THE MIND OF THE MAORI.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 45, 14 July 1914, Page 6

THE MIND OF THE MAORI.

ADDRESS BY TJ-JK REV. T. (; HAMMOND. At tin l meeting of tin l Vew Plvmoutli Brotherhood Dii Sunday, the lj|'v. T. (J. Hammond, w.ho lias a [irofouml knowledge of all matter* Maori, delivered an interesting address on the above subjc t. NATIVE ABILITY. Tie reminded liis hearers Unit lie was speaking of a people who represented a stone age and consequently one expect a vas,t dill'erence between Maori and European thought. The besetting sin of the Britain was to look down on others, ami there were those among tfie native people who >lio'.llil serve to cor- , rect this idea. Messrs. Carroll and I Ngata, M's.P., both able men. owed more . to their native ability than to their English education. SAYINGS OF TE WHITI. The eliief Te Wbiti. too. was a man of ability and keen perception, and his philosophical sayings .held much wisdom. "Drinking liquor." he said, "was a foolish .tiling, because it was not a natural pro- ■ iluct." His scathing commentary 011 the appointment of the Fox and Bell commission 011 native matters was that "If we two tight should you be judge of the quarrel." and his saying, "the potato is cooked," meant that the proposals of the Governor Cordon for the betterment of till*'. Maori were made when the damage was done —this amounted to a shrewdly put charge of hypocrisy. THE LOGICAL MAORI. The speaker went on to contend that the Maori was eminently a logician though his logic was all his own. Dr. Haben, who could speak with authority, had contended that the Maori language was one of the most logical in existence. Mr. Hammond went 011 to refer to tlio Maori as a finished orator, quoting a", an example the speeches made at the welcome tendered to Mr. Carroll at Okaiawa. He quoted as an evidence of their poetic temperament, the poems of Raukawa. He dwelt on the architsvtural ability shown in the building oi their pahs, and the mechanical geniu;, displayed in the contrivances they made with only the rudest of tools. MAORI LEGENDS. Mr. Hammond then referred to the beautiful legends which surrounded scientitic facts with artistic pliraseologoy. There was the legend which taught that sandstone was the enemy of greenstone. That which taught that the movement of the tides was caused by Tauiwha under the sea. was made for the benefit of the iininslructed. but to the thinking men it implied that the earth was a living organism. The legend that New Zealand was iished up out of the sea was but a poetical way of attributing the discovery of New Zealand to one particular Maori. THE PHILOSOPHICAL MIND. x Reference was then made to the Maori proverbs, as illustrative of the Maori's philosophical mind. The proverb "lluna Whakatika"' was derived f 10111 the story of the man Who stole bread-fruit from a garden, on stilts, lie found that nr must cover up the marks of his stilt;, get some one to say that he heard no voices that night, and another to say that he saw no one in the garden. This taught that one sin lead to another. .Hence the proverb, "To 'hide to lie. to steal." There was a proverb that taught .that to bring shame to oncS: parents was to bring trouble on oneself, and another that said. "Don't eat tile fruit of the Tutu jest you squirm." This taught men to eschew wrong-doing. Mr. Hammond then dealt with the various nomenclature which tin 1 Maori had created. Near Patea was a place called '"Whakarokakapo," which was so named from a dell where grew the fern that the night parrots loved, and there was |.a legend concerning that. ''Turangarere." near Kakaramca, was an ancient place in the old warlike da»s. -Here the native warriors assembled, while the omens were consulted as to the -success of the projected war. If t!.ie .pmens were announced to be favorable, ..the warriors rose to approve, and th-ir .plumes waved in the wind. NOT IDOLATERS. Mr. Hammond then referred to the native superstitions and religions. ,There was among' them an idea of many gods, but also of one supreme being, a true God whose name was not to be lightly mentioned. The images they had were but tihe concrete forms of ail 'abstract idea, and not- examples of idolatry. The Maori's idea of time, and especially of eternity, was weak, and all he could say about the future was, "Ake tonu atu," or "Up, on. an<l away.'' The Maori, from his (belief in himself as a trinity in unity readily accepted the idea of a Diet-yiu trinity. He dealt in an illuminating manner witii many Maori words, whose meaning was obscure to most Europeans, and concluded by remarking; that some people held fast in the gospel of a good environment alone. If that were true, the Maori, when he came to New Zealand, should have gone ahead by leaps and bounds, but in many respects he had gone from bad to worse. (The imperfect environment of New ZeaJanil did produce a lace of perhaps the Jicst savage people in the world, and what might not be expected of them under the light of civilisation?