THE GREAT CURSE OF THE MAORI RACE

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 16, Issue 804, 14 July 1870, Page 2

THE GREAT CURSE OF THE MAORI RACE

TO THE EDITOR QE THE HAWKE's BAY TIMES. Mb. Editob, — We have heard a great deal lately about drunkenness. Our Premier has taken up the staff of Father Mathew, and his eloquent lectures have been heard through the length and breadth of the Colony. Of course we know that he is the paid servant of a Government that derives its principal revenue from the duties on wines and spirits, and he can, of course, reconcile the acceptation of bis salary without any qualms of conscience. But, Mr Editor, what I would call your attention to is the fact that Mr Fox, in all his lectures, ignores the fact of the universal drunkenness amongst the native population. He must know, through the Native Minister, that not only do they spend every available shilling in drink, but also mortgage their crops and lands to obtain the same. It must be patent to all that have any communication with the natives that every inducement is given them to exchange their valuable estates for rum; this the natives themselves assert, affirming that certain publicans and storekeepers give those that have Crown grants unlimited credit upon the security of their land. Of the above there canuot be any doubt, and the horrid state they are sinking into proves it: go at any time into any of their settlements, and you will find some more or less drunk j in fact, unless the legislature interferes, it will be handed down to posterity that the Maories were encouraged in drunkenness, hy the New Zealand settlers, robbed of their lands, decimated by drink, and all the evils of poverty and disease engendered in the few that will be left. For my part, I can see but little difference between the (Spanish Dominion in America and their treatment of the Indians, and the tolerated treatment of the Maoris by some of our colonists. Indeed, the Spaniards were the more merciful, inasmuch as they kilied th& Indians in one generation by hard blowsj while we serve the natives with an u&*

limited amount of rum and take their land as payment, bringing every evil and abuse it is possible for man to bring upon his fellow-man, and Leaving as a legacy the remnants of a noble race, a nation of paupers. Everyone is aware that the natives of Hawke's Bay have but little land left, and even that little is in jeopardy, every unfair method being tried to obtain the last piece of land that they have left, and un less the Government take steps at once to secure to them and their children the small quantity remaining, they will be left landless, and consequently lawless. It was thought by some that the natives would be able to take care of their land when they obtained Crown Grants, but such is not the case. They have but the minds o* children, and are anything but a match for unprincipled land sharks. How different would have been the case had the iniquitous Direct Purchase Act not been passed. The several Provincial Governments would have purchased the land, out it up into sections, and sold it again to bond fide settlers. We should have had a population then, and not, as at present, a few publicans and land sharks enclosing large blocks, and shutting out for ever population and certain wealth.—l am, &c, Colonist.