THE NEW ZEALAND NATIVES' ASSOCIATION.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10482, 21 October 1899, Page 4

THE NEW ZEALAND NATIVES' ASSOCIATION.

■» ITS AIMS AND OBJECTS.

A PRIZE ESSAY". Recently the New Zealand Natives' Asso- < ciation (Christchurch Centre) offered a hand- ! come prize for ths best esaay describing its aims and objects. The prize was awarded , to Mr F. D. Waller, of O-ristchurch, who , contributed the following eway:— v \ In a certain well-known and popular song ■ the poet gives expression to his fee lingsV the | words, "All hail Zealandia, Queen of ISou- , then. Isles," and all patriotic New . must agree that the line was a happy j i spiration, describing in a aingle phrase our ] island home A queen, indeed, she is, by right of her beauty and her wealth; a queen , crowned by Nature with every good gift. We, the members of the N.Z.N-A. should '' be her most loyal subjects', and should abrive ; in every way to promote her interests. There is one way, and one way only, in : which this can be done—by improving and developing the character of New Zealanders. |' The character of the people of a country is the greatest factor in its success or failure. No beauty of climate, no advantage of situation, no wealth of resources, can make up for a lack of great and noble qualities in a people. Any society, then, which has 1 for its object tho advancement of New Zea- j land, must turn its attention to anything | which is likely to make the people of New Zealand a better and a wiser race. It must endeayour to direct the thoughts of New ZeaJandeiß into* the right channels, and to give them high ideals aa to the future of their country and themselves. If, however, it is to exert any great,influence, it must set itself to attract to its ranks those whose wide sympathies and great' abilities are bound to make them leaders of men. In a word, it must attract all' thon who.are ia any way; prnminent fori

lene rgy, talent, or genius. This can only be done by making our Society a truly national , one, for a merely provincial society will not ! offer to the leading spirits of the' colony a I wide enough arena for the display of their talents. It should also extend its labours in every part of New Zealand, and thus make its members as numerous as possible. For .the better accomplishment of this ob--»ject it sho—d be divided into three distinct 'divisions. 1. A Central Council. 2. Provincial branches. 3. Branches in every township in the colony. The Central Council should be composed of delegates from the various other ©ranches. A seat on it should be the highest honour which the So—eya* could offer. Its members should be men of the greatest ability in New Zealand. If the Society grows as it ought to, there should be no difficulty in ~*tting | such men to represent it This Central | Council would be tbe corttroßing body for the whole of New Zealand, and would settle the lines on which the work of the Society should run. It should meet once a year at each of the centres of population, and its meeting should be the occasion of a great gathering together of "Natives" from all parts of New Zealand. Lectures should be given, concerts held, papers read, literary efforts d_sp.ayed, ; operas produced, and, iv fact, there should be a great display of ahl the talent of New Zealand. We have our great racing carnivals in New Zealand, and there seems no reason why we should not have our carnivals of art., and science, and literature; perhaps they would do quite as much good. Such a gathering as this would be the event of the year, and would have the happiest effect on the life of New Zealand. It wouM bind the provinces together with a feeling of fellowship, and do away with that provincial [jealousy which is now so rife. It would ' show us that there are as fair maids and galk—it men in bleak Otago as in sunny Auckland, and as kind 'hearts and deep inI tellects to be found in the hills of Wellington as on tho plains of Canterbury. Each province would tbe made to feel tbat we are all working toget-ier to ono good end, the advancemen. of New Zealand. j The main object of this gathering would of course be the discussion by the Central Council of questions vitally affecting the work of the Society. These might be comprised under three heads: — a. The encouragement of patriotism. b. The development of talent. c. The study of certain social questions. Of these, perhaps the first is the most im-port-ant, as on it in some degree depend the other two. It should be the proudest and .most important work of the N.Z.N.A. to ! give New Zealanders a knowledge, and I therefore a love of their naitive country. , Most New Zealanders are patriotic enough

