whaowhia te kete mātauranga  (Fill the basket of knowledge)

I tenei ra ko te Paraire, a kei te rangahau ahau i roto i nga niupepa maha – Paetukutuku Namapepa.
I kite ahau i nga tuhinga tuatahi i roto i nga nupepa – 28 Maehe 1868 me te 26 o Hānuere 1869 . I nga ra tawhito, i tuhia e te iwi Ingarihi te kupu ‘turi me te wahangu’ hei utu mo te ‘Turi’. Ko nga korero pai e rua i korerotia e au i roto i nga nupepa e kore e taea te tuhi ‘me te ako noa i te wa poto, ka taea te mahi i nga mahi e rite ana ki tetahi o nga tangata.’
E whakaatu ana ko nga tangata Maori Turi e kore e taea te korero, te tuhituhi ranei, me te kaha ki te mahi rite ki tetahi i roto i te mahi. Kei te titiro ahau ki te maha o nga iwi Maori e haurangi ana, kei roto ranei i te whare herehere i te tau 1860 , ka kite i te ahua o te hapori e noho tahi ana me nga Pakeha. He rite tonu te mahi a te iwi Maori ki etahi atu tangata, i haere ki te kura, ki te mahi ano hoki ki etahi atu tangata?

Today it is Friday and I have researched many newspapers – Newspaper Pasts online.
I came across the earliest articles in the newspapers – 28 March 1868 and 26 January 1869. In the old days, English people described the wording ‘deaf and dumb’ instead of ‘Deaf’. A couple interesting comments I read in the newspapers were ‘could not write’ and ‘only learning a short time, can turn out work equal to any of the men.’
It showed that any Deaf Māori men could not read or write and the ability to work equal to anyone in the work. I am looking at the number of Māori people who have the disability or in jail pre-1860s and to see what kind of society they live along with the European people. Were the Māori people treat equally to other people, did they go to school or to work as equal to other people

There was no evidence about using Māori sign language anywhere pre 1950s or pre 1980s. This is the reason many people want to know if there is any evidence of Māori sign language today. We, Deaf people, the linguists, the professors in Deaf Sign  Language are doing researching through many research papers, newspapers and journals.

Many articles and stories in the newspapers gave us the opportunity to research and offer any pieces of evidence that the histories of any stories happened in the past. For example in the newspaper – January 26th 1869, a visitor from the Government to Mount Eden Gaol and wanted to see the evidence on how prisoners lived and work in the gaol.  On March 28 1868, a reporter described on a Deaf Māori man and his ability to show the audiences if he can read or write or not. I know that the words ‘Deaf and dumb’ are in many newspapers and it was horrible words to describe the person. Just remember it happened in the old days and no one knows how to put down the suitable word in the newspapers.  This article was about the Native Lands Court, in Otaki and there was a disputed over the lands – The sale of Awahou Block by Paratene.

So we need to fill the kete (basket) of knowledge to all Māori Deaf people and everyone to learn about the history.