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TE PUTATARA
A Newsletter
for The Kumara Vine
P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand
ISSN 0114-2097 - Issue No 7/89 20 July 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.
E nga iwi o te motu, e nga hau e wha,
Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou katoa.
Crime and Punishment
"Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.
"But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you,
"So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.
"And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,
"So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.
"Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.
"You are the way and the wayfarers.
"And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.
"Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who, though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone."
- from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran
Justice
The Prophet speaks of a system of justice rooted in community, and in community responsibility. Community responsibility is shared responsibility.
English justice was based on this precept. From well before the Conquest, and well before Magna Charta, there was a system of local courts, which were the governing bodies of their communities. When William conquered England, he did not get rid of this system but based his own upon it, no doubt because it helped him to rule more completely, but also because of its inherent justness.
Over the centuries the administration of the land became more and more centralised. The law, which was an integral part of administration, followed to the centre. So much so, that the law eventually became an elitist world of its own, separated from its roots in community and from public service. It surrounded itself with its own ritual and mythology, and with its own restrictive practices.
Today in New Zealand the State, bolstered by this remote system of privilege for the few, assumes all responsibility for trial and punishment. It accepts no responsibility for wrong-doing, and very little for prevention.
Communities have no responsibility for the administration of justice. Detection of wrong-doing is consequently very difficult.
The Police frequently assert that prevention can only be achieved by "the community". Politicians and most other Pakeha blame Maori offending against the law on Maori parents, on Maori community, and on Maori inability to perform in a Pakeha system.
But it is the State which assumes ALL responsibility for trial and punishment. The State must therefore accept ALL responsibility for prevention, and ALL blame for wrong-doing. So too must the privileged elite who administer the law. If "community" is to accept responsibility and blame, then trial and punishment must be returned to "community".
That is the old English system of customary justice. It is also the Maori. That is all we ask for.
An initiated and senior member of the legal elite, and its political guardian, the Minister for Justice refuses to admit the justness of Maori pleas that customary law become part of New Zealand law. In doing so, he also does not admit the right of Pakeha to participate in their own affairs of Justice. But the Pakeha do not know that they have had their heritage stolen from them. The new system is called the Rule of Law.
Mr Geoffrey Palmer now calls Maori justice campaigners "dangerous and subversive".
Heoi ano,
Ross Himona
TE PUTATARA
Te Putatara is published monthly by TE AUTE PUBLICATIONS, P.O.Box 408, Wellington, New Zealand.
Editor
Writer
Tea BoyRoss Himona
Copyright: Ross Himona
All material appearing in TE PUTATARA is copyright. Contributions are welcomed. Letters to the tea boy are also welcomed.
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THIS MONTH
Justice ........................... 1
Fan Mail .......................... 3
Wellington Watch .................. 4
The War of the Blowfly ............ 7
Taiao: A Review ................... 8
The Freemasons Secrets: Part III .. 9
Dispatches from the Dungeon Bar ...10
ADVANCE NOTICE
Archives & Records
Association
Conference at Porirua
Thursday 26 to Sunday 29 October
"The Challenge of the Treaty"
A Course on Oral
History
Records Management
Contact: Dr M.Hoare
Royal NZ Police College
Porirua.
Fan Mail
Hey! Ross Who?
I am not that dumb to subscribe without viewing a sample. Consider sending me a sample so I may enjoy the humour printed on glossy paper?
Then maybe I can say Choice! this is my cat amongst da pigeons.
Thanks.
Hanetia Palmer,
Pahiatua,
via Rangitane/Kahungunu Iwi Delivery.
[Whanaunga!!]
##
Ross Who, etc
"Tanku rawa atu" to quote an old Raukawa saying for the "complimentary copy".
I am impressed with the subtleness of the "Wero o to korero". Meant with humour of course.
Feel a bit sorry for those who are going to lose their umbrella "Mana of De Office", fear not I say to those ones, freedom from "De Office" problems (peoples) will now enable them to build their own Mana in der "House and Garden".
Enjoyed the Leadership qualities - very much my own philosophy, when the natural is recognised, God himself gives freely, with the highest example of Aroha, the road map to follow.
My Raukawa Tane and his Rangitane (Kahungunu) wahine contract to subscribe. It's too expensive mind you, but -
Kia Kaha
H.Palmer
##
Dear Putatara
We like what you are doing.
It's earthy, informative, humorous...
Kia kaha ki to mahi.
Oh yes - hate the red - the old eyesight can't handle it.
