archives
TE PUTATARA
A Newsletter
for The Kumara Vine
P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand
ISSN 0114-2097 - Issue No.05/89 20 May 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.
Ozymandias
"I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
`My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away".
Here at Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara I am often reminded of this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Wellington is a political city where the politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists and media build and protect their powerful yet temporary empires on a base of shifting sand. It is a short-sighted city.
The decisions that are made in these empires affect the daily lives of us all. In the long term those decisions are usually bad, for they are made as short-sighted responses to long-term situations.
The social, economic and political philosophies and decisions of the last one hundred and forty-nine years have made most of the tangata whenua landless and jobless today. To many Pakeha, we are also worthless. Our land and our seas have been ravaged, our environment mercilessly confronted. All this in just 149 years.
They haven't done very well have they?
Kia ora
Ross Himona
THIS MONTH
Fan Mail.......................... 2
Wellington Watch.................. 3
A Strategy from the North......... 6
Belief: A Power Strategy.......... 7
Why the Pakeha Fear the Iwi....... 9
Secrets of Freemasonry Part II.... 10
Dispatches from the Dungeon Bar... 12
Fan Mail
Look Ross,
We can't get our people into HEAVEN,
We can only try to keep them out of HELL!
So, less on the gossip,
And more on the substance
And TE AO MARAMA is ours for the taking.
Philosopher-in-Residence,
The Dungeon Bar.E koro, thank you for your advice, and thank you even more for the sub. Are you sure you don't want your own regular column?
#
Mr Editor,
Last month you carried an ad in your personal column from that Fat Man who keeps pretending to be me - Jake. If you don't stop making these mistakes I won't subscribe to your magazine.
By the way my friend. If you see that Fat Man tell him I'm not missing him at all.
Jake,
Wellington.I think I'm going to listen to the one who has just paid his subscription eh!
#
Kia ora Ross,
Tena koe, e te Hoa (without the Riri!) for your persistence, wit, and above all your tolerance, particularly to me, because my library of Te Putatara is most up-to-date: NOT GUILTY THOUGH for copying. I love your publication, so much so that I believe, that such is the Power of Aroha (mine and others), that is the matching strength of your commitment.
Good luck my friend,
Tangihoro Fitzgerald,
Palmerston North.
#
Tena koutou e nga rau rangatira ma. Tena koe i te kaupapa a te panui Te Putatara.
I particularly like the way the writer blends traditional Maori humour into the contemporary issues. To me the essence of the message is not lost in the humoristic non-threatening style of delivery.
I laugh heartily at phrases such as "te demolition", "the kumara vine", "Te Pihive". They show me true integration of Pakeha semantics with Maori linguistic license.
It also pleases me that you publish negative feedback you have received. After all everyone has the right to be wrong.
Tony Whareaitu
New Plymouth
#
I'm addicted, I'm addicted! I've been meaning to write you a letter and when I'm less frenetic, I will. Kia Kaha!!
Christine Teariki
Hastings.
#
Kia ora ra. We find your newsletter well worth reading and we take this opportunity to wish you and your team all the best for your newsletter in the future.
heoi ano ra
na Hone Harawira
Executive Officer,
Aupouri Maori Trust Board.
Wellington Watch
A Round-up of Capital Events
Parliament - What a Hard Case!
Just in case you don't know what's going on down here. There are something like six, or maybe sixteen, or even 97 parties in Parliament.
There's the Government which is the Tired Old Labour Party, the Jim Anderton Leadership Crusade which is the New Old Labour Party, and Roger Douglas' Funnybone Club which is the Funny New Labour Party. Some people belong to all three parties.
On the other side there's Jim Bolger's Sad Old National Party, the Peters & Muldoon Charade which is the Sad & Lame Old National Party, and Ruth Richardson's Radicals who are the Funny Old New National Party. Some people belong to none of them.
On our side of the House there's the Cyclone Koro Party which is sometimes a tuturu Maori party, sometimes a Tired Old Labour Party, sometimes a New Old Labour Party, and sometimes a Funny New Labour Party. Good strategy Koro. Keep yourself guessing.
