The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6. MAORIS AND SICKNESS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 203, 6 December 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6. MAORIS AND SICKNESS.

It is more feasible that the remnant of the Maori race should increase and multiply in its own country than that the Ethiopian race should do so in the United States of America. Since their emancipation from slavery, the Afro-Ameri-cans have themselves looked after their own affairs, and have refused to die out. The Maori is adapted to the country in which hie lives; but this apparently is not deterring .the race from diminution. j Whatever methods are deemed necessary for fighting the enemies of the Maoris have been suggested' by Maoris themselves, and with sufficient vigor to push the suggested reforms by every possible means there seems to be no reason why the splendid people should not have as good a chance of life as the pakehas. In their natural state there was no diminishing birth-rate problem with the Maoris, and there is no record that infant mortality was common. That is to say, the Maori mother did not have to be "taught" to save the Children's lives. The means that are suggested for the preservation of the race are strangely inadequate. The In-spector-General of Hospitals mentioned in Ws report that the training of Maori girls as nurses presented some difficulties, as hospital authorities were reluctant to take these girls into their training ■ schools. The authorities which, exist for the preservation of human life are therefore not keen on the preservation of the lives of the Maoris. No one has ever accused Dr. Valintine of being a weak man, and unquestionably if he exercised the persistence which seems to be one of his chief characteristics, the apathy of the hospital authorities might be overcome, even if they were ordered to make better preparation for the training of Maori nurses. The well-known Maori leaders who are devoting| .their lives to the peoI pie of their race are not in a position to insist on the use of better' means for the preservation of the lives of children, and the onus rests upon the State of attacking the pakeha-Maori ignorance whicih sweeps so many of the native race into the cemetery. While the State votes huge sums of borrowed money for enterprises the value of which is problematical, it gives a subsidy of a paltry £IOO for Maori nursing homes. As a philanthropic, move this is unworthy of a country which at least alleges -that the lives and health of the population are its chief concern. The Kaikoura district is exceptionally healthy for the pakeha—indeed, the whole of New Zealand is remarkably kind to the white person —but as an example of the incontrovertible contention that the Maori is being allowed to die out in his own country, we quote the following paragraph from the Kaikoura Sun:— "If the mortality among the natives of the Kaikoura district can be taken as any criterion, it is very evident that the Maori is a dying race. Since last Sunday two more deaths occurred, but as no official record is kept, either by registration or otherwise, it cannot be stated for certain what is the actual number of deaths for this year, although it is "well-known that the percentage during the current quarter has been alarmingly high. Consumption is the main cause of the high death-rate." All physicians agree that consumption could be wiped out by systematic organisation and fighting. The State is doing something to arrest the dreadful diseas* among, white folk, and, even if only out of consideration for the pakeha, the State should vigorously help the leading Maoris in their efforts for the betterment of the race. The Maori knew nothing of lung trouble before the pakeha came. His life .was of the kind that made it impossible for the complaint to take hold. He lived practically under those condii tions which modern physicians now agree must be lived if sound lungs are to be maintained. The Maori is to-day overclothed, lives in stuffy quarters, does not work hard enough, and feeds and drinks badly. He is as ignorant of the laws of health as his pakeha fellow-citizen, and is less able to fight 'the white man's diseases than the pakeha. So it is necessary, seeing that to all intents and purposes he has become pakeha, that the pakeha plan of fighting diseases should be resorted to. Dr. Buck, a Maori medical man, trained, of course, on. the pakeha plan, advocates the establishment of Maori nurses in the most populous districts. Everybody is aware that there *re a few girls of Maori blood undergoing preliminary training, but the additions to the nursing strength of the race cannot be very great or rapid on £IOO a year. What objection hospital authorities may have to receiving Maoris as probationers lias not been explained, and it ■would have been a good deal more like Dr. Valintine to have given the reasons for the antipathy of the authorities. Mr. Carroll, in a notable speech on the subject, once rather pathetically declared that the Maori race must inevitably be absorbed into our own, but that there was a hope that some distinctive characteristics of the -genius of the dwindling people would be transferred and would help New Zealand to bear the burden of nationhood. If the Maori blood is to be of service to New Zealand, definite and immediate steps should be taken to stem •the rush of the white man's worst disease. It is no good leaving the matter in the hands of themore or less fatalistic fathers and mothers in the Maori villages, and it is certainly useless to let the cunningi tohunga have his way. More power should be given to the Ngatas, the Rangihiroas and the Pomares. They can't battle along single-handed in the fight against the foes that are killing the race. Money, skill, determination and ceaseless work are needed in the Maori villages if there is to be a healthy Maori in the eountry in fifty years' time. It is worth a great struggle, and the statesman who achieves the distinction of saving a larger proportion of Maori babies will be just as worthy of a monument as he who conceived the splendid plan of old-age pensions.

