NEW ZEALAND AND HER PEOPLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 9013, 19 October 1892, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND AND HER PEOPLE.

ACCORDING TO THE CENSUS OF 1891. V.—Tf.BRMAL MAORIS—THE LAST ASSESSMENT OF CONCLUSION. A VERY valuable part of the new Official Handbook is the chapter contributed by Dr. Ginders, the Medical Superintendent at Rotorua. It seems to us to be a clear duty, not only to New Zealand, but to suffering humanity, that the facts stated by Dr. Ginders should be widely known. The doctor writes clearly and dispassionately. He carefully guards against the impression being created that Rotorua is a cure for all disease. He says: — "Some six vears ago, when I first took up my present position as Superintendent of the Sanatorium at Rotorua, I found that numbers of patients were being sent to the district who ought never to have left their hones. Advanced phthisis, chronic Brigbt's disease, spinal caries, were a few of the ailments supposed to be cured by hot water." Yet cases are mentioned in detail that show that some classes of sufferers should not abandon hope, until the thermal springs have been tried. The ' AREA OF THE THERMAL SPRINGS DISTRICT is upwards of 600,000 acres, Or nearly 1000 square miles. The length of the district is 50 miles, with an average breadth of 20 miles. The temperature of the springs ranges from 60deg. to 212deg. Sir James Hector thus classifies the springs that have been examined : — (1) Saline, consisting chiefly of chloride of sodium ; (2) Alkaline, containing carbonates and bicarbonates of soda and potash; (3) Alkaline-Silicious, containing much silicic acid ; (4) Hepalic or sulphurous ; (5) Acid waters, containing an excess of sulphuric or hydrochloric acid, or both. TheSanatoriumreservecontainsabout 50 acres. It is planted with trees and shrubs, enlivened with fountains and flowers, and supplied with commodious buildings for the accommodation of invalids, in addition to the Sanatorium Hospital. This hospital accommodates 21 patients, i who, if unable to pay full hotel charges, and if likely to be benefited by treatment, are received at a nominal tariff. There were about 3000 visitors to Rotorua last year, and the number steadily increases. From THE CASES ESPECIALLY BENEFITED, according to Dr. Ginders, we select the following :—The Rachel Bath .... is useful in all forms of skin disease, indeed, in eczema it may be considered a specific if continued long enough in conjunction with a suitable regimen." Some surprising statements are made as to cures effected in cases of rheumatism and paralysis. " We have many instances on record of patients who, on arrival, required the aid of crutches, or to be actually carried to the bath, and yet went away enjoying the full uso of their limbs Primary functional paralysis, in which there is reason to believe that the nerve-centres have undergone no organic change . . . are likely to benefit by treatment at Rotorua. A lady ajjed 30, after a long attack of malarial fever, found herself completely paraphlegic. After a long time she was able to move on crutches, but had a tendency to fall backwards. Fearing she might be crippled for life, she determined j to try the thermal springs at Rotorua. I ! found her able to swing herself along on ' crutches, bearing her weight on the left leg, the right beiti£ perfectly powerless. In addition to the battery she had J two hot sulphur baths every day. In i three weeks she was perfectly well. Another : more recent cure is even more remarkable. I H.C., a bushman, aged 23, had become perfectly paraphlegic, presumably from exposure to wet and cold. He had been for many months dependent on a Charitable Aid Board, who sent him to Rotorua. For three weeks he was carried to his bath, at the end of which time he was able to stand alone. At the end of five weeks i he could walk with two sticks and t ride on horseback. In three months he was as well as he had ever been in his life. ... In rheumatism and rheumatic gout we have much success. Hot acidic sulphur baths, at a temperature not exceeding 104deg.,or sulphur vapour up to 115deg., taken twice daily for a carefully-regulated time . . . forms our routine treatment. . . . We are able to quote several cases' of cure even where a considerable amount of fibrous anchylosis has existed. A young man became affected with rheumatism while serving as a sailor on the coast, and was reduced to helplessness. He had spent his all without gaining relief. When he had got half-way to Rotorua, he found himself at a roadside hotel unable to go further, but a good Samaritan coming along conveyed him in his own carriage to Rotorua. In less than a month he was completely cured. I think it is only due to the good Samaritan to state that he was Sir Robert Stout, then Premier of New Zealand. Neuralgias as a rule do remarkably well. Patients suffering from sciatica are a numerous class with us, most of them presenting a very chronic history. When the disease Is not distinctly associated with gouty or rheumatic diathesis, is not of longstanding, and has been caused by exposure to cold, it is very quickly cured. A few baths relieve the pain, and there is rarely any stiffness or weakness remaining. . . . Congestion of the liver, biliary catarrh, with jaundice and hemorrhoids, have been cured by the aid of acid sulphur waters, which also prove useful as a topical application in ozaena and ulcerated throat." We do not want to make this article read too much like a quack doctor's advertisement, but we print these statements with confidence because they are official and free from exaggeration. We are the more ready to do this because the diseases cured at Rotorua are of a class that are peculiarly distressing, and before which ordinary medical skill is frequently baffled. As many sufferers may read these