THE MAORI RACE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1928, 25 August 1888, Page 3

THE MAORI RACE.

A very able, Interesting and Instructive lecture on the Maori r»oe was delivered In tbe Wesleyan Church last night by the Rev. Mr Battle before a large aadienoe. Mr Battle, as the nnn of one of the early missionaries has had golden opportunities of becoming acquainted with the habit b, history, and customs of the Native Inhabitants of these islands, and that he has •Tailed himself of these opportunities was folly made manifest last evening by his masterly treatment of his subject. After some explanatory remarks, a few words were devoted to tbe question of the origin of tbe Maori race. It was supposed- and this theory received general credence — that these Islands, prior to the advent of the Maori*, were occupied by another and Inferior race j and color was lent to this belief by reason of the fact that the aboriginal inhabitants of the South Island and of the Chatham group were vastly Inferior, both m pbyslq-ae and intelligence, to tbe genuine Maori, as represented by thi North Islander. The traditions of the Natives gave Hjwalkl as their original home, and stated that one Kope, being driven on to the shores of New Zealand by an adverse wind, spread tha report of its riohneis and favorable ellmate among his countrymen, the mult being that at there was a disagreeDent between the rulers and some of the ruled of Hawaiki, thirtiea canoes laden with the malcontents set oat fur tbe new land. No place nan.cd Hawaiki was known, but there was an island called Hawaii In the Sandwich group, and another known as Savali m tbe Samoan group, the respective claims of which to Be regarded as the " Whence of tbe Maori " were urged by many authorities, said the leoturer, who, however, made no reference to Mr Edward Tregear's theory, tacitly endorsed by Proftsor riax Miiller, that the Biaori is an off shoot of the great Aryan stock, that be came to New Zealand almoet direct from Asia, and that the mythical Hawaiki is a corruption of the term implying a nether work — or m other words, the world whioh sank behind them when on their long Toyage to New Zealand. At all events the remembrance of the thirteen canoes appears to have been preserved, and these m m*ny cases gave their names to the tribes who are supposed to be descended from the original occupants ; and two of the oceangoing steamers engaged m the New Zealand trade, the Tainal and the Anwa, take their names from two of the canoes which tradition says served to convey the Maoris to these shores. Tbe class distinctions of the Natives next received notice at the hands of tbe leoturer, who seleoted Rewl, the great JNgatlmaniapoto chief, as a typical specimen of the rangitirs, or noble. He gave several personal reminiscences of the grand old chief, and said that it would have been good If the Maoris had many more such as he, and it would also be good if the Europeans would cultivate his nobility of oharaoter. Brief notice was given to the half castes, who, as tbe lecturer ssid, were almost invariably handsome and well made, and had Bbown themselves capable, with the aid of education, of taking a stand alongside the European, as m fact had also the Maori m many instances. -In dealing with tbe subject of the language of tbe Natives, Mr Buule made reference to the labors of the missionaries m reducing tbe language to writing— labors which bad been of the greatest benefit m civilizing and Christianizing the Maoris, bnt whioh had not yet reoeived their doe recognition. M*orl orators were fond of metaphor and synonym ; whereas it was expected a European speaker should be dear and to the point, a Maori gained great kudos If %t succeeded m mystifying hU audience. Je Whiti's famous saying, " the potato Is cooked," was a case m point. Reference was made to the connection of Sir George Grey, whose name was teoelved with applauie, with Maoris ff »lrs, and the lecturer apoke m high terms of praise of Sir George's geuerout gift of his splendid colSection of native curios and relics to tbe colony. Tbe joolal life of oar darkskinned fellow-Inhabitants of these Islands was the next subjeot touched upon. In the old days polygamy, and as a consequence, infanticide were oommon, and it was one of the hardest labors of the missionaries to induce the Native chiefs to give np taking to themselves a plurality of wives. Slavery was common before the good work of the missionaries had made Itself felt, aud the sieves sometimes gained considerable influence In tbe commuLl y t As with the European tbe three great spoons of the Maori's life were his birth, his marriage and his death, and tbe lecturer described at some length the ceremonies attendant upon these events, «ansing some amusement when h« stated that a continuous leap*year prevailed among the Natives, In so far as proposals of marriage were concerned, the privilege of " popping the question " devolving on the lady. The Natives were passionately fond of cards and drafts, and were adepts at these games. The lecturer stated that he would like to see a game of drafts between the " Herd Laddie " and a Maori player ; if he were a betting man he would certainly put his money on the darkskinned player. The last recorded case of cannibalism m New Zealand was In 1842, *nd Mr Battle after referring to the most notable oases of this kind, discussed the religions Ideas of the Natives before Christianity was introduced. They were even , to this day very superstitious, and had great dread of darkness, going out at night M little as possible. Mr Battle spoke at some length on the subject of mission work and expresied the opinion that tbe Christian Churches were not doing their duty towards the Maori, and that a-great many more missionaries were needed. There had been seasons of spostaoy— the outbreak of Haahauiam m Taranakl m 1864, being one of these ; this peculiar creed had been described as a mixture of Judse'sm, Mormonism and Spiritualism. The causes that led up to the King movement, and to the war were investigated. One of the provisions of the treaty of Waitacgl acknowledged the title of the Maori to his land, but gave the Government the right, of pre-emption. This provision bad been the cause of great trouble and the Government wore now beginning to see that the Native should be allowed to deal with his lands as he Jlked. At one time the Maoris began to Be^l a great deal of land, when the Government stepped In and enforced their right of preV m P tJon> The Maoris then refused to do anything with their land, they would .neither sell nor lease, and that policy of ex^lusifeness was only just breaking down & the present time. The real cause of the *« was not any spirit of rebellion, bat the desire of the Natives for happiness and welding. In addition to the comforts and bleasuigs of civilization the Europeans brought V*th them the curse of drink, and that mh\cb was even worse than drink. The Maori chiefs saw how " civilisation " was destroying; their people, and made repeated application for tbe strong arm of the law to prevent the continuance of the evil. Time after time, were these requests scornfully listened to, and uegleoted, and at Ust the Maoris thought that if tbe European would not rale them rightly, they had better have a king and a law of their own. That was how the trouble arose. The British authorities could not jrecognfza an independent king within their own territory, and hence a little war was undertaken* Hostilities commenced In Taranaki m 1858, and In 1863 the seat of the war was removed to Waikato. Tbe leoturer deacibed the sharp lesson the Brit'sh received at Ranglrlrl, and referred to the memorable defence of OraktkU. The British mined the redoubt, but previous to blowing the Maoris np gave them the «b|Qoe of ivcwoioc, proved peace

was haughtily deolined by Rewl, whose famous reply to the pakeba's overtures, "We wi'l fight for ever and ever and ever" has become historical. However, the Maoris at Orakau were not blown up ; In spite of soldiers having been disposed »i all the points of exit to prevent an esope. they got out of the redoubt and cleared away. After a passlug referenoe to the effects of the war the lecturer vehemently denounced proposals that had been made for the separate government of the tw< islands ; what God had j lined together, said be, let no man put asunder. During the evening several selections were reD'gr^d by the choir and refreshments prcrded by the ladles of t be oongre^B lon, were handed round after the lecture. The oustomtry votes of thanks were pssced and the proceedings were oncluded with prayer. Mr D. H. Brown occupied the chair during the evening.