The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1891.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 9489, 11 August 1891, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. TUESDAY, AUGUST 11, 1891.

The reports from officers in the Native districts contain from year to year much information as to the condition and prospects of the Maoris. Those printed this year arc not so complete as usual. The only report which displays a comprehensive grasp o£ the subject ia that of Mr Wilkinson, the Native Agent at Otorohanga. Mr Wilkinson deals very fully and in an interesting manner with all Native matters affecting the King Country. The other reports are largely made up of generalising and statistics ; very valuable, no doubt, but merely official statements of fact. We do not, of course, expect from Native officers a series of essays on the decadence or otherwise of the Maoris; hut as these reports provide the data upon which public opinion is formed, the Colony has a right to expect from officers of the Native Department the expression of ideas and suggestions on matters relating to the Native race. It is noticeable that there is virtually no report regarding the Taranaki Maoris. Mr Eeynell, the Reserves Trustee at New Plymouth, supplies some twenty lines of information regarding his district, which we infer includes the Waimato Plains; but his report is meagre in the extreme. is especially noticeable from the fact that the public are deeply interested, on account of the historical importance of Te Whiti-ism, in the doings of the Natives on the West Coast of the North Island. There are no accounts whatever of the Wanganui, Eaugitikei, Manawatu and South Island Natives, and these omissions greatly impair the value of this year’s

report. Ifc ig interesting to learn that, so far as sobriety and respect for the law are concerned, the Maoris are steadily improving. In some localities, such as "Whangaroa, Kaeo, Kaihu and Eotorua there is reported to be a large amount of drunkenness and consequent demoralisation ; hut, speaking generally, the reports contain favourable references to the increasing sobriety of the Maoris. That the Maoris are a very lawabiding race is well known, and the reports hear testimony to the fact. One officer reports, “ The district has been remarkably free from crime of a serious nature.” Other reports are: “ Crime is very rare amongst them.” “The conduct of the Natives has been exceptionally good and orderly.” The explanation of this improved sta'te of things is found in the fact that the Maoris are devoting more, attention to work, and spending less time in idling about the Land Courts. This increased devotion to work is bringing with it that spirit of thrift which invariably accompanies the possession of money obtained as the reward of labour. In many parts of the Colony the Maoris are devoting their attention to sheep-breeding. In the King Country they own 12,000 sheep; in the East Coast district 60,000 sheep, 4000 cattle and 7500 pigs; in Napier district 89,000 sheep, and in Wairoa district 16,000 sheep. We also learn that they are growing crops of wheat, oats and maize, and preparing for sale whale oil from fish captured on the coast. All this is highly satisfactory, and indicates that the political and moral regeneration of the Natives will be largely assisted by teaching them to work. “ Laziness and want of thrift are the curse of the Maori,” says one officer quite truly. But the Maori, like everyone else, is what his environment has made him. He has found in his landed interests an almost inexhaustible gold mine. He has, in fact, reaped where he had not sown, and come to regard his birth and the mana of his ancestors as surer roads to comfort and luxury than hard work. But wealth acquired in this way always tends to effeminacy, even amongst civilised races, and this rule applies with tenfold force to so pure a child of Nature as the Maori. The facts that the Maoris are becoming a more sober race; that the extermination which threatened them a few years ago has been stayed, and an actual increase in numbers is shown; and that they are learning to appreciate the blessings of education placed in their hands by a paternal Government, are the first results of honest labour. Having to work they learn to value money. From this follows industry, and in turn thrift. The firm manner in which the present Native Minister has acted since he assumed office shows that he has clear ideas as to the proper way to treat the Maoris. His policy may be summed up as an effort to show them how to help themselves. That is what they most need at present, and we believe they were never more willing to learn. If once the demoralisation entailed by the love of drink, with all its concomitant evils of idleness and debauchery, be conquered, there will be no reason why, with, the noble landed inheritance they still possess, the Maoris should not remain a potent factor in the population of New Zealand.