YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 150, 28 June 1930, Page 21

YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY

■ ASUEVEY" BY MB. JAMES COWAN

(Ecviewed by H.r.T.C.)

Of all the' books about the Maori which have appeared in the last few years arid have been, reviewed in these columns, there is none, perhaps, which can be more cordially; recommended to the general reader than this latest work, "The Maori, Yesterday and Today," by Mr.. James Cowan, published by Messrs. Whitcombc and Tombs. AVhile • some' of the. books of the past have been sectional' and; reminiscent, like''the recorded memories, of Mr. Kod M'Donald, -about the Horowheriua, and of/Mr. Vernbn; Roberts, about the Waikato, or of mainly ethnological interest, like the monumental serieA of. Mr. Elsdori Best, this handy volume of Mr. Cowan'a has an added practical value as a survey of - the situation of the Maori.to-dayj with some suggestions as to the future,.besides much fresh matter on the; customs and- traditions of the race., ;"A .further1 attraction is -the larger number of illustrations, including many portraits of representative Maori men and women, and some excellent reproductions from the collection; of paintings .by G. Lindauer, executed in the dayswhen the Maori still preserved his; ancestral customs: and costumes and his pristine physical vigour, unchanged arid unsapped by long years of peaceful pakeha penetration. These Lindauer portraits arid,contemporary photographs —iirthe 'severities and 'eighties of the last century—convey an extraordinary impression of the great variety of feature and face among the Maoris. Apart from the colour—rand there were many degrees of shade, even in that among purdrblooded Maoris—the subjects of these portraits,1 eveii with their tattooing too, might have been drawn, from almost any of the races in-a belt round the, -world i eastward.; from "'.Britain ■ 'to. Polynesia. . ..': '■'• -.■ ". ■ • •.■ ~- ;' ■■■.■■ ' Students of. ethnology will- doubtless agree >that this goes to. bear out .the Maori traditions of the, origin of the race and'its migration through the ages. /It seeinsiclear that many different; peoples must have gone" to the making of1 the "Maori. ' '■"".■'■' Mr. Cowan' himself does not' deal with this, as -being' probably beyond' the scope of his present book, for. Tie says in an interesting preface': '"It' is not possible to cover in one book of moderate compass all the aspects of .Maori tradition and belief and customs with which one would like to deal." "He adds: ;,■' ■•' '•."•■- '•' •■■'"■. ''■ . !'.-,:-,;INFLUENCB ON LIFE. '■'/,' ': ' To-day the Maori Is: aa clement of the New Zealand, population that i exercises ,a marked influence,oo the'.lifc of our country. Not only Is,'the 'Native. race- au 'honoured au<T respected section of the population, lining on terms of political and social equality with those of .European blood, but the palteUa "pays it the compliment of borrowing largely .from its' literature ;and;art: and.its. traditions .and folk-lore; The story of the. Maori and of the pioneer contact between Maori -and pakeha supplies tho chief element's- of the romantic■ and picturesque in the Dominion.. Coinctderitly with the increase of i the Native population there 'is apparent an increasing Interest: In the cultural side of the Maori, the; iuteiloctual, poetic, ami artistic, and the Government leads the way with practical: proofs, of its sympathy >vith the preservation.' of the olden crafts. ■ : , Of the sources ,of -his, material Mr. Cowan says ,iv the final paragraph: The Maori lore embodied 'in '•: this book; the traditions, legends, and poems, form a small portion of the-data I have: gathered from tho jy'ative- people -during.'.well-hlgli. "a lifetime of tlold'research.'.'..•. The faces of old tattoood warriors, venerable tohungas, learned men, old camp-comrades,-..g00d friends and companions In other, days, pass before mo. Scarcely one is left of .111 my Maori mentors; they were some of the last of the-oldcr. race, whoso lineal, successors are-, engrossed .-iii; now interests, new duties, and pleasures.' '.■■; .: . THE CANOE-BXJILDING ART. Miv Cowan's book is eminently quotable, for he discourses on the future as well 'as. the past . For instance, in the • chapter - (XII.) \bn the .'.." Maori Canoe"; he says: , The old' canoe-building art is one that calls for New Zealanders' support, in, such places as the Waikalo and Kbtorua,above all others/-It has. a ;background of liistory,: poetry, and romance; it has a high artistic value; it preserves a useful river life, and Its,greatest value of all, perhaps, is Us healthful exercise. The canoe paddler on the Waikato, the Wanganul, the. Mokau, and other waters where the waka Maori is still In" use, certainly develops his shoulder and inn: muscles—there is no exercise :Us superior, : excepting only that of the oarsman on a sliding seat. -/' " , There was: a period; in the, history of the Maori . since :,the: arrival of the pakeha,.roughly between.lß4o and 18G0, .which was, compared . with the ■ earlier days of the raids,of Hongi and Te ltauparaha and other marauding chiefs, and the later'■''. days. after, the disastrous Maori .wai-B, singularly happy. The Maoris were'the farmers, of JSTew Zealand then,, and supplied corn for as far across the 'seas- asthe Calit!orniau goldfields., ■, ■■- ; \ '.-• ..' '■ ; ■.. .;-■ \KAWHIA FELIX. In a.',. chapter entitled "Krnyhia Felix, "." A. Picture of the. Past," Mr. Cowan records'the. memories of an old lady, of .those, happy days, the golden age. 'Xi ".'is...the story of "the ancient dame. Ngairorigb-H'erelierej.,. Eangjtawa, of. Te Arapukatea, Kawhia; She says: Kawhia'■; was a abst: fruitful place. Wo had apples, peaches, flgs,. pears, and grapes. ,\Ve sent the best of tlia fruit away to Auckland" and sold- it. "W«: had our own small vessels (schooners and-cutters) In those days before tho war. r ... That was. how wo lived in. the days of our youth. 'We were ilways employed, :uid ■.tlierq'wasiiio trouble; we lived happily there. ■ ln:- the/ midst •of ■ abundance, and. then when the. war-began-our troubles came. Kewl Manlpoto' came out from KiliilUhi. ' aiifl Te Kopua on "his way to TaramiM with a war parts'^ ■He i-ame to -4hualiii,.-atul -.the tribes of Kawhia .assembled and 'joined him; afui they all marched.off to the south by way of Marakopa.. • Their first battlo was at .-Puke-to-kauere oh the ■ Wallara ; they defeated the tjueen's soldiers there.. But 1 need tiot tell of nil tho fighting that, followed. It stopped our accustomed industry on'the shores of Kawhia. All the old-work In. which the whole-of the people shared stood still. ... ■ .No1' more' wheat' or maize 'was grown, no flax scraping was done, nnd the trading vessels lay deserted at anchor, forithero was:no one to man them. The soil was not'cultivated, the flourmlll wheels ceased to-turn. The winds walled over-.a desertMl Kawhia, when the men, young and old, had girded themselves with the belt of war and gripped their guns and other weapon:! of Var and marched away. Only the. feebio old men arid . the women and children were left here. And when those who' were' left returned after the. wars^ it was a different life at Kawhia. FUTURE OF THE MAORI. To'the many who .are even more concerned, as to' the.future of tho Maori than!they are interested in his past the first and last chapters'in Mr. Cowan's book will perhaps appeal tlie niosti The first' clijip.tcv, is cntitliid ".The' Mubri's Plaijo in N6w ,Zealand .rate," ;inrl should stand as a filial-answer to the Wretched assumption' of a generation ago, and unhappily . persisting in. a lesser, degree, to this.day that the Maori is a loafer and a, waster. That the Maori managed, to survive the treatment, acicorded. to him-for over half a century, prior to .the more enlightened, methods,of to-day.without becoming such air ■rcund.is.a tribute to the.good stuff in the,race.,..Wliere ,tlie Maori has had a chaiice,'as among the Ngatiporou and 'other.'tribes on the' East 'Coast, north of : Gisbbine,!' under the wise leadership of ..Sir Apirana Ngata and his associates, he.has already more than made good. 'If the process can be followed, elsewhere—-and it'is still not too late—the race may again be set entirely on,Us-feet. ■. • . ■ , ■ > . This brings- one to Mr. Cowan's final chapter, ''An Economic'.Survey,'■'■(where the problem is. examined and . conclusions drawn. .Ono would like to quote freely from tbeae chapters, but.it would hardly ;bc fair to the author. Indeed, the -whole oiSthis section of the book, might ■well bo-reproduced in the Press to ensure the greater publicity it deservos, ,for .tho welfare of the Maori race is vital to the future of the