Also we would like to receive photocopies of one copy only of "Te Putatara". We are a community based group with little funding to support your worthy cause. So, can you work out a special price for us please?
Kia ora atu!
Pepi Kingi,
Elisi House,
Auckland.[Did you like my special offer?]
##
Kia ora
This [postcard] is where I was last week, during the Cannes film festival. The weather over here is great. I've already been to Venice, Rome, Barcelona and spent a week in the south of France. Over the next few weeks I want to explore southern Italy and Greece. Journalism is the last thing on my mind! Although I must admit to being partial to the tacky British tabloids - they're so bad they're good. Hope everything is going well in the Capital. I hear the odd bit of NZ news, but not much at all really. It's nice to have a base in Zurich - Switzerland is incredibly picturesque. It's a country of cleanliness, order, zero crime and ultra affluence. The people have a distrust of foreigners but it melts as you get to know them.
Vern Rice,
Feusisberg,
Switzerland.
Wellington Watch
A Round-up of Capital Events
Ministry of Maori Affair (John's Affair)
Te Ministry of Maori Affair was launched on 3 July. Kati.
Te Dear Old Fast Fading And No Longer Kicking Department of Maori Affair (Tamati's Affair)
Mr Kara Puketapu moved in to the ITA Establishment Unit, and ripped the puku out of the poor old Department while Tamati was away overseas. Now Tamati sits in splendid isolation on the seventh floor presiding over a dwindling staff which is preoccupied with deciding what to do after Demolition Day, 30 September 1989.
Even Tamati's personal assistant, Faloli, has been transferred to the ITA Unit. Hika ma, the ignominy. [Concise Oxford Dictionary, p591].
Iwi Transition Agency Establishment Unit (Kara's Affair)
Canon Wi Huata often says that Te Reo Maori is such a beautiful language that you can't use it to swear or blaspheme. You can't have ugly names like "Iwi Transition Agency" either.
Well, Kara moved in to ITA with almost biblical fervour. Neville Baker jumped in alongside him and they set about organising things. Kara has appointed twelve staunch people to go amongst the iwi to spread the word to the twelve Pakeha-defined Maori regions, and maybe to listen to what the people want. Maybe. Maybe a little. Maybe not.
No reira, behold the ITA is born. All hail the reborn government-selected and government-paid Prophet; and his Twelve Opossums.
Treaty Principles
As the new Ministry of Maori Affair was launched, so too were the Government's five new "Principles for Crown Action on the Treaty of Waitangi".
The principles were actually decided by Cabinet way back in May after months of secret plotting. The kumara vine reckons even the State Services Commission didn't know about them until sometime in mid-June!
The Government has retreated to the Winston Peters Position. That's the position with the Pakeha well and truly on top.
The Peters Position elevates Article I of the Treaty to be the guiding principle. They call it the Principle of Government, saying that the Government has the right to govern and make laws. They interpret "Kawanatanga" to mean "Mana". We're back where we were in the 1880's.
Article II of the Treaty has been downgraded, once again. It's unbelievable, but "Tino Rangatiratanga" has now been translated by the Pakeha to become the Principle of Self-management. Self-management!
Article III is interpreted as the Principle of Equality: all New Zealanders are equal before the law. What the Treaty actually says is; "Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her royal protection and imparts to them all the Rights and Privileges of British Subjects." This certainly did not mean that English law was to be the only law of the land, or even the main law of the land.
Principle IV is the Principle of Reasonable Cooperation, and the last is the Principle of Redress. These last two are just window dressing.
These are just five principles in lieu of the Treaty of Waitangi. They will stand in history as a memorial to another failure of tauiwi government. Mr Geoffrey Palmer has at last shown his hand after more than five years of pretending to be committed to a bicultural nation.
Cabinet has given away the difficult biculturalism, in favour of their mythical "multiculturalism".
One thing we must always remember about tauiwi and their approach to biculturalism. Even when you finally get them to go there in their heads, there are few who go there in their hearts. As the rangatahi say: they talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk.
"He korero kei runga, he rahurahu kei raro."
Department of Injustice
This colonial empire protects and preserves much Pakeha privilege.
The minister is Deputy PM Geoffrey Palmer. He is well suited to the administration of the New Zealand version of justice. A New Zealander steeped in the traditions, customs, and prejudices of English common and parliamentary law; and incapable of admitting Maori customary law to his world view.
