DOOMED RACES.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1924, Page 1

DOOMED RACES.

A IiOIAKKAISI.!'. .\M>I!KfW. SYDXKV. Sept. 11. One ill' tin- most iimh.-i ik:t I>!f addresses ;it the A. lst inlasian Science (‘oiigross nil-, (lint delivered mi tin 1 co ml in lii u; <1 :1 v liv Captain I’itt llivcrs (A.I).C. to tln> I invornor-lioneral). based upon considerable travel and investigations amongsl. the islnml raeei of I In* I’aeitie. lie takes tile inelaiielioly view tliat many of these are doomed, and are eonsi ions of their impending fate. Captain I’ilt-Hivers pointed out Unit t,'ie civilisation or culture ol a people was not dependent only on a eomhinati<in of social organisation and heliefs (culture form), implements, weapons and invention (culture accessories), lull it was conditioned by a third lactor. the innate ability or canacity to develop, under i.uitahle conditions, artistic. scientilic, cr technical accomplishments and shill (culture potential). Without the third, tlm other two, if attempted to ).'<• (.'rafted on to an alien race, would li 1 Inti!'*. Most people meant hv words like “civilisation. nli ure." and “morally” a narrow piopooanda ahstraction siomlring their own little conception of those' creat ceiicrjo terms. Culture aecessorics could not la* “wished on to a I e iple. hut. were the slow outcome oi • ■volution. growing step hy step as tltey were led l.y the invent m* g*u“i:'* of man. Similarly, eullnic lorms, re ligiolis Imliols. lialuts. and coutcutions owed their cli:in>riiijjC forms to different small croups of men. It followed that their method- with so-call-ed “savage" people were wrong. 'I hoy tried |,v I'.ersliasiiin. amounting almost ’to lone. to impose tin ir culture forms am! culture accessories on people whose culture potential was not adapted for them. Due could mil make a so-called "paean” civilised hv putting him into trousers, and leaehia;' him how to smohe cigar- , ties and go t> <ho i ill in a word, hy chanoino !*is ei l ll ure lorms. If t h* y iiol'o-eil' t lies'* forms J lev mo-t iirst ilestrov Ue* ones they I'ooml. Thus missionaries. hoping to mould human clay in the likeness of an arbitrary mode ot their own. were Inn impatient to watch „ natural o-.e-.s -F evololi.m ami found that th.-v could not mitigate the evil e mseipienecs id a too ratn.l chance (hn ernmeiil odleials. iraders. am „,;..si„iicries all erred i'l the same way. |„il from different motives, in _ their dealilP'S with native races. (.overnl.ieiil imposed a eew system of lusiue. ami new ideas of crime, punishment, and individual icsoinisihiliiy. Iradcared nothing ahoiit native win \- manship ami its great si K iiilieiiiu if oldv thev could teach the natives to aeiptire new tastes for tl.e.r inappropriate omuls. Missionaries were only interested in old native cults m order the more e.isilv to trample them umlet imlicnant. feet. .All three classes, therefore, undermine' the tribal s\stein. which was at the root of racial oiilture-lorm. . Missionaries were so certain that thev had the one inl'allilde moral speeitic which must lie l.etter for all people than their own. <|uitt* itpart from whether or not thev had any knowledge of tlie inn* they supplanted. The “siiva gory" of those native races lmo heeti much exaggerated, due to exa<rceration of personal ideas ol “eivilisaTion." It was that interfenuiee with the cult tire-forms of island people w hich was at the root of their destruction. It was as pitiable as ii was inevitable. The natives realised tin* position themselves. and felt their doom approachj,,,, 1,, ■, reference to.the Ami (New* (loinea) islanders he said:—“After a visit from the white man's schooner thev would for days appear listless ami dispirited. At such times one would see lonelv figures sit line moodily on the honchos near the beach looking nut to sea. Ami as the evening sun sank into the sea. Hooding wit'll gulden rod light, tlie day’s last scene, they would, sometimes chant in low monotonous tones the soiics of a vanishing race and a vanishing culture songs such as the T:iliiti:iiis n.-otl to sinn :» s nioiiinfully watched their doom - The palm tree shall grow. The coral shall spread^ V.ut