THE W.C.T.U. RALLY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1004, 20 December 1910, Page 9

THE W.C.T.U. RALLY.

INTERESTING ADDRESSES ON MAORI MISSION WORK. The members of. llie Women's Christian Temperance Union held a "rally" in i riuity Cliurch, Nowtwwn, last evening, when interesting; addresses were given by the Rev. Munro (Maori missionary), Mrs. A. It. Atkinson, Mrs. Munnj (mo Miss Stirling), and Mr. If. A. n right, M.P. Mrs. Boxall, president of tno union occupied the chair during the evening and introduced Mr. and Mrs. Alunro to the audience. Mr. Munro suoke ot the eftects of the contact with "the pakeha upon the Maori, and of the. position occupied by him to-dav. He placed three types before the minds of his listhe increasing eitect of tho white race unon the standards, ideals, and work of. tho Maori, ""at ho is to-day is entirely the effect of that contact. Unfortunately, it was but too ot ten the case that the Native came I"'° ?? . w . lHl the unprincipled European. Untrained, he was unable to discriminate between the good and the evil, awl often he took tho evil pakeha as his guide. .. Part of. the work-of. the Maori Mission to-day ivas to heln him, train Jim and educate him, so that lie would .be able to •discriminate between ' them, ino Maoris themselves do not always understand the aims of the mission, and sometimes, through, that , lack of understanding, .there was trouble in their own ca "'P-, The _ mission also had trouble I * ii _P a k c lm s * Mr. Munro then spoke | or* tlio Maoris at Gisborne, many of I whom arc station-owners, who have so grasped the science of farming, that their wool for the past two .years has tonped the market. But what have they to uglit against. Public-houses hare been placed in most of the central ulaces of the Maori districts, and, as a result, the Maori, so successful in his farming, but not • yet a pakeha in knowledge, spends all his money there, becomes hopelessly; drunk, and entirely under tho influenco of liquor. An ignoble advantage is taken of liim. He has made money because he has applied himself to the science of farming, and it is taken from him by making him drunk, by placing liquor where lie cannot get away from it. The Maoris would wipe it out tomorrow if:/ they had tho privilege of voting. He can enter the public-house, but not sweep'them out from his midst. i; n( \_^ 1G Jpsnlt':is the gradual death of. ihe Maori,.and-.tha-making of every effort to render him almost useless. Mr.Munro instanced the attempt to introduce liquor into the King Country,. bccausc of the Main Trunk, and of the way in which the Maoris clung to the old agreement entered intobetween the Government and the Waikato Natives, .in which they stipulated tiiat drink should not be introduced into the country. It was the feeble effort of the Maori to protect himself. His welfare lay in tfie hands of the pakeha.

Mrs. Atkinson, on rising to speak, gave reasons why everyono should - join tho union, and then proceeded to give an outline of all that had been" accomplished by the union since its inception. The yv.C.T.tr. might justly claim some of the credit for tho fact that the reueal of tho C.D. Act had taken placc." For I twenty-oiio years the union had been petitioning the Government to remove them from tho Statute Book, arid at last .it hod-been-done.--Thp nnion"is"T>ppos»d" :to tho amendment- to tho Public Health Act, because they believe that in education, and in knowledge lio the greatest safeguards, and till these, with free treatment for such patients as need it, havo been proved to- be without cffect, thej- ( will be opposed to compulsory notification. Tho union has established. the. only women's paper entirely, run and.sucIcessfjilly managed by women—the "White "Ribbon",-newspaper. . It. is also owing, to uts e/Jorlgtjjaf'ivertf^girl l whotnoiy; jiajjswi through tire public "schools is taught' be a good cook. Tho union established .a school in Dunedin many years ago, with r.Mrs.; Miller (now in -Auck'land) to teach cooking. So successful was tiio experiment that the Qtago Education Board secured Sirs. Miller • as tho first Education Board cook', arid gradually the idea lyas followed up everywhere. The union also -won the franchise ' for the women of New Zealand;, almost singlehanded. -For six years they.... were the only ones who collected signatures. for petitions, .and 1 only .in' the. seventh year of the struggle did they gather-in other bodies. They owed' much to Sir Harry Atkinson, Dr. Wallace,...Mr. Saunders,., and inanj' others. Mrs. Atkinson also re--'fcrred to tho which the white" race was resporisible;. that . of - placing "liqiior in the reach'of the -Maori., > ~ Mrs. Munro (Miss Stirling) spoke of the great work tho Maori women are doing among their people; Tho pakeha women can do so much, but tho Maori women havo to go through many processes before they can do such things. . Sho felt very proud of being a member- of thp W.C.T.U., as well as a worker of the Maori Mission. Several missions have been formed in different, parts with many Maori members, and these Maori women aro working among the kaingas teaching their sisters how to look after the home, keep it neat and fresh and clean, teaching them how to cook and how to care for their children. Within three years there had been formed seven unions. They wore to'bo found in Gisborno, in Wairarapa, in Rotorua, in Hawke's Bay. There are many ivonien who do not knoiv English either to speak or to understand, but still they are.liolping.to do great things." -They are : 'purifying , tho homes and tho kaingas. They can do so much in-:their own honies and villages, but it is when tliey go' into tho towns that their men fall into temptation. The Maori looks to tho nakeha for help and assistanco in the effort to uplift the race.

Mr. Wright, M.P., also spoke on tho majority question. To his mind the threefifths majority was an iniquitous thing. It was opposed to every democratic principle. Every man and woman's vote is on an equal.footing: It is so at the time of the general election, in tho methods of Parliamentary procedure, and in other matters. In the liquor question thcro rtust be fivo votes for.and three on the other side. It is really a remnant of tho property vote, when a man who owned a certain amount of property had two votes. In this ease it was tho brewer, the hotelkeeper, etc., who had a vote and a fraction.

A vote of thanks was proposed by, Mr. Crewes to Mr. and Mrs. Munro, Mrs.- A. R. Atkinson, Mrs. Boxall, and to Mr. Wright, M.P., for their most interesting addresses. . During :. the evening Mrs. Munro sang the "Poi Song" and - "Tho Better Land."