This is the department that manages the probation service, registrar of births, deaths and marriages, land transfer, and a range of tribunals. They manage the courts and the prisons, where all our rangatahi are given a whare away from home. They got so many locked up it makes you wonder whether they're trying to take over Maoridom by building themselves the biggest iwi in the motu; Ngati Mauherehere. Pai kare, what a cunning strategy eh?
Their commercial affairs division is lousy at catching the White respectable white-collar criminals who steal by the millions. Perhaps they should take some lessons from the ones who are so good at catching those who steal just a few measly dollars.
And the Maori Land Court has just been transferred to the Department of Injustice. Aue.
Palmer's empire is also responsible for the Waitangi Tribunal. He can't influence what they think and say, but he does control the purse strings. And that's all they need to keep them under control.
A dangerous part of the Injustice Department is the Treaty Unit led by Alex Frame, a former constitutional lawyer. The kumara vine reports that the work of this unit is highly confidential, and that this is where the five new "Principles for Crown Action on the Treaty of Waitangi" were dreamed up. This is Mr Palmer's think tank for re-writing the Treaty, for capturing the Maori language, and for bringing Maoridom to heel.
Crown Law Office
Another crown in Mr Palmer's jewel.
This lot was responsible for the MANA Enterprises and Maori ACCESS contracts that caused so much trouble late last year. Those contracts were designed specifically to bring the iwi authorities under control. No mention of the Treaty at all.
Lately they have been driving the campaign against Tamaki Maori Development Authority. They are trying, among other things, to recover MANA Enterprises money which belongs to the Authorities. I suspect that Tamaki is being used as a test case by the Crown Law Office to get all MANA monies back. Neville Baker has been firing the shots but Palmer's Crown Law Office has fashioned the bullets.
No Money for Court Cases
Just one guess now. Guess who cut off funding to the fisheries negotiators for their court cases against the crown? Of course he still believes in the principles of legal aid, but not to those with constitutional problems.
Te Iwi O Wharekauri Rekohu
On to another subject, almost. E hoa ma, would it surprise you to learn that it was a certain Mr Palmer who asked the Department of Infernal Affairs to lead the charge against Maori fishing rights in the Chathams?
No, you're not surprised eh? Pai kare, you fullahs are quick on the uptake.
When Bonaparte Bassett and Beter Boag went down to Wharekauri Rekohu recently, they refused to recognise or meet with Te Runanga O Wharekauri Rekohu. The runanga had to chase them to the airport to hand over their letter to the minister. They made them sign for it too.
Well, the kumara vine reports that Government is getting very twitchy about the Chatham Islands. They know that this is their Achilles Heel. This is where their presumed Article I right to govern can be successfully challenged. Mr Palmer is the government's expert on the use of constitutional law.
Deloitte, Haskins & Sells (DH&S)
The role of the accountancy firm of DH&S in Maori Affairs is very interesting.
This firm was engaged by Wilson Bailey when he was Deputy Secretary (Corporate Services). It moved very quickly to gain control over MANA Enterprises and Maori ACCESS. Wilson Bailey has now moved on (to the Department of Injustice, of course) but DH&S are still firmly entrenched in Maori Affairs.
Murray Jack is the senior DH&S partner who is Tamati Reedy's financial minder. He doesn't work in the Department but his people do. They include Roger Bayer and Helen Anderson. Roger is a finance person and Helen is the real manager of MANA Enterprises.
On 13 April, when the first attack was launched against Tamaki Maori Development Authority, the kumara vine went to work to find out what was going on. Maori Affairs staff didn't know much at all, but Bayer admitted to me that he knew all about it. He said that even though he worked in the Department he actually reported direct to Murray Jack at DH&S. He also said that Murray Jack knew what was going on. Interesting.
Well, my curiosity was aroused. I dug around until some senior sources in Maori Affairs told me that the action against Tamaki MDA had been initiated by Tamati Reedy on the advice of Murray Jack. Interesting.
After more checking I found that DH&S earns a lot of money from Government and even has the Treasury as one of its major clients. Mr Murray Jack is an advisor to Treasury. Interesting.
Will Kara and John take them on?
The War of the Blowfly
Paul Holmes ran a show about gun-running and landing craft in Tai Tokerau. E hoa ma, I think there really ARE things like that going on up there. But it's not Ngati Whatua, Ngapuhi, or even those shady Aupouri. It's the Pakeha himself.
True, e hoa ma, the kumara vine has secret intelligence that the South Island has declared war on the North Island!
Long, long ago during the reign of Sir Robert the Great (Muldoon silly, not Jones), those South Islanders started to get real hoha because the North Island was pinching all their electricity and not giving anything in return. Their economy got so bad all the people were leaving for Queensland, and they were in grave danger of being overrun by sheep and blowflies.
