Pei Te Hurinui Jones: Ko Hakipia me te Taha Tōrangapū

I te tau 1945 ka tū a Pei Te Hurinui Jones kia pootitia mō te tūru pāremete Māori mō te Hauāuru; i te tau i muri ka whakaputa ia i tāna whakamāoritanga o tā Hakipia Merchant of Venice hei pukapuka. Ahakoa kīhai a Pei Te Hurinui i ako ki ngā kāreti nunui o te motu, he ihumanea whakahirahira ia nō te iwi Māori, e tuhituhi ana i roto i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā, e puawai ana i waenga o tērā rautau tae atu ki tōna matenga i te tau 1976. Ko tāna mahi rongonui rawa atu pea ko Nga Iwi o Tainui, (he kohinga reo-rua, e 67 ngā wāhanga o ngā hītori, whakapapa, waiata, mōteatea hoki o Tainui). He mea whakaputa taua pukapuka i muri i tōna matenga, me ngā whakapākehātanga o āna tuhinga reo Māori e tērā atu pukenga o Ngāti Maniapoto, e Bruce Biggs.[1] Ko ētahi atu o āna mahi nunui ko āna whakapākehātanga me te ētitatanga hoki o Nga Moteatea i muri i te matenga o Tā Apirana Ngata i te tau 1950, ā, ko tāna pukapuka mō te koiora o te tuatahi o ngā Kīngi Māori, ko King Potatau, he mea whakaputa e te Polynesian Society.  Nā te hira o āna oha ki te mātauranga, ka whakawhiwhia a Pei Te Hurinui ki te tohu kairangi hōnore e te Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato i 1968.  He tino tangata hoki ia nō te Kīngitanga; arā, hei māngai mō ngā iwi o Tainui e kimi utu ana i muri i te Komihana Raupatu o Sim o te tau 1928.  I muri, he mema ia nō te Poari o Tainui, ā, he kaitohutohu ki ngā arikinui o te Kīngitanga.[2]. I te tau 1940, nāna te poroporoaki ki a Lord Galway, ki te Kāwana-Tianara, i tētahi hui ki Ngāruawāhia i tonoa e Te Puea Hērangi.[3]

         Engari, ko te āhua nei, he āhua whanokē, he āhua pohewa, ētahi o ngā mahi whakamāori a Pei Te Hurinui.  Tua atu i tāna whakamāoritanga o tā Hakipia Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weneti (Merchant of Venice), nāna hoki a Huria Hiha (Julius Caesar) me Owhiro (Othello),[4] me tētahi whakamāoritanga o te whakapākehātanga a Edward FitzGerald i ngā toikupu Sufi o te karakia Mahometa, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.[5]. E kīa ana e ētahi kaituhi, i oti i a Pei Te Hurinui Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weneti te whakamāori i te tau 1945, otiia, e tinga ana, i poto i mua.  I tukuna Ngā Rupaiaha o Omā Kaiama i te tau 1975 (hei tuhinga ā-pūrere patopato), engari, ka tāia kētia ētahi wāhanga i roto i Te Ao Hou i te tau 1955.[6] He mea whakaoti te whakamāoritanga o Huria Hiha i te tau 1942, [7], engari, ka tukuna ki te ao i te tau 1959, hei tuhinga ā-pūrere patopato anō hoki.  I rīpoatatia hoki i te tau 1943, kua whakamāoritia kētia e ia a Huria Hiha me te Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weneti.[8] 

          Ehara i te mahi ngāwari te whakamāori i ā Hakipia kupu, engari, e kīa ana, ko tōna whāinga, “giving the Maoris a wider choice of literature and of providing classical works for students of the Maori language”.[9]  Nō tā rāua kōrero ko Don Selwyn mō tāna mahi whakamāori, “Jones said that Shakespeare was ‘such a brilliant linguist in his own language that I thought it’ll be wonderful if Māori actually learnt to understand what he said in Māori – and that was his motivation…’”[10]  Ahakoa, kīhai i meinga e ia, e rua ngā purei (o ngā toru nāna i whakamāori) e whakapā ana ki ngā tū tahakitanga o ngā iwi kē, arā, ka tū a Hairoka te Tiu rāua ko Owhiro te Moa hei manene o ngā hapori Karaitiana i noho ai rāua.

