Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1884. DECADENCE OF THE MAORI RACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 67, 18 February 1884, Page 2

Manawatu Standard (PUBLISHED DAILY.) Suivant la verite. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1884. DECADENCE OF THE MAORI RACE.

Db Bullbr gave a very interesting address at the annual meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society, the' subject being the decrease of the Maori peeq>le.c ,I^' Bugler, who may be : considered an authority on* this question, having a personal knowledge of almost every Native district- m, the Colony, gives it as his .oplinion^tbat, inMall probability, five and twenty years hence, there /would r [O.nly be .a,, remnant left "6f the" ouce numerous and powerful aboriginals of Few Zealand. In his, , address. _ he said he had' often heard 'Maoris themselves speculate on their speedy extinction, guying m a nielancho.y way, that as the Norwegian had destroyed the native rat, and as the indigenous birds jand shrubs were being supplanted by jtbe introduced ones, so surely would the Maori disappear before the pak«ha. And this was no mere fancy. The abnormal condition ol'the population-— the females far outnumbering the males — was the surest indication of national decay. Every successive enumeration of the people told its sad tale, anil the i decrease must of necessity goon m progfesHivefa ratio,. . In Cook's time the jMuort population was .estimated at a j hundred thousand, at the period of our : first colonisation of the islands at ; oeventy thousand, and bis own opinion ' was that at the present day they do ; not number, men, women, and children, more than thirty thousand. He knew ' of districts swarnuug with Maoris m formei|y ears now depopulated. He hid known whole hapus disappear, and he

hud seeu an entire family die out m the course of a year. Twenty yt-ais ago he waa stationed as Native "Resident Magistrate at Manawatu, and lie had then under his nominal control and management j?o.i ec'iing approaching three thousand Maoris. It would be difficult now within the same disiriot to find as many hundreds. In 1866 he was present at Rangitikei, when Dr Featherston paid over the purchase money of the Manawatu Block, amounting to £25,000, and there were some 1500' natives present. It was proposed to pay over to the natives, m a month's time, double that amount, for the Otamakapua Block, and he doubted whether m the same district 300 will be brought together for that purpose, even counting the Hawkes' Bay contingent ! La*t week lie was at Otaki, and took some visitors to the Maori Church. There, where formerly 1000 natives assembled to the ministrations of Archdeacon Hadfield (our present bishop \ it seemed now difficult to fill ihe front seats; In the settlement itself — veritably a "deserted village'— where formerly there Were hundreds, it would be hard now to find scores ; and, m answer to inquiries on all hands, the response is " kua mate." And m this connection he mentioned a curious feature m the mortality of the race, namely, that the children and middle-aged people are the first tp succumb, the old stock, who appear better able to resist the new order of thing?, generally holding out the longest. That the r«ce was doomed he had no doubt whatever m his own mind.. What had happened m other parts of the world must inevitably happen, and indeed is happening, hera The aboriginal race tnustiu timegiv place to a more highly organised, or, at any rate,a more civilised one. This seemed to be one of the inscrutable laws of Nature. Other members present appeared to think differently as to the alleged de crease of the Native population, and brought the census statistics forwani m support of their contention. Dr Newman said he had no faith m census returns. Even Mr Bkyce had told him that these enumerations could not be relied on, as every chief was anxious to makje his following appear as large- as possible. .Dr Hector said he entirely concurred with Dr Bolleh m regard to the Maori race. The census returns were quite delusive, as he had satisfied himself by careful inquiries m various parts of the country, and he gave the meeting several Instances m point. In reply Di- Buller said that his conclusions >vere not baaed on the evidence of any particular locality, .but were drawn from a pretty extensive knowledge of the various native districts. He had instanced the Otaki District because it was at our yerj doors. But other districts with which he was equally familiar— Kaipara m the fair North, Waikato, Rotorua, Taupo, Wanganui, &c— all told the same melancholy tale. These districts were populous when he first knew them, and now the natives might te counted by dozens where formerly there were hundreds. As to Maori census returns, they, were mere approximations and very often misleading, as he could state from personal experience. He was much struck with the rapid mortality as disclosed ' also by native titles; and .he mentioned several instaucos within his : own "professional knowledge, where, m a certificate of title containing originally from 50 to 100 names, from 10 to 15 per cent, ha. l died off. m an incredibly short fcpace of time. Amalgamation of races had been talked of, but this woulU not save the Maoris. The ball-castes were undoubtedly a fiae people physically, but he had : noticed that when they, married back into the Maori race the offspring had no stamina, and seldom reached maturity. We think there is very little doubt that i)r Buller's view of the question is correct; m fact, from our actual knowledge of facts on this coast, we are absolutely assured of the accuracy of his contention. Some ten or twelve years ago, the present writercontributed an article m the Wauganui Herald, on the same subject, which was^exten-. sively reproduced m the Southern Prews, and m which weie -given some remarkable instances of entire de' population m Native settlements to the south of the Manawatu river. It would seem, that wherever Kucbpean influences assert themselves? the result is the decrease of the Natives. Probably it is only 'm the interior, where they remain isolated, that the race is not diminishing. The evidences of the decadence are only too apparent m Otaki, Waikanae, and other places m the vicinity. It is sad to think that one of the finest- and most interesting and intelligent aboriginal races that has ever lived is hastening, like the natives of Tiisinanian have done, to its " last man," whom many of the present generation will probably look upon with feelings of soirow, little thinking what a powerful race were his progenitors fifty years before. Dr Buller remarked, and the remark is worthy of placing on. record, that he had often reflected on an observation of the lato Dr Fbath.B!:BTO.v, on their first meeting, just twenty-eight years ago : " The Maoris (said he) are dying out, and nothing can pave them. Our plain duty as good, compassionate colonists, is to smooth down their dying pillow. Then history will have nothing to reproach us with."