lines we would venture to suggest that if they think they find hope here) it might be well to get their own medical attendant to state their case in writing to Dr. Ginders, and thus obtain his opinion as to the probabilities of benefit before undertaking an expensive and possibly fruitless journey. Our object is to bring these facts before the widest possible circle of readers without sending any sufferer, if we can help it, upon a bootless errand. We have turned with interest to those pages in the Official Handbook which tell of the present position of THE MAORIS. The population of the Maoris is stated to be 41,993-22,861 males, and 19,132 females. These numbers are calculated with all possible care, bub are only approximately correct, as natives do not generally register their births or deaths unless well looked after, which is nob always pos- ; sible. It appears that the Maoris are about ■ stationary as regards number. Their birth rate is, however, less than it ought to be. They have 33.22 per cent, of males under 15 years of age, while the European average is 38.08 per cent. Of females the Maori average is 35.22 per cent, as compared with 42.20 per cent, of Europeans. There are many causes for this low birth rate, the chief cause probably being sexual immorality among the young people before marriage. There are twenty principal tribes still existing, the largest, the Ngapuhi, containing 3452 persons; and the smallest, the Muaupoko, containing only 89 persons. As this tribe has only six males and two females under 15 years of age, its extinction cannot be far off. Of the 534 prisoners in the gaols of the colony at the end of last year 94 were Maoris. The natives are the landlords of the colony. It is not generally known, we think, that the 41,000 Maoris still own more than 10,000,000 acres. Last year they had 75,833 acres in crop and grass, and owned 262,763 sheep, 42,912 cattle, andi|B6,2s9 pigs. The number of horses owned by them is nob given, though this must be considerable. In December, 1891, the Maoris had 3775 children at school. They certainly take their full share in the politics of the country. There are four Maori members in the House of Representatives and two in the Legislative Council. In the last general election, 7086 Maoris voted—i.e., more than one-sixth of the whole population, including men, women and children. We think it would not be easy to match that fact in any civilised community ! LAND VALUES. We are now drawing near to the end of our task", which has been to select for comment the facte of most general interest in the new Official Handbook. There is an important addendum, which contains an interesting report from the Commissioner

of Taxes upon the valuation of the land of the colony, recently made under the Land and Income Assessment Act, 1891. Here are figures showing the increased value of property in New Zealand during the three years, 1888-1891. 1888. 1891. Increase. N. Island £49,607,873 £57,441,115 £7,833,242 M. Island 61,529,841 64,783,914 3,254,073 We note here an increase of £11,000,000 in the value of property in the colony in three years, and those years in which thousands of people have left our shores, under the impression that " the bottom had gone out of the country," and that we were rushing headlong to financial perdition. Let it be noted, too, that more than twothirds of this increase is in the North Island. Of the £8,000,000 increase in this Island, £6,500,000 is in the counties and £1,300,000 in the boroughs. The Middle Island is still the wealthier of the two, bub if the present ratio of increase is maintained in this Island there will be little, if any, difference between the two when the next valuations are made in 1894. "In considering the results of this assessment, it should be remembered that it has been made at a time when in no part of the colony did any excitement in land dealing exist, and there was nothing like a boom, if one or two small local districts are excepted." Here is the result of the assessment for our four largest cities :— Auckland ... £4,9.'U,28S Wellington 5,865,778 Christchurch 3,403,566 Dunedin 4,193.422 | It must be kept in mind, however, that Wellington has no valuable boroughs close to it as the other cities have. It may be interesting to compare the assessors' value of several of the best known towns and boroughs of the colony :Napier, £1,275,853; Invercargill, £959,140; Nelson, £942,370; Lyttelton, £851,730; Sydenham, £821,060; Oamaru, £612,571; Wanganui, £543,403; Palmerston North, £459,618 ; Timaru, £442,530 ; Devonport, £407,333. Our space is now filled and these articles must come to an end. They have been written in the beautiful springtime, when field and meadow, hedgerow and garden, are bright with hope and full of promise. In this fresh study of "New Zealand and Her People According to the Census of 1891," we have felt that it is early springtime in the financial history of our colony. The winter of depression and discouragement is past. Even while it lasted it has been less severe than our fears led us to think, for healthy and substantial progress has never ceased. New Zealand has never known three such years of progress as the last three, when our exports have leaped up from six millions to nine, and settlement and cultivation have been quietly spreading in all directions. Never were our farmers doing so well as now, and their prosperity means the prosperity of the whole community. We are learning to believe in one another, and in the future of the land which is to be the home of our children. There are many sure indications that the last decade of the nineteenth century will see New Zealand in wealth and well-being of her people, as she is already in climate and resources, second to no country on the face of the earth. The opportunity is ours if we are wise enough to seize it. g