IS THE MAORI LAZY?

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 237, 6 October 1928, Page 1 (Supplement)

IS THE MAORI LAZY?

WORK AND THE NATIVE RACE. INFLUENCE OF TRADITION. :. ' INTERBSTIN'G ; (By F. -M, EBESBTG-, , M.A.) ':.j "The Maori can't stick- it!"' '■-■'-. :■■■ Such seems to.'be the final' declaration with regard to work made not even so much by the pakeha as by the Maori himself. Almost in the last forty years it has become an axiom among the tribesj dinneH, as -a Maori 'leader has told me, into the growing. generations from childhood, and only too often perhaps made the bulwark behind which the-indolent can hide their inactivity.

Have you, ever explored the earthworks on the site of some ancient pa; examined the carvings, canoes, weapons, implements, ■houses,.-clothing of olden days; read of the constant struggle ,for existence— the cultivating of the precious kumara crop,' the snaring of birds, and catching of fish, the engaging aggressively and ■ defensively of enemies? Study them, and you cannot help but realise that'the life of the primitive Maori called, for prodigies' of energetic ! worki v sustained,' glcilled. 1 and"'Weilorganised "effort, and ;the" active'-.co-operation of every member of the social' group 'in carrying on the daily round of tribal life. -Has the Maori stock so; degenerated, then, ■ that, to-day the'descendants of' these folk :■ cdnnpt work, cannot "stick it," are inherently lazy? If not, there must be reasons for his evil reputation. And when we seek to .find ;them we enter into a tangle of material, ' social and psychological causes. \ ■ ■ - ; -.-■ . ■■' ■■ ■ j

The social *aro perhaps the most apparent. ' Students of , society tell us that only through long' experiences" of slavery, hard knocks, time and economic pressure has "work" as we' conceive it become'acceptable'to civilised folk. We leave school,' and are whirled, most of us of necessity, into the economic hours a day-at least) 48 a ; week, or if we are in some job's a great deal. more. We live by the clock, the slaves a of time; Saturday afternoon and Sunday, should we .be, town dwellers,, are our release. • For: tunate indeed those' who have work , so congenial that it is utterly absorbing, becoming to them no longer "work" but "play," their spontaneous self-expres-sion. -Such.is .civilised work'. / - '

But: what of the Maori? All .this pressure of time,'' necessity,. monotony, specialisation ". and division 'of labour is quite foreign, to his heritage. .He had no clocks or Sundays. His holidays were delightfully ; irregular events; a.tangi (funeral), a. reception of. visitors, -a feast.or ceremonial holiday, an'enemy attack. He could "down" adze, net. spade at a.moment's notice according to the social .'demands.' . When he worked he threw himself wholeheartedly with' his fellows into the task, and it absorbed his. whole energies—it was' generally no grim' urge of necessity, but ;a spontaneous willingness: to, forward the varied activities of his community and tribe. He had happy variety;, would hunt,; build, fight, plant, play. George French Angas, in his diary of a journey into the interior ,of New Zealand, in 1844, tells how a certain meeting-house was" built with great , rapidity, yet nevpr ofice did he see anyone at .work there, though he tried to catch the workers at all sorts of. unexpected'times.. .It was done, piecemeal, but it was: done,! Now introduce "work" into the ' life! of the Maori as. it is known to the , 'pakeha, born and bred'to .accept it. (excepting the "cream" and. the "dregs*, of society, the "lounge lizards" ■ and' the "hobos"). You jnust expect some difficulty of adjustment. , :.•'.■ -. r • ;.' ■' .-."'. ■.-'." Hori's Dilemma. . '- .'.' ,-■'■ ' Hori is in a rjob. -His grandmother or fifth, cousin inconsiderately passes, away on a Monday instead of a Friday; all the family." and kindred gather from various parts of the country for what is perhape the saddest and 'gladdest rite in Maori life, the tangi; Hori must gp, arid so. lose his , position, or else be labelled a bad Maori—for few employers would allow him a week's holiday offhand. Such is "an ordinary example of the clash* of social customs in this period of adjustment -to civilisation. The result is tqo often that the Maori will not settle down to any work which ;ies him, such as dairying, commercial or industrial, pursuits. He prefers, the shifting positions —gum-digging, shearing, fishing, • timber and. flaxmilli'ng, rabbit-catching, road-making , and the like—to earn that', money < which; e:vilisation terms "the necessary.". , ' There are Maoris who have realised fully the inevitability of work, and they are willing to face up to it. Here come in. new issues. The first is the question of how many avenues of work are open to the Maori. Say a-young man <of ambition undergoes the long training necessary'to be a doctor.. Hg conies

