MAORI HOSPITAL AT TE KOWHAI.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 251, 24 February 1898, Page 2

MAORI HOSPITAL AT TE KOWHAI.

The Maoris have always proved themselves apt imitators of their European neighbours, and with a very little instruction the average native is usually not far behind the pakeha, particularly in matters relat'ng to profit and loss, and any who still cherish the memory of the Maori of the early days, and have a mild belief that he is as unsophisticated as ever, would be sadly undeceived by a very brief intercourse with his gumdigging billiard-playing descendants. But it is reserved for the Te Kowhiu district to produce the very latest thing in Maori advancement, to wit, a hospital, which is to be of considerable dimensions, constructed of sawn timber, and run by an orthodox hauhau medicine man, an expert (in short, a wizard) who professes with, pcrhap 3 , as much reason as s' me of his whiter to know everything t ertaining to this world or the next. For some time past this healer of men, Ahau by name, has been doing a thriving fade, sick Maoris coming from all parts to him, and as the fee—kill or cure—ranges from £1 to £2O according to the victim's finances, the profits are large, while the expenses, as may be supposed from the current rates for shaik and potatoes, are small. Struck, no doubt, by the want of conveniences in his humble establishment, the river being the principal operating room, and also fired by accounts (from Maoris who have been there) of the magnificence of the pakeha hospital with its medical comforts and nice-looking nurses, Ahau lias conceived the idea of building oce of his own, and this is now in course of construction, the site being within 100 yaids of the public road at Te Kowhai. Naturally the European residents of the locality view the new departure with anything but favour. Maoris afilicted with every kind of disease, known and unknown, will, they fear, be brought in numbers to the place for treatment (the majority remainiug for burial), and this, combined with the absence of anything like proper supervision or observance of ordinary rules of sanitation, will make the place a perfect hotbed of disease. No wonder, 'then, that the Europeans who live near, or have to pass frequently, are alarmed at the prospect. Some steps have been taken to ascertain if a check could be placed upon Ahau's ambition, or whether he forced to remove the institution further from the public road ; but it appears that being on his own land he is acting within his legal rights, and it is now proposed to send a petition to the King, the Queen having no power in the case, representing the unsuitability of the present site, and requesting tint the hospital be erected on the other tide of the Waipa river,