nation. The-great thing is to restore the- Maori'sniana and self-respect where it has declined/Or shows signs of "declining. . When the racial pride of the Maori is strong enough to make the wrongdoer feel-that any harm lie does is an injury not only to himself and his immediate ■ associates but. to the prestige and good name, of his race, then the desired result will have been achieved. To .this iehd1 the pakoha must help also. .-Where the Maori is landless and poor, we get such distressing revelations as the' sex-and-labour association with Chinese,in .Auckland market gardens and with Indians in the' Waikato:and King Country. In his conclusion Mr, ■ Cowan suggests a restoration of the Maori to'the land; a:s the remedy. :To sum up In ; a few words, the problem ,of a new. life for the Maori can be solved by lirovidlng sufflcient land and financing the stocking and development of that land. The Maori is entitled, at the-very least, to as helpful a hand as that which the State extends to palieha settlers from overseas. He is our own first settler; that lie ran bold his own with the most- advanced pakeha farmer, given fair opportunities, .has" already' been demonstrated. Keccnt legislation makes provision for flrianelar..assistance .to .dairy farmers -and other Native settlers out of a special development fund. The State can do much in this way, but equally needed is a broadly sympathetic spirit in the,-pakeha community to set the JlaorP on the solid ground of: successful farming industry.. ■•-.■.'■ It is quite safe.to say that this sympathy with the Maori does exist in a greater degree to-day than ever before, but a great deal'remains to be done practically. To this end- Mr. Cowan's Hew book will'materially' assist.