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Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume VII, Issue 3, 15 February 1860, Page 1

We have often called the attention of our Maori readers to the many evils resulting from their present mode of life, and endeavoured to point out the advantages that would accrue to them by the adoption of European habits and customs. And we would hope that our appeals have not been altogether in vain. Some of our readers have we trust been induced to adopt our suggestions and are now realizing the benefits they involve. But, alas ! the bulk of our Maori friends are the same now as they were years ago! They take up the " Messenger," read our advice, and give it their full assent, but instead of acting up to it they return to their old Maori ways "like the dog to his vomit and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." They profess an anxiety to rise in the scale of civilization, and to obtain a name among the nations of the earth; and yet, instead of seeking out the path that shall lead them to wisdom, happiness, and wealth, they waste their time over idle quarrels and foolish talk,—such for instance as the " Maori King." They follow the example of the foolish little frogs in the old fable, who held their runanga in. a pond to consult together about having a King, nor would be

content till they had obtained the consent of a stork to reign over them. Foolish frogs! They, like some of our Maori friends, thought that their happiness and prosperity depended on their having a King of their own; but, alas! before the sun went down, their chosen King became hungry, his subjects looked very tempting, and he devoured them at one meal! But our subject just now is not the "Maori King." We only make passing mention of it as a fit illustration of misemployed lime. We have before enumerated the evils which prevail amongst the Maori people, and traced out some of their consequences. On this occasion we shall confine ourselves to one of the most prominent of them. We allude to the Maori practice of living in common—a system pregnant with evil, both moral and physical. Wc shall speak then—iirst of its effect on the morals, and in the second place, of its effect on the body. How common are the troubles about your women! How frequently is the Magistrate compelled to hear and punish cases of seduction and violence! How many of your feuds, with their attendant ills of famine and death, may be traced to this one great cause! The husband or brother will avenge the ; injnry—-the friends are drawn into it—the tribes go to war—the blood of many innocent ones is shed—and all this because of the trangression of one I But how can it be otherwise whilst Your people of both sexes and of all ages, both married and single, sleep almost indiscriminately in the same apartment ? If you would put an end to these troubles and remove this reproach, then abandon at once and for ever this evil habit of living in common. Nor arc the evils to the body less. The misrliief is innnlnnlablfi.

Oar limited space will permit of only a few observations on the manner in which the health is affected. "When opportunity offers we shall revert to the subject and speak of llie varied forms in which the evil developes itself. You are aware that respiration is necessary to the support of animal life. The air we breathe is received into the lungs, and after having purified the blood is exhaled in a foul stale. Another draught of fresh air is required in order to sustain the work of purification. Should foul air be introduced instead of fresh, then the blood is not properly purified, and goes forth from the heart to the various members of the body unrenovalcd and inactive. Now, when a number of Maories are sleeping in one whare the breathing of many mouths soon vitiates the atmosphere, and the sleepers continue until morning to breathe air which every hour is becoming more impure. The fresh and pure air of the following day may restore the blood to its right tone, but at night the evil is repeated; and thus they go on from week to week, from month to month, and from year to year, inhaling during the hours of sleep a poisoned atmosphere. At last the blood loses its virtue, disease in some form ensues, and the man dies! Your people, old and young, are dying around you. You are sad and gloomy, and in melancholy accents you say that the Maori race is destined to die out. But why not try to trace your many diseases to their primary cause? Remove that, and live. Remember that the secret of health is in the state of the blood. The vigour of the Totara is in the sap. Dry up the sap and the tree withers. Spoil your blood by feeding -it with bad air, then you spoil your health, disease overtakes you, and you disappear in the grave. Many, if not all of the diseases to which the Maori is subject, are, to a large degree, aggravated, if not superinduced, by this habit of life. Our advice to you then, is to give up this practice and study to imitate the civilized habits of your pakeha brethren. Say not that these are beyond your reach. Strive for them and you will succeed. There was a time when the ancestors of the pakeha

lived in huts, wore skins of wild beasts, and subsisted .by the chace. But they abandoned tee roving habits to study the arts of civilization, and behold what a mighty people they have become! The same path is open to you. Follow the windings of that path and you too may eventually become a great and a noble people! We are glad to find that some of the Canterbury natives have already commenced to put up respectable wooden houses, to individualize their land reserves, and to take other steps calculated to promote their social advancement. At Kaiapoi there are several weatherboarded bouses, each standing on an allotment of ground, well fenced, and under cultivation. The house of Isaiah Taihewa has four rooms--a dining room, a sitting room, a bedroom, and a kitchen—windows, chimneys, kitchen utensils, and other pakeha conveniences. We were entertained there to dinner not long since. The table was spread in English style, and reflected much credit on Isaiah's industrious wife, Sarah. A good cow supplies her house with milk. Sarah churns it herself, and makes good butter; the bread too, of her own baking, is remarkably good. At Port Levy, William Te Uki and Paul Taki have built themselves comfortable boarded houses; and that belonging to Thomas Tikao, at Wairewa, is deserving of praise for its cleanliness. In this, and in many other of the houses in those settlements, the interior surface of the walls is .whitewashed. We should be glad to see this practice become more general. Another hint afforded by our Canterbury neighbours is, that almost all the houses are provided with a chimney, constructed of wood and clay; and thus is avoided that plague in most Maori Kaingas—a smoky whare. We mention these in the hope that others may be induced by their example to do likewise. We might say much more on this important subject, but our column is full.