THE TEACHING OF MAORI.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 441, 25 February 1909, Page 4

THE TEACHING OF MAORI.

,. Thirteen- students at Canterbury . Col-: lege, we hear from Christchurch,, have petitioned the. College authorities to provido faoilitieß for studying the Maori language. \ This item of news'will probably cause pleasure to those members of the Uriivorsity Senate who were recently; pushing forward the claims of Maori to 'inclusion amongst the subjects for tho B.A. decree., But it will bo surprising-if the College authorities do not discover

tho decisive'reason why it will be, a waste of time and money to provide .the facili-

ties asked for. The young enthusiasts in Christchurch are- probably as'iiiilikely as. anybody to support their request by appeals either to utility or- to tho value:of ;a'

"language bond" between the' •pahelia and the Maori, On .neither...of- theses grounds can there be - founded' any. claim for the teaching of the Native tongue. - There is left tho point'that the study of Maori will be as beneficial to the student's mind as the study'; of Anglo-Saxon or Greok. So no. doubt it .would ba, but for ,the fact that there is. no body/of Maori literature to -be studied. It would be easy, of course,. to' set men who' have ari ; .expert ■ acquaintance with the, tongue to work at compiling volumes of Maori legends, but '

literature manufactured. iri;this way will not be of much account. If it could bo assumed that, the Maori raco would flourish for centuries! to' come, and that the Maori tongue: would flourish in speech ;even if it never becatoe' a'' vehicle '' for literature, something might be said:'for

the establishment of some, kind of record to-day for the benefit of curious inquirers five centuries hence. 'But it is more likely that the Maori tongue.,will.be -no'loriger spoken.by the end of the present century, and. tho; existing dictionaries and translations afford .all the' record that is required of a language that has no-litera-ture:

; To us the most interesting aspect of the Christchurch'students' petition is the light .which it throws upon the gradual' :d isappearance irom : our University Col-, leges of the right conception :'of academic 1 teaching. . To add Maori—a . very"easy" language—to tho list of degree l subjects is simply to make easier the task of obtaining a B.A. degree which, owing to the low standard of the examination, is not worth very much as it is. It'is assuredly no certificate - of either culture or learning."■ Many, students 'would welcome most - any widening, of their' - choice • of subjects, since what ( Mk./Balfour-would' call "broadening the basis' 1 would facuitate, ' the. work of -selecting"easy" sub-! jects.' It wouldbe unfairto suggest: that any but'-the best ' motives—even "if misguided 'ones—inspired the petition of the Christchurch. students; but it: is: quite v fair'to charge, the University:;Senate,arid, the ..various; College authorities with neg-lect-in the matter of keeping prominently before the eyes of students the real purpose of a University. . Unlcsi the principles of University . education had been allowed to fall into neglect, we should not have had any N proposal from .'anybody in 'academic circles' that Maori should, bo taught at.a University College.' "Broad-and-buttor"' ideals are tending to take charge t in University' matters—a natural enough development in a country in', which ; there: has been little to cdrfect the tendency of a democracy., to, scorn, whatever, fe . old—whether a theory, a policy,, or-, a method—as ipso, facto, foolish, and suited only to minds in their "dotage.