A DYING RACE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 128, 1 June 1935, Page 29

A DYING RACE

AUSTRALIA'S BLACKS

CONTRAST WITH THE MAORIS

MEASURES IN VAIN

The Commonwealth Government Statistician reports that the total number of full-blooded aborigines in Australia last June was 54,848, which is 5253 fewer than the previous year. Half-castes totalled 21,399. This was the brief message cabled from Sydney last week, a message apparently of statistical interest only and likely to cause little comment in New Zealand. But it was in reality a message of tragedy, another chapter in the life (and death) story of the Australian aborigines. For statistics have shown only too clearly that the belated measures taken by the various; State authorities for protection of the; race have been in vain, and that the end of a people whose origin has never been fully explained is inevitable. In striking contrast is the present healthy state of the Maori race in New Zealand, which numbered 56,049 people in 1857 when the first general Census was taken, and now has risen to 72,883, including half-castes. How is the difference between the two peoples to be explained? Both have felt the in-; fluence of European civilisation, the Maoris necessarily to a larger degree on account of the comparative smallness of New Zealand. Can it be said, then, that the Maori people have been more fortunate in that respect, or is there some inherent weakness in the Australian aborigine that is slowly working to a pre-destined end? Each race has been closely studied by anthropologists arid others, and their views go far towards an explanation of an engrossing problem. SINCE THE WHITE MAN,CAME. It is ,an established fact that since the white man first began to occupy the Australian Continent the aborigines have very rapidly decreased in numbers. .Professor A. R. Radcliffe Brown, M.A., of Sydney University, has estimated that the native population of the Australian mainland and Tasmania could have been set down originally at 251,000, and quite possibly, and even probably, at over 300,000. There is, however, remarkable unanimity among most other modern writers1 in recording the aboriginal population at 150,000 at the time of the settlement of Europeans. We are told that mentally the aboriginal in his native surroundings is. observant, self-reliant, and quick. Under civilisation, however,, he appears to lack stability, probably because he faces uncongenial conditions in a new environment. As a race the aborigines, are polite, proper, in their behaviour, modest, unassuming, gay, fond of jokes and laughter, and skilful mimics. Even in rough horse-play they seldom lose their temper. Some possess a fund of humour. They are, by nature frank, open, and confiding, of a lively disposition, and cheerful under all sorts of privation; sometimes they' show great delicacy of feeling. An authority says: "The dying out of the aborigines is due to a number of causes, some fairly well,1 known. Whole tribes have been almost annihilated by epidemics 6f smallpox, which with other disease introduced by the pverlanders, was regarded as the'main cause of the extinction of the Coorong blacks. Consumption is also responsible?: for a large number of deaths." :/;- '':; ' '\:V&. , " ■ VICE^AND^mslASir' '■', \ As far back as 1840 a Soyth Aus-. tralian newspaper stated in -|S* leading; article: "We say distinctly and deliberately that nothing comparatively has yet been done; that the natiyes have hitherto acquired nothing;of^European civilisation but European vicsjSjand ituV eases, and that the speedy ||j.tmcti6n of the whole race is inevitftble, save by the introduction of means for their civilisation on a scale much more comprehensive and effectual than any yet adopted." Today there are authorities who claim that the criticism made ninety-five years ago- is applicable to the present position and that, except for a State pittance and a minimum of State supervision, the future of the aboriginal is of little concern to anyone but some benevolent societies and a few enthusiastic anthropologists. The Official Australian Year Book of 1924 records that "the utter destruction of the Tasmanian blacks stirred the conscience of those in responsible positions in England, as well as in Australia, and steps were taken to ameliorate the lot of the aboriginals. Simultaneously a feeling that the natives had been wronged took possession of the public mind, and philanthropists assisted .in transforming the new spirit into practical measures for protection. The Australian aboriginals are very responsive to kind treatment, and although occasional conflicts have occurred down to the' present day, the relations between the two peoples have greatly improved. ... Until a comparatively recent period the problem of preserving the aboriginal race from extinction was considered to be almost impossible of solution. As soon as the aboriginals,came in contact with the white > man's Civilisation, their numbers commenced to decline, and continued to decrease notwithstanding the measures taken for their protection. Dr. ißamsay Smith, in an article written in 1909, expressed the opinion that the race could be preserved if there really was a desire to preserve it, but past experience apparently points to the contrary. . . . The problem of the half-caste aboriginal has for some time been a matter of grave concern. While the number of fullbloods is declining, taking Australia as a whole, the number of half-castes is steadily increasing. . . ." MAORI POPULATION. •Coming to the Maori people we find in the latest Official Year Book the following passage:- "Available statistical evidence points, to a decline in the numbers of. the Native race since the advent of Europeans. This decline was commonly exaggerated by early writers. Of later years an unmistakable increase has been noted. This gain has been accompanied by very considerable dilution of blood." From 56,049 in 1857-58 the number of Maoris fell to 39,854 in 1896, but it has since risen steadily to its present peak. 72,883, including half-castes. During 1933-34 the Maori population increased by 1752. In the same period the Australian aboriginals decreased by over 3000. 'In 1819 the Rev. John Butler found New Zealand "ripe for all the improvement and instruction that a Christian world is able to bestow. The New Zealanders are a robust, athletic, and noble race of men, of lively dispositions, amazingly quick in perception, and, generally speaking, they are a kind and affectionate people. There is no obstacle in the way to prevent our progress in the glorious work of civilising, and, by God's blessing, evangelising New Zealand, but the want of means and proper instruments." "SINS OF THE FATHERS." The Rev. T. S. Grace, another missionary, wrote of the Maori race in 1856 as follows: "Surely the diminution of this race is a subject which it behoves us to look into, especially when we see the opinion put forth that God is cutting down the Maoris oh account

of their being so deeply stained with guilt, and that the children are perishing for the sins of the fathers. . . ." Regarding the "much talked-of amalgamation of the two races" (European and Maori), Mr. Grace commented: "This, for the time being, may serva political purposes, but there can be no question, I think, as to its destructive influence upon the Maori race. Equitable amalgamation might be all very well, but, so far, the so-called amalgamation that has been going on has been all on one side, and in 99 cases out Oi 100 has been purely adulterous. . . • The future prospects of this people appear dark indeed; so much so that I believe many of their best friends have come to the conclusion that they must perish. This conclusion, I consider, is premature. Even yet there is hope. Mentally and physically, I think there is still sufficient vitality to enable the patient to recover, provided he can be removed from some of the destructive influences that now surround him. The remedy is not so much to be sought for in what we can do for him, as m what we should teach him to do for himself. The Maoris require to be made fully aware of their situation, and of their remaining strength, and to be roused into energy." ' Much more h*s been written concerning the future of the Maori race, and there appears to be little divergence of opinion as regards its survival, even though the dilution of blood previously mentioned is present to an increasing degree. The MaoM has one attribute that the Australian aboriginal seems to lack, namely—adaptability to new environments, but both races have this in common, that they are deEwent in will-power. What Mr. Grace wrote seventy-nine years ago applies in part to the Maori of today. But there has been in this country for many years an official recognition that much more than natural lafrs should guide the pakeha in his dealings with the Maori. Hence the measures taken have been protective and beneficent, as weir as providing the stimulus of self-mitm-tive that preserves the dignity of the race. - • . -