THE MAORI—A GROWING RESPONSIBILITY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 163, 3 October 1941, Page 4

THE MAORI—A GROWING RESPONSIBILITY

ourers

THE Minister of Education, speaking in Wellington, spoke o.f the great field of work in Maori vocational instruction and the need for useful guidance. "He was convinced that there would be two races in this country for many a, long day." That seems a very cautious way of putting it, seeing that the Maori population is increasing at a far greater rate than that of the pakeha. The native race obviously requires the attention and the help that are the right of a people so capable and so confident of its complete recovery from 'the fate that once threatened it. That the Education Department has taken serious account of the Maori's hopeful condition and their newly sharpened faith in the future has been brought to public attention by the reports of the excellent results obtained in native schools. The Horohoro and other experimental schools —the work done there is well advanced beyond the try-out stage —are practical object lessons to most pakeha schools, and justify fully the faith of the leaders over the last few years. The training ;in the new schools is practical, and usefully fills the gap which formerly existed between the school and the ordinary life requirements of the people. The general attitude of the average Pakeha is that the Maoris should be trained to become successful farmers. Much has been done in this direction and the ultimate good even in this district is little short of staggering. Ohope and Ruatoki are shining examples of Maori husbandry and industry when given the correct supervision and encouragement. Too fast have the members of .our Native race been allowed to run to seed, and the main fault lies with'the bad example se;t them by the type of Pakeha who gravitates to them and seeks to take advantage of their open and communal life. Mistaken kindliness in easy money, inflated wages for little effort. These are also primary causes of the deterioration which we see; today. Our responsibility to-day is plainly enough the emancipation of the Maori.Not only life on the land must be considered in the efforts made to rehabilitate the Maori. Boys and girls need instruction in. all useful practical arts and crafts which will enable them to earn their living on level terms with their European fellow citizens. How few Maori carpenters and builders do we see at work under ordinary conditions, even*in country districts, in this island? How many communities where the people: live a hand-to-mouth existence, without regular employment for their young men? There is no handicraft which they have been taught; they are crowded out from the trades in which the pakelia has been trained from youth. The girls, too, though provided for now in the education scheme in native districts, do not receive the encouragement they should when they wish to enter such a profession as nursing. The colour line is still strongly drawn, to the disgrace of the ignorant and narrow-visioned pakeha. The shortage of nurses, and for that matter the great lack of doctors, could have been relieved before this by full educational facilities and the right attitude on the part of hospital boards. Presently, too, returned Maori soldiers will need assistance, not only for farming but in other ways*' They will need not only vocational training; they will call for work which will reward them on equal terms with their pakeha comrades, and they will demand something better than jobs as casual lab-