to _____ __■* New Zealand Is tlie finest country in the world, but how many of them have any real knowledge of bar many -ittactions? It should be the duty aud pleasure of the N.Z.N.A. to supply this knowledge. It should collect old historical reI cords, and study Maori legends. If each branch were to devote some of its attention to this subject a mass of material would be gathered together Whioh would throw great light on the 'history of New Zealand. Then again, the Maoris have a sort of folk-lore which is rapidly being forgotten. It consists of legends, many of them very beautiful, religious beliefs, superstitions, and so on. Tie N.Z.N.A. might do good work in collecting and publishing these. It might also arrange excursions to the most r_ma_kajble places in New Zealand, so that its members could really see for themselves what New Zealand is like. One of the saddest tilings in the history of New Zealand is -the decay of that remarkable race, the Maoris. Without doubt they are one of the finest native races that ever lived, strong, physically' and mentally, full of good and lovable qualities, and yet we ore aEowing them to rapidly disappear almost without raising a hand to help *hem. Authorities have pointed out for us the cause- of this disappearance; surely no.better work could be found for the N.Z.N.A. than the removal of tihese causes. j A cognate question to this is the destruction of native plants and animal life. New Zealand possesses (I 'had almost said possessed) very remarkable plants and animal ife, which are as beautiful as they are unique. These are being wantonly destroyed, almost without protest. Certain forms of animal .life have almost disappeared, and soon, if ! the destruction is not immediately stopped, [there will be little left of what was once the glory of New Zealand. It behoves the N.Z.N.A to make so united a protest against this waste, that the authors of _hi_ destruction will be bound to take notice of it. The Central Council of the Association might also do a great work in the encourage-|-merit of talent among New Zealanders. It j should institute competitions op-m to the whole of New Zealand. These would at- ! tract a higher stamp of competition than merely local competitions, for the honour of winning them would be greater, and to a great mind the value of a thing lies ia tbe d-fl-oulty of obtaining it. The presentation of the awards, and tho reading of the successful papers might be made a feature of the great annual gathering. If any real talent should be discovered a great and united effort should be made by all the , different branches to provide the means for its fullest expansion. Then a medal might be established to be awarded to the native of New Zealand who should be adjudged to [have dona the most notable work ia art,

science, or literatiire^'during : the year. The Association might also encourage bravery by 1 establishing a sort of New Zealand Humane Society. .'' ' It no doubt is a moot point with many minds whether a society such as we are considering should'turn its attention to questions such as I have indicated under my third head. To my mind; however, if we encourage all sorts of talent, and do not attempt to solve such questions, we are like a man who pays great attention to the glossiness of this silk hat, and takes no notice of the holes in his boots. In our cities there are signs that seem to indicate that the conditions of life in the older cities of the world are about to be repeated here. We, as a society, should do all in our power to prevent this. The question is so difficult a one that it has never been solved yet. Its difficulty should not daunt us; we, a young, j vigorous and powerful society, are just the! people to try to find a solution. I would therefore strongly urge that any question which has for its object the amelioration tithe conditions of life under which a certain portion of New Zealanders live, is a real and proper work of the N.Z.N.A. Much stress has been r 3 ** *he constitution and work of the: Central Council, for two reasons; firstly, because if our Association is to reach its fullest development and do the greatest good, it must embrace the whole colony; and secondly, because there seems to be some danger of the provincial branches forgetting they are only branches of one great society and not the society itself. But because the central body is the mainspring of the whole organisation, it does not follow that the provincial branches would noti have a great work to do. They, of course, would work on lineß laid down for them, and would strive to do for their own members, and for the branches in the townships, what the Central Council is doing for the whole of New Zealand. They should encourage good fellowship by frequent meetings. These meetings should take the most original form possible; songs of New Zealand composers should be §»*?&' tPajjera on scientific research by New»_-e_-_oa- scientists' should be read; and original literary work 'by the* members should be a feature of each gathering. ' Certain branches of talent, such as acting should also be encouraged by each branch. It would* be hkl&ytobfit the different, provincial branches should exchange performers occasionally; for instance, our "Operatic Section" might pay a visit to Wellington. This would give the performers a wider audience than they can get in; our own town. The work of proselytising should also be a feature of each branch. Delegates should be sent out to all the townships in the province, who should lay the objects of the Association before the people, and encourage them to found Associations of their own. This having been done, the provincial branch should encourage them in every manner by sending these performers occasionally, by inviting them to contribute at their own meetings, and by throwing open their rooms to them, and welcoming them cordially when they should visit town. In these ways that I have indicated and in many others, which space forbids mc to touch on, the various branches. and *—hbranches might be grand whole, having for its object the advancement of New Zealand. '. Who shall say what good such" a society might do? Composed of the best and most intellectual of our people, filled with high ideals, and endowed with the _»wer to county them into force, nothing could stand against it. With such a society as this to, look after her welfare the ___a_ii. of New Zealand would be solved. Possessing a lovely „ tithatio_i, and-vast resources, inhabited■vb^i! : pebpi» of lofty, aims and high ideals, sbe would have within herself the germ of success; andthe title v Queen of Southern Isles would hecoine no poet's fancy, but a literal trii-h. ■ j2g