THE MAORI MIND

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16873, 9 February 1929, Page 2

THE MAORI MIND

EQUAL TO WHITE MAN DIFFERENT SOCIAL SETTING \ “It is profitless to approach IliD Question' of Maori mind imbued witn n. belief in race superfoty .# race inferiority, or in Hie hope of interpretinn- the Maori mind in terms of racial inheritance. I think, indeed, that we are risrlit in presuming equality of intelligence ns between Maori ami European. This is one of tho striking conclusions reached by Dr. I. L. G. Buthcrjnnd, lecturer in psychology at Victoria University College, after a study of Maori mind. He read a paper on the subject at the Science Congress at Auckland. , , , , Differences in mind and character between the ancient Maori and the Euro-1 penn undoubtedly existed, Dr. Sutherland said, but they were of social and cultural origin. The Maori’s social setting explained the workings of his mind. From his earliest infancy he was impressed with patterns of behaviour, of which one, and an outstanding one, was warfare. To the Maori mind war seemed the normal career, and, literally fiom birth, he was trained for it. CHIEFTAINSHIP AND COMMUNISM The young Maori grew up in a society securely based on tho taro principles of chieftainship and communism, and these, too, could he traced historically and related to conditions of life, Lie two principles were immensely strengthened by n network of cultural and mental patterns representing priestcraft, supernatural beliefs, and the all-pervasive laws of tapu. How deep-seated the Maori communism was, Dr, Sutherland remarked, might he seen from hs persistence and from the difficulties of the Native Land Court in pursuing its policy of individualisation. Into this Maori civilisation cam® the white man, representing a culture vastly more complex. “The equilibrium of Maori life was at once profoundly disturbed. A new work! opened to them, and their ideas at one hound became enormouslv enlarged. These were gods with all their wonders, all the mechanical arts of civilisation. . • ■ Rut, as subsequently appeared, they were human enough.” „ , 'Hie expansion of the Maoris ideas waa much increased when the two peoples became acquainted with each other's language. Mr. S. Percy Smith had pointed out that a groat feeling oi unrest was evident. Warlike expeditions on a new and more extensive scale were undertaken. The intensity of subsequent intertribal fighting anrl the fearful slaughter were due not only to tho use of the "white man’s weapons, but also, Dr. Sutherland said, to the disturbance of Maori customs. Domesticated animals , and food products had been introduced, \ sforthat the Maori’s food-getting, with •IIT-'. its attendant ritual, was changed. \pd this was only one of many things. * The activities of the missionaries, too, had a profound effect on the inner life of the Maori. His institution of tapn was disturbed and ultimately overthrown. The loss of his ancient religion - meant the loss of the “mana Maori,” and tlirt Maori came to think that without liil gods he could undertake nothing successfully, nor hope for rational warfare Active and courageous as he could still he, ho felt that he had been under•mQjed, SYMPATHETIC STUDY NEEDED “It i 3 no purpose of mine,” said Dr. Sutherland, “to attempt to recount the noglect of the Maori, the definite illusage, the cupidity of the Europeans and the tragic struggle of the people for national existence; nor, indeed, to touch onCjthe subsequent signs of revival, nor the-virtual Europeanisation of many of the~ Maori people, though it. may he remarked that the successful government of tho people still demands careful and sympathetic study of Maori culture. “The analysis of the contact of the two peoples and the clash of their cultures, of the cultural and mental dis-