there's going to be some unhappy Iwi Authorities around when this one comes out. Apparently the ITU/PPU people who have been working on this one can't agree on major policy. A whisper off the kumara vine also says that John Clarke has been having some sort of say in it too. Have any of you Iwi Authorities seen him out there?
One of the most persistent stories is that some sort of regional organisation will be introduced.
Partnership Responsiveness Unit
The State Services Commission has set up the PRU as its contribution to the conversion of the State Sector from a monocultural kingdom into a bicultural partnership.
It reminds me of old-time country dances. The Pakeha mothers used to let us partner their daughters in the Gay Gordons, but when the time came to get serious they were only allowed to go home with the young Pakeha men. "Ladies and Gentlemen, please take your partners for the Responsiveness."
We'll have to keep an eye on this lot, to see who they go home with. ICU2PRU!
National Capers
Te Pukeko and his National mates (colleagues anyway) continue to shoot down genuine Maori aspirations whilst trying at the same time to appear to represent "mainstream" Maori opinion.
MP's such as Meurant, Carter, Banks, Burdon and East have been remarkably restrained over the last few months while Winnie Te Pukeko takes up the running to "represent" Maoridom.
At a recent political meeting in Tamaki Makaurau Peters and Muldoon even had Whina Cooper sitting in just the right spot so Winnie could give her a big kiss in front of the TV cameras, and in front of all the Pakeha audience.
If the National Party don't watch out Rob Muldoon's final act of revenge on his monocultural caucus might be to make himself Prime Minister again; disguised as a Maori.
A lame duck disguised as a pukeko eh.
Labour Capers
Old Roger Douglas and Richard Prebble and Trev de Cleene and Alan Gibbs and Bevan Burgess and the Funnybone Club don't seem to be having much success in their campaign to recapture New Zealand. Have you noticed the similarities between Roger Douglas and Rob Muldoon now that they've both had a taste of the old heave-ho? Both still convinced of their own righteousness, and both now being blamed for the ills of the country.
The 1990 Elections
National sure are confident that they're going to win by default aren't they? Well, don't write Labour off yet. Now that they've rid themselves of Roger Douglas & Co they are still in with a chance.
Labour has been given it's big fright in the opinion polls and it will spend the next eighteen months setting up an election victory.
There is no way National, if it is led by Bolger or Peters, can get it's act together. Neither of them has any depth, or the ability to build a united team. And unity, even if only temporary, is essential. National will remain a rabble as long as they keep their talent on the back benches and their dross up front.
There is no doubt that Labour still has the discipline to get over it's infighting and the talent to pull a surprise or two out of the hat. They'll need to work hard though, even with Maoridom. When every Maori whanau in the country is hit hard by unemployment you have to be mad to vote for the parties (National and Labour) that did it to you.
My vote still goes to the Mad Hatters Tea Party.
1990 Celebrations
While there is considerable disquiet in Maoridom about whether or not to celebrate 1990, and what to celebrate, the fact remains that they are giving away money for nothing. Don't worry about being bought off - be in. Celebrate the ridiculousness of the whole 1990 fiasco. Celebrate yourself. Just don't celebrate anything to do with the things Bassett is trying to get people to celebrate.
Unfortunately Te Putatara has a policy of being absolutely beholden to nobody, otherwise I might have been in too.
Publications
Don't forget to subscribe to Te Iwi O Aotearoa, our only Maori newspaper. $24 for 12 issues from P.O.Box 14-463, Panmure, Auckland.
Nga Korero o te Wa is a fortnightly magazine summary of Maori news from all over the country published by Commercial Intelligence Ltd, P.O.Box
34-498, Auckland#.
Cheap Money
Did you hear about the interest free loans available overseas? Did you hear about low interest loans being offered around the place?
Did you ever wonder where all this cheap money comes from?
Well, most of the time it doesn't exist and when someone offers you a chance to make a quick return for your investment they're setting you up for a con. Usually this type of con requires you to make a small investment in return for an opportunity to gain access to large amounts of low interest, or interest free, loan money.
Sometimes it really does exist. However if any of these deals were straight up and down you'd expect the banks to be involved wouldn't you? After all they're the biggest sharks in the country; always on the make to turn over a quick dollar or two.
Organised crime, particularly the Sydney connection, always has spare cash to "invest" in businesses, particularly in clubs, casinos, and other entertainment related ventures. This is called laundering. Quite a few of our very own Maori con artists have connections with the Sydney underworld so be particularly careful of self styled entrepreneurs who return from Australia. We have records of a few who sometimes front for the Sydney connection. Once those crooks over there get their hooks into you or your business you've lost all control.
