Old New Zealand: A Tale of the Good Old Times; And a History of the War in the North Against the Chief Heke, in the Year 1845, Told by an Old Chief of the Ngapuhi Tribe Also Traditions

by Frederick Edward Maning

Excerpt from Old New Zealand: A Tale of the Good Old Times; And a History of the War in the North Against the Chief Heke, in the Year 1845, Told by an Old Chief of the Ngapuhi Tribe Also Traditions

Contact with the British settlers has of late years effected a marked and rapid change in the manners and mode of life of the natives, and the Maori of the present day are as un like what they were when I first saw them as they are still unlike a civilised people or British subjects.

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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

416 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Frederick Edward Maning was a notable early settler in New Zealand, a writer and judge of the Native Land Court. He published two books under the pseudonym of "a Pakeha Maori."

Reviews

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable, rambling tale of New Zealand in the years long before the Treaty of Waitangi, through the eyes of a settler that immersed himself in Maori culture. Maning takes numerous narrative tangents, heading down odd cul-de-sacs, though admonishes himself frequently and apologises to the reader.

Such is the nature of his style, he could be telling you this story over a few beers in a pub somewhere. He is, you suspect, something of an unreliable narrator when boasting of his own exploits, but provides an interesting perspective on Maori culture and early European settlers. While some of his views are very much 'of his time' and would make you wince a bit, looking around the pub to see if anyone heard, there is also clear affection and warmth that he feels towards his adopted iwi.

[Mauro · Rating 3 out of 5]

An honest and interesting book on how New Zealand was sttled. It was a late colonization, when the western world was a little bit more concious of the harm that can be done to natives (even though Maorias weren't exactly natives; they were earlier settlers). Maoris also were stronger and better developed than the indians found in America in the 1500s.
The book explains not only how and why Maiori people got diminished, but also how their culture could be preserved, at least in part, up until today.
The book has not the self-counciousness and guilt that we feel in NZs museums, were even the cannibalism is covererd up: it shows european and Maori cultures as they were, struggling to survive, individually.