OPEN COLUMN.

Waka Maori, Volume 11, Issue 6, 23 March 1875, Page 62

OPEN COLUMN.

European correspondents who have a knowledge of Maori are requested to be good enough to forward their communications in both languages. To the Editor of the Waka Maori. Wellington, March 4, 1575. Sik, —On my journeys through Native districts I have had the opportunity of observing the interest displayed by the Natives iu the Walca newspaper; and I do not wonder, for it contains very much that is interesting and instructive, written by bothPakeha and Maori. Your canoe travels along the coast, into the little bays and havens, up the rivers and creeks, across the plains, over the lofty mountains and into the snug little valleys—in fact, wherever there is a Native settlement the Walca is sure to put in an appearance and find a welcome. lam told that the Walca is so much thought of that people send their subscriptions for it all the way from England ; and it is read also by persons living at Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart Town,-and a number of other places: so this little canoe travels very much fartheV than the ships of Columbus ever did.

The Waha also affords an opportunity to the friends of the Maori to speak to them through its pages, an opportunity which I am glad to see has been availed of to give much useful advice and information; and with your kind permission I wish by its means to say a little on a few matters that have come under my notice. Not long ago I paid a visit to a Native settlement —never mind where. It was situated on the banks of a rapid but beautiful river, which runs, from its source far up at the foot of a noble snow-covered mountain, down fertile and picturesque valleys to the sea; a river that has been hard at work for centuries, never idle, but day and night digging and ploughing and mixing the soil through which it' runs, untifno\v no land could be better than that found on its banks—land, one or two hundred acres of which would be a small fortune to any industrious farmer. I come from England, from a part where the land is not very good and needs a great deal of labour and manure to make it produce as much as the land I am speaking of would produce without any manure and with comparatively little labour—and I have been told that in parts of Scotland where the land is very hilly and broken and poor, by good cultivation splendid crops are produced. ]S T ow' judge of my surprise and vexation when I saw this good land lying neglected and waste, the river still working away, mixing and fertilizing, but that was all. Tou may think that so much land was lying waste because there was no one to cultivate it, but such was not the case; there were a great many more men at this settlement, and one near to it, than would be employed upon a dozen farms in England. But there was this difference: the English farmers work, gentlemen as well as ploughmen, and the Maoris as a rule don't work—that is the secret of it. Instead of working steadily day after day and improving their homes, they seem to do everything by fits and starts; and at this village, whenever they did any planting or sowing, or cut down a tree, it seemed to be a great occasion, and they used to send to town for rum to duly celebrate it, which I am sure you will say was a very foolish and injurious thiug to do. Then when the crops were taken out the land would be left to run waste and wild, and perhaps a fresh piece of ground taken the next year. If English farmers were to cultivate in that style they would all soon be ruined. If, when travelling through England, you come to a country village or farm homestead, you see as a rule green paddocks studded with well-fed cattle and sheep, or fields (if in the autumn) rich with waving crops of grain, and all enclosed in trim hedges or neat fences; barns and stockyards in good order • fine stacks of wheat or oats or hay waiting for the market; orchards with their tempting fruit; comfortable farm-houses and cottages, and well-kept gardens. And then the people you see are all busy

