HEALTH OF MAORIS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 141, 14 May 1930, Page 2

HEALTH OF MAORIS.

CONDITIONS IN PAST. FOOD FOR THOUGHT. “Maori Health, Past and Present,'* was the title of the address delivered to the Palmerston North Citizens’ Lunch Club yesterday by Dr. E. P. Ellison (Director of Maori Hygiene). Mr Te A. Pitama presided. Dr Ellison stated that past observations of the health and habits of the Maori, in all their aspects, were of great interest. The district around Palmerston North was not always so sparsely populated by the Maori as was the case to-day. Perhaps in its heyday the Maori population might have reached 500,000 in the Dominion. Sir George Grey had estimated it at 150,000. Extensive fortifications, which were never erected unless they could be defended, indicated the large numbers of Maoris in the past. Tribal fights had reduced the population which was once so dense in the hilltop pas. Each bend along the whole length of the Waikato River, according to tradition, was once held by a chief and his followers. Round about the Wliakatane River, in the Bay of Plenty, were extensive indications of old pas, endorsing Dr P. Buck’s observations and deductions that the Maori people must at one time have numbered half a million.

When the Maoris first landed, they occupied the best food-producing areas. There were indigenous rats to be found, but dogs had to be fattened. Kumeras were planted and settlement proceeded along the coasts within reach of fish and edible crustaceans. The Maoris found the fern and nikau rich in starch. Incursions were made into the forest for the kuku and tui, which were then very plentiful. They then fell back upon the fat tuna and the much sought seals and black fish for food. ... The dead were buried facing the sea and incantations were made in order that the much relished marios (black-fish) would be induced to come ashore. Sustenanoe on bird fats provided the resistance to cold by the native. Rigorous climatic conditions ruled out the efficacy of the tropical plant which produced the tapu cloth, and the Maoris found a substitute in the wellknown phormium tenax. In 1844 the Maoris were not subject to the epidemic diseases, or even ordinary colds and catarrh. These statements had been confirmed. The assertion that they were not subject to cancer was being questioned to-day, but where they were living as they used to they appeared to be immune from the dread scourge. Cancer was present among the Maoris to-day, but was not common in a malignant form, although it was growing in incidence. A genial disposition characterised the early Maori, who, even to this day, was comparatively exempt from insanity or allied mental derangement. There was in New Zealand material worthy of the closest study by medical authorities. Unfortunately, civilisation was having its influence to-day, and the Maoris’ teeth were decaying, foods were altering and conditions changing. Misuse and abuse of firearms and alcohol in inter-tribal wars had played their parts in the decimation of, the Maoris, also infectious diseases. Simple measles accounted for thousands in Otago in 1858 when the Maoris, in the depth of winter, sought to soothe their feverish condition in the cold water. Dr Ellison commented that he had not yet seen a Maori suffering from diphtheria, and its incidence among the natives would be a rare occurrence. Whalers and escaped convicts carrying diseases and intermingling with the Maoris were a contributing factor in the decimation of the Maori race through the ravages of disease. It had been stated that the gradual passing of the Maori was inevitable when the population was at its lowest ebb in 1881. The outlook was never brighter than it was to-day, despite epidemics and dysenteric fever, and the Maori population was recovering. Endemic typhoid had disappeared in Rotorua. Work in that direction commenced in 1900 with the innovations and spade work of Sir Maui Pomare and Dr Buck, despite the influence of tradition. Sir Maui Pomare had burned 3500 condemned Maori huts. Maori nurses were now administering to the needs of their sisters and numbers of doctors were subsidised to treat the more indigent natives. Dr Ellison concluded with the hope that he had onlisted the sympathy of all in the welfare of the natives of New Zealand. The speaker was accorded a vote of thanks on the motion of Mr A. Gt, Roe.