MAORI EDUCATION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13635, 14 April 1908, Page 8

MAORI EDUCATION.

(By C. A. Young).

.

Travellers who are acquainted with, the East and West Coasts cannot fail to be much impressed with the difference in-the character and social status of the natives on those coasts. On the East Coast the Maori is a merry, even, rollicking fellow, industrious, happy, and fairly content; well clothed,* and fairly well educated. He is on good terras with his pakeha neighbours, and, although he drinks — as most Maoris do — he is not the degraded being- one sees in other parts of the North Island. His besetting sins are horse racing, billiards, and an inordinate indulgence in cigarettes. There is a general air of prosperity about him, which suggests that his circumstances are happier and more satisfactory than are the circumstances of the tribes in other parts. On the West Coast, especially in the Taranaki Province in the neighbourhoods, of Waitara, Parihaka, Haw era, and "Waitotara, the Maori is degenerating day by day. In appearance he is poor, mean, and miserable ; there is a depressed and sulky air about him, as if he were hopeless and careless of affairs generally, and he -is illiterate and ignorant of everything happening in the world, around. He is looked upon with contempt by his pakeha neighbours as an idle lazy vagabond, whose persona] and moral habits are unspeakable. As a consequence, he is only, welcomed at tho whisky bars, which abound in the province, and tolerated at the various shops when he has any money to spend. The pakeha avoids employing him as much as possible, even in road making, arid to see a Maori a member of a Volunteer corps,' or a female servant in a household in Taranaki, would be a wonder. ' Knowing the feelings entertained towards him, it would be strange indeed if the Maori did not reciprocate. He produces little to benefit the community, keeps but a few sheep, and tries to emulate: his white rival in dairying industry, but his efforts are feeble and perfunctory. CAUSES OF THIS DIFFERENCE. -Let us consider the possible causes of this difference. From the earliest times settlement on the East Coast has progressed . with little or . no impediment, even the trouble with Te Kooti did not impede it; and the. conduct of the settlers to the natives has generally been! just and humane^ consequently native land has been acquired for settlement without' much trouble or difficulty. . Possibly marriages between rangatira of both races assisted in smoothing away difficulties. A potent influence for good was the continuation of the missionary influence in the persons of the Williams family, and especially ' has the influence of the late revered Archdeacon of the name been profound. Te Aute Native' College, endowed by the Maoris, but founded and supported by him, has been a great influence for good, as also have the other native schools of Te Ran, at Gisborne, and the Hukarere School for Maori girls at Napier^ These private schools 4\ave educated natives, who, after qualifying at the University, now adorn the professions of the Church, the law, medicine, and the Civil Service j and girls from Hiikarere school are being trained as nurfees, as postal, telegraph, and typewriting clerks, and are entering , freely into domestic service. These influences are gradually penetrating, the^j prejudices of the Mawri, weaning him from his old, habits and customs, and i persuading him to adept the manners- afttl customs of xhe pakehii; From these private native schools also hag arisen what- is known as "Tho Young-Maori . Pai^y ,' ' which/ is . endeavouring through the medium of & newspaper printed in the vernacular, by example, and the diffusion of general knowledge at public meetings, to persuade, their ' fellow countrymen elsewhere to adopt the ways of the pakeha. Government native schools are numerous on the. East Coast, and the more intelligent and capable of the children from these are forwarded to the private schools. - # • Nor must we forget that two natives of the East Coast have through a long period of years been Members of Parliament, one of these being the all powerful Minister for Native Affairs. \ T^heso influences are stimulating the Maoris of the East Coast to exert tentselves and take their places witli eir pakeha neighbours in developing c natural- wealth of the Dominion. Many of them are large sheep farmers ; at Mohaka and Nuhaka , Maoris run creameries and butter factories entirely by, their own efforts, and recently the Ngatiporou, between Tokomaru and East Cape, have themselves laid down over 150* miles of wire connecting all their farms and sheep stations by telephone. . The Maoris on the East Coast are more f numerous . than in any other Maori district; they feel more assured \ in the possession of their laud ; they are I judicially assisted financially by private individuals, and — their self-respect and I native dignity restored — have taKen up i the burden of life. They are to be found learning agriculture on the State Model Farms — lads from Te Aute College arc even now at the Momohaki State Farm on the West Coast — they *»re to be found serving in the local defence forces, on farms, are expert sheep-shearers, take contracts for bush .foiling and land clearing, fencing and road making, and there are cases ! where, conscious of their own ignorance \snd' desiring knowledge of agriculture, | thov have leased their lands to pakehas, with the stipulation ,that they themselves are employed to do the work thereon. And, lastly, the system of 'farming their lands on the co-operative principle is being tried by them. Let us contrast this state of comparative prosperity and advancement with the unhappy causes which have retard'exl the civilisation of the Maori on the West Coast. I From the earliest time of the advent 'of the pakeha unhappy relations have exigtec^ between the* two races over the possession of land. The companies which undertook to colonise the West Coast disposed of land in the colony to intending settlers before they had acquired any land to dispose of. The early immigrants were herded in baracaiifl on the shore near Port Nicholson, while the agents of the companies by nefarious and unscrupulous means possessed themselves of native lands, j upon which the immigrants were ultijmately settled. But the Maoris, while wishful and willing to welcome the pakeha among them, resented and repudiated the, unjust and iniquitous manner in which their lands were being acquired, and as time went on closed their hearts against the pakoha, and refused to dispose of more of their j lands for further settlement. This engendered a feeling of sullen resentment in the heart of the pakeha settler, who so far as he himself was concerned had obtained his land by honest and bona fide means. And so through the years this feeling of resentment prow and intensified , until it exploded in tho and unjust lU'nuisitinn of the N'cafcicwa's land *ut WaHnra. Tliix prime was perpetrated by a weak and facile Governor, and instigated by Ilio