There's also the Ratana Party with Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan which is certainly tuturu Maori. At the moment I think the Ratana Party will be having difficulty working out which Labour Party it had a deal with. E Whetu, I think that was Te Old Old Labour Party.
The Bruce Gregory Labour Party which is also tuturu Maori (and definitely Labour) gets upset with all the Labour Parties from time to time because they don't take any notice of him, so it must be counted as a Labour party on its own.
Finally we have the Peter Tapsell Party which tends to be a bit to the right so it could be part of the Funny New Labour Party, but then again it could be part of the Funny New National Party. On the other hand it's pretty conservative so it could be part of the Tired Old Labour Party, or the New Old Labour Party, the Sad Old National Party, or the Sad & Lame Old National Party. Or perhaps the Old Old Labour Party too.
Outside the House we have the Mana Motuhake Party which is a tuturu Maori party but wants to do a deal with the New Old Labour Party. You should have learned your lesson by now Matiu; they only want your votes, not your kaupapa.
Then we have the Socialist Unity Party which is telling everyone to stay in the Tired Old Labour Party, and the NZ Democrats Party which is telling everyone to join the Gary Knapp Self-Admiration Party. Bruce Beetham, who was the one who changed the Social Credit Political League into the NZ Democrats Party, is now back in the Social Credit Party: or is it the Bruce Beetham Nostalgia Party?
E hoa ma, you can't blame all these MPs for voting for themselves to be leader. There's so many parties they can all be leader if they want to! I wouldn't be surprised if we end up with more Pakeha political parties than Maori tribes. That would be a real rabble wouldn't it? They do a lot more fighting than the iwi eh.
All the sensible people I know have joined the Don't Know Don't Care Party. All the porangi ones are joining me in the Mad Hatters Tea Party.
Ministry of Maori Affairs
The School for Maori Affairs has circulated a report which is now out on the kumara vine. Here's a couple of quotes about the kaupapa:
"The mission statement of the Ministry of Maori Affairs is to give substance to the principle of partnership embodied in the Treaty of Waitangi by generating an environment which encourages Maori people to express their rangatiratanga in ways which enhance New Zealand's economic, social and cultural life."
"There have been many versions of the mission statement. None of the others have mentioned the Treaty of Waitangi. This omission was a deliberate one made in anticipation of a negative reaction from those in the non-Maori community who regard the Treaty as an instrument of division and discord. The leaving out of the Treaty, however, drew such strong reaction from those Maoris who were consulted about the mission, that the Establishment Team was forced to reconsider its approach. In the end it was decided that the statement should reflect more specifically, Maori perceptions of what the Ministry's mission ought to be, provided of course that their aspirations were consistent with government policy and able to be expressed in a way which non-Maoris would find acceptable."
Well, what do you think? I ran into Jake (or maybe it was Fat Man) the other day, and he reckons we're about to step back ten years.
You can always tell what sort of results any organisation is going to produce, by looking at two things; the kaupapa, and the quality of the person at the top. I don't know enough about the person at the top yet.
Iwi Transition Agency (ITA/ITU/PPU)
Woe is me! This lot is just sitting on their hands (or each others hands?) waiting for the Messiah to bring the Word. Well, a long time ago God spake to Moses and said:
"Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work."
Seems to me that you lot are resting for six days before you get around to working on the seventh.
The trouble seems to be that they are too interested in setting up a structure without first finding out what the kaupapa is, what the objectives are, and what the functions will be. How can you decide on a structure without knowing what it has to do?
The only way to find out is to get out with the iwi to find out what THEY want. Perhaps these people are too frightened to get on the road to find out what the job will be, or so arrogant that they think they know it already.
Here's what you do:
1) Agree on a kaupapa with the iwi and with Cabinet. It will be simple and straightforward.
2) From the kaupapa will drop out the objectives (by priority) of ITA.
3) From the objectives you will derive the functions of the ITA.
4) Finally, the structure to achieve all that will be self evident.
