Miscellaneous letters in Maori.

The collection consists of original handwritten Maori manuscripts pertaining to the Maori King Movement during the reign of Te Rata Mahuta. Each manuscript is accompanied by a photocopy and each original and photocopy is stapled between sheets of card and shows previous cataloguing markings.

The manuscripts comprise letters and speeches. The letters are from Pepene Eketone, a Ngati Maniapoto politician and Native Land Court assessor, and his son, Anaru, to Tupu Taingakawa Te Waharoa in 1907 and 1908. That to Taingakawa from Anaru was from Wellington and that from Pepene was from Te Kuiti. They illuminate issues such as voting difficulties, land leases and the need for training in farming for young people.

The speech transcripts are from two days of a meeting, seemingly held at Waahi Marae, on 23 and 24 January, 1922. They record customary greetings and speeches given on the occasion of the arrival of Ngati Raukawa of the Wellington region to the event and record the name of each speaker.

The scribe of the first day's transcripts signs as T.T.R, probably T. T. Rawhiti, a Maori King Movement secretary. The handwriting for the second day appears to be that of the same scribe.

It is thought that these materials belonged to the father-in-law of Professor Bruce Biggs, an academic staff member at The University of Auckland's Department of Maori Studies. These manuscripts are valuable in that they are original documents that shed light on historical events and Maori oral tradition in the early twentieth century. In addition they relate to MSS & Archives C-30.