Page 1 Advertisements Column 6

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2010, 20 February 1907, Page 1

THE MAORI. A ROTORUA OPINION Tlio Rotorua Times states :—Wo would ask tlio native what is the essence of his complaint against the patella, and by what line of reasoning does lie base his claim for special consideration. Let us take the case of our Maori friend in Rotorua. He has more privileges than the white man. There are more of him employed in the Sanitorium works ami in all Government' departments than there are white men. He lives

iit Ills pah under cheap conditions, whore his taxes aro lighter than the wliito man. Ho can even keep four dons lor the pi ice a European has to pay lor one. So far as the eye can see lie owns the land on all sides of ns with small exception, lie is net a producer. He does not sow neither docs he reap. With the laud he is a veritable dog in the manger, ns we have novel' yet hoard him petitioning the Government to resume it, so as to enable it to be thrown open lor settlement by those who want it. If his home is Whnkarowerowa, his children are taught a clerical instead of an industrial education, and in addition they are taught to beg. Their “trow a penny, please” is the echo of the cry at Colombo, at Aden, at Naples, at Madeira, where for half a century past the raising of a generation of beggars has been steadily going on, thriving mainly on the pennies of the tourist and traveller. The dignity-of labor and its discipline’ is thus unknown to the Maori family. The men themselves have no pride of race, and the women do little else than “haka” for a living, and wo find the native encouraged in what the pakoha is forbidden by law. to do —beg for a living. Yet the Maori is a good worker, able and intelligent. Stand in one of our streets and watch the waterworks gang at work. No one could wish for better service. “The native cannot work” is a fallacy that many people accept as true. The Maori can work, but the question is, does he give all the best that’s in him to that work and towards the progress and advancement of his individual district and his country? We are afraid that) the majority do not. Many prefer to idle their hours in useless fashion—by the lake, river, or the native bar. Title, a percentage of idle whites do the same but there is a difference—what is minority in the one case is majority in the other. Whenever a Maori has shown a laudable desire to advance, every assistance has been given him. The whole of the privileges of the pakelia have been thrust upon him and no obstacles placed in his way. This is proved by the many talented Maori men and women that to-day hold high positions in this country, which they will fill with honour and dignity. But what of the great majority, are they progressing? In Rotorua here we know they aro •not, and their own inertness, and the largesse of the traveller, are their greatest stumbling-blocks. Elsewhere we are told they aro the ragged landlords of a vast territory, who neither delve nor spin. Knowing and feeling all this we ask in what manner have we infringed their rights. Admittedly they are much better treated than the pakeha in all things, their only enemy being themselves. Sir Joseph Ward lias seen and felt all this and more. The personnel of the Commission now sitting proves liis earnest desire to reach finality on the Native Lanrs question, and we can confidently look forward to the unlocking, at) "no distant date, of the vast areas now held (very often unwillingly j by the native. But ■'with tho Maoris, so long ns things remain as they are, it is perfectly certain, though tlio native possesses more than equal rights with tiio pakoha, as a race lie is slowly and surely degenerating. Perhaps our educational system may lie responsible in some dogreo for this, and we should provide some industrial teaching. so that the young will grow up with a knowledge of the dignity of labor, instead of succumbing to idleness. IVe aro told that 1 many of the men in the before-mentioned gang, as well as others engaged in manual labor, are beautiful hand-writers. The energy and application necessary to master this art would have been far more profitable had it been spent in mastering the rudiments of farming or some other productive industry. Therefore, before our friend the Maori sets out on his journey across the seas with his petition, he should ask himself whether he lias been living ti]) to his own obligations, and also whether he lias taken full advantage of the rights accorded him as a citizen to improve his own position and to assist in the progress and advancement of the country ho calls his own.

POTATO PLANTS. Following is Captain Hewitt’s paper —“A possible cause of weakness ip potato plants of to-day”—read at tile meeting of the Farmers’ Union on Saturday For hundreds of years the method of propagating the potato plant' lias been by tubers; very rarely is the real seed of the plant} used. Now this is contrary to nature in one way, it develops one faculty of the plant whilst making no use of the seed-bearing power. We are in error wlien we speak of tubers kept for propagation of the potato as seed, they are properly cuttings, but the potato grows so readily from cuttings —which produce tubers within the year of the cutting being made—that we have almost entirely neglected growing from flip real sepd,' which 1 takes two or more years to mature. It is now a rare thing to see seed formed on the potato plant, tlinpya it flowers freely f,- K! powers remain umertihsed. When I first began farming on new hush soil that had never known po-tato-or vegetable, 1 was surprised'at the quantity of seed oil my potato plants, and wished I had time and means to try experiments, fnit with the little experience I then had did not recognise the value of such a novelty, and was content to fall into old methods. 1 recommend this idea of growing from seed and not from cuttings to those opening up new bush land, where the potato will grow at first naturally and stronger than in old cultivation, that they should save the seeds that may appear, and if they have not time to sow and care for them for the two years necessary, that they should send seed to Government experiment'd farms or persons who may have time for such work, for following reasons :

AVe know that trees and plants grown from suckers or cuttings do not produce such fine plants as those grown from seed. They arc truer to type, just as inbred animals am, but continuous inbreeding produces wonkness and liability to disease in animals. The same in plants. Both require fertilisation from another branch of the same species in order to retain hardiness. The only way this can l>e done is through the flower But pollen from inferior sources may produce seedlings of inferior quality to the mother plants ; and Burbank has shown how hundreds may have to be rejected before a useful one is found. But if our back settlers on virgin soil could bo interested in the matter they could do an immense amount of good to their own intelligence and powers of observation, and to the country, A lit tle done' by thousands is of more value to the country than the much done by one. Cuttings aiid suckers may get a year or two start seedlings, hut in the end seedlings beat, and if not good of its kind, shrubs and trees can be grafted. Potatoes being annuals probably could not be so treated, hut it might he possible tb fake the eve of the species you want and insert it in the young tuber of the seedling potato, which would be root grafting, and the vigour of the seedling would be thrown into the old sprout. It stands to reason that propagation by cutting and tubers reproduces any weakness or disoasf: in the sap of the potato plant. This may be counteracted for a time by special good soil and care, but the germs are there ready to work as soon as an unfavorable season or soil reduce the strength of the jilant. The stages seed has to pass through falling into the ground and dying seem to reduce this reproduction of disease to a minimum, but does not entirely destroy it For the last two years my potato patch has not bad a single* seed, though I have watched for them noth a view to experiment. As far as I could see the flowers were good, butdropped off unfertilised. Feminine Criticism.—He : ‘ “Do you think Miss Pobihsori's photographs do her justice?” : She: “Oh, yess: justice tempered jv.ith .mereuM 1 _ '