A MAORI MEMBER'S JOKE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13902, 29 November 1910, Page 8

A MAORI MEMBER'S JOKE.

« , TE RANGIHIROA INTRODUCE 4 BILL. * j , (SPECIAL TO "THR PRESS."'} WELLINGTON". November «?.' At tho tail-end of tho Ordir Papjj ' as it appeared the other duy, vrere t«o strange-looking Bills—the Now 7 ieu | land Mtaphy.sieiiuis Bill (whifh h M been evolved from tho fertile braia ci Mr Haimii) and the Herbalists ,Biii (which emanates frons Mr \Vjlf a j [\ The appearance of these two Bill* '3* late in the .session excited thp curi<»ih. of Te liaugihJroa. the clover ajid 1 humorous ineuiber for thes Norths Maori district, and he inmiediaWjproduced the Maori Herbnlists aj§ Nlotapliysit'ians Bili. -If tho pake4i herbalist and the pakelia cian are to be catered for, why not lisa" Maori herbalist and the Maori laefejphysician, the Maori being profc»ys more skilled both in regard to'the b» of herbs and in metaphysics than his pakeha brother, to say nothing of his superiority in tho domain of ontologicul research.' .

Te Rangihiroa's Bill is entitled "Aa, Act to provide for the registration of herbalists and metaphysicians of tbt , Maori race," and it is probably no flection upon the members in cuarce of the other Hills that tho Maori Bill \ to come into force on the first of April ' 1912. It is provided that from after the passing of the Act no Maori person shall be entitled to uso th« name, or carry on business under thi title of, Tohunga Wnirakau (korbalist) or Tohunga of any other descriptjoa (metaphysician), unless registered under the Act. Those entitled to regij. tration arc: (a) all persons who Kjts one-sixth of the total area of their f»jj embroidered with tattooinc as deiaetj in Kobley's work on "Moko"; (ty* , thoso who can prove by genealogy th« they are tho direct legitimate aeswfs daiit of bona fide Maori of ngt mors than four consecutive generations; (t) all persons who have hitherto escspej tho police since tho coming into fore of the'Tohunga Suppression Act. ISQfi. Section 5 provides that the Tohunts. General shall register on a slate, to w kept by him for that purpose, all yg, sons who have satisfied themselves that they are. fit to be chalked up under tis Act, and the Tohunga-General nay wipe off from such slate tho lima* 4 any thereon who is dead, or vrho kj killed more than six patients conetc?. 1 -" tively, or who has neglected to pay ia ■■ registration feies. Tho of appeal' is to bo to th© Native Affairs Gaijf:. niittee. who shall have power to cnJer the "liquidation" or otherwise of.'ifcj said appeal at Bellamy's. Tlie':T>hunga Suppression Act of ISO 6te fa be repealed. Clause 8 provides till Timi Kara, in Council, may from ts&( to time make regulations, to be p#; lished in the "Kahiti" (Gazette), 3j respect of any matters not/ provided f« in the Act. Clause 9 is important. It provides that nothing in thia Act sbaii | apply to, or affect anyj duly qualified quack of the white race registered uh«" der tho Herbalists Act, 1910, or the New Zealand Metaphysicians Act, 1910,, I provided they do not take shekels from a member of the Maori race, an defined under the Maori Land Act, 1609. When the Bill was called upon the other day, T© Rangihiroa was abseat from the House, and Sir Joseph Want moved for leave to introduce the BQ! r - Mr Massey seemed surprised 'at the Prime Minister's action, and remarked that the Bill was only a joke.