MAORIS SCARCE OF FOOD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13642, 11 July 1906, Page 5

MAORIS SCARCE OF FOOD.

The Hev. A. ,T. Seamer, one of the Methodist Maori missionaries in the Auckland district, speaking to a New Zealand Herald representative last week, stated that tho Waikato and Kins Country Maoris are suffering considerably owing to the failure of tlioir potato crops. Asked what would happen if assistance was not given, Mr Seanicr said:—" Many of the older men will feel the lack of lood, for it will weaken theni to such an extent as probably to cany tliem on". Of course, the Government lias always come to the assistance of the Natives when there has been absolute need, but I question very much whether they have done it in the wisest way. They generally leave it till

the very last, and then present them with fnml. Thai is not what is needed. They idmiiM supply them with work near ,'it hand, roiul work or anything of that kind, so tli-.lt tki. able-bodied men mining them would net onlv have tho opjiuttmiity to work, lnil would have tho necessity of earning ..niiiething for themselves and thosn who we're dependent upon thorn iinpre>o:l upon tlii'iu. (If course, lam not ignorant of the fact that thojjoveriuiient has Natives ai -work in ilifferon't parts of tho colony, but it is that-class df work which takes the Nil lives iniiny miles away from their homos, and U only suitable for unmarried nicn or married men without families. In tho Waikalo the staple food of ihe Maori is tf» potato. fn the season they slio.it. a let of pijoons. and soinetinies shoot pigs and kill an occasional hulioek. which they pur- ' tinlly cook and preserve in fat. Tlic reason for their not having risen . higher socially and Isotonic accustomed to a boiler diet, is that the Covernmcnt lias seemed satisfied to keep Iho Maori as Maoris, instead of encouraging Miein to take their i I'laco alongside the Kuropean .settler, each with his own plot, of land."