MAORI EDUCATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 17

MAORI EDUCATION

Sir, —While not holding with the condemnatory tone of Mr. D. W. Faigan's letter on the above subject, I am able to compliment him on the brief he holds for the Maori race. There are some who do not hold with the policy of the present Government, but every unbiassed critic will recognise the part it has played in the matter of providing better facilities for the education of the Maori. I can speak from experience in this matter, and have only praise to offer both the Native Minister and the director of education for their active and sympathetic interest. I quite hold with your correspondent when he questions tlio efficacy of the present system of education when applied to tlio Maori. One must know something of the Maori mind in order to understand why the methods used in the various phases of pakeha education fail to provide what the Maori requires. 1 know that an effort is being made to base the system on better foundations, but success along these lines will only be secured when the teaching staffs aro brought into line with Maori requirements. 1 may be at odds with your correspondent, but my knowledge of the race has always told me equality with the pakeha alone will never solve Maori problems. The marks of the centuries cannot be removed in the short span of one century. If your correspondent sees the outline of a colour lino in this, and acts on his conviction, then he will be doing the Maori a disservice. A sympathetic understanding of our friends Avill do more in one year than all the equality we can hand out to them in a decade. Equality in the matter of education is proving a poor gift. For the moment J do not wish to deal with systems or tlio possibility of the Maori competing in commerce with his white brother. I am more concerned with a half-hidden fact —the fact that the Maori is threatening to share the fate of practically all coloured races that come in contact with white civilisations. Let my words he a challenge to all doubters. T.B. is destroying the Maori race. Much as I admire its ancient culture, it hurts me to hear people plead for the saving of arts and crafts, knowing as they must that the remnants of Polynesian life itself in these islands is doomed to pass. Must we hide the truth? A mighty rot is in the heart of the Maori people. That is why I strive to assist Maori education. 1 believo that a spear-head can be forged here to meet the greatest menace the Maori race has ever encountered if the powers that bo are as wise as they are sympathetic. Let us face the fact that there is an unwritten tragedy in the land which no census return can ever hide. Tlio humane provisions of the social security legislation will be lost on the Maori if no organised effort is made to lead him into its shelter. Such an effort may uncover the tragedy, but let us face it. If necessary, L will provide some gruesome evidence, but in the meantime I trust that a sympathetic department will seek to raise the low standard of Maori health through the medium of the native schools. Wo can assist the Maori to preserve the culture of his fathers. Let us give him life first, and if a revised form of education can bo :m insurance against premature death, let us give him that in full measure. Okauia, Matamata. Frank Eyre.