         I kī a Pei Te Hurinui i te tau 1944, ākuanei e whakaputaina ai tāna whakamāoritanga o te Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weneti, ā, kua uiui ia ki te Tari Mātauranga me te Whare Wānanga o Niu Tīreni, kia aro mai pea rātou ki tēnei whakamāoritanga āna hei rauemi whakaako.[11]. Nā, ahakoa “the sonority and splendour of Shakespearean verse proved very adaptable to Maori rhythms and idioms”[12], ā, ka kitea ināianei te rawe o ngā mahi a te ruānuku nei,[13] e tinga anō nāna anō i whakaputa tāna pukapuka i te tau 1946.  Nā te aha ai?  Nā te ruarua pea o ngā tāngata i aro mai ki ēnei momo mahi, nā te iti rānei o te pūtea hei tautoko i ngā whakamāoritanga i taua wā?  I muri, ka whakamoemititia, ka umeretia hoki a Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weneti hei purei ā-whakaari i te tau 1985, hei kiriata hoki i te tau 2002.

         I a ia e tū ana i te pōtitanga ā-paremata o 1943, ka whakamōhiotia tāna “interesting sideline” ki te iwi pānui niupepa, arā, ko tāna whakamāori i ā Hakipia purei, i tā Fitzgerald Rubaiyat, me te whiti a Thomas Bracken, ko “Not Understood”.[14]. E whitu āna tūnga kia rapuhia te tūru Māori o te Tai Hauāuru, mai i te tau 1930 ki te tau 1963, engari, kīhai rawa ia i toa.  He kaitono kore-pāti ia i te tau 1938, ā, ko ia te tuarua ki a Haami Tokouru (Toko) Rātana, ki te kaitono tūturu o Rātana/Reipa.  Ka pēnei anō ia i te tau 1943, ahakoa hei “Unofficial Labour candidate”, arā, “having pledged himself, if returned to support the New Zealand Labour Party”.[15]  Nā, i kaha tautokona te taha Rātana/Reipa e ngā iwi o te Hauāuru; nui atu i te hāwhe ngā pooti i riro i a Rātana.  Heoi, ka toko ake te whakaaro, nā te aha a Pei Te Hurinui i tomo ai ki roto i te whakataetae nei?  Pērā me āna whakamāoritanga o Hakipea, ka āia ia e tōna ngākau?

       Nā te matenga o Toko Rātana i Ōketopa, 1944, i tū ai he pōtitanga motuhake i Pēpuere, 1945, i puta mai hoki he raruraru i roto i te Kīngitanga.  Tokowaru ngā kaitono; ko te teina o Toko tētahi, ko Matiu Rātana, ā, ka tū anō a Pei Te Hurinui Jones.  Ko Maharaia Winiata hoki (ko Piahana tōna ingoa whānau i taua wā) i uru ki roto i te whakataetae nei. He rangatahi whai-tohu a Winiata e whakaaro paitia ana e te iwi. Engari, i mōhio kē ngā tāngata katoa, ka toa a Rātana.

        E ai ki te rīpoata o te Waikato Times o 17 Hānuere, 1944, ka mine te Kaunihera o te Kīngi ki Waahi Pā wānanga ai i te kōrero ka tautokona a Pei Te Hurinui e Kīngi Korokī me te kāhui ariki.  I whakakāhoretia te kōrero nei e te tiamana o te Kaunihera, e Haunui Tāwhiao, e kī ana, mā ngā iwi o te rohe e whakatau te mema hou.[16]  Kāore he kaitono nō te Pāti Nahinara.  Nāwai rā, ka meatia e Nahinara, i te tautoko rātou i “the candidature of Mr Pei Te Hurinui Jones, who has been nominated by King Koroki and Princess Te Puea Herangi.”[17]  Kātahi a te Puea i tuku kōrero, e whakakore ana i te mana o Haunui Tāwhiao hei kaikōrero mō te Kīngitanga, ā, ka tautuarā ia [Te Puea], hei tiamana o te Kaunihera, hei māngai hoki  o ngā kōmiti ā-iwi e ono tekau, i te tūnga a Pei Te Hurinui.[18]   I whakahēngia tēnei e Haunui Tāwhiao i roto i te niupepa, e kī ana kua tukuna te mana ki a ia i te tau 1903 i uru ai a Kingi Mahuta ki roto i te paremata, ā, ko ngā mahi a ngā komiti ā-iwi hei tautoko i ngā mahi pakanga a te iwi Māori, kauaka hei raweke i te taha tōrangapū.[19]   I tū hoki a Maharia Winiata Piahana ki te tautoko i ngā kupu a Haunui Tāwhiao, arā, me kaua tētahi kaitono e hāpaingia e te Kīngitanga.  I te mutunga, kīhai tā Te Puea i pīrangi ai i puta mai; ka whiwhi noa a Matiu Rātana ki te tūru pāremata.  Ka tū anō a Pei Te Hurinui i ngā tau 1957, 1960, 1963, hei kaitono tūturu o Nahinara, engari, kīhai i toa.[21]

