NATIONAL PROBLEM

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XL, Issue 5850, 26 August 1912, Page 3

NATIONAL PROBLEM

In advocating the investment oi" all moneys received by the Natives for their lands, the interest to be payable to them, ami thus prevent many Maoris becoming paupers. Mr Hunter, M.P. for " Waipawa, has touched oji something which is fast assuming the appearance of a national problem (says the Hot Lakes Chronicle). The Maoris as a iwhole arc at least three hundred years behiird their European brothers in the path to the highest point of civilisation. In their manners, customs, and mode of living they arc little better than some of the races of darkest Africa. In one branch of intellect, however, the Maori is the equal, if not the superior, of the white man, and that is the abnormal shrewdness and cunning. To do business with a Native is to court bankruptcy or thereabouts. The Maori is never wanting as far as ready capital is concerned, but while he finds it remarkably easy to collect a pile of banknotes, he lacks the ability to derive any material benefit from it, and. in his devotion to the comfortable idea of beer, tobacco, and billiards, the banknotes soon disappear. This happens year after year among ihe majority of Natives, "and it can safely be asserted that the Maori's knowledge of the value of money is practically nil. Residents of Whakatane can well remember some years ago, when a few of the Urewera Natives received money for land sold to the Government. In a week's time all that was left of thousands of pounds was indeed little, and the Natives were the possessors oi a miscellaneous collection of old iron, old horses, and other worthless assets, which businesslike citizens had forced on them. Either the Maoris must be taught work, or the Government must store up the money received from land sales for the future generations. Otherwise, when all 'the laud has been settled by the Kuropeans, where will the Natives he. It is a big question, but we think the primary remedy lies i n good hard -graft."