GAMBLING AMONG MAORIS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 225, 20 September 1905, Page 3

GAMBLING AMONG MAORIS.

THE NATIVE BItLIARD PLAYER. CBy Telegrapu.— ParUauient«iy Beporter.) WELLINGTON, this day. Mr W. W. Bird, inspector of native schools, in his annual report to the: Education Department, calls attention to the live evil of gambling among the natives. He refers to the fact that in many cases native children go to school without taking their lunch. Remonstrance with their parents frequently brings forth the remark that they have no food or money, and yet, continues Mr Bird, these people in plaee3 spena their whole time" at playing .cards or billiards—another factor which not only militates considerably against the success of several of our schools, but which also, in my opinion, is one of the greatest curses that has ever come upon the Maori. In np part within my knowledge does the billiard table work such havoc with the people, and consequently with the. children, as in Hokianga anct far north districts. The children are often kept up all night billiard marking, and are utterly unfit to come to school or to work when they do come. The Maoris are pauperised by gambling. In one place it was reported that they had gambled away their crops. They are therefore in winter time unable to supply either food or clothing for their children, wfco have to suffer in consequence. The billiard table is even made part of the furnishing of a tangi. To one gathering of this kind three tables were conveyed, and wherever a Land Court is assembled they are to be found in nutabers. I ascribe a considerable amount of the poverty amongst the people and the consequent fluctuating attendance at their schools and much suffering amongst the people generally to the pernicious influence of these billiard tables, which are to be seen on the gumfields, in tl»e kaianga, and eveii on the very roadside. Whatever steps are taken to aihefiorate the conditions of the Maori, the suppression of their gambling dens should be among the very first. There can be no doubt, however, that the greatest factors in producing a good attendance at a native school are the inherent attraction that the school itself has for the children and the confidence the. parents have in the master. TJjat is to say, the attendance in many cases depends largely upon the teacher himself, and falling oiT in the attendance should be to him the occasion for a little intro- , spectioh. , '