After all the above you will then be able to draw up your Corporate Plan, Personnel Plan, Equal Employment Opportunities Plan, Financial Management Plan, Equipment Plan, Accommodation Plan, Industrial Relations Plan, Public Relations Plan, Training Plans, and all those other things you nice people haven't done yet because you've been sitting around looking at each other.
All of this shouldn't take a talented team more than three months. How long have you been working on it? How much have you done?
Have you visited all the iwi yet?
Job Applicants
Dick Grace, Willie Kaa, Rauru Kirikiri and Shane Jones were shortlisted for the job of Deputy to John Clark at the Ministry of Maori Affairs. Rau got the job.
Ripeka Evans, Neville Baker, Bob Henare and Willie Kaa were shortlisted for the job of General Manager of the Iwi Transition Agency.
Ministry of Womens Affairs
There's a bit of raruraru in and around the Ministry these days. It all seems to focus on the Chief Executive Officer, Dr Judith Aitken. Lee-Anne Farach and Jo Spooner have both resigned from Te Ohu Whakatupu and accused the Ministry of institutional racism. The kumara vine reports Dr Aitken under siege from many Pakeha women too.
Local Government Reform
The performance of the Minister for Internal Affairs has been a real eye-opener. Dr Michael Bassett certainly has no love for the Maori. During the whole period of consultation and planning of local government reform he has attempted to completely ignore the Maori point of view. Now he seems to have backed down a little and is bringing in legislation which does take some notice, or so he says.
Watch him like a hawk. He's playing a tricky game through the 1990 Commission too.
It's rather ironical that his department, under the management of Peter Boag, is trying to capture a large role in the delivery of services to Maoridom after the demolition of the Department of Maori Affairs.
On Being Governed by the Learned
Have you noticed the numbers of people in parliament and in the bureaucracy who are called "Dr". Their performance to date just goes to show that matauranga and maramatanga are definitely not the same thing#.
Anyone we know?
"The Tyrant relishes his authority and rules by fear.
He refuses to delegate because he reckons that only he is capable of making the right decisions. Completely insensitive to the feelings of others, he is rude to everyone and constantly reminds his subordinates that he can fire them at any time.
His boorish behaviour often hides a deep-rooted feeling of insecurity and, like all bullies, he is afraid of those who are in a position to hand out the same treatment to him. Sometimes it pays to stand up to him: you may win his respect. But it is a risky business - it is much more likely that he will explode and sack you there and then.
He tends to promote executives who agree with everything he says. If you find that hard to stomach, leave. All the good people usually do."
- by William Davis, on the Chief Executive, in "The Corporate Infighters Handbook"#.
A Strategy from The North
Long ago Ruanui brought his people to Aotearoa on te waka Mamari. They landed first at Hokianga and eventually came to live at Pawarenga on the Whangape Harbour in the far north. There Ngati Ruanui built a pa called Makora.
After many generations they were attacked in force and were in danger of being conquered even though Makora was large and skilfully sighted. But Ngati Ruanui knew that strategy would always defeat force, and thus they devised a strategy which saved them, and is still used by them to this day.
It was drastic and bold, and it worked.
Firstly they gathered all their taonga together. Some of the bigger taonga were buried where the attackers would not find them, and those that could be carried away were prepared for the journey. Next they gathered huge piles of wood so they could set fire to their pa and to all their whare. And then they set fire to the lot, and to the green bush surrounding the pa.
It was a huge, fierce fire.
For hours and hours the fire raged and there was a great dark smoke which covered the pa and the harbour and no-one could see Makora, or any of Ngati Ruanui.
Under cover of this thick smokescreen Ngati Ruanui slid their waka into the water and paddled to their escape.
They crossed Whangape harbour and then travelled by land carrying their waka with them north to Ahipara (at the southern end of Oneroa-A-Tohe or Ninety Mile Beach), round Te Reinga to Muriwhenua, and finally to Te Kao. There they settled and there they remain to this day. And that is how Ngati Ruanui came to be known as Te Aupouri (the dark smoke, or smokescreen).
Many generations later, after the arrival of the Pakeha muskets, they used the same strategy again. This time they were in their pa, Hukatere, at Oneroa-A-Tohe when they came under attack.