■; • , . , ■ , :.; - ....-\ :. , ~ I from.cpllege full of.,enthusiasm., .He cannot'make' a living;' however,. among his own people , , because ho Maori ;jvill pay him—native custom", demands that he shall give his services;'freely and "cheerfully, and'perhaps feed,his patients into the bargain! But. it is, exceedingly difficult for' him to' establish a practice among Europeans, owing' to' c'dour-dis'-criminatiqn. He then c6ni.es, up against a blank wall, that,wall,which lopms-Sp large before .the educated Maori, youth 6i to;day,* and .closes, so many, of the congenial avenues-of'occupation. . Neveritheless. it.'is a, fine .thing to find'ybung Maoris increasingly anxious tov enter professional , training,' r in ■. medicine* engineering, nursing,, the 'ministry,;.and the public service, and these are ioing Valuable pioneering .in opening the way for aV wider, range, of. opportunity/for their race: ... ' . ".. J y " ;

...'.:■.,.- .'.;■"■_,; ,: ; .The'Lana. ; i" .■ _'...,..' . Now, : again, comes in another question —that vexing issue of land.- • Mos't authorities are_ agreed that the main outlet: for Maori work activity should be-in the development, of his -land. -.But according ' to the :' old. social order .of land was communal. Now a .Maori.even/to-day : m'ay .'be very anxious tp farm, hisland,- and inay even have available the.all-important finance to'back him. ...But he may not be able to. find his jland!' i'or he will have so much interest, in this block, and so iuuch in that'blockj and again some in others periaps hundreds of miles; away, no actual soil to which i he. m^y ; lay»his willing hands: ' Here we have; the-whole slowi unwieldy problem of "individualising" native : land. v.-Thefe is the tragichumorous example of ■'- the erithusiaslic Maori 'farmer''who i grew ! a 'splendid crop of-vegetables, but, as" soon as they were , ready to eat,'all his'lfess ;energetic neighbours.'simply came in and/ carried them off! , ~. '•''''. ■ --■■ - : -' •■•; ■•.■ .'.-. ■

• Some Maori communities' are working hard to-day. I.think of the "strenuous roofing of Eua's Urewera' stron'ghold in corrugated iron by his followers to keep out the prophesied falling.stars at.the end of the world he is sa f qnd of predicting. Or the energetic working of Ratana's followers at his .settlement near Wanganui. Again ' conies to mind, the intense, fervour of competition- that is driving some rivar settlements to work furiously', to beat' each, other,' even verging on active hostilities. But such work-stimuli as the fervour of religion or of' emulation are generally, not very permanent, and tend .to suffer quick slump. ; Much more_interesting are the constructive work-efforts of soriie other districts,, where a definite attempt is being'made to enter into economic competition with the pakeha. The outstanding example is of course the well-known experiment in ' communal co-operation being carried on by the Ngati-Porou people, on the East Coast,. inspired by Sir .'Apirana Ngata,' M.Pi However, to quote: this great . leader, you i cannot safely judge the success of such a work experiment. until the. :lapse of at least !ive to seven years—showing clearlyhls own .distrust, of the capacity of .His people-as yet' tor'sustain regular'workeffortiri.such an exacting field aa dairy farming 1 over a 1 long period.' '~,;'.!