MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 September 1938, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES

WHY NOT SAVE THE MAORI? (Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”) The honour of an invading country is closely associated with the moral and physical effect upon the original inhabitants. Their subsequent decrease or increase is perhaps the keynote of this question. New Zealand, unhappily, is the most recent stigma cast upon us in this direction. The only question now before us is not one of the past neglect, but of the present and the future. Every religious body, local institution or society could now contribute its quota towards the arrest of this obvious downfall of the Maori. Is it ignorance or indifference, both equally unworthy of British tradition? If we were under any foreign power, we would be the first to condemn their cruel apathy. As compared with the American, West Indies and African invasions, we have acted in a somewhat more Christian spirit toward the Maori, yet their downfall has been equally pronounced. The idea that the offspring of a man and a woman have given origin to a great nation is an inspiring thought, but we are shamed to silence and inaction by the fact that a great people are rapidly becoming a mere tribe; then a remnant to be extinct. Statists proved that in 1858, in every hundred Maoris there were 27 under 14 years of age, while in England 40 per cent were of that period of life. Dr Rees, of Wanganui, ascertained that 29 children put of 433 died before their mothers. Mr Fenton reported in 1858 that of 18 children born in one Maori village only 2 reached the age of 14 years. The complete neglect in every school to teach us their beautiful language is one factor of this callous indifference.