at their work, as very few are idle in England except vagrants. They would soon starve if they were. But when, travelling through New Zealand, you come to a Native settlement, what do you see? There are exceptions, but as a rule it is broken fences ; enclosures half-filled with weeds ; perhaps lots of horses roaming about, but half of them used up and spoiled with hard and careless riding; cows that are never milked; tumbledown whares; the pigs and the children groping together in the dirt, and the grownup people sitting smoking, card-playing, or talking in the unhealthy whares, or lying asleep under the trees. Now, which is best ? "Will not my Maori friends admit that an English or New Zealand farm homestead is better than a Maori kainga, the buildings and fences of which are worth nothing except as fuel ? Surely cleanliness is better than dirt, comfort than discomfort, health than sickness, fine crops than weeds, industry than idleness. My purpose in writing this letter is to urge upon the Natives to make use of the great advantages they possess in abundance of good land—to work steadily and well; and if they did, there is not a Maori village in New Zealand that might not present a picture of comfort and prosperity that it would be worth going miles to see, and the Maoris themselves would not only be immensely richer but immensely happier than they are at present. I will give one example from the settlement to which I have referred, to further illustrate what I mean. The village is divided by a swampy creek a few yards wide, almost impassable in wet weather, and in dry weather crossed on foot with difficulty, over a log. There was any quantity of timber about this village, and, as I said before, lots of men and youths, and two or three, or even one of them, in a day might have constructed a convenient bridge at no cost, except of labour; yet year after year the creek has remained unbridged. Now, he would be a very lazy Pakeha indeed who would put up with such an inconvenience as that, rather than have a few hours' hard work. I could give you lots of similar examples, but that will suffice; and I believe there are very few Maori villages in New Zealand to which my remarks do not apply. Mr. Editor, —Another matter of importance I must touch upon. If the Maoris Avant their children to become intelligent and prosperous, they must take advantage of the schools the Government have provided for their instruction. There-was a good school at this village. The master and mistress were very kind, and took a great interest in the Maoris, young and old, and the Maoris were much attached to them; but I was sorry to hear that the attendance of the children was very irregular. Some never attended school at all, because, like many English children, they did not like school, and their parents

did not do what English parents would have done—that is, compel them to go. Others who wished to attend were kept from school to kill pigs, or plant, or do other work, while there were men remaining idle. "When I visited the school I was gratified to see how much the children had learnt in spite of these disadvantages ; their writing was remarkablygood, and it showed what excellent scholars and what intelligent men and women they might become if they were properly trained. And the first step in this training would be—and surely this could be accomplished—for the parents to send their children to school regularly. There would be plenty of time before and after school hours for as much work and play as would be good for them. I would impress upon my Maori friends this, that you may as well plant a kumara in the middle of a hard road and expect it to thrive, as expect a people to be happy and prosperous unless they are sober and industrious. Drunkenness and idleness are not only great vices themselves, but they are the prolific parents of many others. In closing, let me say that I have not written this letter to find fault, but because I can truly subscribe myself A Emend to the Maoei.

To the Editor of the WaJca Maori. Whangaehu, Bth March, 1875. Ibiekd,—lt has been thought by some of the Pakehas that our aucestors fouud a race of men living in this country when thev landed here from the canoes in which they came from Hawaiki. But it was not so—no man was found in the land. Hawaiki was the home of my ancestor Turi, and Aotea was the name of the canoe in which he crossed the wide and boundless ocean, together with over sixty of his people. When he had got out into mid-ocean, his god rose from the depths and seized the point of the paddle of Tutangatakino, the director, or steersman, of the canoe, whereupon a man named Tapo was was cast overboard. As this man fell into the waves his god also rose by his side, and said, "When the blazing star of the morning appears, you and I will have reached the shore" (that is, New Zealand). Turi then stretched forth his hand and drew him again into the canoe, this man who was cast overboard" to be a priest and a prophet for him. The canoe then came on its way, and shortly the headland of Kawhia was seen. _ Here ho ran his canoe on shore, and landed at Kawhia. After that he increased and multiplied greatly, and filled the land with people all the way to Patea, his fixed place of residence, and his descendants increased and became very numerous. Two of his descendants came hither to Whangaehu, a brother and sister; Taitapu was the sister, and Bangiwhakaturia was the brother, and from them I, who now write, am descended. From that time down to the advent of the Pakeha we had a Maori god, a fish-god of the sea, whose name was Eongomai, and he still lives in the sea. This fish-god once carried away one of our people named Eapati. He was absent from us for two years, and during that time he had visited England. When he came "back he was clothed in Pakeha clothing—a red blanket and a red shirt—the like of which had never before been seen in this land. It is 120 years since this occurred.

If a Pakeha went with me in my canoe to sea, or upon the rivers and lakes of the land, he would be frightened, and would exclaim, "Halloo! "What is this !" when he saw this fish-god clinging to the sides of my canoe. Whether on the open sea, or on the lakes and rivers of the land, he always came to help me to propel my canoe along when overtaken by tempestuous weather, or when pursued by my enemy. He was always obedient to my call in the olden days of "tapu" (sanctity), when my voice was sacred to him. I declare solemnly that what I have stated was a fact in the days of yore. From your friend, Tamati Reesta.. [ln the above letter the first person singular is employed to denote the whole tribe.]