THE PROBLEM OF THE MAORI

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 16, 3 February 1937, Page 4

THE PROBLEM OF THE MAORI

What Mr. E. L. Cullen, member for Hawke's Bay, bad to say in our Monday issue regarding conditions in some of the "kaingas" in hiS own district will doubtless bave set thinking a good few of those interested m tbe welfare of tbe Maori race. What be tells tis is quite sufficiently disturbmg and distressing. It Is, bowever, quite mild m comparison witb some of the discloSures coincidentally made m tbe Auckland press regarding conditions among the native population m the far nortberu part of that province. Sucb as are descnbed -vvitb regard to one particular community (Te Hapua) of over 400 persons constitute a distinct reproach to the white man s civilisation of whicb it is within relatively easy hail. There tliese folk, hospitable and kindly people, are living in a state whicb is incomparably worse than mere savagery, for it is intensified by tbe introductiou of one of the worst of European vices, alcobolic excess. It is admitted that this, the furthest north, is prob'ably one of the worst examples to be found, bnt at the same time it has to be confessed that there are several' others which present conditions that are no very o-reat deal hetter. In any event quite enough has been revealed to call for remedial action of a widespread character, and it is to the credit of our Government that it seems determined, once investigations are completed, to set about instituting some measures of reform. But there will also need to be some definite awakening of the whble European conscience to the responsibilities that devolve upon those who have sought to impose our individualistic civilisation upon a people for many centuries used to purely commnnal way of living. No doubt a very great deal has been done in the way of providing school education for the younger geucrations of the Maori people, but a good deal more than this is required if, in the mass, they are to be converted into good and useful citizens according to the new standards we profess to set for them. • It is not governmental action alone that is going to effect this. Experiment and experience have shown that what is most required is to establish some system of sane leadership among the Maoris themselves. The instinct is still very strong among the main body of them to look to their own chiefs for guidance and direction, and without these neither appropriate legislation, financial assistance, nor hook schooling is likely to 'be of great avail. The process of conversion to the European' way of living and thinking must, even at this late date, still be gradual, despite the highly receptive and p,ractical intelligence of the Maori mind- It can be by no hurried methods that the inherent inclination to the communal system may be abolished and in the meantime what is specially required is to enlist the assistance of native leaders to reorganise and make the best of it. It is to them, invested witli some responsibility and authority, and not to European officialdom, that we may best hope for respect to be paid. In any event this has been found to he the case in Taranaki, where the plan has been given fair trial. Finance for decent housing and for instituting the means for providing their own livelihood may in the first instance be required- But *it has been shown, in the North at any rate, that the mere provisioh of money to spend effects no improvement, but rather leads to further degradation and indolence itom indulgeiice in European praetiees and recourses. It is, as yet a.t any rate, altogether hopeless to attempt the inculcation of thrift and forethought upon the average Maori living in communal surroiindings. . For that he has been living through too many generations without much thought for the morrow and with a disposition to laVish hospitality, There will thus aiways be need for strict supervision over mere monetary expenditure, For the rest sane Maori guidance for the Maoris in their kaingas is probably what is needed most.