A SttTCii I}* A VISITOII AT ItANCIOAWIIIA.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume 4, Issue 62, 8 May 1851, Page 3

A SttTCii I}* A

It may not be uninteresting to some of ihe Readers of the "Maori Messenger" to hear of the rapid progress which the Native Settlement of Rangiaowhia has recently made in civilisation and wealth. About a thousand acres of lnn<l —soon grt-atly 10 lie added to —nro under cultivation. Another mill is tu be immediately eri'etod. A very numerous population of Natives is busily engaged iu industry and agriculture.

Rangiaowhia, in ti few year#, will be the granary of Auckland. That settlement lias had no peculiar facilities for acquiring prosperity.—lt is a hundred and fifty miles from town. It is ten or twelve miles from the banks of the " Waipn." ■—The inhabitants have had no more money than what their own industry has earned And Vet what a gratifying contrast their abode presents to the general aspect of n Maori Kainga. (Settlement.; There are not there, as in too many other places, a few crowded huts, n few scattered cultivations, snd many Maories, wasteful of ih<'ir time and strength, listless and indolent. The whole scene reminds one of English farms. Yellow cornfields bound the horizon; orchards cluster round the houses; innumerable littlecornstack#, perched upon their littlo wooden pedestals, dot the landscape. The mill, the flail, the plough, the spade, nre seldom idle. Morning and evening, the village bell calls to church or school, and proclaims the worship of those Bister virtues of industry, religion and education. Contentment is visible in the faces of all ilie Natives; they are not cooped up in a lighting-pah ; they are r.ot distracted by wars and rumours of wars ; their food is not precarious, »nd their clothing scanty. Their women are not living in degradation, and their men in immorality, as in the town of Auckland. Humble and industrious, they peacefully pursue their useful labours, gradually wiirkingouttlieiroivncivilisationand happiness , —cultivating and rendering fruitful the wild wastes of their district, —accumulating guarantees for the continuance of peace,—supplying far and wide the chief article of human food, and in all ways Eetling an example to their countrymen,—above all praise and worthy of imitation. These are the result and are the reward ol that Missionary .zeal and intelligence which has elicited, fostered, and sustained the capabilities of the Native race, in such an admirable direction and towards such useful objects. Provision has also been made at Rungiaowhia for the education of the balf-caste race.—A school, now con taining above forty pupils, is conducted by that excellent Missionary, the Rev. Mr. Morgan, exclusively for the benefit of half-castes. It has been formed by him under no small difficulties, and at no small personal sacrifice. The terms of board and tuition are extremely cheap, —five pounds a year for each pupil,—no half-caste child is excluded on account of the illf-gitimncy ol its birth. The j children nre noleducalt-d upon the principle of' extracting from them the greatest amount of labour at the least cost of food, and with the shortest waste of play. Old heads are not crammed upon young shoulders. The English language, singing, industry, religion, and contentment, form the principal elements of the system in force. Few persons can look upon that tiny group, neat and happy as the/ seem, —intelligence beaming in their dark eyes, and rich AngloMaori expression of face, —as they unite in prayer, and hymn their Creator's praise, without emotion and without reflecting from ■what a fate they have been preserved. Neglected and cast aside, with all the vices ol both races rampant in them, how lamentable would be their lot. Educated and civilised ■with all the virtues of both races carefully iherished, how usi-ful and happy may be their future lives. I sincerely trust that many Rsngiaowhias, —such remarkable instances of tbe progress of the Maori race, —may soon be found throughout New Zealand.