"Unpayable Lines.—The Commissioner of Railways has had a return prepared showing the results of the working of 48 lines for the year ending 30th June, 1896. Of these, 33, covering 515 miles, do not pay working expenses, and are reckoned to be the worst lines in the colony."
<hw>Utu</hw>, <i>n</i>. a Maori word for "Return, price paid, reward, ransom, satisfaction for injuries received, reply." (Williams.) Sometimes corrupted by Englishmen into <i>Hoot</i> (q.v.).
1840. J. S. Polack, `Manners and Customs of New Zealand,' vol. ii. p. 63:
"Utu or payment is invariably expected for any injustice committed, and is exacted in some shape, the sufferer feeling debased in his own opinion until he obtains satisfaction. The <i>Utu</i>, similar to the <i>tapu</i>, enters into everything connected with this people."
1845. E. J. Wakefield, `Adventures in New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 29:
"He asserted that we should pay for the tapu; but suggested as an amendment that the utu or `payment' should be handed to him."
1855. G. C. Mundy, `Our Antipodes,' p. 252:
"Utu, which may be freely translated `blood for blood,' is with him [the Maori] a sacred necessity. It is the <i>lex talionis</i> carried out to the letter. The exact interpretation of the formidable little word `Utu' is, I believe, `payment.'"
1857. C. Hursthouse, `New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 61:
"The learned commissioner's court was instantly besieged by bands of natives vociferating for more `utu' (payment), and threatening the settlers with the tomahawk if more `utu' were not instantly accorded."