AS OTHERS SEE US.

Evening Star, Issue 11133, 8 January 1900, Page 1

AS OTHERS SEE US.

New Zealand is almost too will I nowadays to justify any description withstanding, a word or two ahou!. ■i. desiecle New Zealander may afford m:..tion. As all the world knows, th<! \; . race is dying out, and yet not wiilci.i noble Birnggle here and there to t>ti\v . il the fate that threatens it. The most worthy effort is that being made by ohief Te Whiti, who is engaged in a splecd • experiment to make civilisation a servaiit instead of a destroyer, and to Bave and regenerate his people. Ten years ago Te Whiti's tribe inhabited just Buch a location as their forefathers had done a mere group of insanitary " wharos " or huts—and were fast drifting into the hapleßß, hopelpfcs degraded Btate, whither rum and vice pointed the way. Then Te Whiti determined to try and avoid the doom that seemed inevitable, and his effort has lippo as remarkable in itß way as that of thr-.lipa-nese. He determined to found ac« n. nistio settlement for his tribe, and to ■ n Id a model village in his territory of Pa-in,, kiv. And well has he succeeded, for tfiday \/.u may find there (and be welcomed to bor/,| a fine village, approached by good mocadnmised roadß, bridged, culverted, and fenced. The streets are broad and well laid out, and the wooden houses builtin European style and furnished with every requisite found in the better class of colonial dwellings. Water is laid on, and every house has its bath, with a service of hot and cold water. The reservoir is situated at the back of the village, and the overflow is Bhortly to be used for driving machinery to generate eleotric light and for flushing the street drains. At daybreak every one is astir and proceeds to the duty assigned him, for all must work, and drones are not tolerated. Tradesmen and artisanß of every description ply their callings. Three times a day a gong sounds, and the inhabitants flock to the public eating houses, which are a feature of Parihaka, and take their placeß, the men, women, and children sitting down to table, and observing the decorum of well-bred Europeans. The fare includes " roasts of mutton, pork, and beef, with all kinds of vegetables," and ending up with "plum-pudding and jam tarts," whilst the tables are provided with every requisite "right down to Berviotteß." The young Maori men, who act aB waiter?, would do credit to a European hotel. Tea, coffee, and cocoa are provided, but intoxicants are absolutely prohibited. Each of these public dining rootm accommodates from 100 to 250 people. There are also public meeting halls, where all gather iu the evening—the elders to smoke their pipes and discuss politics and local matters, the younger folk to dance and enjoy similar innocent recreations. Every trado and calling is represented in Parihaka, and all the buildiDga and works have been erected and carried out by the" Natives themselves, it bsing their pride to declare that no European has driven a single nail in the village. To Te Whiti is due the entire credit of showing his tribe how to- work out itß own salvation. Unhappily this description of Parihaka is not of a general application, and there are other tribeß who are fast dying out, victims to rum, vice, and disease. I take leave to doubt whether Macaulay's New Zealander will ever survive to gaze on the ruins of St. Paul's, but the Maori to survive the longest will certainly be in a state of civilisation very far in advance of what might have been expected from a race who were cannibals only fifty years ago.—The 'Pioneer Mail,'lndia, November 10, 1899.