The attackers had many muskets and Te Aupouri had only two or three. This time they set fire to the dune grass and a thick smokescreen hid them from the aim of the attacking marksmen. Then once again they withdrew to safety behind the cover of the smoke.
So; when Eru Manuera (DMA), or Shane Jones (Environment), or Trevor Wi Kaitaia (DMA), or Ripeka Evans (TVNZ), or Hone Harawira (Aupouri MTB), or Ned Ihaka (DMA), or Sir Kingi Ihaka, or any of the Romana or Normans sound as though they're avoiding the issue, or changing the subject, or being deliberately obscure, you'll know what they're up to. That's right. It's that brilliant old smokescreen strategy.
How do you defeat it? Well, smoke is a two edged weapon. If you attack straight into the smoke the defenders can't see you coming either.
SUBSCRIPTIONS:
Te Putatara is published monthly by Te Aute Publications, P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand.
1 copy $4.00
3 months $12.00
6 months $23.00
12 months $45.00
Belief: A Power Strategy
"Ki te whai te mana Maori motuhake i runga i te kotahitanga me te tino rangatiratanga i roto i Te Tiriti o Waitangi."
Is it possible to have the Treaty of Waitangi ratified? If it is, is the time right?
Yes. The time is now.
The first thing to remember is that the past can never be undone. The Treaty was signed; it has been honoured by the Maori, and deliberately dishonoured by the Colonials. That is indisputable and can never be changed.
The gains that have been made since the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in 1975 can never be undone. Threats by the National Party to reverse the tide are no more than fearful and empty political rhetoric. They may of course be able to overturn legislation, or restrict the scope of the Tribunal, but they can never put the genie back into the bottle.
These last few years have seen the unleashing of a powerful idea; an idea which has been carefully guarded by the iwi for 149 years, and carefully suppressed by governments and the whole institutional framework of New Zealand.
The idea that the Treaty is a valid, living and speaking covenant is now revealing its awesome power.
It has been picked up and carried to Pakeha New Zealand by churches, many government officials, by Project Waitangi, anti-racism groups, environmentalists, judges, lawyers, historians, teachers and many others. Prime Minister Lange has had the principles of the Treaty incorporated into the Charter of every State school in the land.
In China long ago, hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, it was recorded in the chronicle called Tao Te Ching:
"Nothing under heaven is softer or more yielding than water; but when it attacks things hard and resistant there is not one of them that can prevail. For they can find no way of altering it."
There is today an unstoppable tide of opinion flooding into the Pakeha world which can never be turned back. It will be fought, perhaps bitterly, but will not be stopped. For it is an idea which has found its time, and ideas, like water, are the most powerful of all weaponry.
It is not our job to take the idea to the Pakeha, for only the Pakeha can convince the Pakeha. There are many who are doing it, and the numbers swell every day.
Our job is to convince our own.
Firstly, we must convince our people whose minds have been colonialised, that the Treaty truly is a valid covenant. Until Winston Peters, and others like him, have their eyes opened, and see the truth of the Treaty, our job will not be done. As long as there is one Maori dissenter, there will be an excuse for Pakeha resistance.
We must decolonialise the minds of our people.
Secondly, we must convince all our people that the time has arrived. As soon as all Maoridom believes and carries the idea, its power will be unbeatable. If all Maoridom believed, the simple power of that belief would be enough, even without the huge Pakeha support now building.
This is what Mahatma Gandhi taught. He did not teach "passive resistance". He taught what he called "satyagraha", which is the force of truth. Non-violence is one of the principles of satyagraha.
What Gandhi said was (with apologies to Gandhi):
"I will not force you. Neither will you force me. If you behave unjustly, I will not oppose you by violence but by the force of truth - the strength of my belief. My strength is evident in my willingness to suffer, to endanger myself, to go to prison, even to die if necessary. But I will not cooperate with injustice.
Seeing my intention, sensing my aroha and my willingness to awhi and manaki you, you will respond to me in ways I could never manage by threatening you, bargaining or negotiating with you, pleading with you, or violently opposing you.
