PARIHAKA OF TO-DAY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3835, 17 April 1899, Page 2

PARIHAKA OF TO-DAY.

A model Maori village.

(Wellington Midi)

The story of what has been achieved at Parihaka reads almost like a romance. It is not the only settlement in the country where Maoris live in comfortable houses of improved construction, and der vote themselves to agricultural and other pursuits with intelligence and success ; but unless our contributor and frequent visitors to the place exaggerate, it is far and away th» beat of such settlements. The special glory of Parihaka is that it has been evolved out of a chaos of filth and insanitary methods, and the great results have been got out of most unpromising human material, in the form of natives with a reputation for turbulence. Te Whiti, while clearly recognising that by Maoris alone could Maori social regeneration be accomplished, was wise enough to use the superiority of European modes of living and fceen: enough to avail himself of European instructors. Parihaka is* so far as we know, the only place where Maoris have laid out and drained a town for themselves, and have introduced a gravitation supply of pure wafer for domestic uses, with an overflow to flush the drains and to drive a dynamo to develop electric lighting. The latter improvement is one which may be carried out by the Maoris of Parihaka before it is applied at Wellington waterworks. Parihaka, under Te Whiti is, in fact, a splendid example of a snccessful communistic settlement — held together, as ' New Australia ' could not be held, by 'the religion of the thing.' The reason of the Buccess in tine Taranaki native settlement is that the Maori is by centuries of habit a communist, accustomed to have all his affairs ordered for him by a directing intelligence. It is on these lines, and by recognising the natural and acquired traits in the Maori character, that the aborigines of this country will not only be saved from extinction, but placed in a position of comfort and independence. To attempt to impose our laws and habits in their entirety upon them is to connive at their demoralisation. Let the policy of Te Whiti, in its more admirable features, be copied by the leaders of the Maoris ; let the natives abandon their illusory notions about kings and native Parliaments, and settle down to till the soil, to acquire beautiful and sanitary dwellings, and to train their children to habits of industry. If they do this they will find that their grievances, real and imaginary, will disappear, and peace, comfort and happiness will take the place of idleness, squalor and discontent.