The Press. FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1901. THE MORIS AND ROYALTY.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10991, 14 June 1901, Page 4

The Press. FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1901. THE MORIS AND ROYALTY.

We have little doubt that the Maori gather- ', ing at Botorua will remain engraven on tha - . memories el their- Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of CormraJl and York as in many, respects oa» of the niojfc notf-. . worthy features of their ttrar, rich as it has already proved itself In sights and incidents of abiding interest. That the Maoris themselves are a fine people physically and intellectually is a truism insisted upon so often that, ifc is apt ,to become wearisome from repetition. Dr. Thomson, who studied tho Maoris very carefully, came to the conclusion that the Maoris of his day (about 1857) were in stature not quite equal to Englishmen, the average height of the male sex being abouv sft 6Jin. In bodily weight and girth of chest he found them equal to Englishmen, ten stone avoirdupois bsing their average weight, without clothes. He did not consider them equal to the English in bcdily strength, and be put down this inferiority at fifty pounds, foT on a trial of strength Maoris raised oil an average 367 pounds an inch from the gronnd and Englishmen 422 pounds. Considering how remarkably similar both races are in stature and bediiy height, such a result was hardly to be expected, acd Dr. Thomson accounted for it by the fact that a large portion of tha food of the Nsw Zcalanders was composed of potatoes, "a diet which tends.to " develop the accumulation ot fat in the '•system without adding strength to the " muscle?.' In later years tha Mauris hava adapted their diet more closely to that of Europeans, and it would be interesting to learn, from competent observers, whether there has bwn any improvement in their physical condition. As to their intellectual capacity there had not b*Kn m> many opportunities of testing it when Dr. Thomson wrote, and we arc inclined to think that ho under-estimated it. He was struck with the remaikabls memories of the "New Zea- [ landers,". as he terms them in his book, i He found \xm deficient in reason and judg- j ment, "'in habits of steady and continuous i " attention, of association and mental in- i "dustry." . He considered them, however, apt at acquiring the rudiments of learning, and strong in imitation. The conclusion ha came to was that "native boys at ten years "of age are more intelligent than English " boys; but as a rule few New Zealanders "could 15e taught to equal Englishmen in " their highest faculties, and none in the " worst of their passions." We have littla doubt that he would modify this verdict somewhat in the light of our later experience- The records of our schools and universities at any rate show that in aptitude to acquire pakeha knowledge, the Maori youth can hold their own with the pakehas, although it is doubtless true that they have not, as a class, shown themselves equal to English students in tho matter of steady and continuous attention and habits of mental industry. . — If the Duke and Duchess regarded the Maoris with interest, we may be quite sure that on the other hand the natives fully appreciated the honour done them by the Royal visit. The modern Maori reads books and newspapers, and many of them know as much about the Boer war, the late Queen Victoria, and the position occupied ,by Royalty in the British Constitution, as the average English or New Zealand work- . ing man. But a certain regard for rank is bound up with the history and institutions of the people. Every nation among the Maoris contained six classes of persons, thus defined by the authority whom we have cited—the Ariki, or priest and chS|af, -corresponding to the king; the Tana, or next in succession, corresponding to the royal family; the Rangatira, or chieftains, corresponding to the nobility; the Tutia, or middle classes; the Ware, or lower classes; the Taurakareka, or .slaves. It will thus.be seen that although the Maoris were communal in their ideas regarding the possession of property, particularly of land, they were far from believing in the equality of all men. Although the name of king is placed opposite the term Ariki, Dr. Thomson thinks that perhaps Pope would be more applicable, as the Ariki poesesssd both spiritual and temnoral power. What is known as the King Movement, among the Maoris, as we recently had occasion to explain, was an innovation on their old ideas, started

after trouble began "with the whites. It was a political movement, largely set on foot to prevent the further alienation of their land, to withdraw themselves from European taxation, and generally to live their own life as a race apart. Such a movement was inconsistent with the general scheme on which these islands were colonised — rhe principle as laid d6wn in

the Treaty of Waitangi, of equality for ,, both races, Tinder the one sovereign, the ruler of the great British Empire. And this, after all, is the chief glory of New Zealand, the great feature of interest which will differentiate the Maori gathering at Rotorua. in the Duke's eyes from all other native gatherings which he has witnessed, or is likely, to witness—that here we have solved the problem of the absolute political and social equality of the two races. The Maori has equal opportunities of education, he caji enter Parliament, in regard to taxation the advantage, if any, is still a little on his own side. More than this, &« in not looked down upon as belonging to an inferior race. We know of no other British possession, or English-speaking country, where the same problem has been solved in the same, humane and satisfactory manner. Such a state of affair* mre* pera&pe dimly apprehended by the .grew* «.AU{H>.*tat«sman, Te H&uheu, when he pub aefcb i&e kingship offered to him at th« inception of the movement by Mitene te Whlwhi, "Listen, all men/ , ran an. eloqae&fc and highly figurative letter written to a,H the tribes at that time. " Listen, all men. The House of New Zea"land is one; the rafters on one side " are the Pakehas, those oil the other the " ijaoris, the ridge pole on which both "rest is God; let, therefore, the house "be one." The rafters are now intermingled, so that the Maori toiara stands, ode by eide with the English oak, and t£ts is better.