THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1907. THE MAORI GIRL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8392, 10 April 1907, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 1907. THE MAORI GIRL.

At the Te Aute Students' Conference at Gisborne, last week, a Mr Kohere read an interesting paper on the question of domestic service for Maori girls. The importance of bringing up Maori girls as hospital nurses had, he said, been reiterated from time to time. He was anxious to point out to the Maori people that there were other branches of service in which Maori girls might engage with much benefit, and he had come to the conclusion that this sphere was domestic service. He contended that if Maori girls were employed under good sympathetic mistresses the result would be a blessing to the race. The, question should be looked at from a national standpoint, npt from a personal point of view. To make a strong race, the tribes must be strong, to make a strong tribe there must be a strong hapu, and a strong hapu must be possessed of strong family life. The latter depended greatly upon the mothers. The pakeha had, a saying which ran, "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." If the Maori girl was to live to any age at all it was their bounden duty to endeavour to get her to accept her responsibility. How could they best do that? Surely not better than by sending her for some years to a good pakeha home. The only objection ,to domestic service was that it was of a menial nature in the view of most people. Why the pakeha domestic was looked down upon he could not understand,

but ventured the suggestion that it was perhaps because the girls were generally drawn from the uneducated class, and, therefore, the inference was drawn not so much from their position but from their own personal worth. He asked why nurses were noJJJlooked down upon, because their occupation was sometimes far more unpleasant than that of domestics, The reason, he supposed, was that nurses were of the educated classes generally. There was certainlyjjnothing disgraceful in working, but there was degradation in indolence. They were really all servants to one another, except perhaps the person who did not work at all—the loafer, who was an intolerable servant to himself. In England at the people of noble birth were recognising that to do something was better than idleness, and, consequently, were taking places which were really inferior to their position. What degradation was it for a person to work for money to provide himself for the battle of life? The Conference discussed the whole question at some considerable length, and finally a resolution was passed that the Conference, believing that the future welfare of the Maori race is largely dependent on the work of the women, in the management of their lives and the training of their children, strongly advocates Maori girls seeking employment in good pakeha homes as domestic servants, where they may most effectively be fitted to benefit themselves "and their race.