"BREAKING DOWN"

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LII, Issue 8616, 13 June 1924, Page 5

"BREAKING DOWN"

MAORI COMMUNISM

A satisfactory report cat the general prospects of North Island Maoris was given recently by Dr P. H. Buck, Director of the Division of Maori Hvgieim in the Health Department (says the Lyttelton Times). Chatting of the members of his raca he said that there was a marked advance in material welfare, and in luc.is and aims. In some villacros Maoris had tken to milking. Theregular work, hours, income, food supplies, and almost- constant demand nn their time had a very good effect. A few years ago a hui of at least several hundred people could bn got togther at. very short notice. In these days it was difficult, sometimes' to ' get them together at all, as they were scattered instead of hanging about the villages. When a gathering was held it was fairly brief, as the people had to get back to their cows', Gc had to get to bed early in order to nse early. Even on the holdings . P"‘-ple. were separated. The time-honoured communal system cnee the life-blood of the race, was breaking down before the principle of individualism. The family was inking the place ot the community. The old., culture was going surely; and it was a good movement, no matter how regrettable it might be sentimentally and etbncilcgioally. Superstition still lias an influence in parts of the North Island. The tohunga has not been completely put down, but he usually keeps out of the way of the health officers. After .all, Dr Buck states, Maori tchun gas may not! be in more evidence that toll ungas who find foldings amongst tho Europeans. To shew how Maori superstitions' are dying, he said that notl long ago he spoke to Maoris ar. T*e Ante about, ti-c tentilation oi their meelinglious:. He suggested a window in < hc wall. The chi people of the village became very angry w ith him, said it: was against alf old ideas, and would have none of it. The window was put; in, and they now would not be without it. They objected to' collecting rain-water, from the roof of a, meeting-house because, P was tap'u but discarded that super .sution also, and the roof of the meeting house now; is one of the Phief supplies C f water. In the Wanganui, Bay of Plenty and Gisfcmne distiicts there are members of tho Han-hau sect -Te Binga-tir established by Te Ko-oti .same’ sixty years ago, but. it is a religious sect and nothing more; it is harm less’ perhaps, in S om e respects, -quite all right” Maori schools are increasing m number with European teachers, and, in some oases, Maori ml pupil-tteadiers. The total Maori population is increasing. More, than twenty trained nurses are employed by the Health Department m . thc thickly populated Maori districts'. They treat minor cases, arrange for- sending, cast s to the hospital, lecture to Maori women on leading the children, heme nursing, and so on, .pid visit the- ...Maorischools. If an epidemic occurs they get into touch’ witli the medical officers. Where it is impossible betake- patients to a hospital, the. nurses establish! lob'a.l isolation hospitals, where the patients’ relatives arc. instructed. Although some Maoris refuse: to call in the nurses, relying oh their old superstitions, the! people generally are awaking lb the benefits of the Health Department’s efforts, especially as the administration is carried out by the authorities through Village Committees, consisting of prominent men elected by the Maori villagers. 4 The Maori Board of Ethnological Research* is working in another field, in which Dr Buck is equally abiivev £s now studying the evolution of ; Maori material culture. His * visit to Christichurch is to give an address on the sub {car, before the Canterbury Philosophical Insitute. His research into !Macrl clothing has disclosed interesting, facts connected with the aute plant, now extinct ini New Zealand, but plentiful in oilier countries, where it is known as the rvaper-mulberry. believes -.that Maoris it from the islands on their migrations, but found it unsuitable for the colder clima-tc-here, and resorted tb flax. The climate, apparently, was unsuitable for the ante, and„it died out, although* the Maoris cultivated it to some exent. Two wooden implements found, in Whangarel Harbour, Dr Buck heel Ives, were used for beating the bark of the ante, in the same way as the cloth is beaten in Polynesia. — Q*lH