THE FUTURE OF THE MAORI? AUCKLAND, February 26.

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 89

THE FUTURE OF THE MAORI? AUCKLAND, February 26.

The future of the landless Native wa* discussed by the Te Aute Conference at( Orakei to-day., when Mr W. Baucks, of To Kuiti, in the course of- a paper on the subject, said that, the time had now conn when the question was asked, "What has beeii or is being done for the landless Maoris?" After long years of studying the Maori character, he was in a position to say that handicraft was, the most congenial work for -fhe Maori. His works of old— i such as- .canoe-building, pa-building, carv* ing, etc — showed that he was a lover o*B the beautiful, and also a handicraftsman./ Farming was not a congenial work for hin>'. : The best thing to do was to place the saw) and the blacksmith's hammer into hia hands, and then he would soon inventf things whioh he .would be proud of. Even) if he failed with the timber from the yar«£ he could .go to the buah, and by means of the saw-pit obtain what he wanted. Efe did not mean to say that farming was not suitable for some Maoris, but he did noi ' agree with Mr Ngata's idea of advocating^ farming as the most suitable occupation foi\ the Maori. Commenting on the paper, Dr Buck seiche wished to point out that the Maori, byj heredity, had as much respect for the landl as for manual labour. He quite agreed!, with the" writer that the Maori was a! craftsman by nature. Pine Tamahori gave some figures to girei the members an idea of the spread of that farming movement. There were, he s&ids no less than 22 fairly large Maori sheegi stations on the coast between TokomariM and To Araroa, end four of the woolji 6he^B had the latest improved shearing machines.