Together we will solve the problem, for IT is our opponent, not each other".
Satyagraha is the weapon of the strong because it is belief, commitment, and courage.
Though they may hold great political, economic and social power, those who resist the Treaty of Waitangi are weak; they resist because of their fear. Those who fear the unknown are prudent. Those who fear what need not be feared, are weak.
Satyagraha works silently and seems to be slow. But Gandhi said:
"In reality there is no force in the world so direct or so swift."
Gandhi used a system of coalitions or "grouping unities" to spread the power of the idea. His system is one of networking. Going out to the people and gaining their support for the idea. Spreading the idea along the existing and growing networks.
Networks are the strategy by which small groups can transform an entire society. Networks are the means by which the power of an idea grows and wins against great opposition.
The Treaty is now being networked into the conscience of New Zealand but we must not stand by and watch. We must make sure. We must ourselves build its power by networking it ever deeper and ever stronger amongst our own.
Do we need a political party?
Do we need to go to Parliament?
Do we need to bargain or negotiate with politicians, bureaucrats or businessmen?
Do we need to plead our case in the courts or in the media?
Do we need to threaten or intimidate?
No.
All we need is the belief that the Treaty lives and speaks, and the strength of commitment; and we need to network.
He iti, he iti kahikatoa.
Acknowledgment:
"The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in the 1980s" by Marilyn Ferguson. Paladin Books, Granada Publishing, London, 1982.
Why the Pakeha Fear the Iwi
"...in fearful natures [suspicions] gain ground too fast. There is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little."
- "Of Suspicion", Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
The great underlying reason why the Iwi, and why the Maori Renaissance, and why the Treaty of Waitangi, strike fear in the hearts of the ordinary Pakeha, is ignorance.
Ignorance is a common complaint, shared by all peoples and all cultures throughout all time. But like the common cold it is not easily banished. The remedy is undoubtedly knowledge and education, but the ignorant, like the horse led to water, cannot be made to partake.
There are always people who have a vested interest in feeding the fear of the ignorant. Politicians in general make much use of this cruel and ignoble vote-catching strategy, playing to the Prejudice Polls in this age of mass populism. Businessmen, notably the Business Roundtable, promote and feed fear to shore up their bastions of privilege.
Why the Iwi?
Power is the ability to control other people. The power culture controls the Maori through the Pakeha structures. They control us by treating us as individuals, and at the most, as whanau. They cut us off from our own power base, the hapu and the iwi. They do this in a million ways at central and local government level.
Politicians, public servants and businessmen have absolutely no mana and no power in a hapu and iwi structure. So they prevent us from using our own social/whanau, economic/hapu and political/iwi structures in order to keep their grip of power over us. And in order to maintain their power they must tell the public great lies about "tribalism" and apartheid and Maori radicals.
They are told that the tribes are still at war with each other. Lies. Can they name the tribes and the dates and places of these modern wars? Boer War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War?
They are told, not only that our iwi and hapu administration is under-developed for the modern world, but also that we are incapable of making it strong and accountable. Lies.
They are told that "tribalism" is not democratic. Lies. If you do something that your iwi doesn't like, your whanaunga soon let you know. And if you keep doing it, then very soon you find that you have no followers at all. That's truly democratic. Under the Westminster system they just pretend to be democratic and to be accountable to the people.
The courts are now recognising an old law called the "common law doctrine of aboriginal title". This Pakeha law says that the iwi and hapu never gave up ownership of fisheries, and our other taonga that we didn't sell. Prebble tried to wipe out the effect of this law with the Maori Fisheries Act. But if the iwi and hapu don't exist, we don't own anything do we?
So you see; those politicians, senior public servants, businessmen, and some of their lackeys in the media, they have a vested interest in keeping the people ignorant#.
Secrets of the Freemasons: Part II
Last month I told you about the three grades of masons. Now it is time to reveal how a new member is initiated into the Lodge as an Entered Apprentice.
To understand who does what (to whom, and with what, but not really why) we must know about the officers of the Lodge.
