FOR THE HEALTH OF THE MAORI.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1105, 19 April 1911, Page 9

FOR THE HEALTH OF THE MAORI.

!. .-'JXUCH-.UNpONE.-.-IKBEED.

'The New: Zealand Government requires I the registration of dogs in the' Dominion, but insists upoui.no'record being kept of number • of. llaori birth's and deaths." So.. wrote n correspondent to liuc Dominion- the other day.. Now, we , are told that the Government, has perceived its neglect of this very important matter, and tho Slaoris: are to bo brought under the charge of the Health Department, of which Dγ:' Valintine is tl\a head, and the ivholo question of the health of the Native raco'is tO.be (,'oncinto;'' Surely not .before it is high time, judging frora ia<sS that have come under ones own notice without seeking for them. Quite recently the" writer was visiting a township on the Manawatu line, and, among othar places, was taken to see the Maori moetihg-hotfe'o there During the past week or.-two a scries of tnngis had been-held;-the final one having been brougbt-.to an end about a couple of days previously,;- On the. • verandah of the building, remains .'of the feast were still to be.,seen—scraps of -butter, meat; and puddings,, and. tho odour from these reiriuants.Was dreadful.- The mecfing-house, and the houses near it, were built on lpw-lying. land, which foil away again to still lower depths, harbouring groat pools of water,-., while the ground, lying..- -all about-tho houses, was (lamp and muddy. In winter, time,- after days-of rain—or, indeed, for that; matter, in any season after Tain—the. whole placo would bo recking .tilth' moisture, and much of it coverel with water—anything but a healthy place for ,1 people liable to chest troubles. It is not. surprising to hear of so many deaths from consumption and fever, when these arc the conditions under which they live. Maoris are notoriously unable to judge of the healthiness or unhealthiness of a place, and, surely, thoso-who art* cepablu of-judging for them 'shnuTd have something to soy in ths matter.

A very handsome Maori girl acted as guide, but she was as hoarse as she conld be with a' heavy cold. In showing the meeting-house she also brought out some photographs of different Maoris who had died—spme of. them very young. Jlcst had ' died from consumption. A small baby, which she had with her, was suffering from a cold that would have alarmed an ordinary white' mother into an immediate visit to the doctor, but this one took the matter quito philosophically, although evidently devoted to the child. . The white people of this country have armies of inspectors for every province of life nearly, but the Maori is left apparently to get along as best liD can. No doubt he would resent tho visits of n white inspector, but, surely, among all the educated Maoris of tha colony there are many who could, and would, fill such positions admirably. It was horrifying to be told of an instance where tho body of n young girl, dying from consumption, away frora the place in which hsr immediate relatives lived, was brought homo, and, during the tangi that followed, the lid of tho colhn was unscrewed, and those takin? part in it were constantly bending over it in tho cour;o of their mourning ceremonials. Small wonder that one tangi leads to another in a brief course of time. They are not allowed to do such things by law, but, when no ono takes the trouble to enforce the law or to see that thera arc no breaches in it, the old customs wnl be followed out as much as possible.

■\Yo have Ma.iri missions—a few—and JJr. Pomaro, but there is such a wide field to cover in Now Zealand that, were there far more doctors whoso work it was to see to the health of this people, their energies would be fully taxed. But it would bo worth it. Unfortunately the fascination of Christianising the heathen in far-off islands—heathen that are perfectly happy and healthy in their wickedness—seems to appeal far more to our Church people than docs the work of educating and helping the Maori to conserve his race. It was ever fo! Distance and danger lend romance and add colour to tho beauty of self-abnegation and devotion, and the work that lies to our hands talis to the ground because there aro so many among whom it might bo done—and is not.