Of course we have our very own crooks who need to launder their money but they don't seem to have as much to lay around.
So much for the small time.
The really big money floating around the world is also dirty.
Three of the biggest sources of cheap money are the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), and the Columbian drug barons. These are three of the biggest businesses in the world today. When you get an offer for large overseas loans there is every possibility that one of these will be the Source.
The use of Columbian drug money to provide cheap loans is a straight laundering operation. These days many governments are on the watch for their operations and big prosecutions are taking place in the USA, Switzerland and Luxembourg.
The IRA and PLO are such big businesses that they need to invest their money wisely. Not surprisingly most governments wont have a bar of them so they use as many undercover avenues as possible. These two are also heavily into buying favours and favourable publicity.
So what's wrong with their money, you might ask. Nothing I suppose.
However you should be aware that Governments keep a close eye on the movement of money around the world. The SIS, CIA, KGB etc are not the only intelligence agencies around. The world banking system is also an excellent source of intelligence that governments use to watch over everyone. Treasury and the Reserve Bank are plugged into this system.
Don't expect Government to tell you when they're going to pull the plug on one of your offshore schemes. It will just happen. They're not there to help you, you know#.
Te Pukeko
(Also known as Pakura)
He pakura ki te po, he kaka ki te ngahere.
(Pakura at night, kaka in the forest.)
The pukeko and the kaka both cry in the night giving warning of the passing hours.
With its double breasted suit of dark blue feathers and bright red head the pukeko is a handsome bird. In days past it inhabited the heavens before it descended to earth to live in swamps and other low areas.
When the atua Tawhaki went up to the heavens he met Pakura and Matuku (the bittern) coming down to look for a cool place to live on Earth because the Heavens had been dried up by the sun and were becoming too hot. Pakura had a bloodstain on his forehead and Tawhaki asked how Pakura had been wounded. Matuku said that Pakura had been caught stealing and eating some kaimoana that belonged to Tamaiwaho, and Tamaiwaho had belted Pakura on the head and ripped off some skin.
So Pakura the pukeko wears his badge of shame to this day. And he is still a thief.
Down on Earth the pukeko proceeded to make a pest of himself because he was always hanging around the kumara vines and he used to do a lot of damage to the crops, eh. But if you built a fence you could keep him out, because he wasn't smart enough to know that he could fly just well enough to get over the fence and stick his beak into someone else's garden.
In some places they used to put a guard on the garden and they had a hard time chasing Pakura away because he always came back to put his beak where it wasn't wanted. Have you noticed the way he pokes his head around the corner for a bit of a sticky before he struts across to do his damage to your crops.
These days he has also developed a taste for strawberries and likes to stick his beak into your strawberry business. So you have to learn some lessons from the old days about how to deal with him.
The pukeko is pretty easy to catch in a snare. The snare you use is a running noose suspended from a horizontal cord. You put it across his usual walk path at head height and he just struts along looking down his nose and before he knows it his head is in the noose and it tightens around his throat. Even when he sees a snare he's not bright enough to back off but he keeps on trying to go round it. So you put more than one snare there, and sure enough, when he goes round the one he has seen he gets caught in another one.
However, since the arrival of the Pakeha the best way to get rid of Te Pukeko is to give him both barrels of the shotgun. Right up the you-know-what.
Once you've caught him you put him in a hangi. E hoa ma, don't put any other kai in with him because he will just eat it all up. Leave him there for about three years. You will still hear him crying in the night but take no notice; if you let him out he will go straight back to your kumara or strawberry garden to poke his nose where its not wanted. After about three years dig up the hangi, throw away the pukeko, and eat the stones#.
The Secrets of The Freemasons
Freemasonry is the world's largest secret society although Freemasons deny that it is a secret organisation. They claim it is merely a society with secrets.
Freemasonry was started in Britain and then spread to other European countries. Naturally enough it spread with the British Empire to all continents and is very well entrenched in the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. It is an international brotherhood of the dominant white male. It is one of those remnants of Empire that indigenous peoples everywhere will need to break down over the coming years. The white female will also never be truly liberated until this bastion of male exclusivity is breached.
Since a short piece I wrote about the Freemasons last October the kumara vine has been hard at work uncovering these secrets. We now have a source within and the secrets have been revealed. The vine has also identified a number of Maori who have been trying to recruit new Maori members to their lodges.
The first thing to be said about the secrets of Freemasonry is that they are a lot of humbug and small boys, games. Freemasons pretend that their rituals are deeply rooted in the past, but they were in fact manufactured when the "Craft" was established in the seventeenth century. Their rituals ("workings") revolve around supposed happenings during the building of King Solomon's Temple, but they are for the most part an elaborate fabrication.
