s. . . . Red Mapau (Myrsine
Urvillei), a small tree common at Dunedin. Wood dark red, very
astringent, used as fence stuff."

1883. J. Hector, `Handbook of New Zealand, p. 132:

"Tawiri, white-mapou, white-birch (of Auckland). A small tree,
ten to thirty feet high; trunk unusually slender; branches
spreading in a fan-shaped manner, which makes it of very
ornamental appearance; flower white, profusely produced.
The wood is soft and tough."

1889. T. Kirk, `Forest Flora of New Zealand,' p. 75:

"By the settlers it is frequently called `black mapou' on
account of the colour of the bark. . . . With still less
excuse it is sometimes called `black maple,' an obvious
corruption of the preceding."

<hw>Maple</hw>, <i>n</i>. In New Zealand, a common settlers'
corruption for any tree called <i>Mapau</i> (q.v.); in
Australia, applied to <i>Villaresia moorei</i>, F. v. M.,
<i>N.O. Olacineae</i>, called also the <i>Scrub Silky Oak</i>.
See <i>Oak</i>.

<hw>Maray</hw>, <i>n</i>. New South Wales name for the fish
<i>Clupea sagax</i>, Jenyns, family <i>Clupeidae</i> or
<i>Herrings</i>, almost identical with the English pilchard.
The word <i>Maray</i> is thought to be an aboriginal name.
Bloaters are made of this fish at Picton in New Zealand,
according to the Report of the Royal Commission on Fisheries of
New South Wales, 1880. But <i>Agonostoma forsteri</i>, a
Sea-Mullet, is also when dried called the <i>Picton Herring</i>
(q.v). See <i>Herring</i> and <i>Aua</i>.

<hw>Marble-fish</hw>, <i>n</i>. name given to the <i>Tupong</i>
(q.v.) in Geelong.

<hw>Marble-wood</hw>, <i>n</i>. name applied to a
whitish-coloured mottled timber, <i>Olea paniculata</i>,
R. Br., <i>N.O. Jasmineae</i>; called also <i>Native Olive</i>
and <i>Ironwood</i>.

<hw>Mark, a good</hw>, Australian slang.

1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 233:

"I wondered often what was the meaning of this, amongst many
other peculiar colonial phrases, `Is the man a good mark?'
I heard it casually from the lips of apparently respectable
settlers, as they rode on the highway, `Such and such a one is
a good mark,"--simply a person who pays his men their wages,
without delays or drawbacks; a man to whom you may sell
anything safely; for there are in the colony people who are
regularly summoned before the magistrates by every servant they
employ for wages. They seem to like to do everything publicly,
legally, and so become notoriously not `good marks.