PROHIBITION AND THE MAORI.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2514, 5 December 1922, Page 3

PROHIBITION AND THE MAORI.

REV. R. HADDON AT THE TOWN HALL. The largest attended meeting yet held locally in connection with the present political and prohibition campaign assembled in the Town Hall last night to hear an address by the Rev; R. Haddon on Prohibition from the Maori view-point and the disfranchisement of the natives on that issue. The Mayor (Mr John Chrystall) occupied the chair and accorded a welcome to the speaker and Mr Papakura, the talented Maori singer who accompanied him. Mr Haddon traced the relationship between the Maori and the Pakeha. In outlining the social life of his people, he said the Maoris came to this country' about 1,000 years ago, and thickly populated it. They were men of fine stature and, in their own way, of good brain power. They had no intoxicating liquor, as they did not know how to make it, and nourished on the plentiful food which the country afforded. Above all, they drank only pure water. They had good laws and schools. It was time that there were tribal Avars, but there Avere only two causes of these, invasion of boundaries and insult to women.

In speaking of the art of. the Maori, Mr Haddon dwelt on the tatooing and caning which had been so beautifully done in the past by sober, steady-handed artists. When Captain Cook first came to NeAV Zealand he found the Maoris a temperate people. After him came another class of white men, the Avhalers. Trading Avas started by them and large tracts of laud Avere purchased for very little. For instance the site on which Auckland is built Avas bought for a few three-legged, iron pots and pieces of cloth. Firearms were imported and sold to the Maoris per medium of renegade English sailors, who acted as interpreters. bed Rum. which spelt backwards was murder, caused great havoc among the Maoris, and as they had never had it before, they did not possess the power of* resistance, which generations of drinking had given the Europeans. Then the missionaries came and with a Maori translation of the Bible, made quick progress Avitli the teaching of Christianity. They did splendid Avork for the uplift of the Maoris. The traders finding their traffic interfered with, attempted to stir up the natives against the missionaries. The latter saw trouble ahead and called a conference of Maori chiefs, which resulted in the Treaty of Waitangi. Five years later war broke out through the violation by some American sailors of the Maoris’ fishing rights. The speaker traced the spread of the. fighting and mentioned the many Maori chiefs who fought with the British. Passing on to the recent war Mr Haddon stated that within a fortnight of its outbreak 2,000 Maoris had enlisted, and they fought shoulder to shoulder with their white brothers at

Gallipoli. (Applause.) Was then, the Maori not worth saving? Yet they had no vote on the question of prohibition. A petition from the natives had been presented to Parliament, asking fox - prohibition, but all that was given was the prohibibit ion law in the King Country. Latex'", through the work of the speaker, another petition was presented, by which the wholesale disposal of" liquor to natives was prohibited. In dealing with the harm done by tangis, Mr Haddon said that among, his own people, before the wholesale sale of liquor was prohibited, 56 casks of beer and 10 cases of whisky were consumed in one month wthin the radius of seven miles. Mr Haddon described the fearful effects of drink o_n the Maori,, quoting numerous qfecidents and suicides due to it. The Maori recognised that the drink was no good to him. Let him, therefore given a vote. It was said by some that if the Maori had the vote for prohibition, he would not vote for prohibition. This did not matter, let him be given a vote, so that he might feel himself really a British subject. The speaker himself had obtained a vote by being “Europeanised” by a Judge, . and by paying a fee of £l6. In conclusion, Mr Haddon made an eloquent appeal to the audience to vote Prohibition on - Decembex - i , and ‘save the. Maori people. He resumed his seat.amidst prolonged applause. Before and .after the Rev. Mr Haddon’s address, Mr Papaknra -sang and had to respond to repeated recalls. A vote of thanks was accorded the speaker and singer on the motion of the Rev. F. McDonald, seconded by Miv Bullard and a similar . compliment was paid to the chairman.