THE PAST SESSION. The average elector would be at a loss to conceive during the opening week of the past Parliament, very many matters on which new legislation was necessary. 5 It is necessary, it seems, for Parliament to sit, and to sit lengthily, to amend ( the mistakes made during recent ses- ] sions. During the session just closed /there have been added to the Statute Book 122 new Acts. The vast majority , of those Acts are amending measures, and it is therefore clear to the average reader that if the work had been done i perfectly in the first instance about three ' quarters of the toil put in by our legislators during the session would not ha.ve , been required. Parliament does not sit solely for the purpose of adding, bulk to the Statute Book. It sits, so that by new Acts it can show what a poor workman it has been in the past. During the preliminary weeks of Parliament both Houses are merely glorified debating societies, which wrangle incessantly without excuse and without result. The wrangling proceeds while Parliament knows that the Order Paper is of the bulkiest description, and that there is real work to be done if the people are not to be handicapped by imperfect laws. When personal differences, which always take precedence of public business, are adjusted, Parliament "proceeds to the work for which it is paid, and passes Acts at an enormous speed. During next session, following precedent, Parliament will spend much of its time adjusting personal quarrels. It will proceed to amend laws made during the session just past, and a few absolutely new and original, measures will drift on to the Statute Books, to be 1 carefully emasculated and amended by the next Parliament. It is notable that of the original Acts finding a .place on the Statute Book many have emanated from the Legislative Council, and it is more notable still that these Acts emanated from the Council because Dr. Findlay was Attor-ney-General and initiated them. The session has given us a number of Acts that, with the subsequent amendments we may confidently expect, may be of valuable service to the people. The defence service of the country has been put on a new footing, and, if the new Act is workable, should give this country better value for the money expended on it than hitherto. The Crimes Act Amendment is decidedly new and emphatically important, and if it has no real effect in the diminution of crime, it will certainly give criminals a better chance of reform. The Water Power Act will have the effect of making the country spend an enormous sum of money it cannot afford on developments that, in our opinion, are hardly warranted at this stage, when the country requires road and railway facilities so badly. If the Act which provides for the repayment of our robust national debt within seventy-five years is workable and some future Government does not repeal it or amend its useful points, our successors will; perhaps, be thankful. , We haive recently discussed the Licensing Act, which is practically new and drastic, and have also given some attention .to the measure which pretends to minimise gambling in the country. A trial Libel Act has been passed, and this will probably do excellent duty for a session or two until the shears of the amender finds weak clauses. The inoperative Contagious Diseases Act has been repealed. What definite effect this may have will be the only criterion of the utility of the new measure. There are sheaves of other reforms contemplated by new and revised legislation, and the prevailing idea, when one has waded through the terrible list, is that the inordinate end of the session activity should give place to a more reasonable and Slower political gait. New Zealand is the most legislating country under the sun, and its laws obviously need more amendments than those of any other country. The legislation deemed necessary for the use and benefit of a pathetically small population seems to be in excess of requirements. We are iconoclastic enough, to believe that if there was not another session of Parliament until 1915 the country would not retrograde, and the people would feel that the tremendous mania for swelling •the Statute. Book was not the prime essential of our national life. We know that much of the time of the session has been taken up with Mr. Hine's business, and are mildly amazed at the activity and industry of a Parliament, which, despite constant digressions and the fact that the "slaughter of innocents" has been phenomenal, has been able to put up a record in new and revised legislation.