IN PEACE AND WAR.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17472, 5 June 1922, Page 2

IN PEACE AND WAR.

A MAORI T.TiADTiB. The honour of knighthood conferred upon Dr. Pomare may be considered firstly a recognition of the way in wh:ch the Maoris played their part as British citizens during the war, and, secondly, an acknowledgment of the work done by Dr. Pomare, first as health officer, and then aa Minister, to bring the Maoris to recognise and observe laws of health (says the Wellington "Post"). Dr. Pomare, with the other _ Maori members of Parliament, organised the Pioneer Battalion, \vtnch gained distinction on Gallipoli. The voluntary response of the Maoris to the call for recruits was due mainly to the insinuation given by their leaders. When the Military Service Act" came into operation its provisions were not applied automatically to the Maori race, out were to operate only if the tribes decided that this should be done. Dr. Pomare secured the operation of the measure throughout the whole of his own electorate. Altogether between 4000 and 5000 Maoris went to the front, and some 500 Cook Islanders. But the Maoris helped m other ways —by gifts of money and land for settlement bv the returned soldiers.

The other great part of Dr. Pomare s work has been in safeguarding tho health of the Natives in the difficult transition from savage to civilired conditions. A strong and hardy race under their natural conditions of living, the Maoris were threatened with extinction through contact with the wh'te man and the attempt to adopt the white man's method of living. Ad Health Officer to the Maoris for many yeans Dr. Pomare was responsible for the introduction of those principles ot' health the beneficial effects of which are now becoming evident. It was not always easy to persuade the Maoris that what was proposed was for their ,own welfaie. The limitation of the tangi to three days, for example, was not welcomed; nor the forcible legislative suppression of the tohunga. To help the Maori women m sickness and maternity, suitable Maori girls werf chosen and trained a 6 nurses, their work has' been of the utmost value. These reforms were instituted first hy Dr. Maui Pomare as Health Officer, and carried on under nis Ministerial oversight by Dr. B'.'.ck (Te Rangihiron). The result of their joint efforts is that the Maori population which had previously been practically stationary or declining was at the last census shown to be increasing.