DON'T SNEER, BUT CHEER

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6671, 26 July 1928, Page 3

DON'T SNEER, BUT CHEER

The Maori to Understanding ADDRESS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS BY SIR APIRANA NGATA. Commemoration Day of the Fcilding Agricultural High School was celebrated yesterday when Sir Apirana Ngata delivered an interesting address to the assembled students on a subject drawn from the school motto ‘ ‘ L-ia Toa Kia Ngakanui ’’ —“Be brave; be of great heart. ’ ’ This motto, said the speaker, was not very different from that of the well known native school, To Auto College, and ho proposed to deal with jt in the light of showing how it could be applied in understanding the Maori and his progress in adopting the ways of the pakeha. In the dying years of last century the pakeha bad been sent out to this country to servo during a difficult period and he his youthful audience who had skipped that, period, when At Was necessary to know of things and about things which have since almost disappeared from the sphere of usefulness. To-day it was hardly necessary lo even know what a horse is (laughter) but in those days when the horso was, everything from the point of view of transport, one had to know. everything about it and its harness. The pakeha J s difficult task lay in convincing the native mind of the existence of better things than comfortless huts. To-day very few of tho old native huts existed. Even in the most remote districts, such as the Urewera Country, would find the all-prcvading galvanised roofed whare. The old -romantic hut in which natives lived after their arrival from Polynesia had gone. In 1891 it had been a difficult matter to convince the native mind of the need for ventilation and light in dwellings. A window in the back of -a meeting hut could not- bo tolerated as its presence was thought »to bring about all sorts of dreadful things. This objection along with many others was gradually overcome and the education of the native,to appreciate the standard of European living had begun in the homes of tho Maori. That was the achievement of one generation. . The New Zealander was beginning to realise that he had a country of his own. Tho Maori has no other country in tho world to go to; he must live and exist in this country. The Maori did not catch the wanderlust—if ho had-it when lie sailed from Polynesia he lost the desire -when lie came to these shores. Witu tlic arrival of the pakeha tho Maori suffered from the stress of civilisation, and while some tribes were quick in adapting themselves to pakeha ways others suffered through not having the opportunity. Those who liavc been slow to adapt themselves to European ways have been unjustly subjected to some harsh criticism, whj.ch to tho native mind has been heart-breaking. All that was so easy to the European was difficult to tho native and it was there that the Maori suffered greatly from the stress of civilisation. Harsh criticism and sneering did not help the Maori in his effort to appreciate' the ways of tho pakeha, it only rendered his task the more difficult. Pat him on tho back and say try and do better, that spirit, “Be of £rcat Heart’’ was what the Maori wanted to help him to understand. The Maori wanted the . gucouragemcnt .of a smile and not Ihc discouragement of a sneer. 1 Sir Apirana went on to deal with tho ethnological view that the Maori had a common origin with the pakeha in Central Asia. The pakeha ancestors went west to a colder climate which accounted for their pale complexions and endured conditions which compelled them to work and till the soil. The Maoris’ ancestors went east down through India and on to the , warmer climate of Polynesia acquiring that 'darker pigment and as nature provided them' with food from tho trees, anti the soil also produced food without tillage they largely lost tho uso of their hands. Their undoubted brain capacity, however, remained with them, so that when pakeha and Maori met again in New Zealand the former was found to bo far ahead in the matter of farming, building and road .construction. To-day that handicap was lessening and would entirely disappear through tho work, of schools bearing mottos such as those pf tho Fcilding Agricultural High School and tho To Au&j College. In conclusion the speaker urged the pupils to be brave, bo great hearted. They should not make much of the difficulties they met, but go forward with a brave heart. They should try to understand the Maori .and cheer him in his work. He trusted that he had fulfilled his duty, by his address, to his own people and to the school. (Applause). In replying to a vote of thanks moved by Mr. H. Tolley and seconded by Sir James Wilson, Sir Apirana trusted that should tho school ever obtain an assembly hall, the building should, contain something adequately representative of Maori Art. If this were done the school would then appear to English visitors more like what a New Zealand school should.