PROBLEM OF THE HALFCASTE

Evening Star, Issue 20140, 3 April 1929, Page 3

PROBLEM OF THE HALFCASTE

NEW ZEALAND'S SOLUTION [By Sir J.uiks Barrett, in the • Argus.’J There seems to be a settled belief, especially among Anglo-Saxons, that half-castes inherit the weaknesses but not t lie. good qualities of their parents, ft is frue that .some writers are cautious and point out that ton often the half-caste is handicapped hy belonging in effect to neither race, and that consequently ho receives indifferent social treatment. There is now in the .South Pacific a notable race of half-castes whose relatively successful social development has not received the attention warranted by the facts. Many Anglo-Saxons, especially on the political platform, talk of purity of race and particularly of the Nordic races, meaning thereby themselves and their hearers. There may bo examples of Nordics here and there among ns—big, yellow-haired blonde, muscular people, full of energy and “drive,” but in general it is obvious that vve are a fairly mixed race, and I liafc gradually come to regard the Nordic argument or myth as somewhat allied to nonsense. The facts are usually gathered from two countries, India, and South America. In India the half-castes or Anglo-Indians are in a difficult position. The dislike of Western civilisation which is felt hy .some Indians do- not help them, and I he w hile population of India sees their defects Viscount Bryce diicctcd attention io the absence of feeling on the. subject in South America, and it is indeed evident that South America is settling down and prospering. Anyone who reads the Year Rook of Lragnay or interests himsell in the health administration ol Brazil cannot but bo impressed. The striking instance on the globe of a fairly satisfactory solution of the half-caste problem is to be found in New Zealand, where tbo fusion of Maori and New Zealander is proceeding slowly and steadily. It is worth while to inquire why there is neither a, colour lino nor, so far ;.s j can ascertain, any serious objection to the fusion of races. Who are the Maors? A brown-skinned Polynesian people allied to the Hawaiians, who entered New Zealand some centuries ago. They spread ovp the North Island, which is sub-tropical but they never took kindly (o the colder south. Corning as they did from tropical Polynesia, they found Iho cold uncongenial. Tiieir voyages involved a sea journey in their canoes of at least 1,600 miles. They understood navigation with the aid of the stars and the value of trad© winds. Of their spirit of enterprise, then, there is no question They developed a civilisation of marked efficiency in building, hunting,-fishing, and war. Their physique is excellent. They had no" writien records. _On the other hand their sanitary arrangements witb regard to both housing and food were deplorable, and the first wlvte people who landed in New Zealand noted that tuberculosis was taking its toll. Their numbers never seer lo have exceeded 150,000. THIS MAORI SURVIVAL.

It is usually stated that contact with while ■ civilisation depleted their numbers, but this is only true indirectly. They were inveterate lighters, and their in-ter-tribal wars became deadly once they obtained firearms. At the outbreak of the Maori war against New Zealanders their numbers had fallen to about 50,000. The Maori wars with the British, especially about . 1860, , were

desperate wars. Anyone who visits the little Museum ac New Plymouth and reads the military orders at that time will realise that the British generals were under no illusions respecting the fighting capacity of the Maoris. As a matter of fact, halj the Maoris in the North Island and practically all those in the South Island were loyal, otherwise the military task would have been still more difficult. Yet though they ate portiom of their enemies as part of a semi-religious ceremonial, they showed in many instances in the most savage warfare a, strain of chivalry such as was rarely shown in (lie Great War. In the North Island there is a memorial of the Maori War cilb the name of a Maori chief on one side and of a British general on the other. Wo had, then, a. Polynesian civilisation on one side and a British on the other. The Maoris were finally defeated, and it seemed certain that, like so many other native peoples, they would disappear. For a time such a result seemed to ho inevitable. Vet the statistical tables show a remarkable recovery from 42,1 lii in 1896 to 63,670 in 1926. Of those half-castes in 1921 4,230 live as and among _ Europeans. The Maori wars diminished their numbers both by actual losses and civil disturbances, and still more so by the blow to their independence and natural pride. The recovery is, indeed, remarkable. The tropical origin of the Maori may he guessed from the following figures: --In April, 1927, of 64,234 Maoris, 61,410 were in the Noth Island, and the Northern (Auckland) district contained 46,030 of them. At the present time tlie pure-blooded Maoris are increasing'at the rate of about H per cent, a year. What is most, remarkable is the manner in which limy arcadapting themselves In European civilisation. There are four Maori members of Parliament'. There have been several Maori Ministers of the Crown, and several knighthoods hare been conferred on Maoris by the King. They have produced medical practitioners and lawyers. They nearly all possess, too, that invaluable asset, fluent English speech, and sometimes oratory of a high order. They are, like ail Poly- ' nesians, subject to tuberculosis, and it is, perhaps, fortunate that they take more kindly to farming, motor driving, and outdoor occupations than to office work. The fact remains that in the dominion there is no colour line and no colour feeling. Intermarriage takes place in ail classes as an accepted and normal condition. They, like Europeans. have special faults in social relationships, but, broadly, they arc simply New Zealanders. They played their part in the Great War, and to one was awarded tbo V.C. A PROUD ACHIEVEMENT. New Zealand has interested the world in several matters. Sim lias the lowest genera! and infantile death rate in the world. She exhibits the use of pure English speech, and everywhere geniality and courtesy. Tier greatest contribution to civilisation is the fact that she has shown that half-castes can be. just as efficient in ability and character as a pure race, and that the result depends on the quality, of the mixing races and on the just and proper treatment of the offspring. Her people may indeed feel proud. There is nothing inherently objectionable in a mixture in itself. The result depends on circumstances. The New Zealand experiment offers some hope to a. world containing some sixty nationalities. It is early to speak of the final result oT to assume that the mixture is without fault, but so far as can be judged at present New Zealand is absorbing a Polynesian civilisation and is not destroying the members of that alien race.