       Ina titiro whakamua tātou ki ngā tau o te Pakanga Tuarua, kei te whakaaro pea tātou, i aro noa ngā whakaaro katoa o ngā tāngata o taua wā ki te whawhai, ā, ka mahi tahi rātou kia hinga ai te hoariri.  Āe, he kaupapa tino nui te pakanga i kaha tautokona e te iwi Māori, engari, he mahi kē, he pīrangi kē hoki ō ngā tāngata.  Hei tauira, he kohara tō Pei Te Hurinui ki ngā tuhinga tawhito o te reo Pākehā, ā, ka rikarika ia kia whakamāoritia ētahi o aua tuhinga, ahakoa kīhai te nuinga o te iwi i aro ki tēnei mahi āna.  Ki a ia, hei hāpai i te reo Māori āna whakamāoritanga, nā reira, he mahi whai tikanga.  Rite tonu tāna uru ki roto i ngā whakataetae pootitanga, ā, nō tētahi wā i pupū mai ai he raruraru i roto i te Kīngitanga.  Ahakoa ka tautokona ia e Te Puea, ka kaha rawa te taha Rātana/Reipa, engari, ka karawhiua e ia.  Ka kaha aro a Pei Te Hurinui Jones ki te rangahau i ngā whakapapa, i ngā hītori ā-iwi, i te mātauranga Māori, ki te mahi hoki mō Ngāti Maniapoto me te Kīngitanga, ā, mā reira e maumaharatia tonutia nei, e whakanuitia nei.

Whakaahua: Ko Pei Te Hurinui Jones, hei kaitono o te Pāti Nahinara (1957).

Evening Post (Niupepa. 1865-2002) :Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post newspaper. Ref: EP/1957/4629-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22361124

1. “Nga Iwi o Tainui”, Auckland University Press, https://aucklanduniversitypress.co.nz/nga-iwi-o-tainui-the-traditional-history-of-the-tainui-people-nga-koorero-tuku-iho-o-nga-tuupuna/ (he mea titiro: 15/2/2026).
2. Bruce Biggs. “Jones, Pei Te Hurinui”, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, he mea whakaputa: 1998. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/4j11/jones-pei-te-hurinui (he mea titiro: 15/2/2026).
3. Waikato Times, 19/12/1940: 5.
4. Michela Anderson, “An Exploration of the Ethical Implications of the Digitisation and Dissemination of Mātauranga Māori (with Special Reference to the Pei te Hurinui Jones Collection). MA thesis (Waikato, 2012): 94.
5. Ahakoa he tino kaiwhakamāori a Pei Te Hurinui i ngā tuhinga a Hakipia, ehara ia i te tangata tuatahi. I whakaputaina hoki he wāhanga o ā Hakipia e Charles Oliver Davis (he kaiwhakamāori Pākehā nō te tekau mā iwa o ngā rautau), e Rēweti Kōhere hoki. Tirohia tā Hēmi Kelly, “Ngā Tikanga Whakamāori Kōrero”, Te Kaharoa, 10 (2017):280; Hēmi Kelly, “A Tradition of Māori Translation”, Neke: The New Zealand Journal of Translation Studies, 2018. https://ojs.victoria.ac.nz/neke/article/download/4861/4313 (he mea titiro: 14/2/2026).
6. Hariru Te Aroha Roa, “Translating Translations: A study of Ngā Rūpaiaha o Oma Kaiama, a Māori translation of the English version of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám”, MA thesis (Waikato, 2013): 15; Te Ao Hou, 10 (Āperira 1955): 22-24.
7. Te Ao Hou, 33 (Tīhema 1960): 40.
8. Auckland Star, 10/8/1943: 2.
9. New Zealand Herald, 16/12/1944: 6.
10. Roa, “Translating Translations”, p.15.
11. New Zealand Herald, 16/12/1944: 6.
12. Te Ao Hou 33 Dec 1960, p.40.
13. Anderson, “An Exploration”, p.94; “More Pei Jones Shakespeare translations found”, Waatea News, 7/9/2017, https://www.waateanews.com/waateanews/x_news/MTcyMjE/National%20News/More-Pei-Jones-Shakespeare-translations-found; (he mea titiro: 13/2/2026).
14. Auckland Star, 10/8/1943: 2.
15. Auckland Star, 16/9/1943: 3; New Zealand Herald, 25/9/1943: 6.
16. Waikato Times, 17/1/1945: 2.
17. Evening Star, 24/1/1945: 3.
18. New Zealand Herald, 25/1/1945: 7.
19. Waikato Times, 31/1/1945: 2.
20. New Zealand Herald, 29/1/1945: 7.
21. “Jones”.