What are the secrets?
Most of you would have heard about the secret handshakes or "grips" that Freemasons use to identify themselves to each other. They also have secret passwords, signs, and ceremonies. When you know what you are looking for it is easy to identify Freemasons because they display their signs all the time to identify themselves to their brother masons.
When they go to lodge meetings at their Temples they must first be able to prove that they are properly initiated masons so they have to identify themselves to the guard at the door by means of their secret signs. The guard is called a Tyler and is armed with a sword. There is also an Inner Guard who is armed with a dagger.
Freemasonry consists of three craft degrees or grades; Entered Apprentice, Fellow Craft, and Master Mason. Each of these grades has its own level of secrets so that an Entered Apprentice may not enter the Temple when it is open in the Third Degree (ie for Master Masons). The Tyler on the door sorts out the sheep from the goats.
There are secret rituals of initiation into each of these degrees and during these ceremonies the mason is taught the secrets which apply to that degree.
Over the next few months the ceremonies of opening and closing the lodge in each degree, the ceremonies of initiation into each degree, and the secret signs and passwords of each degree will be revealed in Te Putatara.
I have discovered why these things are kept secret from women. Any self respecting woman would laugh her head off if she saw what goes on at these lodge meetings#.
Tu Tangata: Being Stood Up
by Wari Anonymouse
(This TOP SECRET bedtime story was found in a DMA file in the broom cupboard)
Once upon a time in Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara there was Bob and Ben and the flower pot men, and they all lived in Te Pi-hive on Te Hill.
One day Bob and Ben thought to themselves why don't we do something for te Tangata Whenua. So they got up this komiti, and they put Kira in charge to look at te Tangata Whenua; again. In no time te komiti told Bob and Ben they recommend that te Tangata Whenua need to be Stood Up. So they come up with this recipe for lots of programme to have te Tangata Whenua stood up, and then they gave it a very creative Tari Maori name called Tu Tangata.
As coincidence would have it Kira was appointed to lead Te Tari to stand up te Tangata Whenua. So then we had Kira, Tim and Nimble in Te Tari. Then te Tangata Whenua were into Kokiri, Kohanga, Wananga and all those other worthy Tangata Whenua pursuits. But Kira got itchy feet; or an itchy something, and off he went. So Tim took over Te Tari.
Meantime Bob and Ben had ridden off into te sunset. Into Te Pi-hive came Ra and Weta to be nga bosses for their turn. Very soon Tim and Nimble got this real bright idea. You see, te Tangata Whenua needed heaps of moni to fill in all sorts of gaps like te Whare gap, te Matauranga gap, te Mahi gap: you name a gap and te Tangata Whenua had te gap. Well after a little bit of careful planning and a big bit of some other sort of planning off went Tim and Nimble and ordered millions of moni from te Tangata Whenua's relations overseas.
Only raruraru was they forget to get te permission from te Pakeha Treasury and te Pakeha Cabinet. You see those Pakeha fullah are very funny about thing like that, especially where te Tangata Whenua are concerned. Te Tangata Whenua might become self reliant and not need te Pakeha Kawanatanga any more. Heaven forbid!
Now te Hoariri of Ra and Weta's Kawanatanga had this fullah named Pita Leak, and somehow or other this Pita got wind of Tim and Nimble's plan. Before you could say "Pita Leak" this hush hush info was all over te motu and in no time at all te iwi were bombarded by te Loans Ahea.
Big Ra was beside himself (when you got a puku that big you're always beside yourself). Anyway he was wild as. This business was making his kawanatanga look real porangi.
However he soon came up with a real bright number to fix this, and so was born te new kupu, Te Devolution. Some of these Tangata Whenua are real cynics; they call it Te Demolition and say that Ra's not talking straight to te Tangata Whenua.
Then we had an Implementation Komiti; for a little while anyway.
After that, two Rangapu comics, te Green and te Yellow were printed for the light bedtime edification of te Iwi, and lo and beheld some new kararehe was created all over te place: ITA, ITU, PPU, Phiu!
After all this, te Tangata Whenua is expected to believe in Tuku Rangatiratanga. But those Tangata Whenua, some of them haven't got it yet. You see, te moral of te story is that they've been stood up. Which is about where this tale started eh#
News Release: A New Book by Dun Mihaka
(The editor has not yet read the book.
The views herein are those of Te Ringa Mangu Ltd)
"Dun Mihaka has completed the writing of his second book, Ki te wheiao, ki te ao-marama (From the dark of night, to the light of day). Never before has anyone in this country addressed the religious practices of Maori as obstructive to innovative political thought and action. He uses the ultimate ritual of the tangihanga to illustrate the vulnerability of Maori in the face of their own rituals and customs which, for the most part, have been hijacked by Christianity."
