MAORI MISSIONARY WORK. TO THE EDITOR.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3071, 22 March 1892, Page 2

MAORI MISSIONARY WORK. TO THE EDITOR.

! Sib,—Tn y.mr issiui of March Bth appears a ' letter f:u':u :m individual signing himself I " Za'ii/.umni'ii.'' I could wish the writer ; of that letter hud been possessed of suffii cient m<ral cmnsre to sien his name, for if ' all lie says be triib, why conceal his identity 3 under an ii.-sunied n;ime? In reading his \ letter, one is struck with surprise that, any ' person li»ini» in the present clay could venturn sttt«m;;its so unfair and misleading. [ No wonder l)« Ind'i- his name! All, or ! nearly all, of thn parties alluded to as hav--1 ing been, tha cause "f the Maori war and 1 their rc.hini tn lieatliunism are now in their 3 graviis and it does soem a very un-English I and, rthink, unhandsome way to deal with tliß uliii'actßi , of thiien who are not living or 1 abln t'i (li'.feini thuir reputation against ata tacks such m these. Only on this ground 3 would I take the trouble to reply to your I correspondent, and would remind him of the proverb, " It is an easy thins to fight a 1 dead man." The tona of the letter appears , to me to be somewhat reckless and flippant, j considering the magnitude of the subject dealt with, viz., Maori missions. lam not n one of the fathers of Maori missions, hav- '■ ing been only 3(! years' engaced in the work , of reclaiming the Maori, not from heathens ism, for that is a thing of the remote past, 6 but from the evils which have been introa duced by the enlightened Anglo-Saxon into i a country which had only received the

Truth as very little children, and were all too easily influenced by the example of those who might have been a power for good had they been true to the God of their fathers and set a worthy example to the partially-enlightened Maori. The early missionaries, Sir, did not cause the Maori war. It is well-known among all who are familiar with the Maoris and their grievances that the causes of that disastrous conflict were purely political. It is true that, in adhering to our loyalty to our Queen, some of our agent 3 were involved in the consequences of war, such as the abandonment of mission stations, which, though occupied by our agents, did in no solitary case belong to them. If there be a gleam of satisfaction in the letter before us, it 1 shows itself in the fact of the missioner having to leave his comfortable cottage and 1 peach groves and run for dear life. The Rev. Mr Reid, evidently the Minister alluded to, did not ignominiously run from hie , post. A more unjust and ungenerous statement was never made. The facts of the case ' were briefly these. The Maoris of Wai pa j were devoted to their missionary for Maoris are excellent judges of character and cer--1 tainly a more unselfish and noble man never walked on God's earth than he who [ has not yet been a year in his grave, and i Sir, I should despise myself if I allowed auch a stigma to rest on his memory un- ' challenged or uncontradicted. I have had it from the Maoris themselves that for his 5 own safety they requested him to leave, ' and it is well that your correspondent has ■ taken as a prominent case, one whose life and labours will bear the test of the ' strongest scrutiny. The early missionaries, \ Sir, did what no one else would have ventured to do. Life and property were en- ' tirely at the mercy of savage tribes, homes . were pillaged and burned to the ground, j and the mortal remains of children were ] disinterred for the grave clothes of the dead. ! Mothers were constantly terrified by the sight of savages brandishing axes on the heads of their husbands and threatening their lives, and yet we hear of the good times these men and women had. There are many solitary graves in New Zealand I which would not be here had there not been men and women who lived and died in the attempt to christianize the Maori. As 3 to the value ot land in those days, I won-

der what our friend would have thought a fan- prico for 200 acres in any part of cannibal New Zealand. I may tell you that when Hongi Ika visited England in 1822, King George wishing to make the great warrior s wife a handsome present asked Hongi what he would like to take back with him to Mrs Hongi. It did not take him very long to make his selection "An axe," he said, " is what my wife would most desire." After this, one would thiuk 12 axes not a very insignificant price for 200 acres of land in a country where axes were so greatly appreciated. I trust Sir, that some more able pen than mine will speak for the agents of the Church Mission. As for the Wesleyan Church to which I belong, I think myself happy iu being able to say that we, as individuals, have never owned one foot of Maori soil,— I am etc. William Gittos.