THE EXTINCTION OF THE NATIVES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2139, 25 March 1886, Page 2

THE EXTINCTION OF THE NATIVES.

TO THE EDITOn. Silt,— ln your interesting leader of the 18th inst. I notice you have advanced the theory so dear to the Exeter Hall orators when accounting for the rapid decrease of the aboriginals of this country, by attributing the cause mainly to their having adopted the vices introduced by the white man. This theory seems so plausible that many persons accept it without further thought, and believe — as you yourself say — that it " accounts for everything." While admitting that immorality Amongst the natives is a considerable factor in hastening the end, I hold that it is not the chief cause of their dying out, and that the end would come about all the same, even supposing they could lead strictly virtuous lives. The primary cause of the extinction of savage races when brought into close contact with civilization is the sudden and great changes they undergo in their habits and mode of living. It ii a well established fact that the reproductire system in all animals — man included — is susceptible in an extraordinary degree to changed conditions of life. When the change is but slight it generally has a beneficial effect, but when sudden and great it has an opposite effect, resulting in | the lessened fertility of the females, mii creased morality amongst the young, and | disease generally. It nas been marked ; with regard to some of the Pacific inlanders, and the same applies to Maoris, that they ' have undergone greater changes in their habits of life in 50 years than Englishmen lin 1000 years. Mr Fenton, in his " Observations on the Aboriginal Inhabitants of New Zealand," published in 1859, has shown that the decrease begun between the yema 1830 and 1840, soon after the natives had j commenced to ohange their food and dress, and when these inlands were but thinly inhabited by white people. Even tho Maoris themselves, as Mr Fenton remarks, " attribute the decadence, in some measure. a to the introduction of new food and clothing, and the attendant change* of habits." I think it is important that wo should be correct ia these matters, and not make statements which are apt to give rise to erroneous ideas, or promulgate those already in existence.— l am, youra truly, M*rch 22nd, \m.