THE COOK ISLANDS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 215, 10 September 1908, Page 6

THE COOK ISLANDS.

PECULIARITIES OF THE

PEOPLE,

THE TOHUNGA.

"From certain remarks made in the Parliament of New Zealand during the session of 1907 I gather," reports the Commissioner' of the Coob Islands to the Minister in Charge, j "that it was believed that the Government of that colony might have done much towards improving the; health of the inhabitants of the Cook and Northern Islands. My experience, gained during a residence of ten years among these people, gives me no ground to hope that any action the Government might take would be beneficial to the Natives, who are, without exception, the most cruel and callous people towards their sick relatives that can be found at the present day. If you should ask the question as to whether the sick person has been fed they will tell you that he has not, and that it was unnecessary to feed him, as he was sure to die. They are both obstinate »and superstitious, and cling to their old methods and tohungas. "As for .the tohunga, he is as dangerous to the well-being of the people, of the Cook Islands .as he has been in New Zealand for any time during the last fifty years, and in either place he will not easily be suppressed, for the simple Reason that the Maori has more faith in the tohunga than in the doctor. There are certain aspects of the Maori mind most difficult to deal with. For instance, if the first dose of medicine does not effect an immediate cure, it is no good, and he will have no more of it. Again, he cannot see that the food^ he is* eating can have any connection with, or effect on, the malady from which. # he suffers, and therefore, his ;wife will neglect to cook him i proper food, because she cannot see the necessity for so doing. The point which I wish to make cloar is this: The Government can do nothing; but the doctor can do plmost anything :if the people have confidence, in him. If he has personal

influence he may do as Dr G. Craig and Dr Pomare have done; both of these gentlemen were listened to and obeyed. The Natives do not want professional ability in their doctor so much as firmness1 of character, and above all things good address. If he has not the latter the. Natives will not go near him. The present medical officer of the Cook Islands is most unpopular by reason of a bad or gruff manner, and, as a natural consequence, the Natives will either neglect to call him in, or, if they do call upon him, it will only be when the patient is in extremis. ! "The Atiu people suffer from the ; fact that they have not made any progress towards civilisation during the last forty years. • They are still savages and the Arikis are supreme. In the case of Mauke I had a sound excuse for ordering that all the lands should be surveyed, for the people of that island were always quarrelling; but in Atiu the chiefs and Arikis govern with a strong hand, and if there be quarrels they are hidden from me. The people are used to submission; and even though I may Induce the chiefs to have the tribal boundaries surveyed; jt will be of little benefit to the lower ranks of the people, in whose fortunes I am most concerned. For these reasons I do not expect any immediate improvement in the conditions of life at Atiu, though the island is large and fertile. The people are apt to be both childish and sulky, and believe that _ they can arbitrarily fix the price of island produce. Last year they were at least 50 tons short of the usual supply of copra. They simply refused to use the nuts they had because the high prices of the early part of the season were not maintained, and by some process of reasoning, entirely their own, they considered that they had been injured by this fact—indeed, that it was the result of some combination against them. "With such a people argument is impossible; for they are not open to conviction; but time will work wonders, and Rarotonga will be the ob-ject-lesson. The prosperity^ of this last-named island is so obvious that the other islands are inquiring into the cause thereof, and already the Atiuans have formed companies to work and plant their land—a very satisfactory arrangement, for it is in keeping with "their old customs."