The N. Z. Times WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1909. THE MAORI AND THE PAKEHA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 6870, 14 July 1909, Page 6

The N. Z. Times

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1909. THE MAORI AND THE PAKEHA

irnium is iHO&sto&inD Tire “wxfc&iirMOS IWTOPTNOSKT." ESTißUftiKtf IMI.

It is very clear that' tho central question raised by Mr Ngata in hie speech at the meeting of the New Zealand Club yesterday is not ths One that is of paramount importance to either the Maori or people of European race In this country. It is quite profitless to speculate on whether the European will, at some day in the distant future, he hostile to fusion. Certainly he is not now talcing Up that attitude, nor do wo think there is the slightest indication that he ever will.- As a matter of fact, fusion is proceeding very rapidly; ' By the census Of 1906 it was shown that there wore then 2578 halfcaSteS and persons Of Mixed face living as and among ( Europeans, and that 3938 were living as members of Maori tribes. The number of aboriginal natives in the Dominion Was -13,793, and it is beyond doubt that white blood has entered into the veins of a very large proportion of these. So striking has the degree Of fusion been that not loiig ago Dr. Pomare, the chief Maori health officer, himself a man of mixed blood, expressed the opinion that iii twenty-five years there would not' be a full-blooded Maori born. Taking these facts, accepting as approximately trtfe the' observation' of Df. Pomare, and bringing into' the line of argument a consideration of cifoUmstanoes Under which, the two races live, there hardly seems to be any foundation whatever for supposing that the fusion alluded te by Mr •Ngafa—though we exclude the plane on which it is not. now in active progress. Whether that is a matter for congratulation ■=* whether Maori and European should vioV the process with equanimity—is a subject Oil which there it some room for dite : feronce of opinion. It may Be that r in gbiterAtieus to cOrUe this fusion may proVC tO have heeii the foundation of .facial aristocracy. The possession of Kerman Hood was once greatly Valued by otfr' own p«jple.- Pof ourselves* ihdwevef, tfo ire inclined td vie# with

very much regret—admittedly vain and futile—the submergence of the' Maori. Fusion means that. It can only have one end —the disappearance of the native. Why the maintenance of the Maori as-a distinct race should' bo'an impossible ideal We have never, yet been able to realise. It has always seemed that the highest aim of public and private relations with the] natives would be to bring our friends! right up to the plane of European 1 civilisation, and thus see living side, by side, engaged in tho same common citizenship, two races of distinct blood. This is, unfortunately, impossible, for the very reason that fusion is incvlJ table. Tho suggestion underlying Mr Ngata's speech, however, is that there is a “colour lino” in New Zealand in reference to tho Maori. This is entirely without warrant. Every profession is open to tho native, every calling and trade. Tho schools and l university are open —the homes of the people too. Mr Ngata surely knows this. _ His apprehension can, nevertheless, be understood. He has himself been subjected to a form of criticism, which no doubt wounded him in a tender spot; but he must see —as other people do—that in this ho wag struck by a malevolent clique, for whoso mean hands ho weapon is too despicable, and the incident ho more represented public feeling than other contemptible manifestations of spleen "which have had their origin in the! same source. Siihilarly, Mr Carroll is entirely at fault when he hazards the opinion that the pakeha’s idea of justice to the Maori is to “put him on a reserve and let him take pot luck.” This diagnosis will not stand a moment’s investigation, and if Mr Carroll will lead the way towards a more enlightened comprehension of the Maori and to- realisation of the best manner to grapple with tho problem he presents, he will find the public ready to follow him far. The question of most importance to the Maori is connected with domestic hygiene. Academic discussions On the Co-mingling of the races take a quite subordinate position in importance compared with such pressing questions as the degree of infantile mortality among the Maoris, the education of tho rising generation, ahd tho encouragement of the Maori to‘ enter upon productive labour. “ Scores Of Maori babies are starved to death through ignorance,” says a State paper. There, perhaps, in a phrase, is the requiem of the race,- and it would seem to us to denote a better grasp of their Social requirements if the leaders of Maori opinion showed tho pakeha hoW this reproach could be removed ■ than that they should bother thertiselves afeout; a hypothesiS r or be vexed in spirit aborut the operation of a law as iocxof afjlcr as tho Drills of thb gods..