A FIGHTING MAORI.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1019, 7 January 1911, Page 4

A FIGHTING MAORI.

LONDON VIEW OF HON.; WI PERfti Says the . "Westminster Gazette":—') "It is to be feared' that tho Honourable' Wi Pere (the only llaori represen-tativs. in-tho-New Zealand-legislative Cquncil} - 'c!innat::'l»"cr£clioneS;"a promising cftndi-' r (late for membership o£ the Peace. Society. This gentleman was speaking: recently on the question of defence, and' he protested vigorously against the proposed limitation of military" training." to' 'pakehas' (white men) between the agea; of eighteen aiul twenty-iive:. TTou .cannot | do better than'train the Maori,he d> clarcd. 'You must remember that the' Maori has got a head on his shoulders. . . . He can fight in the bush and. in the open, without a gun, .without a rifle,, and without powder. .... "Wi Pero ardently longs for tho raising of a regiment of Amazons: 'Why should not the women'be trained? What is the" difference between tho white -woman and the Maori woman?; It is that if the former hears of an .enemy, being about, she will scream, and fall back in a faint, while the itaori woman springs for the first cudgel she can lay her -hands on,' and' gets into th'o 'fray;' "As tho speaker proceeded his enthusiasm increased, and he declared. emphatically that 'simply to train the men between 'eighteen and twenty-five is hot sufficient. Are you going to allow the sport of war to thes9 few alone? No! .1 believe that you" should /let everyone enjoy it. . Toil can have all those between these ages, but let me train those outride tho Bill, and I will back my lot sgainst yours. All' that I crave for is to enioy some fighting before I. die. It is* bard to say whether the. Honourable. \Vi Pere .-would bo more useful to the Empire as a recruiting, officer for the . Territorials or as field-marshal in the; army of the advanced Suffragists."