The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1912. OUR BROWN BROTHER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 314, 2 July 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1912. OUR BROWN BROTHER.

Advocacy of sweeping reform in the pakeha's methods—or lack of methods —in dealing with the Maori has interested many more or less eminent men, both Maori and pakeha, for many years. Large numbers of gatherings at which much oratory hag been expended make interesting reading for the newspapers. We find an enlightened young' Maori rising here and there with vigorous suggestions for the salvation of his race, but a large number of examples might easily be given showing that in the buach the Maori is still hopelessly idle, that his living places are insanitary, that he still listens to the fraudulent tohunga and still dies quite cheerfully of white man's ailments. A gathering of Maori* at Te Ivuiti was interesting as it showed that an advocacy of chango is still the principal business of Maori meetings. The change, however, does not come. The suggestion that the Maoris in Parliament should form a separate party is absolutely sound. There is no Maori now in Parliament who is there for the good he can do for the collective folk of New Zealand. He and his friends are there to represent the one race. It Li, in our opinion, an absurdity that Maoris should be in the position to affect the balance of power bv their votes on matters that really do not ooncern them. Sir James Cairoll is generally regarded as the hope of the Maori, and perhaps his suggestion to use the revenue derived from scattered interests for obtaining a concentrated are* for working purposes is good. The opiaion is expressed that under such conditions the work on such areas should be compulsory. The modern Maori will not work if ho can get plenty to eat without toil, and the '"redeemed savage" who does not work dies. It cannot be believed that the hope of Sir James Carroll that the Mnoris will supply the initiative for the working of schemes for the betterment of the Maori people ill auy locality is sound. It will be f-ound that although the salvatio» of tha Maori is in the hands of the Maori, the pakeha must initiate the scheme, and must insist, even by harsh measures, on its fulfilment. We pride ourselve* on the fact that the Maori is allowed all tke white

man's privileges—and many that the ] white man has not got. It is really i nothing to be proud of, especially as we , are the guardians of the race. Sumptuary laws are necessary, and the Maori should he wheeled into line to he made cleanly, healthy and busy. He will never be healthy while he loafs, and he will never be clean until he is busy. At the Te Kuiti gathering a number of speakers condemned the big koreros which are so frequently held, and at which enormous quantities' of food are consumed, without any advantage to the natives or to anybody else. These gatherings mean idleness, neglect of children, insanitary conditions and other evils that cannot be set down here. A flat prohibition of these sort of gatherings is needed—not a gentle request for the Maori not to make a gourmand of himself, but a stern order. The pity of the present condition of things is that a large quantity of splendid human material is going to waste. The Maori material is in many respects as good as the pakeha material, but as it is not forced into the market it simply atrophies. A subject race in a white man's country only thrives when it is forced to fight for its existence, in exactly tke same way as the controlling race fights. The best way to wipe out a subject race is to spoon-feed it, to treat it like a collection of petted children, to presume its equality and to leave it alone to waste in idleness. In regard to Dr. Pomare's suggestion to encourage Maoris to attend agricultural schools, schools of the kind,should be established solely for Maori youths, and attendance at them should be compulsory. Invitations to young bloods to learn something at their own option will bring forth few candidates. The young Maori is being compelled to amble out and take up his place in the Territorial ranks, but he is not being compelled to do the essential work that will keep him and his people from dying. If the Maori will not help himself without coercion, ha should be coerced. If there is no legislation by which he can be harried into the fields to work, out of the hotels and billiard rooms, out of the avenues of idleness, then legislation should be passed. The Maori has been for so long used to the kid glove treatment that he might not understand the enforcement of sumptuary law. It is the only possible means of stopping the decadence that continues in the native race.