Those wily Ngai Tahu strategists saw this happening and began to organise a takeover. The situation was dangerous. So the South Island devised a strategy to conquer the North, using the North's own weaknesses to destroy itself.
This strategy is known as the War of the Blowfly, so called because it is the tiny blowfly that would defeat the mighty sheep.
First, they trained heaps of economic saboteurs at the University of Canterbury, and then they started to infiltrate the Treasury and Reserve Bank. Their plan was to use the Freemarket to seduce the greedy business and financial sectors of the North (particularly Auckland), and to induce them to destroy themselves. Some of them got alongside Roger Douglas when he was in opposition and convinced him that he was the Messiah. Then they filled his head with their subversive ideas.
As luck would have it, on a worse than usual night in June 1984, Sir Robert the Great handed the whole country over to them. It caught them unawares but they immediately launched a small invasion on NZ Railways landing craft. E hoa ma, some of you call them ferries. In a single night in June they brought in all their economic shock troops and captured many vital installations in the economy.
I heard their chilling war-cry: "To market, to market, to buy a fat pig!"
After that, their agents in the Labour Caucus got down to some serious brainwashing, and before the month was over they had converted a mildly socialist government into an extreme capitalist enclave. Such was the power of their principal weapon; Treasury-Speak. This was their crowning victory. The takeover was complete.
Those South Islanders didn't bargain on the resilience of the iwi though. It was Maoridom that used their own "Rule of Law" against them and blunted their attack in the courts.
So they had their propagandists launch rumours and misinformation in the North Island about Maori revolutionaries and about gun-running. This strategy used another of the great weaknesses of Pakeha North Island; their fear of the tangata whenua. Commercial fishermen and dopey farmers have fallen for it and are now armed to the gums.
Every now and then the South sends a real landing craft up to Tai Tokerau. Just to keep the pot boiling. See.
TAIAO: Courage and Commitment in Dance
"E Tane! Horahia i te takapau rangi, waiho i te toi matua, i te toi ora ki taiao"
Taiao came to dance for us at Te Whanga-Nui-A-Tara. Love them.
Taiao, from Tamaki Makaurau, were formerly known as Te Kanikani O Te Rangatahi. They are six rangatahi who made it to an ACCESS programme, who found a talent within themselves, and now entertain in contemporary dance. They choreograph their own dances, and portray themselves and their own experiences, as they seek to find their place in the world. The search is their dance.
They are on the way to finding an honoured place in Te Ao Maori.
In their performance we saw four pieces. Nga Wai Kororipo was choreographed by Rozanne Worthington, a swirling, watery (of course) modern routine.
Assimilation by Stephen Bradshaw, danced by Stephen with Norman Potts, depicted an up-himself Maori businessman of Te Ao Pakeha, shadowed by Te Ao Maori in the form of his tipuna. In time he sheds the veneer and returns to his true values. In this we see Stephen expressing the dawning of his own physical and spiritual strength and depth as a dancer and as a Maori. Norman too shows an inner strength ready to burst into life.
Tahuri Ki Te Whakapono by Pita Te Tau is danced by the whole company, with their backs to the audience! They have yet to develop enough depth and expression to carry it off to perfection but they certainly did get away with it. The audience had no complaints at all. That says a lot for the honesty of their art.
The second half of the show is just one piece, Whakaoho. It is the major item in which all six dancers show their full potential.
In this we see a series of situations based on the passage of rangatahi through the schools, into the non-workforce, into the grips of a monocultural society, into aggro, into trouble, and finally back into whanau. They dance, act, sing and rap their way with passion and humour through their lives as they have lived them. This is a fascinating piece. At its end it drew a standing ovation.
Taiao will make it in the big hard world of professional dance when they are able to perform Whakaoho in dance alone, without the singing and acting. When they do that, yet still draw us to our feet in acclamation, they will have made it. They have enough talent to do it. Hard work will bring that talent to its peak.
There is too the wairua of dance, which they will need to bring true strength and true values to their modern art form. That comes only from our tipuna.
As Hine-ahu-one took breath from Tane and brought forth man into the world, so will Taiao need to drink more deeply yet from their Maoritanga and bring full expression to their dance. Then will they dance mana Maori in all their choreography; mana wairua, mana whenua, mana tangata.
I thoroughly enjoyed Taiao, and look forward to watching them grow. Tihei mauriora! Ki te whai-ao, ki te ao-marama.
