The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1927. PACIFIC RACIAL PROBLEMS.

Hokitika Guardian, 3 May 1927, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. TUESDAY, MAY 3, 1927. PACIFIC RACIAL PROBLEMS.

Ok late years there has been a remarkable awakening of interest in the Pacific. Strategical, political, sociological, and ethnographical questions relating to that ocean are freely canvassed. Periodical Pan-Pacific conferences serve as a clearing-house for ideas. 1 lie future of the natives is a subject which attracts a great deal of attention, and a valuable contribution to the study is made by Mr Stephen li. Huberts, formerly of the University of Melbourne, in bis “Population Problems in the Pacific.” The problems, says an exchange, can he brielly stated: M hat are the causes of the depopulation ol many of the islands.'' What is the remedy? And wluit will he the ultimate effect of the importation of Asiatics into the islands? Air Roberts has collected a vast amount of material, and while much of the ground lie traverses is familiar, he throws light upon many obscure phenomena. He will not accept the generally held theory that the decline of the native dates from the advent of the white man. It had set in long before. Early observers bad noted the prevalence oT phthisis, sexual disease, and mysterious hut devastating epidemics liefore there had been any European contact. Also, the natives’ moral had already begun to decay. Once they had been daring and skilful navigators, who made voyages of thousands of miles and knew how to construct nrThese arts had been forgotten. Ever, before the Europeans came tlie native had lost much of bis energy and enterprise. However, it cannot be denied that the depopulation is due. in the main, to the influence of civilisati- n. The white man’s vices and maladies, the black-birder, the introduction of firearms, which made the tribal wars more destructive, have all taken their toll. But one of the principal factors in the disappearance of the native has been psychological, and it has been the indirect result of the. Mipposed blessings conferred by civilisation. Wft?Ti tb? native hfltl to M ?<n

with tlie :ti.| of a stick, when lie h:t‘u to cut down lives with a stone axe :uirt la.'lii 'U them lah irioilsly into canoes, lie ,as fully occupied. But now unis! meats all'ord the I'ocd; .Manchester sali'o spares him from the necessity of weaving; lie luiys the boat with unearned rent. In consequence time hanks heavy on his hands. I hough lie does not Know il, lie is a victim to spiritual ennui. Kxistence loses its sjc-st; his stamina, is undermined. .'1 his disturbance of life which civilisation has brought in its train is manifest in man v ways, dims iestivals, primnii!y religious in character, have olton a verv important economic sigui neauee. •flic approaching event engrosses the whole activities of the people tor many months beforehand. New land has to lie cleared and planted; large numbers of pigs have to be bred; ilie village lias to be lebuilt, and platloims have to lie erected Then, as soon as the orgies arc i a tue natives begin to make preparations for the next occasion. When, as lias not infrequently happened, these festivals have been forbidden on ethical grounds, the Ciovemmont. w ith the hest ol intentions, lias deprived the natives of a stimulus to industry, and completely deranged iheir normal economic order. What then, can he dune to arrest the process ol depopulation!' Ihe authorities should interfere as little as possible with established institutions and customs. They should endeavour to lit the lacunae caused by the impact of civilisation, furnish the natives wilh new interests, encourage them to take part in local administration, and provide them with an incentive to work. Klimts along these lines have already borne fruit. We are apt to speak of the depopulation as if it were a general phenomenon. ii is not. During the last few years the outlook lias progressively improved. In many of the groups liotnbly Samoa, Tonga, Hawaii, Xew Britain, and tin* Carolines, the population is actually increasing. In others, such as l’apua aid Tahiti, it is station-

ary. Indeed, of the total estimated population ol the Pacific Islands do .01 per cent, is stationary, 20.-18 per eeiu. is decreasing, though in most instances at a diminishing rate, and only 10 per cent, is laced with an immediate prospect of extinction. In his remarks upon the second problem. Mr Roberts is more guarded. It is only about forty years since Asiatics were first introduced into the Pacific, and insufficient time has passed to allow of definite conclusions. The data aic inadequate. The Asiatic element in the Pacific is now very considerable. The Chinese are übiquitous. 'I here arc Indians in Fiji. .Japanese in Hawaii, and 1 iido-Chincse in the French possessions. Will these be assimilated; and. if so, will not the miscegenation involved he a source of danger? 'I ho Chinese settle down wherever they go but hitherto the Indians and the Japanese have shown a disposition to keep themselves to themselves. Eatterly, however, they show signs of becoming less clannish. Miscegenation is a controversial topic. Once there was a tendency to regard it as an unmitigated evil, but more recent opinion contends that this is not necessarily the case. Mr Roberts docs not dogmatise. He submits tentatively that the wholesale condemnation of miscegonaion is not justified, and that the experience of the Pacific has done much to discredit the old theory. Mixtures between Asiatics and natives have had favourable results, notably ill Hawaii. Tahiti and Samoa. Unions between Chinese and natives in particular seem to produce a racial type that has many good qualities, social and physical.