11

H.— 26b

I have the honour to inform you that I have done my very best under great disadvantage, contending all along the line with the great dislike of the whole of the Natives to supply me with the necessary information. On the 11th February last I left home for Tapapa, having laid out my plans to take furthest places first and work back. On arrival at Tapapa I put my mission before the Natives, who had nothing to say about your circular letter, only they could not comply with my taking the census. I saw at once that such would be the case all along the line, so I came to the conclusion that to be effectual in my work I must first see Tana Taingakawa. On telling Natives that such was my intention, they at once told me that if I saw Tupu I could then complete my mission. The next day I rode straight from Tapapa to Waihou, and the day following saw Tupu, when he, without any talk or demur, told me the names of all those who were with him at Tautiti, and also where I could find other camps of Ngatihaua ; but all information re cultivations, &c, I could get on arrival at Waharoa. After that it was not much trouble getting the names at the various camps and kaingas I visited ; the only trouble was the cultivations and pigs. I could not get them to give me such information. On arriving at Waharoa I came to a complete block. I could not get any information at all from them till they held a meeting about it; so I had, perforce, to leave them alone. During all my travels I have seen no sickness at all amongst the Natives. They are all in very good health, and the general condition of them at their settlements is fairly good—some of them in much better order than others. The sub-enumerator at Kawhia states :— Please find enclosed census-books for my part of Kawhia District. As to time I have done my best. After travelling for two weeks I found it impossible to do my district in the time mentioned. The Kawhia Harbour is the most difficult part, as it can only be clone by boat, and, furthermore, the tide must be studied. The whole of my district has been carefully scrutinized and ages taken from over twenty—adults over fifteen and under fifteen—to infants. With regard to health I may state in some parts —especially around the Kawhia Harbour—there has been a lot of sickness ; the cause is mud-fever. I reached Kawhia on the Ist, and completed my work on the 2nd. I had gome difficulty in obtaining information from the Tohuites and Kingites, but, knowing them, I got all the information required. Had I not known them my" census would have been 15 percent, less. You will see by my books I have made a careful entry and scrutinized the whole district, and a correct return will be seen in my books. The sub-enumerator at Te Aroha states :— The Natives all seem in good health ; they seem to live better than they-did some five years ago, and are now in many instances abstaining from drink. The sub-enumerator at Churchill states :— I took the Maori census in part of the same district in 1891. I find that the Maoris are altering a little. They are taking to the European ways a little more than they were at that time. They are taking to better houses, and some of them are living in slab houses, which is an improvement to their houses made of raupo and rushes. Most of them have taken to cups and saucers, and have taken a real clean way of preparing their food and laying the food after it is prepared. They have taken to work; if'there is work to be got, they always go to work. All the settlements I went to I never found a man loafing about the settlements. They have taken to cattle. I have never before seen Maoris so anxious to go in for cattle. Their principal occupations are : Skinning wattle-trees, gumdigging, cutting rushes, tea-tree, and bashfelling, draining for Europeans and a little for themselves. There is only one thing that will take ti m e that is, the Maori people have a great weakness for building on low grounds. Some of the Maoris have taken to bedsteads, which will be a great saving to their health. At times gone by Maoris would sleep and lie about the ground, which our bodies were not made for. The steam would rise, and it would cause sickness. The only complaint I find that is holding among the Maoris is consumption, caused by building on low grounds and sleeping on the ground. It is the older people that have this complaint; the younger people seem to be free from it. The Maoris are not great land-tillers; but, as they get'cattle, I have taken notice they are getting to know the value of grass. As regards Maori families, the families would be all right if they were not misled Dy these tohungas. ° Most of the Maori people think they can be cured by a tohunga just talking, and do without medicine. If the Maoris took to medicines more than half the people would not die. I say that is the greatest weakness among the Maori people—they put too great a faith in the tohunga. As regards tangis, they do not hold the tangis as long as they used to. They used to hold tangis till they actually starved some of the people. They are improving from that custom. The sub-enumerator at Te Mata (Raglan) states : — I found the Natives very much scattered owing chiefly to being employed by Europeans in harvesting and grass-seed cutting. I met with considerable difficulty in obtaining crop and stock returns, they (the Natives) saying the agricultural statistics were collected last October; another reason was that it was quite impossible for me to see each individual Maori, and those whom I questioned could only give me a very vague idea as to acreage of crops or number of stock owned by others. However, I have done my best, and I have every reason to think that I have got a good count. I found no sickness worth mentioning amongst them, and they all appeared to be fairly prosperous, and the crops everywhere are looking well.