ENGLAND AND ITS PEOPLE.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume VI, Issue 1, 15 January 1859, Page 1

ENGLAND AND ITS PEOPLE.

If a Maori were to go to England from this country he would say "What I have been told must be false; it is impossible that a country such as England is now could ever have been so wild as our Island is: the men who do such wonders in it can never have been so ignorant or untaught as we are. And the more the Maori saw of England, the more this would perplex him; the fields with their hedges round them; no land uncultivated; the roads with rails of iron laid down, upon wilich carts and coaches rush along so that a man breakfasting at Waikalo Heads would be at Rangiaohia before noon; the huge iron engine bringing «!» coal from far dowu iu the earth, and

above all the wonderful wire stretched from Town to Town by which the wishes and knowledge of distant friends are made known to others in a moment's time; then, if he went into the Towns and saw the Churches with their Towers carved out of *tone more artfully than the Maori carves too prow of bis canoe; if he saw huge bouses all around him and windows fall of wonders which he never dreamed of, and then went on to see where all these wondrous things were made, in large bare buildings erected for the purpose.; fire, iron, and -water all toiling for and obeying man, spinning raw silk and cotton for his use, and liammers strong enough to make rocks *plit to atoms coming down gently at his bidding to form into its proper shape the small head of a.pin; then, indeed, he might consider, can men who make things without life toil for them to do a work we never so much as dreamt of, have lived to eat and ■sleep and herd their cattle in holes made In rocks? But so it was. Two thousand years -ago, when the Phoenicians and Carthaginians came in their ships to England •tbey found the Britons living much in the way the Maories did when Captain Cook first landed in New Zealand, and, in return for golden chains, bracelets and shields, which these strangers brought, all that the Britons could bestow were horses, dogs, and tin, which they found nearihe surface of the ground, as they had neither skill nor tooJs 1 be,ow ' Tbey lived upon the flesh of their cows and sheep which they cooked in holes dug in the ground, and their

dress was m; they killed, by strips of • the priests h stuffs the st they could they were n< together,, am not shared ii and disincli trouble in wi share as we time too th they had pi forests; the: and a large g to ke;'p awaj this, when an found out wl it, their ch people who of dark wooc with swamp them, their I faces painted them very li their hair lo was herding had horses, chariot in v although cop the ground t to bring ihe had they cou use,, as they on her lands, things they \ into ploughs on their unr together the their foodNow let u: gulf of time v days and the: land; and 1 stepping slon English men atfvstlookssi they ever crc we.shall choo Maori Messei the days in. w V A ( From lime Maori people sitv of nvailin

against small pox which vaccination affords. The nature and effects of this frightful disease have been explained, words of warning have been spoken and a remedy has been provided by the Government. Many of the natives have availed themselves of the means placed within their reach, but very many also have not done so, and we fear they do not generally realize the danger to which their neglect exposes them. Should the small pox be once introduced into this country it -would form a more deadly enemy than the Rewharewha which visited this Island SO or 60 years ago. It may be brought here any day by vessels coming from foreign ports. Our Maori friends are now informed that Mr. Matthews has been appointed by the Governor to vaccinate natives visiting Auckland who may apply to him for the purpose, either at his house in Queen Street, nearly opposite the Court House, or at the Native Hostelry, Mechanic's Bay, where Mr. Maithews will attend on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The above places are named that the natives may know where to find Mr. Matthews. That gentleman, however, w'skes it to be understood that he will always be willing to perform the operation upon natives who may desire it, at any place or lime which may be convenient to themselves. Any or onr Maori friends who may wish to receive further explanation or directions with reference to this subject, should call at the Native Secretary's office, where every necessarv information will be afforded.