ON THE CAUSES OF DECAY AMONG THE NEW ZEALAND RACE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 78, 3 July 1852, Page 5

ON THE CAUSES OF DECAY AMONG THE NEW ZEALAND RACE.

[By Dr. Thompson, 58th Regiment.]

The following is an outline of Dr. Thompson's valuable paper " On the causes which are now in operation in producing decay among the New Zealand Race, with a rew suggestions for their removal," which was read at the last meeting of the New Zealand Society. We believe the paper will be published entire, but our readers in tbe meantime may feel gratified in the perusal of the following summary of it, as the subject cannot fail to possess the deepest interest with every colonist of New Zealand.

Dr. Thompson informs us that the paper is the result of upwards of four years careful personal observation of the New Zealanders in

different parts of the country, of enquiries of the Natives themselves, of Europeans who have been long resident among them, or of information obtained from official sources. After some general observations on the decay of ancient populations and the extinction of certain races, he refers to the evidence to be found in New Zealand pi the Native race being much more numerous formerly than they are at present. This decay he attributes principally to to the operation of four causes : —A considerable amount of sterility among the women ; infanticide, chiefly from neglect; neglect of the sick, more particularly the sick children ; and a great prevalence of the scrofulous diathesis, which produces a large amount of sickness among the men, women, and children. A great many interesting facts are adduced to establish the existence of the first of these causes, two of the principal being the great disproportion of the sexes, —the males being greatly in excess of the females, whereas in every Healthy and prosperous country, not the seat of emigration or migration, the female population almost always exceeds the male. This disproportion of the sexes, Dr. Thompson thinks, has resulted chiefly from the great number of female infants sacrificed to avoid slavery, and tne trouble of rearingthem during a period of war. Though the practice of Infanticide has not in Dr. Thompson's opinion, altogether ceased among the New Zealanders, he ascribes the loss of infant life in a great meaeure to indifference and neglect, and the want of sufficient nourishment and clothing ; with reference to this part of the subject and neglect of the sick, he makes the following excellent remarks :—

"It is in infant life where the injurious effect of want of suitable cave is best observed; a little sago, wheat, flour, milk, and medicine, with a warm blanket, might often save an infant's life, the mother of which has no food but potatoes to give it, and no clothing but a scanty mat, or an old thread-bare bhiuket which serves to cover herself and her infant. Among -a people where small pox, measles, and scarlet fever are unknown, there ought to be a small mortaiity among- children. I have seen New Zealanders die with diseases w^gcl), if they had been attended to in the eai\ljl|l§|ge, might hare been averted or rendered "less rapidly fatal.'l have seen aMaori die whose life might have been saved by an operation which his relatives would not allow him to submit to. lam no medical enthusiast, but if the New Zealanders could be got to submit themselves to hospital treatment, at the commencement of disease, the beneficial, effects of it on themselves and their progency would soon be obvious. It is only necessary to look at a young Maori child which has been brought up in the house of a European and has been looked after by a European woman to see the beneficial effect which cleanliness, ease, and good food, would have on the whole New Zealand Race. The puny limbs of the young savage grow stout, the protuberant belly disappears, the languishing eve becomes bright, the face chubby, aud the complexion so clear, that you can trace the blush of its red blood through its olive coloured skin." ■

The greater portion of the paper is employed in tracing the effect which the prevalence of scrofula has in producing decay among the native race. This Dr. Thompson regards as a modern evil which has come into operation since the time of Captain Cook, and may be traced to a combination of causes, among which may be enumerated poor and insufficient food, the use of putrid maize and potatoes as food, their small and ill-ventilated houses and their impure atmosphere, particularly at night, arising from their over-heated and over-crowded state, their indolent habits, the marriages between scrofulous parlies and near relatives, and insufficient clothing. In comparing the potatoe, which constitutes the food of the New Zeahuuleis of the present day, with the food used by them in time of Captain Cook, Dr. Thompson states, he has found by analysis, that a pound of taro contains more nutriment than two pounds of potatoes, and a pound of fern root nearly as much nutriment as three pounds of potatoes. Though the natives have cows and goats they rarely take the trouble to milk them ; they cultivate wheat more as an article of commerce than food ; pigs are reared chiefly fur wade, and are seldom killed for food except on some great occasion •. and maize is eaten chiefly in a highly uiswiiolsotne state. In commenting on the effects of this diet, Dr. Thompson observes—

'< " Until the last few years (now it cannot be done) the Irish people were always quoted as a healthy nation supported entirely on potatoes, but the Irish added to their potatoes —buttermilk—a fluid which.contains a large quantity of what potatoes are almost entirely deficient in, namely, azotized food. On the contrary the New Zealauders may be said to be j\. pure potato fed race, and although it contains every article in its composition which is required to nourish man, yet it is poor food." To the causes above enumerated must be added their migration from a tropical to a temperate country. With reference to their origin Dr. Thompson says—" there can be no doubt that the New Zealanders belong to the Malay stock of the human race, and that they originally came from some place in the Indian Archipelago, through, the island of Hawaiki or Savii one of the Navigators group," and by a reference to the number of generations among the different tribes, (according to the accounts kept by them) since their arrival in New Zealand, he considers they have been in New Zealand between six and seven hundred years. Among1 other causes which have assisted in producing decay among the native race during the present century, are the devastating wars which have taken place, particularly since the introduction of fire arms. It is estimated that Hongi, the first warlike chief who got possession of fire arms, destroyed during his different wars from 1818 to 1828 between 20,000 and 30,000 people, to whom must be added the number of infants who were sacrificed in consequence of the wars. Nor in this enumeration must be omitted the deaths caused by sickness occasioned by the first intercourse between the Natives and Europeans. After alluding to the consequences likely to, result from the union of European men with New Zealand women in preserving a remnant of the New Zealanders by an amalgamation of the two races, Dr. Thompson concludes his instructive and valuable paper by offering some suggestions for the removal of the evils to which, lie has adverted.

These are to overcome their indolent habits, by employing them iii making roads, building bouses, and cultivating the soil near their own villages; to encourage among them the purchase oi' European articles of dress, wheat, "animal food, &c.; the erection of properly ventilated houses; the cultivation of wheat as an article of food to the neglect of potatoes; the establishment of additional hospitals; the prevention of marriages between strongly marked scrofulous people ; to teach the European methods of cultivating the soil ; to offer premiums for cliildren, increasing the amount in the case of female children; and lastly a suggestion to the missionaries of a system of monthly domiciliary visits to inquire into their personal health and that of their children. It is added that tbis system was adopted in England at the recommendation of the medical board at the time of the cholera with the very best effects, as besides being the means of saving many lives, it satisfied the poorer classes by showing them tbatthey were not neglected.— Wellington Spectator.