THE SOUTH SEA VOYAGE.

Marlborough Express, Volume LIV, Issue 86, 13 April 1920, Page 2

THE SOUTH SEA VOYAGE.

SOME POLYNESIAN PROBLEMS

FOR NEW ZEALAND

[Specially written for The Express.] (By "Fa.i Samoa. 7')

No. II

HEALTH AND EDUCATION QUESTIONS.

Aa I remarked in my first article, the Crermans troubled their wjuiare 1 leads not one jot as to the health or odiucatioJi of the native races in the islands tinder their control. AU Fritz was concerned about seems to haro been the building up of the biggest trade possible, with the Fatherland first and for preference, but with any country which required copra and other raw products of the islands. Education he left to the missionaries, and as to the health or Ihe native birth-rate, he bothered himself as little as he did about the morals or lack thereof of the races he governed. To tho everlasting credit of the missionaries, they have for years carried on a splendid work, alike in the inculcation of morality, tho spread of Christianity, and in general education. The only complaint which can bo brought against them is that they have interfered too much andi quite unnecessarily with certain innocent native customs, have insisted upon their followers wearing an excess of clothing quite unsuitable to a tropical climata, and, worst of all, ha.ye neglected ■ the teaching of the English language. On one occasion, when twenty-five Samoan chiefs came on board the Mokoia as tho giiensts, at lunch, of the Minister representing the New Zealand Government, only two of them could speak any English, and ycrt practically aill these men had been educated at tthe L.M.S. schools. Religious teaching is a very good thing, but where the religious school is the only .school the language which is to ho of the greatest practical service to the natives ought cerfoainly not ta have been neglected in this way. In future the. schools in Samoa are to be under; Ncv Zealand direction. The London Missionary Society has most generously handed over to the New Zealand authorities a3l its schools, save, I believe, a boarding school for native girls outside Apia», an institution which was visited by the New Zealand party, and at which the visitors were greatly charmed with the intelligence, modesty, and beautiful singing of the pupils. In future the teaching of English will form a mc&t prominent feature in the curriculum, and in the course of, a fe;v years every native boy or girl in the group should be able to' mako hime'f or herself readily understood in English, which is to-day very far from being the case. In American. Samoa, where the schools are under lay official control, the scholars are all taught English, and the American flag ia daily hosted and duly saluted. Tlie saluting of the British flag ought .to bo insisted upon in all schools, secular or rehigons, in all the British or New Zealand-controlled islands.

WORK FOE THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT.

If New Zealand, is .to carry- out its responsibilities under the mandate ' (faithfully and well, greatly increased j attention will have to bo given to the important question of public, health. In *his direction there is much to be done in Apia, and indeed throughout the whole of the Samoan Group, j The drainage is very faulty, and 1 noticed that stagnant water, wherein would breed tho poisonconveying mosquito, is all too frequently to be seen along the 'roadside, even close to the town of Apia. Hero again there is much to bo learnt from the Americans at Pango Pango, where the health authorities evidently take their work very .seriousty. The visitors had to undergo a searching examination I before landing in Uncle Sam's Pacific possession. The hospital at Pango Pango was beautifully clean,, and is a spacious, well-ordered institution, run by alert and thoroughly qualified men. There is so much to be done in the way of better public health administration in Samoa that it is ta be hoped the Government will see to it that the chief medical control is placed in the hands of a man of high qualifications, and one experienced in tropical diseases and the special wants and requirements of both naitives and Etu'Cipeans so far as health matters are concerned. An appointment has recently been made, but whether the gentleman selected ir. the right man in the right place has yet to be proved j From what I heard afc Apia, on this subject there would see-n to be soma considerable doubt as to whether the choice made is a wise one. In the smaller islands economy and efficiency might perhaps be best; Mjcured by the appointment of a, medical man as Administrator, as was, until recently at least, tho case at the Chatham Islands. Beta at Raratonga and Samoa, especially tho latter, the native birth-rate has suffered a somewhat startling decrease. Th© natives ade the Kindest of parents, but the Samoan mothers in particular are not always so well informed or so wise in their methods of bringing up their infants as they might be, and there is ample scope- for good and useful work by tho doctorsi in the way of giving simple and beneficial instruction as to infant feeding and upbringing generally. Simply-woirdad lessons upon cleanliness, sanitation, sensible health precautions, and so forth, ought to form part of the education system: Both the Samoan and the Rarotongan children are quick-witted little folk, and if we are to improve the sanitary conditions in the native villages, no better start could be made than a well-directed hygienic propaganda amongst the young people.

