THE NATIVE RACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18759, 16 July 1935, Page 9

THE NATIVE RACE

RESTORING SELF-RESPECT .MR. CAMPBELL’S PLEA Not many people realise the-problems that face this country, nor the responsibilities, in the matter of Maori and pakeha relationships, said Mr D. AI Campbell, of Horonui, in an address to the Hastings Rotary Club when he made an impressive plea for a more understanding and sympathetic attitude towards the native race. Mr Campbell began his address by giving an extremely interesting outline of the ancient Maori culture and social and -religious systems, and went on to say: "In ancient days Maori village, life was an exhibition of communal living at its very highest-, and want- was practically unknown. Until the. landing of the pakeha the Maori had no neglected and underfed children, there were no loafers, no unemployed, no criminal classes, no unfortunate women, and no hereditary non-work er.s. CORRUPTION BY PARK HA S’ "The moral code of the old-timo Maori was of the strictest, but the arrival of the pakeha changed everything. The traders, who closely followed the whalers, paved their evil way with nun, under the influence of which, to obtain muskets, tho Maoris deteriorated so far as to barter lands and any possession that, the pakeha coveted. ‘JBeing a man whoso word was equal to anyone else’s bond, the Maori took tho pakeha at face value,-and as the soul of honor, not realising, that 11 in stranger was deceiving and robbing him. Many of the so-called murders of whites by natives were due to broken faith, the Maori considering that a man who breaks faith with his friend is certainly not. fit to live. "Soon a number of diseases were rearing their ugly heads among, the Maoris, particularly among those whose morals had been undermined by rum. Now, too, was being borne in upon the Maoris, that, in present-day idiom, they had been well and truly stung by the white strangers who had gained such a foot hold already in their beloved country. With that realisation came those raids and killings that with the inter tribal wars led to the great Maori wars with the British. In those wars an entire quarter of the Maori race was slain, and tho remainder found themselves outcasts and landless, having lost everything and being treated as treacherous natives, which they never were. A DYING BREED “As the children grew up, gone was the old spirit of the race. They grew up a beaten race, many of them carrying hereditary illnesses, many ol' them outcasts. How could they he expected to carry on the traditions and high ideals of a warrior, conquering, purc’blooded, and proud? Tho breed was gone. “If we are to keep our self-respect, for self-respect must be the first rung of the ladder leading back to the Maori as a race, surely we cannot leave these magnificent people to die out in conditions in which we will not allow, under law, our own people, to live.” OWN HOSPITALS NEEDED. The Maori, if given the chance, was a most honest and hard-working man. If the Maori children were, cared foe to-day, something useful might, be. done towards saving the race. Often they lived crowded in little whams, and their moral values-were thus gravely threatened. Often they went to school illclad and shivering. “It has sickened me for so long,” said Mr Campbell, -“that I am glad to come and put some of my views before you.” What was desirable was to put the Maori back on his own land, and give him back his pride and self-respect. "You will have to give them their own hospitals,” he concluded, “for they are still terrified by the white man’s hospitals. If I can feel that in any small way I can do anything to help these fine people, I shall feel that my life lias not been wasted.” In thanking Mr Campbell for his address, Mr Mason Chambers said it was a- shame that the Maoris’ land had been taken and that the race iiad been allowed to sink into its present condition. Everything that Mr Campbell had said, he could confirm from his own experience. Mr W. A. Whitlock, president of the club, expressed a hope that at some future date the club would appoint a committee to consider the whole matter of Maori and pakeha relationships. Jhc Maori Had taken a great share in the pioneering of the country, and there was a great debt owing to him in that respect alone.