Sound: te reo in the House of Representatives

Hear Clerk of the House T.D.H. Hall talk about Maori Member of Parliament using te reo in the House.

This clip requires Flash Player 7 or higher. Download latest Flash Player.

Click on arrow to play (140 kb).

Transcript

One of the Maori Members I had to provide an interpreter for. The only one in my time and he used to tell me beforehand. One night to my astonishment he got up to speak when there was some debate on a Maori subject, and it was quite impossible to get an interpreter then. However, he started off 'Mr Speaker. When I speak in this House, I speak in Maori. I can speak English, but when there are ladies in the gallery I think it better to speak in Maori. I learned my English from a bullock driver.' The House received this statement with very great joy I may say.

Radio New Zealand Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. Any re-use of this audio is a breach of copyright. To request a copy of the recording, contact Sound Archives Ngā Taonga Kōrero. T.D.H. Hall reminisces, 1952. Reference no: D247

How to cite this page: 'Sound: te reo in the House of Representatives', URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/sound/te-reo-in-the-house, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 26-Mar-2009

Community contributions


There are currently no community contributions for this page - please fill out the form to the right if you would like to add your story

What do you know?

Can you tell us more about the information on this page?
Perhaps you have a related experience you would like to share?

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Comments will be reviewed prior to posting. Not all comments posted. Tell me more...