WOMEN OF THE PA.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 451, 9 March 1909, Page 3

WOMEN OF THE PA.

AS SISTER-NELLIE SEES THEM. . Sisier Nellie Hayes is ono of the Methodist deaconesses whose ; work among the Maori women was mentioned with approval by Dr. Pomare after his .recent visit to the pas in the Hawera district, and she- is quite an enthusiast in her love-for the vork, which she •is doing among Maori women and children. It is not a year: since Sister Nellie and Sister Julia were appointed liy the Methodist Church to work as deaconesses in the Maori pas,, and the first thing which Sister Nellie Bad to do .was to spend some weeks in a hospital, gathering experience and information. So equipped she went to the district and waited for an invitation to enter one of tho pas, for it would not have been courteous to enter uninvited. The invitation soon came, the sisters woie accorded a typical Maori welcome,. and sow there are nine pas within a radius of twenty miles to which they have access. The more she sees of Maori women the more Sister Nellie loves and admires them. "They are not nearly so lazy as is generally supposed," says she, and she has had full opportunity for judging, since, in addition to her frequent)visits to, Maori homes, she has spent the last two months in a Maori village nursing.:a very sick patient. "I am always impressed with the busy scene that unfolds itself with the beginning of each day. At half-past six any morning you will e© 'the women in the pas' hard at work peeling potatoes, drawing water, chopping wood, getiing ready for breakfast, and the work of thEi .day. Later thoy do a great deal of work : in their gardens which are usually situated; out in the bush somo distance from-the pa. Maori women are really splendid gardeners, and I have never tasted more delicioim vegetables than those they grow. They raise enough to serve them through all tho winter, and part of their work is to pit the pbtatoes and gather pumpkins'and other vegetables into the village storehouse. ' Many »f the women will go and work in the 'settlers ,, fields, weeding turnips and mangels; one girl I knew earned as much as 10s. a q fortnight. Then, on wet days, .they will Aofc only look after the house and the children, but you will find •them hard, at .work'"weaving the mats and little kits.'.,' Oh, the" Maori woman is a good worker—slow , / of. c6urse, and unmethodical, but industrious. '"'"

A number of the'men do good work, too. In the pa wh'ere I , lived they milked a lot of cows, ahd'took : the milk to the factory; and they obeyed tho factory regulations' very rigidly as faf'-as I.'Could see. Both fathers and mothers 3 are clevoted to their children,

and the little-'Maorf child has a glorious time till he is blcP'enougn. to have to work.' 'On the whole, tie women are good mothers, though perhaps'they do spoil their children. The children like school when they go regularly, but, too ofteni ,their parents tako them away to tangis.'and-.other festivals and then the children lose ground and lose heart. Thoy learn very quickly anything that requires deft fingers. Writing, for instance, is a subject in which they shine. They are very docile and. affectionate.

Sister Nellie , has been living in a Te Whiti pa, where it has/beon part of the religion not to adopt English ways, and where the power of tW'tohunga is still very greatly felt, but she'finds'that the women are not more under 'hia -ihfliience than are the men. She was not .very ready to express any opinion about th'e sfiggeation. that Maori girls should be '/trained";for domestic .service, though it .was very'evident from what she has learnt of'the'daily life of the pa that it would be of 'igre&t advantage to Maori girls to live in' European houses and learn European ways. She has been much struck with the strong-.' affection existing between husband and wire, the kindness and tenderness shown when one or other is sick. Altogether her picture, of Maori life is one full i of hope, and a certain picturesque charm.