Worshipful Master: Te Boss Man
Immediate Past Master: Te Has-Been Boss Man.
Senior Warden: Right hand to Te Boss Man.
Junior Warden: Left hand to Te Boss Man.
Chaplain: He who says te karakia.
Treasurer: He who keeps te purse.
Te Hekeretari: He who can write.
Director of Ceremonies: Te Sorcerer [from te Source or te Sauce?].
Assistant Director of Ceremonies: Te Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Senior Deacon and Junior Deacon: Te karere me te kauwha [gopher?].
Charity Steward: Gives te moni away to te needy.
Almoner: Te Take-A-wei (not Tow Away), strong-arms te moni off nga mema.
Inner Guard: Guards inside of the door to te Temepara to make sure no tutei and spies and "cowans" get in.
Tyler: Guards the outside of the door. The first line of Te Fence.
Now to te Candidate (the one who's about to be made a member).
Outside te Temepara he has all metal taken off him by Mr Tyler (the guard, silly, not the Auditor General!). Then his outer clothes are taken off until he's only got his socks, left shoe, trousers, and shirt. The shirt is unbuttoned so you can see his left breast(!!), the right sleeve is rolled above the elbow, the left trouser is rolled above the knee, and he has a slipper put on his right foot. Then, do you know what? That Tyler-man puts a blindfold over his eyes and a hangman's noose around his neck.
Aue, te tatau o te po.
Then he gets taken inside, and the Inner Guard puts the point of a dagger to his bare left breast and says, "E hoa, do you feel anytink?"
"Ae, I ting so", says the candidate, and he is led blindfolded to kneel before te Worshipful Boss Man.
After a whole pile of questions and instructions he then gets taught some things. The Senior Warden tells the Junior Deacon to show the Candidate how to stand like a Mason with his heels together and his feet at right-angles, his left foot facing east and right foot facing south. Then Junior Warden teaches him to square walk.
He then swears never to tell the secrets he is going to be shown. Part of his oath says, "These several points I solemnly swear to observe, without evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation of any kind, under no less a penalty, on the violation of any of them, than that of having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by the root, and buried in the sand of the sea at low-water mark, or a cable's length from the shore, where the tide regularly ebbs and flows twice in twenty-four hours, or the more effective punishment of being branded as a wilfully perjured individual, void of all moral worth, and totally unfit to be received into this worshipful Lodge, or any other warranted Lodge or society of men, who prize honour and virtue above the external advantages of rank and fortune." What a mouthful.
E hoa ma. Those Pakeha! They say that we're the bloodthirsty ones!
After that, Te Worshipful Boss tells him about "the three great, though emblematical lights in Freemasonry; the Volume of the Sacred Law (Bible, Koran, or whatever is sacred to the Mason), the Square, and Compasses". The sacred writings are to govern their faith, the square to regulate their actions, and the compasses to keep them "in due bounds with all mankind, particularly our Brethren in Freemasonry".
He learns that the three lesser lights are the Sun, Moon, and Master of the Lodge; the Sun to rule the day, the Moon to govern the night, and the Master to rule and direct the Lodge.
Only after all this does the candidate get told that if he had rushed forward when he came in, he would have been stabbed with the dagger, and if he ran back he would have been strangled with the hangman's noose!
Now for nga secret. Masons stand "perfectly erect, feet formed into a square, the body thus considered an emblem of the mind, and the feet of the rectitude of their actions".
He is taught the first regular step in Freemasonry. He takes a short pace forward with his left foot, bringing his right heel into its hollow. It is in this position that the secrets of the first degree (Entered Apprentice) are communicated. The secrets are a sign, a token, and a word. Sshh!
"Place your hand in this position [across the throat like a knife] with the thumb extended in the form of a square to the left of the windpipe. The sign is given by drawing the hand smartly across the throat and dropping it to the side. This is an allusion to the penalty of your Obligation, implying that as a man of honour and a Mason you would rather have your throat cut across than improperly disclose the secrets entrusted to you. The grip or token [handshake] is given by a pressure of the thumb on the first joint of the hand; this, when regularly given and received, serves to distinguish a Brother by night as well as by day. This grip or token demands a word, a word highly prized amongst Masons as a guard to their privileges. Too much caution, therefore, cannot be observed in communicating it; it should never be given at length, but always by letters or syllables; to enable you to do which, I must first tell you what the word is; it is BOAZ".
