MAORI MEMORIES.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 461, 1 July 1937, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES.

THE MAORI AND PAKEHA. In 1858 £15,000 was voted for extending English law, self Government, and schools among the Maoris. Then, as even to-day, nothing is devoted to educating our boys and girls in Maori, which i& left entirely to I private enterprise. Civilisation and Christianity had almost destroyed Ta-pu, that inherit faith which ruled the people, and' ea- j abkd the chief to- exercise a s'alutory restraint over his tribe. Except for some isolated tribes, | near, the whole Maori rhee wished in their hearts to adopt the laws of England. Sir George Grey’s friends of the Mission plarty said “one generation was too short a period in which to effect such a radical change.” In local affairs, hereditary and t-ri-bial conditions would impede the use and safety of trial by jury for ( at least one generation. Whether a settler who has killed a native, or a Maori who murdered a white man should be hanged, is the one great test of impartial law. Until Maoris form a part of such tribunals, it is ! clear that the verdict must be sub- j ject to prejudice. , .- Attempts were miade, to j ise Maori land titles in order. to. pro- j mote a personal interest and | among them, thus abolishing the i community of ownership, and witih 1 it the check to energy and encourage- | ment to idleness. Strangely enough, though we h'-'d ! perfect harmony between the Assembly and the Legislative ' Council < on every other subject, the whole j question of Native Affairs brought j unseemly wrangles, which, according j to- a Maori authority, wus due to the j ignorance of both sides concerning ; that most vital question, Mr Swain- ( son alone knowing what he was talking ’about. The attention of both Houses, the settlers, the soldiers, and the Maoris was diverted from poliics to uhe rivalry between the newest and greatest of all ocean liners, “The Great Eastern,” and the PanamaCanal route. Every one declared that she could transport our whole British population to their Mother land in one trip, and the Maoris exj pressed a fervent hope that she ’ j would do so on her maiden voyage. ' In Maori, the'census takers, like the Israelites of old, counted only men who could fight, and of these they ma'dte 56,000 Our folks were lit- I lie over half that number, so the I disappointed Maoris blamed Pakefia priestcraft for the failure of the “big canoe to take them home to their mothers.”