Secrets of the Freemasons - Part III
In May we explored the secrets of initiation into Freemasonry. Now let us delve into the ceremony of passage to the second degree (Fellow Craft).
Te Lodge is opened in the First Degree and then Te Candidate is grilled (not quite the third degree!) to make sure he knows everything he should know. Next he is given a new handgrip which is to put the pressure of the thumb between the first and second joints of the hand. He also gets a new password which is SHIBBOLETH. This denotes plenty.
Now that he's fixed up with some new hocus pocus he gets shunted outside and prepared for the ritual of passing into the second degree. This time he doesn't get blindfolded or a rope around his neck. Not to worry though, his left breast is bared again! He also has his left arm and right knee bared, and a slipper on his left foot.
To get started he has to give his new grip and password. Then once more he swears a gruesome oath or obligation. Aue hika!
"...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 left breast laid open, my heart torn there from, and given to the ravenous birds of the air, or devouring beasts of the field as a prey. So help me Almighty God, and keep me steadfast in this my Solemn Obligation of a Fellow Craft Freemason."
Now Te Boss Man says to him:
"...Rise, newly obligated Fellow Craft Freemason. Having taken the Solemn Obligation of a Fellow Craft, I shall proceed to entrust you with the secrets of the Degree ... They consist ... of a sign, token, and word, ... The first part of the threefold sign is called the sign of Fidelity, and it is given by placing the right hand on the left breast with the thumb extended in the form of a square, emblematically to shield the repository of your secrets from the attacks of the insidious [the kumara vine?]. The second part is called the Hailing sign, or sign of Perseverance, and is given by throwing up the left arm (horizontal from the shoulder to the elbow, and perpendicular from the elbow to the fingertips) with the thumb level extended in the form of a square. This took its rise at the time that Joshua fought the battles of the Lord, when it was in this position he prayed fervently to the Almighty to continue the light of day, that he might overthrow of his enemies. The third part is the Penal sign, and it is given by dropping the left hand, drawing the right smartly across the breast and dropping it to the side. This is in allusion to the penalty of your Obligation [losing his heart]. The grip or token is given by a distinct pressure of the thumb on the second joint of the hand. This grip or token demands a word, a word to be given with the same strict caution as that in the former Degree; that is to say, never at length, but always by letters or syllables, to enable you to do which, I must tell you that the word is [Sshh!] JACHIN."
Finally he gets some more tools; a Square, a Level, and a Plumb Rule.
Well, e hoa ma, now you know some more secrets, keep your eyes open for them secret masons eh. The next installment is a real eye-opener too.
Dispatches from the Dungeon Bar
Aue hika. This month I got a letter which made me think seriously about my safety. I think I might be in real danger. No. Not from the Government and its agents but from my own drinking mates eh. This is how it went:
"I am writing to complain about the bad influence you and your silly magazine are having on my family. For many months now you have been saying things about my husband that upset me. I will admit that he is overweight but it took me years to get him like that. When I married him he was slim and attractive but I couldn't leave him like that could I? As a husband he is far from perfect but he is a nice man who doesn't get in my way and who always does the dishes when he's told to. It took me years to train him.
"Since he's been drinking with you in the Dungeon Bar his whole attitude has changed. He comes home with a skin full of beer and a head full of romantic nonsense, then to make it worse he can't deliver. He even thinks he's a media celebrity because you write stories about him in your stupid paper.
"I'm warning you Ross. Lay off. I'm not going to spend another 25 years breaking in another tane.
Mrs Jake, Wellington."
Well, that just goes to show you. When you're in the game of spy and counter-spy, tito and counter-tito, drink and counter-drink, you've got to watch your back. For all I know the other Jake's wife is out there waiting in ambush for me. I've been so afraid to go out that I haven't been to the Dungeon for a month.
Laws
"What shall I say of these save that they too stand in the sunlight, but with their backs to the sun?
"They see only their shadows, and their shadows are their laws.
"And what is the sun to them but a caster of shadows?
"And what is it to acknowledge the laws but to stoop down and trace their shadows upon the earth?
"But you who walk facing the sun, what images drawn on the earth can hold you?
"You who travel with the wind, what weather-vane shall direct your course?
"What man's law shall bind you if you break your yoke but upon no man's prison door?
"What laws shall you fear if you dance but stumble against no man's iron chains?
"And who is he that shall bring you to judgment if you tear off your garment yet leave it in no man's path?
"People of Orphalese, you can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?"
Freedom
"And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne within you is destroyed."
- from "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran