A MAORI'S VIEW OF SYDNEY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 119, 20 May 1874, Page 2

A MAORI'S VIEW OF SYDNEY.

The following interesting letter from Mojor Ropata, of Ngatiporou, who is now in Australia with the Hon. the Native Minister, appears in the fVaka Maori of this week. Sydney, Port Jackson, April 14, 1874. My Fiiiend— Greeting. I send, for insertion in tbe Waka, Borne account of my visit to this plsce, and the things I have stea here. By ten o'clock we got into our berth, and Mr M'Lean went on shore. Colonel St John and I followed Bliortly after, an J went to a hotel, where we took up our quarters. At twelwe o'clock next day we went to see the races, about three miles out of town. We travelled by the omnibus; and the running of the wheels of the 'busses was deafening; il w*s like the rumbling of thunder. There we saw in very truth a multitude of the Pakeha race. Amazing ! They were like a hivo of bees! Some tall, some short; some large, some small; some well-favored, gome evilfavored ; children aud old men and women, amounting altogether probably to 6000 people. But all the people were by no means assembled here. The inhabitants of this town have been set down at 60,000; and probably at the present time they number 80,000 ! At length the horees commenced to run. Soma were very fleet, . otheis were nothing more than usual. Then there was a hur lie-race. At the first hurdle one horse and man fell, and tho others passed on to the third hurdle, where two more came to grief. The riders rose from the ground and were led away by others. Two horses out of tho lot got through all right. They flew over the hurdles, eight in number, in splendid style, without touching anywhere. ThePskthaß of this town are affable aud courteous in their demeanor towards strangers. They are, apparently, very sociable and friendly with each other, engaging with zest in tlieir various games and amusements — cards, and so forth. They are not repulsive and ungracious in- their intercourse with each other. I hazarded a couple of shillings in n game, and gained a pound. The races heing over we returned to town in the evening. On the morning of the 12th (Sunday), we were surprised at the number of bells ringing all over the city, like the continuous humming of a multitude of bees. On Monr'ay morning, we went to take a look at the country. Where were the familiar mountains and hills and valleys of New Zealand ? Not here. The only mountain rising upon the view was the dimly distant horizon. The sight gave rise to feelings of sadness, calling to mind the far-off watery horizon seen from the shores of New Zealand. I saw, intermingling with tho Pakeha, some of the last of the Native lords of tbe soil — the blacks. At twelve o'clock the Pakehas assembled to view an Agricultural Show. There were exhibited numbers of entire draught horses and common hacks; bulls, oxen, and cows; birds, plants, and trees, from various countries; and a variety of animals and other interesting matters belonging to tbe Pakeha race. They (the Pakehas) are a people of ceaseless activity, always engaged in some absorbing pursuit or occupation. We (tbe Maoris) would consider this sort of thing a tiresome and noisy bustle. The great misfortune of the Maoris is their want of enterprise. They are like carved inanimate images — voiceless, soulless. Thus it is with the ignorant. Tbis ancient people the Maoris are found wanting — they are in a bad case. The establishment of Native schools, therefore, by the Government of New Zealand is a good measure, that the Maori children may acquire "a knowledge of the English language, and other things arising thereout; in fact, that tbey may obtain a general knowledge of European matters. I have no doubt tbe (Maori) children of Zealand will advance in knowledge if their teachers are painstaking. See the disadvantage under which I labor in this country — looking , on every Bide to find a Maori or a Pakeba of New Zealand, with whom to convorßP, but finding none. Tbe Pakehas of Mr McLean's party have no knowledge of the Maori language, except, perhaps, Colonel St. John, .and.. his knowledge ofthe language is very slight. Then Mr McLean's time is continually occupied, so that I have no one to talk to; and I can only look to the moving lips of the pakehas,. and oonjecture what tbey are talking about.