South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-12-05
MACGRECOR, MAORI
AUTHORITY, JOINS
NOTRE DAME STAFF
Noted Student of South Sea
People Arrives In South
Bend From New Zealand.

Or. r. r. MacgreEor. who is 10
take place in the Not-e Dame
faculty as an instructor iu phlloso-
ply arrived ln South Bend last
night from his home in New Yea
land. lie expects 60 assume his new
duties at Notre Dame immediately.
Dr. MaCgreEor, who is SO years
old, received his degree of doctor OF
philosophy az the University OF Jena
in Germany, and also has the honor
of being a Fellow OF the ROYAL So
ciety OF Literature and "a Fellow OF
the Royal AnthrOpol0gical Institute.
and member of the Sociological
and Historical societies Of London.
For the past three years DR. Mac
gregor has been devotiug his time
TO research work i'm New Zealand on
the history and development OF the
Maori race and his observations
have been Incorporated i'm "a book
ON the subject Maori and Poly
neslan' soon 10 be published in
London The new work viii deal
with the origin and history OF the
South Sea folk. one part OF The
book is 10 be given wholly to- Maori
folksougs which have weird
charm and rythm unlike any other
music NacEreEor has ever found.
In the course Of his study OF the
Maoris DIR. Macgregor spent SIX
months i'm the remote Businesses 81
the Urewera country "the land OF
fire. without seeing white per
son. Passing SIX months in noun
tains among these strange tribes of
people does nos remove one from
contact with civilization. although
Il temporarily banlshes IT, DR. Mac
gregOr said last night in talking OF
his experience. Neither does ID
take one away from religion. culture
or chivalry. ne said.
Sagas of Maori
Maoris are not native 10 New
Zealand. as many believe. They
came there long ago in gigantic
canoes from the Malay peninsula
and took the land from tribe
called Moriori. who now occupy only
a tiny island off tho New zealand
coast The history Of This voyage
Of discovery Is preserved in tribal
sa gas similar 10 those which told OF
the exploits Of the vikings
Even the names given the canoes
and the landing place a. each is
told In the stories handed down
from one generation 20 another. for
the Maori had no written language.
NaOris have a culture that turns
out a polished and courteous man.
once the native viewpoint is under
stood, Macgregor said. Strict stan
dards % morality arc maintained
and the violator ia banished. TO go
and dwell with the white man. Con-
tact with the white people has re-
suited in a deterioration OF the
tribes. Macgregor said. but in the
mountains where tribal customs are
maintained. the old customs are OBJ
served.
Where the tribes have taken up
European culture. they have proved
marvelously adept i'm the white
mans books. MacgreEor said Bows
of six years find no difficulty in re-
membering a page OF printed matter
after reading il once. This he att
tributed 20 the aEe-oId custom OF
memorizins the sagas.
The Maoris follow their ancient
religion, which has gods and god
desses like those OF ancient Greece.
Forces OF nature are attributed 70
personalities and these are wor-
shipped for the things desired OF
each Their carving in wood is
wonderfully fine and figures are all