"This word is derived from the left-hand pillar at the porchway or entrance of King Solomon's Temple, so named after Boaz, the great-grandfather of David, a Prince and Ruler in Israel. The import of the word is ,in strength,. Pass, Boaz".
He then gets "the distinguishing badge of a Mason". This is an apron. "It is more ancient than the Golden Fleece or Roman Eagle, more honourable than the Garter or any other Order in existence, being the badge of innocence and the bond of friendship".
Finally he is presented with the working tools of an Entered Apprentice Freemason; a twenty-four inch Gauge, the common Gavel and Chisel.
E hoa ma. I don't know about you, but there's no way I'm ever going to let the Pakeha put a blindfold on me. See what they do. As soon as they've got your eyes covered they put a noose around your neck, and a dagger at your breast. Just in case you want your land back eh. They teach them tricky things, these Masons#.
Dispatches from the Dungeon
The story so far (I think):
The Dungeon Bar is next door to Te Dear Old Department of Maori Affair on Lambton Quay in Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara. It's a favourite watering hole for Maori public servants and is often visited by their whanaunga when they come to te Big Smoke (Te Aupouri ki Te Hiku, te Auahinui ki Te Upoko). Come down and see us some time.
Many moons ago Te Putatara was accused (by a very high-up personage Himself) of single-handedly bringing about te demolition of Te Maori Affair, by stealing and leaking all nga secrets to Winnie Te Pukeko Peters, and by telling titonui ki nga ripoata katoa! You all know of course that Te Putatara couldn't leak and couldn't tito if he tried. So, Te Putatara, he decide to get to the bottom of this big mystery (or maybe it's just a myth-tery).
If you want to get to the bottom of anything the quickest way is to start at the bottom eh.
Some people I know who are going to end up at the bottom, well they start at the top. Not me. I went straight down to The Dungeon Bar at the bottom of the stairs and met some very nice Maori people. They're the ones you forget to look after when you're climbing up the ladder of success. They're also the ones you have to be nice to when you're on your way down again.
Anyway, there was the Philosopher-in-Residence, and a hardcase Maori who says he's a bigtime farming entrepreneur who ships bulls all over the motu. They say he's the biggest bull-shipper in Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara!
If you're a regular reader you'll know all about Jake and the Fat Man. The three of them, they keep arguing over whose name is Jake, cause the others will then be called the Fat Man eh. They're a real hardcase trio those two. The people who work for them, they reckon they should all be called the Big Fat and Lazy Man!
Where was I? Oh yes. I decided to myself that the old security and intelligence people in Te Maori Affair needed a hand to stop all those leaks and tito. 'Cause as long as those leaks kept happening, Te Putatara would get te blame eh. So down in the Dungeon Bar we set up Te Maori Alliance Intelligence Agency (Te Real MAIA) to help Te Maori Affair Intelligence Agency (MAIA). Now everyone thought that we set it up to get more leaks and tito out of Te Maori Affair, but really, we set it up to catch those leakers and those tito-tellers. We did. Just Te Putatara and all those nice loyal people in the Dungeon Bar.
But would you believe it? What happened was all those people at the top of Te Maori Affair in te 7th Floor (the one we codenamed SEVENTH HEAVEN), well we found out that they were really to blame themselves.
True, e hoa ma. We caught them all in the old Broom Cupboard Trap. We set up a "drop" in the broom cupboard up there, and inside it we put a video camera disguised like a hinaki (just so they wouldn't get suspicious eh). We caught them up to all sorts of things in that broom cupboard! You wouldn't believe the things we caught them up to doing. You wouldn't, really. So I won't tell you.
But mostly, we caught them sitting on their hands doing nothing. At least Nero fiddled while Rome burned eh#.