TOHUNGAISM.

Evening Post, Volume LXXII, Issue 68, 18 September 1906, Page 5

TOHUNGAISM.

"WHAT THE GODS HAVE DECREED MUST BE." THE MAORI AS A FATALIST.' DR. POMARE'S IMPRESSIONS. Not the least interesting item in the annual record of tho Health Report presented to Parliament to-day was tho report of Dr. Maui Pomare,, Health Officer to the Maoris. In a note on Tohungaism, Dr. Pomaro says: — DR. POMARE— TOHUNGA ! "The Maori, being a Polynesian, is a great fatalifct. 'What the gods have decreed must be.' Fatalism hangs over the race like a funeral pall. In the far North a little while ago a father told his son that he (tho son) was. bewitched, Ths boy went to bed and ■within a week he was dead — fatalism. At this time I visited the village and was told that the father was ill. All Unsuspicious of what had taken place, 1 1 examined the old man and found him perfectly healthy. I found also that he had refused all f6od for some days, consequently he -was weak. After examining him aad findi&g that there was nothing tho matter, it suddenly dawned 1 upon me that perbfeps the old manthought he was bewitched, consequently I had a bowl of chicken-brcth prepared, and then 1 went to him and said, *Your ailment has been revealed unto me. Take this bowl of broth. The ceremony has been performed. Eat and live, thfcttking the gods for their gifts.' He ate, aad, after polishing off the t broth, said that he could feel the light of life circling through his veins. It is needless to say that man is still living. Had he been a European, an Elijah Dowie or a Christian Scientist would : have cured him. It is the fatalistic idea that drives the Maori to his 10hunga, for all diseases. which cannot be accounted for are considered mate maoris, and no one can cure v mate • maori except a tohunga. It is pleasing to report that some councils have blankly refused to grant tohunga's li censes, and yet in one district nearly all the members of the Council are folj lowers of a tohunga. It is hard to know | what to do without interfering with the | liberty of the subject too much. Of j course, as long as we allow crystalgazing, fortune-telling, spiritual mediums, and a host of other quackeries to thrive in our midst, we cannot very well see clearly to take out tha mote in our brother's eye ; but nevertheless w« cannofc help recognising the greatness 1 of the evil of tohungaism, and that it must be grappled with at once. The only solution of the problem that I can , See, and that has been ■ pointed out years : ago both by you and myself, is tho i compulsory registration Of every death. The fear of, gaol and a few- post-mortems will bring them into line quicker than anything I know." THE FUTURE OF THE MAORIABSORPTION. , Regarding his year* work, the Maori Health Officer aays "that at last he sees a glimmering of realisation in the reconstruction of the Native Department which will lead to the proper sanitary inspection of kaingas, medical attendance to the Maoris, and the proper care of the old men and indigent natives. "We have looked into the question of the ■ |. decline of th 6 Maoris ' "and havo found that .the causes of this were legion. Bad housing, feeding, clothing, nursing, >mventilated rooms, unwholesome paa, were all opposed to the perpetuation of the race; but a deeper knowledge ! of the Maori reveals to us the fact that these are not the only potent factors in the causation of his decay — like at* imprisoned bird of the forest, he pines for the liberty and freedom of his alpine woods. This was" a warrior race used to fighting for' liberty or to death. All this is gone, fighting is no more. There is no alternative but to become a pakeha. . . There is no hope for tho Maori but in ultimate -absorption by the pakeha. This is hia only hope, if hope it be — to find his descendants merged in the future eons of the Briton of the Southern Hemisphere." Dr. Pomare report* a steady progress in the sanitary condition of the pas with the past year. "Much has been done ; much remains." WANTED— A GOOD SAMARITAN. The modern Maori is like the Jew who lay injured by the roadside. Dr. Pomare writes: — "The 'good Samaritan' has not yet appeared, evidently he has not heard the stifled cry of Maori infants ; perhaps he is waiting for the Government to give him a salary before giving instructions to ignorant mothers on infant-management and the prevention of disease, or the call from the foreign lands, whose inhabitants we love so much in New Zealand, drowns the feeble cry of the Maori infant whose father fought against his own kith and kin in Order to establish the supremacy of the British ruler. Speaking generalI ly, drunkenness- is on the decrease. It < would be well if chairmen of the different councils took . example from the Chairman ot the Arawa Council, and ha 4 prohibition orders taken out against chronic inebriates in their districts." A HOME FOR INDIGENT MAORIS Dr. Pomare's report concludes*. — "The Maori having been an active race, and having always been kept in a state of excitement by wars and the rumour of war*,, can now only find vent for his feelings on the racecourse, gambling, and billiard-playing, with an occasional bout in the Land Court. If we- could find an employment for him that -would satisfy thw craving it would benefit him to a great extent. Perhaps if he was | employed in the permanent army* of the colony it would satisfy his craving for excitement, and it would also keep him a great deal out of door*, thus placing him somewhat nearer the same condition as he was in when we found him. The suggestion contained in our annual report- for 1904, that a Home ufaould be established for old and indigent natives, will come into the tfeneral scheme outlined by the Native Dapartmcnt. It is proposed to u*c the pension* of the old-ase pensioners to maintain them at tho Homes. It is also suggMted that a nursing-home be connected with these establishments. I think it will be *at)>factory in every way to havo the old people looked after properly inctead of having their pensions squandered by their thimghticw mokopunaa."