"Ki te wheiao, ki te ao-marama is autobiographical in the way Mihaka uses his own experiences of tangihanga to illustrate his point. Yet, in the second part, it is philosophical where he engages in an analysis of the reasons for and origins of religion in respect of the development of man, nature and society."
"The theoretic framework that Mihaka uses could go a long way towards the formation of a new ideology for Maori in particular and New Zealanders in general - one that will put the Maori-Pakeha debate into its proper perspective and give due emphasis to the haves and the have-nots."
"Mihaka knows and recognises spiritual phenomena. He also appreciates the fact that many people are bound to religion and its practices. His main concern in writing Ki te wheiao, ki te ao-marama is not to attack these things but to point to the urgency with which Maori in particular must adopt a rational world view if there is to be any hope at all that they will be lifted from the scrap heap where the last 150 years have left them. His motive then is an overriding compassion for, and a fierce commitment to the well-being and political effectiveness of Maori."
"Mihaka's latest book will no doubt be seen by many in New Zealand as Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses is seen in Iran, yet his commitment to Maoridom over the last two decades through active protest speaks for itself. Ki te wheiao, Ki te ao-marama is nothing less than a statement on the condition of the Maori people and Mihaka's view of the reasons for that. It should be read and accepted as a contribution to the intellectual enhancement of Maori and the nature of the society they find themselves in."
"Given that he sold 5000 copies of his first publication - Whakapohane in 1984-86, and that Ki te wheiao, ki te ao-marama, simply states what many people already have on their minds it too should be a best seller."
"Ki te wheiao, ki te ao-marama will be sold by the writer himself - traveling from one end of the country to the other - as he did with Whakapohane."
na Marama Laurenson
Te Ringa Mangu Limited
P.O.Box 3662
Wellington.
Telephone: (04)764-907(Further information may be obtained from Marama - Ed).
Personal
Fat Man, where have you been these last few weeks? Missing you, Jake.
Dispatches from the Dungeon
What a party! Te Maori Affair had a big demolition party on the 31st March to mark the end of their guaranteed employment with Te State Sector. Much to the surprise of many, including Te Hekeretari, guess who turned up to help them celebrate? Te Putatara of course.
You should have seen some of the startled looks eh. I went along disguised as myself. E hoa ma, you would have thought I was wearing my Satan disguise. One guy almost pee'd himself. He might work in te PPU eh. Well he never PPMe I can tell you.
Tamati didn't stay very long. At least he turned up though - four of his five deputies didn't even bother. Perhaps they were afraid of having to perform with their leader on the stage. Oh well. They don't know how to perform at the best of times do they? Senior Deputy Secretary Tom Parore made up for them all with some spirited performances once the guitars came out later. Wonder if he would subscribe if I caught him while he's in a party mood?
First up on stage were Housing & MANA & MACCESS & Vocational Training with a song about Te Devolution and how they did it their way anyway way way before Te Rest of them. They gave a mihi to Te Putatara and Te Pukeko, and to two former leaders of MANA and MACCESS that they're not supposed to talk to anymore. Naughty people!
Another group who didn't announce who they were sang a song about Tamati and Neville:
"There's a hole in Te Tari, Tamati, Tamati, There's a hole in Te Tari, Tamati, a hole."
"Well plug it dear Neville, Dear Neville, Well plug it dear Neville, plug it." Etc, etc.
(Te Tari is just like a bucket too; the biggest hole is at the top eh!)
One of the star turns was put on by the Aerobics group. There they were jumping around in their leotards when all of a sudden they did Te Maori Affairs Whakapohane! That's when you show your bum but keep your pants on so no-one can see your secrets eh.
While everyone was watching the acts I slipped out and crept up to the seventh floor to see if there were any messages for me in the broom cupboard. No-one noticed me sneaking around because we had a brilliant Sun Tzu strategy to cover my absence. Te Real MAIA (Maori Alliance Intelligence Agency) was putting on a real funny act down at the party to keep them distracted while I was away. Sorry, I can't tell you which act it was. Pai kare, they're intelligent in Te Real MAIA.
The other MAIA (Te Maori Affair Intelligence Agency) was nowhere to be seen. I bet they were sneaking around looking for a blind Scot with a limp in both legs. Set a blind man to catch a blind man eh?
And would you believe it? After all the acts were over someone came and asked if they could borrow my master key because they couldn't get into their office. The insult! As if I need a key to get around. I was trained at Te Aute College you know.
Te Putatara is published by Te Aute Publications, P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand. $45 for 12 issues.