THE PASSING OF THE MAORI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 20 July 1907, Page 4

THE PASSING OF THE MAORI.

TUat tiie .Maori is gradually though surely passing away is the opinion of the Veil. Archdeacon Walsh, of Auckland, who has been a resident of the colony for 41 years. Notwithstanding the various statements bused on census returns, he said the fact was patent that, taking il as a whole, the Maori race was fast dying out. If the decay continued at the present rate a comparatively short lime would witness the extinction of the .Maoris—though perhaps for a few generation- some gracluallv diminishing traces of mixed blood .night l,c observable in the white population. These opinions were expressed the other evening by the Archdeacon in the course of a lecture at (he Auckland Institute. In the discussion which followed. i)r. I'omarc (Chief Native Health Olliicr) admitted that a great deal of what the Archdeacon had said was true. He thought, however, that the -Maori was doomed not to extinction, but to absorption. It was inevitable where a greater race came in contact with a weaker one. the weaker must be absorbed in the greater, and that he believed would be the fate of the Maori. Already nearly 80 per cent, of the Maoris in tin- South Island have Kuropcan blood in them, and the North Island natives are rapidly becoming tinelured with pakeha blood. He did not believe they would entirely die out. but the fillurc wonid lind a new nice in whose veins would be comingled the blood of the Anglo-Saxon and the Maori. It had taken the British hundreds, nay, thousands, of years to reach their' present civilisation. The Maoris had been brought inlo the light of this dazzling civilisation only a few years, and it took time for people to adapt themselves to new surroundings that had been brought upon I hem. When the fiospol was being preached to the Maoris he wished hcallliiness and cleanliness had also been preached to thom. Dr. line],-, assistant native health oflicer, speaking with regard to the education of the Maori, said thev could not look for very good results in the short time education had been pro- | celling among the Maoris, and especially when they had not had the best, teacher« that could have been given them. The \ngles and Jutes had become absorbed in the Anglo-Saxon race, and the s;iMie would occur with the Maori race. "If we (the Maoris) can hold our own a lillie longer and become accustomed to civili-atinn, then perhaps we may be able lo hold our own and live in the future through you (the pakeha). and with you as (he future race of New Zealand." lie concluded amid applause.