then Parliamentary representative of Taranaki, who was at the time all powerful in the Government of the colony. And so in 1860 a calamitous war blazed forth, which ruined the efforts of twenty years of peaceful settlement, ' retarded the development of thispart of the colony, and left behind a bitter and angry feeling between the peoples concerned ; which on the part of the pakeha has since been exercised in an oppressive and aggressive" acquisition of more and more of the natives' land, and on tlie part of the Maori in a sullen feeling of resentment and despair. It is with no desire to perpetuate such feelings that the present writer recalls these historic facts, but absohitely in the wish and hope that the more generous and conciliating state of feeling which is now slowly evolving may be quickened into a more just and generous appreciation of the responsibilities of the dominant race. Restitution to some extent must be made, and. further iniquitous acquisition of native^ land stopped, if justice is to be done: and without justice what is the boasted Christian religion, and the Christian's civilisation 1 ?

Against the racial antipathy or animosity thus engendered efforts to educate the Maori on the West Coast have sd far been supine and perfunctory. ' In the face of the sulky discontent of the native, Government and private beneficence has dried up. There. iis but one Government native school i oh the long West Coast from Urenni to [.Waitotara, and the only private school I the Wanganui College. Under Parihaka influence the Maoris would not send their children to the Government Board Schools, and they conceived the impression that their children were not welcome at the Wanganui College, although they knew this College was endowed for the education of both races. The ministers of the various religious bodies have made little or no impression on the Maoris on this coast — at any rate they have little or nothing to show for it. Except Turakina — a native school for girls, instituted by the Presbyterians three years ago — there is nrit one mission or other private school oh the whole West Coast. ; It is said that some agreement exists between the different religious sects "under which the West Coast, including Parihaka, is ministered to by the WosJeyan Mission Church. If such nn understanding exists, the sta.tc of morals and education which up to' the present time has been permitted to exist i amqng the Maoris of this Coast reflects ! severely upon the various religious de- ! itdminations, especially the Wesleyan. I But before all and above all, is not j the Government responsible for tlio I education of every child born in the Dominion ? Has not the Legislature pro- | yided laws for the compulsory education of the children dt both races ? I Why, therefore, in the name of humani fty are not these laws enforced ? Here this "West Coast we have another generation growing up to perpetuate the racial animosities which have unfortunately existed too long, and this jtor want of the most civ^ilisins of all [influences, namely education. What is to be the future condition of the Maori oeople if the State eontiirae this shameful ahd discreditable neglect of their education ? Surely the result must be a degraded' and p.auper- • ' ised oeople, amongst whoxti offence.? against the law of the land will beqome common. ' „.,',, ■ The writer does not ( advocate the maintenance of native 1 "schools— which only te»nd\ to further segregate tlie Maori — tUe dual system' of education should be abolished — not oiil.f because it is an . tinmicGssary expense vi> t on the State — but because it really defeats the Object and purpose of the ( Government system, of. 1 , native education, which is to Europeanise, the Maori in one generation; but if the State Will not provide native schools. on the Ayest .jpoast , the law. should be enforced to compel the Maori children to attend tlie Board schools which ' are nearest* J;6 thoir kaingas. '"" Now that the two sc^caned seers of Parihaka have gone to join .the shades of their ancestors, and have so falsified their own predictions, would it not be a wise; provisioh to establish a school at 'Parihaka, and if a technical school and model farm were attached something would be done to atone for the neglect of the past. As the natives "so detest and 'distrust tlie system of administration of their fends by the Public,' Trustee/ that official might give proof that some good can come out of Egypt by taking this 1 suggestion into serious consideration before handing over' the Parihaka block to pakeha occupation. It must be said here that tho natives have ever given freely of their lands for the endowment of schools for thoir ] children, but, sad to add, with such exceptions as Te Ante, Te Ran, an<! Hukarere. on the Eas£ Coast, St. John's College, St. Stephen's; the Victoria, and the Three Kinscs in Auckland., and the, Wanganui College, their (Somfidenoe in the pakeha has been lniVplaced, and endowments have been misappropriated and misapplied. Sir J. E. Gorst in "The Maori King" says: — "Before 1860 there were numerous village schools founded and managed by the natives themselves. "Tf we had educated the natives in civilisation and fitted them for the civ' joymettt of those full rights, as fJritish subjects, which the Treaty of Waitangi promised, nothing would have been heard of 'land loaisuprs' and the 'King movement.' " Sir yf. Martin's noble words on "Tlie Taranaki Question" may fnirly conclude this article: — "What is needed for tho Government of the New 7ealanders is simple justice — that, we deal with fthe 1 natives as our follow-subjoets and fellow-men. If we really desire to benefit them., wo shall have little difficulty in goveWiing them. But men will nev%r govern well those whom they despise. If we are ourselves sufficientIv civilised and Christianised to apt in this spirit, the great work may still be accomplished. Our success in civilising this people will be the truest test, the most correct measure, of the civilisation to which we have ourselves nitained."