RELIGION AND MORALS

Although- the L.M.S. is generously handing over its schools to the New Zealand education authorities, the religious, and, in _ the main, the moral instruction given to the native children must remain in the_ hands of the missionaries. Christianity has now got so strong a hold upon the natives, thanks to a half-century and more of self-devotion and indomitable perseverance on the part of tho good inon and equally good wcmen_ who represent tho various missionary societies, that the evil days of savagery and paganism may safely be regarded as past and gono -for over. To-day, to all outward appe.i ranees at least, the Rarotongans and Samoans are an intensely religious people. It is an open question indeed, whether Church,'ioing bo not a little overdone. To tho visitor it may seem that for Apia to possess no fewor _ than twenty-three.. churches within an nroa of loss than two square miles is somewhat overdoing a good thing. There is, I hear, a tendency amongst the natives to put in a year or two as a member of one Church or rir,v.rvm;not.inn n/nd then shift on to

another. Assuredly tho Samoan in search of new spiritual experiences and sensations has plenty of choice, for in addition to various forms of Methodism, the Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Seventh Day Adventists— these latter, I believe, are at present quite the fashionable sect—and even the Church of Latter Day Saints are represented. As to the morality of the Islanders, it must be remembered that morantis largely a matter of climate. As a matter of fact, the average Samoan man—or woman—is just as moral, even from a pakeha or papalangi point of view, as is the average New Zealander. Before marriage the Samoan girls are, it is said, accorded a degree of, liberty in sexual matters not usual or desirable in communities living in ] a temperate climate. After marriage, however, they are, it is declared, everything that can be desired in the way of good moral behaviour, being faithful as well as loving wives and the most affectionate of mothers. Prostitution, that [ cancer in every so-called civilised community, is practically unknown. At Pango Pango an American naval medico told -the writer that v there had been but two V.D. cases in the hospital during the past twelve months. However lax may have been the morality of these Polynesian peoplo in the bad old beachcombing days, they are to-day as clean-living a race as one could desire to meet. The much over-colored stories of certain novelists, both •English and American, who might be mentioned, have no doubt contributed to an outside estimate of island morality—or the lack thereof— which would to-day be quite erroneous. Both in Rarotonga and in Samoa there are white planters who cohabit with native women., but there are fewer such cases every year. Many white men are niarried—not merely "island fashion' but legally—to native women, who make faithful and affectionate wives. Such unions are,' however, to be deprecated, and should be severely discouraged by the authorities, for as the years go by the position of even a fairly well-educated European, wedded and tied to a native wife who in thought and inherited custom has so little in .common with her husband is not conducive to permanent happiness. THE LABOR QUESTION. From the start it was recognised by members of the Parliamentary party that the question which above all others required to be most carefully inquired into was that of imported labor with which to work the Samoan plantations. A shrewd observer of political trends and influences remarked, before even the Mokoia left Wellington, that preconceived views as to indentured labor, its advantages and its drawbacks, would not be much changed by the personal experiences or inquiries made by the- Parliamentary party. To put it briefly, each side would find the local evidence it required to substantiate its case. Reviewing the position from a strictly unprejudiced point of view, the writer inclines to the opinion that while the Labor members who formed a section of the party found, in the conditions they (Continued on page 7.)