The Dominion. THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1908. PAKEHA AND MAORI.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 178, 23 April 1908, Page 6

The Dominion. THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1908. PAKEHA AND MAORI.

Tiiere is much good sense in the opinions expressed by a leading Auckland Maori upon the proposal to make use of the Natives as a kind of decorative appendage of the festivities to be held in honour of the visit of the American fleet. One passage' in particular should be commended to the reflection of a public which is never allowed to forget for twenty-four hours that this country is " Maorilatid." This leading Maori gave as " the real reason " why his fellow-nationals are disinclined to organise a combined demonstration the fact.that "the Maori has something more to think of at the present time than lending himself to show purposes." "You- know," lie continued, " that the Maori is now busily engaged trying to solve the more serious problems affecting his own welfare and the betterment of his people. The Maori is constantly being told that he is; a : useless member of society, that he does nothing with his land, and makes no effort towards his own betterment, and yet people want him to gather to make' a display juet at the worst time of the year for him to' be

away- from liis laud." It can hardly be denied that the attitude of the xnkelia towards the Maori race has been very largely responsible for some of those weaknesses which stand in the way of Maori' progress. We are inclined to regard the Maori race as one of the local curiosities, and by the medium of postcards and advertisement _ we have created a species of Maori craze. To the visitor from abroad we talk chiefly/ of Kotorua and the. quaint customs and accomplishments of the Natives. In short, we have omitted nothing to impress both Pakeha and Maori with the notion that the Native inhabitants are a collection of animated curios. The effects of this attitude cannot but be harmful to the Native race. TV here the Maori has not abandoned himself to an acceptance of the undignified role forced upon him, he has abandoned himself to\ an equally deplorable despair of expecting proper treatment from the overhearing and ungentlemanly Pakeha. There is good for both races in a reconsideration .of the attitude of the European towards the Maori. But the benefits that wait upon the recognition and treatment of the Maori as an erect human being do not end with the implanting of greater self-reliance in him and the dawn of better manners in the.'Pakeha. The ending of "the Maori craze," as we must call it, will be hailed with delight by those people—and they are very many—who are weary of the Maori postcard, :the greenstone trinket, the advertisements sent by Mr. Donne to foreign papers, and the constant dragging in of the! Maori and Maori things on every suitable and unsuitable occasion. Nobody wishes to see the Maori banished from our infant' literature, but it grows wearisome when the Maori is given a place on the covcir and in the title; and a front seat in the contents of aimost every Now Zealand book, oi- book about New Zealand. We believe that those, strange foreign misconceptions concerning this country which we all chuckle over/ or angrily resent, are mainly due to the constant presentation of New Zealand as the home of the Maori and moa. Mr. Donne, is very successful in attracting tourists, to Rotorua, but Mr. Donne has much to answer for in the way of leading the British public to believe that this country is 1 populated by a handful of white colonists" in the midst of a huge Native population. The-illusion is fostered by the general inability of our people to think of any-; thing better as a ".New Zealand souvenir " for friends abroad tliaris something peculiarly Maori in character. Mark Twain carried away from Italy the impression that it was Michael Angelp who designed the palace that. Mr. Pierpont Morgan has just purchased, and Michael Angelo: who designed Rome, and the Bay of Naples, and the ruins of Pompeii. The average Englishman who sets out to study New Zealand from a distance can iiardly iAvoid obtaining the impression that' the Maori pervades New. Zealand in a similarly comprehensive degree. There are, therefore, several excellent reasons why the public should give up its habit of regarding the Maori as mainly useful;i'like lycopodium, for decorative purposes. , ' ' ..